In between taking photos and wardrobe changes, I had the chance to sit down in the NBC commissary and talk to Roscoe Born about taking on the recent role as the mysterious man with a past, Trent Robbins.

First off, I can honestly say that it was truly an honor to sit down and talk to such a talented daytime vet. It's refreshing to see him back and playing such a menacing role in Salem. Don't you all agree?

Here's Roscoe checking out the photos from his shoot.

Days Insider: What does it take to play a great villain?
Roscoe Born: It takes knowing yourself and all the facets of your personality and then you bring those facets to life.

D.I.: Do you have fun playing the bad guy?
R.B.: Yes, I do. The bad guy is the guy who makes things happen. Everybody else has to react. He's the one who moves the story along.

D.I.: Any particular actor on "Days of our Lives" that you are looking forward to sharing more scenes with?
R.B.: I can tell you that great stuff is happening. I am working with Stephen Nichols next week and I have more stuff coming up with Deidre Hall. I look forward to sharing more scenes with the "vets" of the show. But, for the time being, I am having a lot of fun with the young people, too. I love working with Ari (Zucker). She's got a great sense of humor, she's real smart, and she's real quick-witted. She listens and we react to each other very well in scenes. If I say something that wasn't originally in the script, she plays along and adapts very well.

So, what do you all think? Who would you like to see Roscoe share more scenes with? I don't know about you, but I am really looking forward to those scenes with Deidre!

Now, working in the business, I know that photo shoots take a long time. It's easy to say actors have it easy, they just have to sit and look pretty, but that really is not the case. There are wardrobe changes, lighting changes, hairstyle changes, and different poses. What might look good on an actor in plain view isn't always the best look on camera. Just look at the clothes brought from wardrobe.

Believe it or not, Blake still had to have wardrobe run back to the set to grab more clothes.

I had a chance to chat with Molly while she was walking to the set of "Days of our Lives" to get back to work and she was kind enough to answer a few of my questions.

Days Insider: How does it feel to be doing a Days photo shoot?
Molly Burnett: It is so cool. I am big into taking pictures, but to be invited to this big of a photo shoot, now that's a lot of fun. I had to arrive at 6:30 this morning just for hair and make-up and we wrapped up at noon. It's a lot of work. And my smile muscles are hurting now. But, I love smiling, so it's all worth it!

D.I.: How has it been being the newbie on the set?
M.B.: I know I am a newbie, but I don't feel like one. Everybody has been so nice. It feels like I have been here forever.

D.I.: How did you get the role of Melanie?
MB: It was a process. It took awhile. It was filled with a lot of screen testing. There were ten girls in the end and I was very nervous, but I got the part.

D.I.: What kind of direction would you like Melanie take?
M.B.: I see her as being tough and funny. I would love to see her bring more humor to the show. Yeah, she's messed up, but she's working through her issues.

D.I.: Is there any particular actor you are looking forward to sharing more scenes with?
M.B.: I just want a chance to work with everybody. I want to test my chemistry out with all the actors, to see what we can bring to the show. But, I have loved working with Darin, Shelley, and Blake, so far. They have been a blast!

Make sure you come back to the Days Insider Blog next week when the interviews continue with Salem heartthrob Blake Berris, and the seasoned professional Roscoe Born.

I didn't go because it wasn't my moment. I'm so happy for Ron and his team.

I'm glad I have this blog so I can, in a cyber-public way, thank Frank and everyone at One Life for a great (almost) three years. They were good to me even when I wasn't good back. Sometimes I buckled under the pressure and wasn't... um... always pleasant to be around. I guess I can still be that way. But I'm making more of an effort these days to be aware of the graciousness being poured out on me by others and responding in kind.

I love being back at Days. I sometimes complain on this blog because I always want to be as honest as possible. You all deserve that from me. But that doesn't mean it's all bad. There's a lot of good too.

