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Recently we enjoyed some gloriously balmy days in our corner of the world, which means it must be January. Well, no – all that glory and balm had nothing to do with the fact that it is January. Soon enough we got back to freezing off major body parts while begging our significant others to hoist the thermostat upward just one minuscule degree because doing so couldn't possibly cost more than, say, the federal budget deficit.

Our family recently got together for a nice lunch. The first time since Christmas. We, our children and grandchildren, gathered at our twin son's home in San Jose. The only one missing was the other twin in Michigan, who happened to call and we all talked to him. He had been home for Christmas. It was a fun time. Get-togethers are really so nice.

As fellow members of the Morgan Hill Times Editorial Board, Lisa Pampuch and I are often at odds with one another. It was with great pleasure that I read her recent column on separation of church and state and found myself in complete agreement with her.

Volunteers, Community Support Are Essential for School Success

While 2006 was a year of great growth and learning for me, both personally and professionally, I am happy to see it go. It was a tough year for many locally as we struggled with the (in some cases, very) premature loss of some beloved members of our community due to malice or inattentiveness, and nationally, as we struggled through the loss and injury of soldiers involved in wars on two fronts that become ever more difficult to sustain, financially, practically, and morally.

Many people are passionate about preserving farming, and they try to achieve their goal with land-use restrictions that aim to keep parcels currently used for agriculture permanently used for that purpose. It's an expensive, primarily for the landowner, and ineffective effort.

There is definitely too much pressure on people to make meaningful New Year's resolutions these days. And it's always the same old stuff – massive, life-altering pledges guaranteed to consume your last drop of self-control: lose weight, spend less, save more, organize your home, stop (fill in the blank) drinking, smoking, driving in the carpool lane with an inflatable doll named "Greta."

My opportunities to observe the staff at Sobrato High School have shown me they are acutely aware of safety issues and really look out for the kids. In this school year alone that is barely half over, Principal Richard Knapp and his staff have interrupted a sexual predator trying to trick students, saved another from dying on campus from acute alcohol poisoning, and caught others who have been high or in possession of alcohol or narcotics. (And these are just what made the paper). When I think of what I need from an institution that educates my children, foremost is safety. From what I've seen, no private school could do better.

Today I would like to tell you that you did it! You survived the shopping, the baking, the office parties and even the tacky "I'm Santa's Vixen" t-shirt from your weird brother-in-law, Fred. Yes, that is what I would like to tell you, but unfortunately I can't because this is post-Christmas week, a.k.a. "What the Heck Happened Here – Did We Host a College Fraternity Hazing?" Because nothing short of a nuclear blast could account for this big of a mess.