Monday morning started with a blizzard. Heavy snow and furious winds created near white-out conditions. Since I live only a little more than a mile from the office, I was able to get there with no real issues. Much of my staff, however, spent the day working from a snowbound home. With today’s broadband internet connections and laptop computers, most of my staff can be just as effective working from home as they are in the office, at least for a couple of days, before things begin to bog down. 
By early afternoon the snow had stopped and by late evening the wind had died down. By tomorrow the snow should be history as we’ll have temperatures in the upper 50’s.
Tomorrow is memorable for an entirely different reason, however. The final installment of The Lord of the Rings debuts tomorrow. The Return of the King is probably the most anticipated film of the year. I’m taking my staff to the movie … at least all who wish to go. We’ll be at the 10:00 a.m. showing and some of my staff will be seeing the movie for the second time by then. My son-in-law Kirk is going to the midnight show tonight! He is a major J.R.R. Tolkien fan and has been telling his children bedtime stories from The Hobbit or from The Lord of the Rings from the time they were born. I’ve caught a cold and stayed home from the office today. I watched the first installment last night and the second this afternoon. I think I’m ready! Bring on the movie!
Little Jillian has made a detour on her way home to the Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital. She was not able to nurse and breathe at the same time. Since breathing is an important activity for her, she needed to be checked out. She has been diagnosed with reflux and is now on some medication and a different formula. Perhaps she’ll be able to come home by the end of the week. Nina flies home on Friday and her being there has been quite helpful. Dawnmarie and Kirk can make the hour-long trip to the hospital and not have to worry about the other four kids (most of whom also are sick with colds and strep throat)
The big news of the world yesterday was the capture of Sadaam Hussein — the ousted dictator of Iraq. Will he become another footnote in history? I certainly hope that he becomes nothing more than that. He has been a ruthless maniac responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi’s. He will not be mourned for very long, me thinks.