And now I'm getting ready to go back to NYC to do the Today show with Renee and Jim and talk about the autism storyline. I want everyone to know that NBC came to me with this story idea (props to Rebecca McGill and Bruce). This wasn't my initial idea. I would never presume to foist my own agenda on the public. But with a nurturing environment, our writers are going to go to town to write a pretty powerful story. And Renee and Jim are beyond great and ready to commit body and soul to this story. How fabulous is that?

Congrats to Rachel, Darin, Thaao and Judi on the nominations. How can you compete in such an artistic category as acting? All our actors are winners in my book... probably yours as well.

And our Hair Dept. won an Emmy. Yeah!

I also want to thank everyone who's posted a response to this blog. I take you all very seriously. Thanks to the EJAMI fans. You guys are so dedicated. And to those of you rooting for John and Marlena. And to those of you who love Steve and Kayla and all you others. I love your enthusiasm. I care. I really do. I'm doing this for you. And those of you who struggle with marriage, motherhood and all that goes with it. We're all in this together.

I had the honor of sitting with nominees Darin Brooks and Rachel Melvin during the ceremony. I also noticed it was a great opportunity for a lot of the cast to get reunited with actors who had been on the show in the past. It's easy to forget that there is a special bond that actors form with one another when working together on a day-to-basis. Farah Fath stopped by to say "congratulations" to Darin for his nomination and play catch-up, and Kyle Lowder snuck in visits with his wife Arianne Zucker at her table, and had a chance to play catch-up with some of his old co-stars.

My camera went missing for a second and then I found out that Bryan had taken it. He gave me a nice surprise photo when I got my camera back.

Brandon and Nadia showed up and it was nice to see Brandon join up with his old co-stars Jay, Blake, and Bryan.

And because I read your comments on the Days Insider Blog almost daily, I also know you all wouldn't be satisfied without a nice picture of James at the party, so here you go. Don't say I never treat my readers well!

Here's a great picture of Kristen Renton showing me what's what. Now, I officially know who has the greatest job in this industry, the person assigned to polish Jay's chest!

Here's Darin showing you the wardrobe selection from the photo shoot. A small trailer usually means a small selection for clothes. It's a good thing it was a beach shoot, meaning not a lot of clothes were necessary. I personally was hoping Darin would take the time to change into some Speedos I had picked out for him, but no such luck :(

At end of my day, I went up to the Santa Monica Pier to say a quick hello to longtime favorites Kristian Alfonso and Peter Reckell. After looking at this picture, it's no wonder why these two are such fan favorites. Their chemistry continues to shine after all these years.

The promo shoot was an all-day event and unfortunately, I didn't get to stay long enough to see Ali, Bryan, Nadia, James, and Arianne's arrival. But, I promise you, there are a lot of very fun things coming your way, courtesy of me, your Days Insider!

Make sure to come back and see what happens when I turned Darin, Kristen, and Shelley loose on my video camera!

So I was on coming into the week off the big high of CK’s graduation and I had a long way to fall during some bad meetings on Monday and Tuesday. Then about mid-week, I found myself in a mess because I got the wrong costume for Helio’s school production of Aladdin. (He’s the Sultan.)

Then Adelle and Helio got the flu.

Then I go to Jensen’s Comedy Sportz game at the high school. I get there and see the huge line of people waiting and it hits me… I had signed up to sell tickets. I ran over to help but alas, it was too little too late. And Mark, (my husband), being ever sympathetic just says: Maybe you should buy a calendar.

Okay, sooo… I have to step back and take a breath. Travel back in time to Saturday… which was so glorious. I want to dwell on CK’s journey and how (over the years) his Autism has kept everything relatively in perspective. He’s needed people to come into his life and journey along side him. He’s needed people to believe in him. And he’s been blessed with that. I want to publicly thank the people who’ve helped him put on that cap and gown and walk proudly down that aisle to the tune of Pomp and Circumstance on Saturday.

