Happy New Year!

I haven't posted for a few days, as we've been very busy with year-end activities and with participating in the annual Yuletide Ball Dance Championships, held at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Washington, DC, just a few blocks from the White House.

Agnes and I competed as a Pro-Am couple, and enjoyed it very much. We danced in 15 heats over two days, and were very pleased with the outcome: two first-place finishes (American Gold Bolero and Fox Trot), 12 second-places (American Gold Swing, Rumba, Cha-Cha, Waltz, and Tango; International Bronze Rumba, Paso Doble, Cha-Cha, and Samba; and International Silver Viennese Waltz, Syllabus Quickstep and Open Quickstep); and one third-place (International Bronze Waltz). For those of you not familiar with competition ballroom dancing, those aren't bad results, particularly against very tough competition. In addition, the ability to watch ourselves on the video we had shot allows us to identify weak areas in our dancing and work on improving them.

We met lots of new and old friends, supported and cheered for each other, and welcomed the new year on a happy and crowded dance floor.

If you have never tried ballroom dancing for recreation or for sport, you should. It's fun, exciting, and a great way to spend time with great people. Check it out!

Tomorrow, I'll get back to the usual round of comments on events in the news. But for today, let's celebrate the end of the old year and the start of a - hopefully - better one.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo