Required reading from the New York Times. (Registration is required, unfortunately, but the NYT is worth registering for. It's free.)

Marjorie finally got her bon-bon-eatin' ass off the couch and found a job. Actually, it looks like I'm going to be her dependent, because they're rushing an employment pass through for her. She'll be working at an international school very near our house; they had her in for a few days volunteering this week, and almost immediately offered her a class -- starting next Monday! She's going to have three kids from Japan, one from Korea, one from Norway, and one from the US. Two or three of them speaka no Engrish -- that should be interesting.

I too have a contract now to look over and sign. Our uncertain situation is gradually getting resolved, thankfully. I have been very, very busy at work; we have to scrape together a demo in a very short period of time; I'm polishing up my tap shoes for certain parts of it.

Mr. Rogers is dead. Some of my earliest memories were of watching his show. While it wasn't my absolute favorite as a kid, as I grew older I grew to realize what a class act this man was. It's a sad, sad day in the neighborhood.

Now we're talking. We're booked to visit Koh Samui in a few weeks. This is a short boat ride from where The Beach was filmed. Our package includes Thai massages.

On an unrelated note, it's 46 degrees back in Atlanta right now.

Fun in the sun. We ferried off to Kusu and St. John's Islands today, basically just to frolick. Lots of good nature spotting. Some birds we had never seen, like the Collared Kingfisher, the Magpie Robin, and what I think was a Brahminy Kite. The highlight of the day were the mudskippers; they're frequently the stars of nature videos we see, as an example of evolution in action. It's cool to see things that you knew existed, but you always thought existed somewhere else. Like last year when we went to Tioman Island and saw flying fish, monitor lizards, and giant clams.