Winter finally arrived, and people pulled out their coats and sweaters. The air warms up during the day, but in my office it's still cool and requires heavier clothes. Remember that here people don't have central air and heat. Maybe an electrical space here. Maybe.

The worst part is taking a shower in the morning. The bathroom is cold, but at least the shower head we bought to conserve energy last year has more wattage and really can zap that water hot.

The cold snap is a nice change from the high temperatures we were having just a couple of weeks ago.

On Monday night, at our weekly group coordination meeting, I set up a study for Tuesday through sr. Benedito with his nephew Marcos. But on Tuesday sr. Benedito calls to say his nephew is working still and can't make it.

So we set up for Wednesday afternoon. Same song, next verse.

Haven't heard from him today, but maybe we can get this show on the road. Sooner or later.

Vicki and I had lunch out together at a little self-service place a couple of blocks away from my office. They know how to use seasonings and really enhance the flavors of the foods. Best of all, it's R$0,99 per 100 gr., or about 40 cents U.S. They charge a little higher for the juices and drinks, so we got away paying about US $4.20.

A little farther away is the vegetarian restaurant where I often eat. Their price is a little higher, but the juice is included, so I usually come away even cheaper, always under two bucks.

A lot cheaper, and a whole lot better, than McDs. I think one of their specials is now about US $2.50.

I've weighed in heavily on the poetry lately, so after just one more, I'll give you a break from the rhyme and meter. Not that I've been particularly inspired recently, since several of the posts need revision, one rather badly.

It was a quick trip down south to Porto Alegre for the weekend seminar, but the participants seemed to benefit from it. My host this weekend, Jair Louzada, is, by coincidence, our newest of three editors for the ImoNet e-zine we publish in Portuguese. We're moving it online this week, to an antville site like this one.

Soon, I'll post more info on the seminar there on the BZeal site.

I was impressed with Jair's 23-year-old son Josué. He is a diligent student of the Bible and popped me with questions all weekend about different passages.

Today I'm back on the job with a long to-do list, and doing fairly well by it, by my generous estimate. Two handouts for tonight's meeting, ready for Wednesday night's study, I'm not doing so badly this week. So far ...