Here are the names of some of the Angels in CK’s life:

Dr. Alicia Elliott
Kathy Holliman
Stephanie McReynolds
Caz Wolter
Joanne Davidson
Ken Corday
Coach Steve Zimmerman
Bob Frank
John Rouse
Brian DeHaan
Coach Joel Murphy
Coach Jim Mulligan

There are so many others. Thank you everyone who had a part in CK’s life SO FAR. CK’s smile says everything. He knows Autism is hard. He knows Life is hard. I know being a mom is hard. Being a head writer is insanely hard. But when I look at CK’s beautiful smile… When I watch Adelle run on her prosthesis and watch Jensen dance and Helio throw a great curve ball… When I make the rounds from bedroom to bedroom at the end of each day and tell all four of them goodnight and they hug me and tell me they love me… nothing else matters.

But, back to my fun interview with Ari Zucker. Ari does share something in common with her alter ego Nicole; they are both full of surprises! I asked Ari what would be the most surprising fact her fans could find out. You ready for this? Ari knows how to change her own car's oil. I have to admit that when she told me this, I laughed. Can you all imagine Nicole in coveralls with grease on her face, changing the oil under a car? I couldn't help but ask if Ari would help me out when my oil change date comes around. She happily obliged!

Ari was also sweet enough to give me a rundown of some of her favorite things. Do you share some of the same?

Favorite Movie: "Young Frankenstein" and "Blazing Saddles." Anything Mel Brooks, for that matter!
Favorite TV Show: She admits it, she's a "Grey's Anatomy" fan.
Favorite Song: Anything by Tim McGraw.
Favorite Actor: Daniel Craig (How can you disagree with that one after seeing the latest James Bond?)
Favorite Actress: The one and only Madeline Kahn.
Favorite Book: Any of the classics by Ernest Hemmingway.
Favorite Guilty Pleasure: A nice glass of wine with her husband.
Favorite Cocktail: A dirty (very dirty) martini.

I am what they call the Days Insider. My one and only job is to be your NBC.com backstage guide to Days of our Lives!

For my first post, I had the amazing honor of sitting down and chatting with one of the most down-to-earth, (not to mention beautiful) actresses in the business, Arianne Zucker.

Now most of you recognize Arianne (Or "Ari" as she is called by her friends and colleagues) for playing Salem's resident bad girl, Nicole Walker. But after having the great pleasure of hanging out with Ari, I was quick to realize she is nothing like her character; in fact, she is refreshingly the exact opposite.

I met up with Ari on the set where she had just gotten done filming a scene with Tamara Braun's character, Ava Vitali. It was easy to find Arianne backstage. I just followed the trail of laughter and that led me straight to Tamara's dressing room. Arianne was still dressed in character and politely asked if it was okay she change into something a little more comfortable and joked that she was convinced the dress "Nicole" had to wear in the scene shot that day was really just a tank top and a belt. She met me in a room that on-set calls the "library." The room doesn't resemble a library at all, but it met our needs.

Ari's career took off during her first year of college, when she won a local modeling contest that took her all around the world. Ari lived the jet-setting life of a model from age 18 to her early 20s. She calls that whole time a blur because she was so busy with work and travel. Sounds pretty glamorous to me. I wish somebody asked me to be an international model when I was 18! Sigh.

When Ari returned home, she took classes to be a veterinarian. Then, after taking theatre classes and improv classes while in college, the Days audition came her direction and the role of Nicole was created! Not only that, but she beat out 2,000 girls for the role! I couldn't imagine any other actress playing Nicole Walker, could you?
If you believe in horoscopes, it shouldn't be a great shock to find out that Ari is a Gemini to the core. She admits that she fits the description to a "T." Between being chatty, friendly, spontaneous, artistic, and unpredictable, Ari is also fun to hang around with.

At first I thought I was going to be completely thrown off just talking to her because she really is just as beautiful in person as she is on screen (trust me, not always the case with actors in Hollywood). I also thought I was going to be intimidated by the stunning 5'9" beauty, but by the end of the interview, I was prepared to ask if her if she wanted to grab a margarita at happy hour.

