Saturday night I used what I think I can safely safe was the best Chanukah book I got: The Star Wars Cook Book. The menu was:

• crackers with Jabba the Hummus (brought by Nick)
• TIE Fighter Ties (breadstick in the shape of TIEs)
• Boba-fettucine
• Greedo’s Garlic Bread (brought by Leslie)
• Yoda Soda (my personal favorite)
• and Wookie Cookies for dessert

Six others braved the snow to join me for eating the Star Wars themed food and watching Episode I: The Phantom Edit.
Sunday I went to the Masonic temple in Alexandria and watched the kids sled down the hill. The new fad for riding the snow is the mini-snowboard (about skateboard width), though the majority of vehicles were still toboggans. One group of kids set up a plastic ramp; the goal was to get enough air on the jump to be able to shift from chest down on the toboggan to standing upright on it. No one I witnessed managed it, though some got close.
This evening I observed focus groups for the first time in my short polling career. The topic was health care and one woman related a story that I feel the need to share.

My husband and I were both employed full-time and had health care through each of our jobs. When I was expecting we decided that I would stay home with the kid and thus should move over to my husband’s health insurance. But, when I tried to sign up, they rejected me because I had a “pre-existing condition:” my pregnancy. So I had to stay on my job up until the day I went into labor to keep my insurance.

That’s my definition of a broken system.
LOTD: Big Jimmy, in memoriam