We're off to the Pirillos just after we eat some watermelon. Turns out tonight is a big deal in Iran. Tonight is the longest night of the year and on this night you gotta celebrate. Sounds like a good plan to me!

I'm so happy to see another San Jose State University journalism major doing the weblog thing (hi Scott Mace). Are there any others? Little known about me: I never graduated. I am three units shy of a degree. My wife has been bugging me about that and telling me I should finish it up. I'm thinking of doing that. It's only one Shakespeare class. Probably more now (that was 10 years ago). I heard recently from the guy who heads up the faculty union at SJSU recently that people still talk about "being Scobleized." My few short years there were definitely something. What a decade it's been since then too.

Marc Canter is talking about San Francisco history. Sex, sin, and gangs... Hmm, that sounds like what the Pirillo's have prepared for us tonight. Oh, Patrick's coming too. Hide your eyes son! Keep your hands off of the jello shots. Sigh. I'm designated driver tonight. I guess Maryam deserves a night of sinful delights after the week she's had. Hey, Maryam, just keep your hands off of Gnome Girl tonight, OK and watch out for Gretchen's "humpy" dog. Last time we were over at the Pirillos my wife said Gretchen's dog reminded her of me. What do you mean by that?

I've been invited to the Christmas party of the year. Yes, the Pirillo's shindig (you know, Chris and Gretchen). They live in the gay part of town (I'm using that word very specifically since their part of town meets all five definitions on dictionary.com). I hear Gnome-Girl is bringing jello shots. I've never tried those. Did you know that Dancer and Prancer are gay? Hmmm, this off-color site tells me so. Oh, Gnome Girl says she'll blog the party tonight. Hell she is. I'm gonna unplug Chris's WiFi network before doing any of her Jello Shots.

One good thing about the financial downturn is that we're starting to look around at Silicon Valley again for fun things to do on a Saturday afternoon. We found a jewel today: the Alviso Slough. I never visited this place, despite living here more than 30 years. It just didn't sound interesting. It's near a sewage treatment plant. It's in the bowel of Silicon Valley where the Bay meets the land in a long swath of marshes. But, for hikers and birders it's a paradise. I'll try to post some pics soon. One thing, all the trails were solid mud. I asked Patrick "how many fathers take their kids out to play in the mud?" He replied "not many."

"There is always hope" one of the characters in Lord of the Rings says. LOR delivers in a big way. It's the first "big release" movie I've seen this year that delivers. Cinematography. Music. Acting. Plot. Special effects. It's a griping movie all around.

You know, I'm proud of my wife. A lot of my friends (hello to the "rent, don't buy" club) told me I was nutz. Yeah, I am. Nutz in love. One thing I haven't told you all yet is my wife is smarter than I am. She graduated from Cal Berkeley with honors -- Go Bears!

You know, I'm suprised that there aren't any weblogs focusing specifically on jobs. You know, where to find them. Sharing tips about them. Or am I missing something? Yeah, I know about Monster, Hotjobs, and Craig's List. I'm looking for something a bit more personal than that. Maybe the opposite of fuckedcompany.com. I've been watching the job boards for a while and notice jobs are getting more numerous. Plus, there's a ton of jobs that are at specific companies that aren't easily findable on job listings (I know, Maryam and I have gotten access to Apple's and Cisco's job lists through friends lately).

So, what will determine success for 2003 for the Scobles?

1) Getting Maryam into a job that she loves.

2) Continue getting great friends who are working to build the future (in 2002 my stable of friends grew significantly. Dave, Buzz, Lee, Lori, Leslie, Ernie, Chris and Gretchen -- you're all the best.

3) I need to play a bigger role in helping my NEC division continue its turn from a hardware only player into one that sells solutions.

4) I need to help my son Patrick through yet another tough time as his mom moves him to a new area and new school this summer.

5) I need to release all last venom toward negative things in my past.

There are more too, just wanted to get some down.

Good morning all you laid-off bums! Get out of bed.

OK, so, now it's time to start looking forward. Survival mode at its best. One good thing? The weather here is awesome. We're gonna go see the Two Towers today and take a walk.

One thing I've been doing too much this week is dwelling in the past. Too much of that done this year. Looking at what used to be. Remembering good times and bad. Well, that ain't helping things get better. Now it's time to look toward the future.

One nice thing is working for an employer that has a future. I was telling someone that I'd really be freaking out now if we didn't have a good product plan for the future. Knowing we'll have not just one, but a handful of new products at NEC coming out, makes my heart very hopeful for 2003.

Anyway, I'll be looking for blogs and technologies and news that tell me that 2003 is gonna be a hell of a year.

Maryam and I are gonna go to New York for New Years to properly kick off the year. Anyone else wanna meet up?