Some of you already know that I'm back, but for those of you who don't... the tour's done and I'm back home safe and sound. It's been hard wrapping up loose ends with Christmas, Hanukah, New Years, sprained ankles, and a bitey black kittens. But yesterday I returned the Rent-a-Wreck.

Congratulations to Stephen Horowitz, who named the car "Wally" after an anagram of "a yellow rent-a-wreck" turning into "We race Wally on trek." Okay, it's a bit bizarre - but it's more work than I expected for a name-the-car contest. You've won yourself a gift certificate from HMV. Almost everyone else deserves runner-up kudos, but I especially liked Chris' "Otto" (A german name for a german car) and Allison Green's "Grace" (after my song lyric "Grace, you're always there for me." Marisa King gets points for most entries.

Parting was hard. Wally was my best friend for 6 weeks and by the end, I'd lost it a bit and had started talking to him. But Philip at Rent-a-Wreck seemed happy to have Wally back, so at least I know he's well taken care of. Apparently, Philip's looking to sell Wally, and I'm going to try to hook him up with Terry at the Rent-a-Wreck in Prince George who was kicking the tires. Who knows? Maybe I can drive it back across the country in a couple months.

But coming back home was great - seeing Irene and Marty again is awesome. And we got a Christmas tree and lights up in record time. I've slept a lot and watched two seasons of Grey's Anatomy (which my doctor friends assure me isn't realistic, but I don't really care...).

It's nice to be home.