Come by next week to check out my continued interview with Ari, where we talk about the one skill that most of her fans are surprised to learn she has, as well as just a few of her favorite things.

Now you tell me: Who else would you like to see the Days Insider cover? What kind of questions would you like me to ask your favorites on Days of our Lives?

I'll be reading your answers and hoping I can bring you even closer to your favorite Days of our Lives stars. Keep checking back, I promise a lot more fun!

Firstly I apologize for taking such a long time in writing this, time is a commodity I have little of but I am going to make a point of pushing this further up my to-do list as when I get to it I really do quite enjoy blogging. Again, not being much of a blogging expert I am still scratching my head as to what I should write.

I have done a little traveling since my last entry to both South America and Madagascar. Both projects there moving forward well and I offer a few more details as things move forward, for the time being here are a few pics I took along the way:

Eventually we made it down to this river, which we followed for a couple of miles to the camp.

This picture was also taken in March. This amazing smiling girl was amongst a group of children I met when visiting a dumping ground near a market in Mahjunga, Madagascar. They were collecting old tires and bicycle inner tubes to make into imaginary toys. I am often struck by the strength of the imagination and creativity of children in some of the most difficult areas of the world and am continuously inspired by their positive outlook, smiles and resilience.

On a final thought with the recent celebration of Earth Day we were encouraged to consider the planet and our relationship to it and our ability to impact it both for good and bad. An event of global consciousness is being reborn and this is good. I say reborn as it is important to understand that we are not forming a new relationship with our environment rather we are reconnecting to something lost.

Our collective planet, for it is one every living being must all share to survive, represents not only the sustenance of life but the value of life itself. To exist without the tranquility of nature and our neighbors the plants and animals would be so unbearably bleak and lonely as to not amount to any existence at all, or none worth having.

It is this value of life that I believe is so important and so lost. We have found through the mastery and manipulation of nature, a means to separate and control this, the very sustenance of life. Today almost without exception, our basic needs for daily survival can be and are provided as much in factories as in farms (or in some hybrid thereof). The net effect of this has been to dissolve our once precious balance with nature and to empower us with an undeserved and utterly false sense of mastery.

Whilst one can retrace the history of America back to an indigenous population whose understanding of the balance of nature was central to their culture and social order we do not have to look back more than a couple of generations to see a time when America was itself a predominantly rural country, with most communities embedded in the heart of nature. Such exposure brings both conscious and unconscious awareness. In 2007 for the first time in the history of our civilization, a majority of the inhabitants of the world resided in cities. One has to ask oneself how can one protect that which you do not and may never know. The answers are not ahead of us. They are behind us, weaved in a past we must remember for our future.

I leave you with nine simple words and one line worth remembering:

“Nature never did betray the heart that loved her”

William Wordsworth 1798

But now I find I want to do it again. With the impending departure of my oldest two and my babies getting ready for jr. high, I’m wistful and emotional as I stuff carrots in a bag or spoon left over spaghetti in a to-go bowl. In these last months of having all four at home, it’s a privilege and a little bit of a trip down memory lane for me. My lunch-making days are numbered. And that makes me kind of sad…

But onto other things…

My daughter (Jen) participated in a program at her high school called “Every 15 Minutes”. It’s a program the school implemented along with local law enforcement and firefighters to deter teen drunk driving.

It was so powerful and so mind-blowing. I don’t think we’ll ever be the same.

Real, crashed cars were placed on the street in front of the school. Jen was placed inside a gnarly-looking SUV, behind the wheel. One of her friends was placed on the ground, covered in special effects blood. Another of her friends was also covered in fake (but very real looking ) blood and placed behind the wheel of the second vehicle.

The bell rang and students poured out of the school and onto the sidewalk. Then the program began. Fire trucks, paramedic units, police, highway patrol and sheriff’s cars arrived as if it were an actual accident.

Jen was taken out of her car and given a mock field sobriety test. Her acting skills were of value as she pretended to fail the test. Then she was handcuffed and taken off in a California Highway Patrol car down to the city jail lock up. Video cameras caught everything on tape.

