Still here; an end to this crazy work period is finally in sight.

• First things first. The holiday card photo is of ice on the Hudson River, a rare treat. It is not, as one person guessed, a town in Siberia vacated by communists.

• Derek Jeter will not be in centerfield after all (and neither will Bubba Crosby). Welcome to NYC, Johnny Damon. It seems like you couldn't pick a better good guy to join the Yankees. This should be fun. It's the most excitement at Yankee Stadium since the House that Ruth Built was made into a makeshift Metro-North stop.

I've been busy with some general, ongoing projects.

• Ongoing project #1: home improvement. With some smart strategizing, I've been making my place far more comfortable with not that many new things. The console table in the entryway, with its framed photographs and a storage basket on the shelf for my scarves and hats, adds warmth. The bookshelf now won't be here til January 5th--the truck couldn't get into Manhattan yesterday. Jensen Lewis is a great store and it feels less standardized than Pottery Barn or Crate & Barrel (although those two places have nice things also).

• Ongoing project #2: 2005 playlist. After lots of iTunes searches and lots of consultation with a DJ I know in Fort Lauderdale, by the end of the year I will have the ultimate playlist of 2005 music. I can't wait. I cheated by listening to the half I already have, and it's unbelievable. But the best stuff is yet to arrive.

• Ongoing project #3: fun with squats. A few weeks ago, a gym staff member came up to me while I was on the squats machine and said it was time for me to graduate to the real thing. He proceeded the next week to give me a complimentary introductory lesson, loaded with picky but important pointers about form. (You don't want to screw around with weight on the top of your back.) Now that I've done it a few times, it feels much more natural and is a nice new twist about once a week to the workout routine.

• Finally (for now), congrats to the guys over at EveryoneSmile, which was acquired several weeks ago. EveryoneSmile was my first client; I started working with them in 1999. In an age when everyone was running to file for an IPO with a few scribbles on a whiteboard, they wanted to work on building a viable long term business. It's nice to have seen firsthand the six years of work leading to this conclusion.