Hello. It's the Sunday before Thanksgiving. In the U.S., people are busy buying turkeys and making plans to invite the family on Thursday. I'm hoping we get a chance to watch the football game, because we are inviting a lot of people. There's also the parade in the morning. I hope I get to see a balloon careen into a street lamp and shred its guts all over everything.

Today I got a Sony Reader. It's an e-book machine, which means you can charge it up, carry it anywhere and use it to read electronic book files. It is awesome! The screen looks so much like a real paper, you'll have a hard time believing what you're seeing at first. I love it.

Tonight, they had "The First 48" and "Cops" on at the same time. I loved being able to switch back and forth between the two. There were a lot of good soccer games on Fox Soccer Channel, too. I had a chance to catch up on the Italian and English leagues. Not a bad day, all in all.

That's it for now. See you soon. Thanks.

Some guests at my aunt's birthday party.

It's getting closer to Thanksgiving in the U.S. I don't see as many cartoon specials as I used to. There are a couple, but other than that, I don't know.

I cleaned out some things from the closet today. It left a surprising amount of room. That was a relief-- I hate to clean.

I've been trying to finish some audiobooks this week. I also want to get started on some new artwork. Today I finished watching "Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla," which was a lot better than I thought. There were a lot of explosions, and some long fight sequences at the end. Some of the new Godzilla films have skimped on the traditional strengths of the character, but this one lived up to them.

This weekend, my old desktop PC bit the dust. I was furious at first, but then after I set up my laptop (which I am using now), the new system was so much better, I was almost glad about it. The laptop is fast, has better video functions and takes up much less space on the desk. I managed to get the printer to work with it too, so I didn't lose much. I had already put some of my music files on disc before the PC broke, because I expected this to happen eventually. The rest, I will have to download again. I use a subscription service, so a lot of that will be included-- it's just kind of annoying because it's so time-consuming.

This afternoon, I spent some time checking out the high-number channels on our HD lineup. Many of them are foreign-language stations, others are kids' channels. Quite a few we don't get, because they're pay-per-view or premium channels. Someday soon, when I get a new place, I'd like to get the whole slate of foreign stations, plus the sports ones. Once I can watch Armenian public television, there might be world peace.

Okay, that's it for now. See you soon. Thanks.

Some people at my Aunt's 90th birthday party, a few weeks ago.

Hello. It's Monday, the start of a new week, and I'm glad "The First 48" is on at 7:00 tonight. Nice to have something good to watch before work, for a change.

They've added a couple new channels to our cable line-up. One is Epix, which is a movie network that you have to pay to have permanently, and the other is Halogen, of which I have watched a little but still don't know what it's for.

I watched some anime this afternoon. It was an old TV series, "Saber Riders," and I liked it a lot. Did some reading, too. I was going to go buy the new FIFA 10 game, but I thought I'd rent it first. Have to send back the game I have now, "Storm Rise," which turned out to be a big disappointment.

That's it for the moment. Thanks. See you soon.

Cover of Alaska Geographic's issue on the Russian settlements of the pre-statehood days.

Hello, it's the day before Halloween-- did you get your candy ready yet?

I played "Stormrise" for the X Box 360, and it was one of the worst games for controls I've seen in ages. The plot and the graphics were good, but I couldn't move a thing without losing control of the camera, so I had to be stuck in one spot while my team got mowed down around me. Not worth the rental.

"Knowing" turned out to be great for 75% of the film, and for the last part, the most depressing film ever made. I won't tell you what happens, in case you haven't seen it, but it's serious. Yipes. Get something else.

I have only read a paltry 17 books this year. I count the ones that I get all the way through, not ones where I have maybe finished part of them. I hope next year will be better.

We still don't know where we're having Thanksgiving this year. To tell you the truth, I miss the Indian restaurant I used to go to -- their carved turkey was surprisingly good. They know how to do a sauce.

Okay, that's it for the moment. I'm off to get some lunch. See you later. Thanks.

Hello. It's early, and I am passing the time with some music and then reading when I'm done. I just had some graham cereal for breakfast.

Started watching "Knowing" with Nicholas Cage. Liked it a lot better than I thought I would. Yesterday I went to a birthday party for my Aunt and one of my uncles as well. There were a ton of family and friends there. It was very nice, good food, plenty of stories and picture-taking as well. I haven't seen a lot of the people in a while. Good to catch up on things.

It's cold and rainy outside. I was going to take a walk, but I think I'll wait until the sun comes out.

The World Series should be exciting- as usual. I'm also glad it's hockey season. This is a good time of year for me.

That's it for the moment. Thanks. See you later.

Early in the party, when the guests were just starting to come in.