My husband and I were invited to attend the mock trial in a very real courtroom with a very real judge, a real District Attorney and a real defense attorney.

Meanwhile, back at the crash site, one of the students was pronounced “dead” and another was taken to the hospital where they later “died”.

Even though I knew it was all fake, my heart dropped to the floor when I saw that student put in a body bag and taken off in the coroner’s van. Jen was given 34 years to life. If it has been a real trial, she wouldn’t be eligible for parole until she was 52.

It wasn’t real. None of it was. But it felt real to her and to us. Talk about scared straight. The students who participated in this staged event will forever be changed. They spent the night in a hotel and didn’t have contact with their parents or friends for 24 hours. Then they went to an all-school assembly the next day and shared their experiences and the videotape of the “crash” and the mock trial were shown.

What can I say? Please log onto the website and take a look. I’ve learned a lot in the past 48 hours. We’re blessed. We didn’t have to go through the real deal to be impacted for life. I don’t want anyone to ever go through it.

We all know one bad choice can affect the rest of your life. But do we really KNOW it? I sure do now.

www.every15minutes.com

So I come back to the week with a little better perspective on things. Which is good because last week I was kind of a basket case. I got C.K.’s progress from school. He’s getting an “F” in American Sign Language. Now, I know we made a mistake putting him in ASL. We thought it was the perfect solution to having to take two years of a foreign language. It was not. He’s doing fine in Physical Science, Government, English, Geometry but not in Sign Language. It’s been the class in which he struggles most. Or, should I say, struggles least. Because, if he doesn’t feel like it, he skips tutoring or pre vocabulary practice and just wings it during Friday’s tests. I knew things weren’t great. I’ve been to enough parent/teacher emergency meetings. I’ve had enough heart-to-heart talks with CK about trying harder. So when I got that ‘F’, my stress level went through the roof. Then I got a text message from CK saying it was my fault because I allowed everyone to talk him into taking that class. That was it. I was dressed and on my way into the studio, but I had just enough time to swing by school--- probably not a good idea, but nothing was stopping me. I cornered my son in the back door of the Student Center during break. And there, in front of all his friends, I let him have it with both barrels. Not my proudest moment. I just kept envisioning his whole life crumbling before him. All the hard work he’d done up to that point-- for nothing. The goal of graduating and college just slipping away.

What I realize now is that CK has a great interest in learning languages. And we’ve never taken him seriously because he struggles so much to express himself appropriately in English. But he is very curious about Spanish and Japanese and Chinese and Korean. What the heck! I told him to go for it in college. But I think his smattering of ASL will stay with him for a long time and eventually, be a blessing.

So that was my Tuesday. I knew the next day wasn’t going to go much better when I got out of bed, looked in the bathroom mirror and cut my own bangs. I’ve been told over and over by my hair salon person (who is just down the street) not to cut my own bangs. But I couldn’t see. And I knew I wasn’t going to have time to go in to the salon for a long time.

So I just got out my scissors and cut. Also, the day before, I’d gone to my son Helio’s, Little League game and put sunscreen on my face. It dripped into my eye and I could feel my upper left eyelid starting to swell from some sort of allergic reaction.

So there I am, at work the next day with funky bangs and a swollen eye, wondering: can I pull off this look? Since I highly doubted that, I covered the mirror in my office at the studio and just went about my business. After a couple of hours, the staff stopped staring, so that was cool. And when I say staff, I mean two really smart, talented guys who make the ship sail smoothly at DAYS. Joe and Ryan.

The other day, I had my two youngest kids with me to work at the studio after school. I knew I wasn’t going to get away till about 7 pm. So I took the kids to get snacks at the commissary. They ate and watched the monitor to see what was being taped on the floor that day. They drew on my big wipeboard and did some homework but they were pretty antsy. Joe was sweet enough to take them on a delivery run around the studio. Helio’s very starstruck and Adelles’s very shy. It was late and production was pretty much done with taping but it was fun for my kids to get into that world, go down and see the sets and meet some of the actors. It’s something they don’t often get to do.

