The birthday box(es) runneth over

Earlier this week, the folks back home proved that their own gifting ability is not to be denied when I received not one, but two, boxes in the mail. I've been blessed with new clothes, loads of actually decent snack food (which will help me avoid raiding the deplorable campus vending machines for weeks), anti-rodent devices, a set of much-needed drinking glasses, and all sorts of other extremely useful things which I probably wouldn't buy for myself but am terrifically glad to have.

I also got some lovely cards and the time-honored present of some cold, hard currency. Believe me, nothing warms the grad-student cockles in quite the same way as a bit o' green. I'll be applying it to credit card balances and the truck-rehabilitation fund.

And, I've also learned that Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis trilogy and Evangeline Walton's Mabinogion Tetralogy will arrive around the end of the month. Guess I know what I'll be reading during the winter break!

Boy Roomie weighed in with a lovely and substantial hip flask, which I plan to deploy at the next possible opportunity after filling it with Powers.

Following in Morgan's footsteps, I also presented myself with a few "imps" of perfume oil from these folks. I highly recommend "Anne Bonny." Smells fantastic, named after a pirate queen, and made by a company named "Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab." What's not to like?

Today, I'm off on a little train trip with Geek Boy to wander the streets of a much smaller city for a while. I'll probably be grading on the way there and back, but it'll still be a welcome change.