I'm still here.

Been a while since I posted. Mostly that's because I have been really tired this week. I was up until around 3 am watching the Superbowl. I gave up around the end of the thrid quarter. I knew when the Bears went form 2 down and 2 to 4th and 20 that they weren't going to win. Can't say I was surpised. As my football watching friends know, I gave the Bears little chance of surviving the first round of the playoffs, so making it to the Superbowl was more than I expected for the season. And I'm actually kind of happy that Payton Manning finally won a Superbowl (wish it had been against a different team, but that's life).

I haven't been reporting on local news much because it is actually kind of depressing. The leader of the SDP (social democrats, ie, reformed communists) who is also former President of the Government (basically Prime Minister) was suddenly diagnost with cancer. He's now in Germany getting medial care and it is looking pretty grim. This has kind of thrown politics into a tail spin because (like most places I've been actually) politics is very personal here, and people are voting as much for the person as the party. The result is that everyone here is just kind of in shock at the moment and adjusting to the new reality.

So, more to come as I catch up more on my sleep.