I got a chance to read the responses to my first post. Thanks everybody for caring about me and my family. It meant a lot to me that you didn’t crucify me out of the blocks. For a while there, my kids couldn’t google me without reading the F word. Something about the freedom of the internet doesn’t bring out the soft and tender side of people. But I love and appreciate all my comments and will take all the suggestions about story and about my personal life to heart.

For all you very vocal EJ/Sami fans, I want you to know I had a really good meeting with Ali and James and we are totally on the same page. I so admire the way they feel responsible to make their characters consistent through various head writer changes. I hope to make it an interesting summer for them. But Ali has another job too and we have to share her. We’ll just see how scheduling goes.

I’ve got a meeting with Drake in a few hours. I think he’s being very brave in the character choices he’s making. Lots of good stuff for him coming up…

I just got a text from CK saying he loves me. I guess I do some things right.

Oh, and Adelle wants to give a special thanks to Cyndey Kelley (one of our staff writers) for turning her on to Baked Lays Potato Chips. (This is not an endorsement.)

Greetings! I'm Stuart Howard, a Stage Manager here at "Days of Our Lives." The clever folks who run this website feel that I'm uniquely qualified to provide a peek behind the scenes; because to do my job, you need to have one foot in Salem and another in, well, Burbank!

Good morning, Salem! The Stage Manager is the first person on camera at the start of every taping day. Here I am displaying and announcing the "slate": a tradition that goes back to the earliest days of film and TV.

In a nutshell, the Stage Manager's job is to act as the intermediary between the Control Booth, where the director sits watching the action on monitors, and the Studio, where the action actually is! But I'm more than a walking two-way radio. I also help express the needs of the actors and crew to the director, and vice versa. Finally, I'm responsible for helping to keep things moving by encouraging everyone to concentrate and stay "on mission." Think of me as a combination of messenger, mediator, psychologist, coach, and drill sergeant! Here I am getting some of our cast and extras ready for a big scene in St. Luke's.

I'm not sure what subtle script detail I was discussing with Jay Johnson and Nadia Bjorlin in Brady Pub... but it must have been something serious!

There really is no business like show business. We're the luckiest people in the world; and we know it. I'm very fond of the people I work with. They make the long hours and hard work feel like playtime. Rachel Melvin is one of my favorites: my wife and I would adopt her if her parents would let us!

It's humble, but it's home... at least, my home away from home. It's my desk in the main hallway between Stage 2 and Stage 4 at NBC Studios Burbank. Everyone involved in "Days" passes this spot. I'd like to thank you for stopping by. Keep checking back on the Days Insider Blog for more behind-the-scenes stories – and of course, keep watching "Days!"

I didn’t respond to that comment very well. I’ve been getting notes on my writing all week. Do I need notes about my diary?

My head just exploded.

I think my husband just went back to the desert.

I’ve never blogged before. I asked advice from my 18 year old daughter. She told me that since this is my first entry, I should do some sort of introduction. But I think I’ll just wing it-- plunge in and do some explaining as I go.

Not only is the house quiet but it’s empty. And I kind of feel the emptiness and it’s a little disconcerting.

I have four kids, one husband, two dogs and a cat. The cat and the dogs are here, but almost everyone else is gone.

My oldest son, CK (age 19) is away with his school’s track team. They spent the night in a motel and have a meet today.

My youngest son, Helio (age 13) is enjoying the end of his spring break with his dad in the desert doing father/son bonding things.

My youngest daughter, Adelle (age almost 12) is at a sleepover.

My oldest daughter, Jensen (age 18) is the only one here besides me. She’s asleep in her room. She was up late here at the house last night with friends. I won’t see her till noon.

