With the addition of an inexpensive 24 inch monitor and a bluetooth keyboard, I've made an upstairs workspace that lets me be in what I think of as the snow globe, this room that sticks out into the weather. My 13 inch ASUS ZenBook is fast and super portable, but the keyboard is crappy and I get tired of peering at the small screen. With a display port to HDMI adaptor, Melissa could hook up her Mac to it as well.

I tried to shop at Best Buy for the monitor, but the staff was so disfunctional and the selection so limited that I just came home and ordered it from Amazon. How can those big box stores stay in business? They must service the same 30% of people who call LLBean instead of shopping the website. Except that Bean's gives them exemplary service.

Next Saturday the Comprehensive Plan Committee of which I'm a member is having its first visioning session. We feed people lunch and do small group sessions all afternoon. The objective is to get a wide range of opinions about what people would like the town to look like in 10 or 20 years. Two consultants will be there and committee members will run the small groups.

I'm not planning to run for anything this year, but I do intend to step up my efforts to improve transparency in town government. If we can't change it, we can at least hold it up to the light for all to see. I will start with the Planning Board on Tuesday. Why can't they submit legible minutes like every other committee? Also this is the year that we post agendas as well as meeting times for all committees. How would you know whether you want to attend unless you know what they're talking about.

Winter fugue dreaming. Put yourself in the red chair and go. Maybe add a good book and a tiny glass of wine. Make up stories whose characters are Alpha, Bravo, Yankee, and Zulu. They all go to a Hotel in India and learn to Foxtrot.