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We've been back in Chicago for a couple weeks now. This past weekend was ridiculously cold, with a high of 5 on Saturday. Luckily, we were in North Carolina at the time so Kim could give a talk at St. Thomas More parish in Raleigh-Durham. She was invited there by our friends Andy and Michelle and their pastor to talk about her work on the theology of infant baptism. Andy and Michelle have a large house out in the woods near town with chickens, rabbits, dogs and cats. Thomas had a great time looking at the animals and climbing the stairs.

Before returning to Chicago from our Christmas vacation, we all spent a few days in Savannah, GA so that Kim could attend the annual conference of the North American Academy of Liturgy. Savannah is a beautiful city. The downtown area is punctuated by little squares with parks in the middle. Each one is dedicated to a different historical figure and often has a statue in the center. Thomas and I ate twice at a breakfast diner that has been in continual operation since 1903. Thomas also got his first taste of grits.

Since we got back to town, I've been doing a lot of analysis at work trying to figure out the new nature of the fixed income markets. We've had some success, but I think there is still a lot of room to do more. Of course, the reason I enjoy my job so much is that it is always changing, but it does make it hard. I finally managed to get Eric an interview up here, so hopefully we'll see him in Chicago more often.

Kim has started teaching and so far its been a lot more work preparing than she expected. I told her the first few weeks are always the hardest until you discover all the short-cuts you can take and how to make the process more efficient. I'm sure she's great in the classroom but she still takes a lot of time to prepare.