Anyway, it just occurred to me (after about the 12th text message from him) that CK expresses himself much better and clearer with texting than he does verbally. This realization is a huge relief for me because he’s going pretty far away to college next year and now I know I’ll be able to really communicate with him—probably better than if we were face to face. Am I terrified to send him off? Absolutely. May be it’s a bad idea. May be I’ll change my mind. Argh!

As for my second child-- I checked with Jensen last night and she’d prefer it if I protected her privacy and not talked about her too much on this blog-- and I so have to respect that. We have a great relationship and I’m not about to risk embarrassing her any more than I already do. But I’m looking forward to sharing more about CK and a lot about my two youngest kids. Jensen and CK are our biological kids and our other two are adopted.

Adelle was adopted from Vietnam when she was 17 months old. She was born with no leg below her right knee and her fingers fused together. But she is so beautiful and so funny and smart and full of life. She’s growing so much, her leg constantly has to be adjusted. Dave-the-genius builds all her legs, but he’s a two hour drive from our house and it seems like we have to go there all the time. She gets a new leg about once a year and has lots of adjustment in the interim. Adelle runs and plays until she gets blisters on the end of her stump. It’s frustrating because she doesn’t want anything to slow her down.

Helio came to us from Ethiopia when he was almost 9. He spoke no English. Now (five years later) he is Student Body President of his school. He has an amazing outlook on life and a charisma that is undeniable. But he’s going through a “I didn’t mean that” phase where he apparently doesn’t mean what he says or say what he really means. Very frustrating. He wants to be with his friends all the time and the phone rings off the hook with calls for him… mostly from girls.

Both Helio and Adelle are graduating from 6th grade this June and getting ready for Middle School. So… I have two Seniors graduating from high school this year and two matriculating 6th graders. June is going to be insane.

Yes, I’m the Head Writer at DAYS. I wanted to put myself out there as someone who has this crazy family. I readily admit that I’m stressed all the time and (as one of my bosses said) a little nuts. If only I could finish a thought or a sentence or…

Ooops, have to go. Adelle is texting me now. She wants me to pick her up from her sleepover. And when I do I’ve been asked to bring her new jean shorts and a laundry list of other fashion supplies. Why? I don’t know. Oh, and she wants me to use this blog to tell everyone that she loves Kevin Jonas. Apparently she doesn’t have her sister’s privacy issues.

Welcome to my blog.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas or Holiday – personally I celebrated Christmas – I am not a Christian, but as it’s a delineation of a pagan festival I am giving myself a get out of jail free card on this one.

(The date of December 25th probably originated with the ancient "birthday" of the son-god, Mithra, a pagan deity whose religious influence became widespread in the Roman Empire during the first few centuries A.D. Mithra was related to the Semitic sun-god, Shamash, and his worship spread throughout Asia to Europe where he was called Deus Sol Invictus Mithras. Rome was well-known for absorbing the pagan religions and rituals of its widespread empire. As such, Rome converted this pagan legacy to a celebration of the god, Saturn, and the rebirth of the sun god during the winter solstice period. The winter holiday became known as Saturnalia and began the week prior to December 25th. The festival was characterized by gift-giving, feasting, singing and downright debauchery, as the priests of Saturn carried wreaths of evergreen boughs in procession throughout the Roman temples.)

For the second year I opted to neither give nor receive gifts. Instead, I made donations to various charities on behalf of those who would otherwise have received gifts and encouraged others to do the same. There are a lot of organizations that offer this, my favorite, and my main source of gifts, is a great organization called Heifer International. Here you can purchase a variety of animals that are then donated to struggling communities in the developing world. From chickens (or chicks) to cows and goats I love this organization and encourage all of you to consider it when the time comes next year.

I have not yet decided how to use this ‘blog’ there is so much to say in so little space so I think I will mix it up a little, so there will be some personal stuff, some work stuff and anything else that falls in between from opinion to commentary. It’s going to be an great year and I am very much looking forward to 2008 both personally, with my upcoming wedding, and professionally - who knows what is happening there, but its certainly going to be an interesting year.

Check in again soon,
James