The weather both yesterday and today has been unseasonably mild, as the cliche goes. High temperatures permitted outdoor excursions with little more than a sweatshirt or light jacket. The parka weather cannot be far behind.

Taylor and I both needed an airing out this morning, me to walk, and him to exercise his Christmas bike, so he accompanied me on my walk, riding circles around me, and learning to use the gears and the handbrakes.

Our destination was the KSU campus, a few blocks from home, where we would try the hill that runs past the president's residence. The hill is one of the best in town for teaching a kid how the gears can make the climb less tiresome. And one of the best in town for bringing a smile to a rider coasting down the hill -- there is no match for free-wheeling, effortless speed.

After I caught up to him at the bottom of the hill, he mentioned that he had received a bottle of bubble stuff in his Christmas stocking. I congratulated him on his good fortune.

A few minutes later, a few blocks from home, he said,"Mom said it was for New Year's Eve, as if she put it there."

O, the conflicted world of an eight year old.

We watched Pleasantville while we took down the stick this afternoon.

The arrival of new computer games in the household prevents my reporting on any worthwhile surfing.