1) I took the commuter train into work this morning, and picked up the new February 2005 Special Star Wars Collector's Edition of Vanity Fair at Union Station. Most of the principal actors and characters from the entire trilogy are pictured on the four panel fold-out cover. It's amazing to think back to the time I was in line as a little kid to see the first movie in '77, and now on May 19th, 28 years later, the arrival of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, finally completes the saga. The article, which is illustrated with large behind-the-scenes photos showing tired-looking Lucasfilm employees, doesn't give anything away of the plot. I was rudely yanked back from the Galaxy Far, Far Away because the article right after is about new accounts of prisoner abuse in Iraq.

2) On my way to grab a coffee from the office cafeteria before our director's meeting, I spotted the news on our lobby screen that our building is closed for the Inauguration on January 20th. It'll be nice to have a day off, but I know some people who won't be celebrating. Counting the Martin Luther King Holiday on Monday, and two days in Boston, I'm in the office one day next week. Of course I'm awash in wireless options everywhere I go, so I can't hide.

3) We catered in lunch for our staff meeting today in one of the boardrooms. I was leading the agenda today, and this is what 90% turnout of our staff looks like. It's quite a mob now with the arrival of a bunch of new hires, and even one person was patched in from Chicago on speaker phone.

4) Liz started a new thing called "First Five" today, where at the beginning of staff meetings, someone from the team will give an interesting talk or demo on anything loosely related to our work. Her topic was a capsule review of the book The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations.

5) Cianna took a long nap this afternoon with my mom after her exciting trip with mommy to visit to the doc for a routine check-up. There was poking and prodding, two needles and lots of screaming. But she got a clean bill of health. The doc assured us that the small lump above her right temple is not one of a pair of horns about to pop out.

6) I close with this photo of not the inside of my scratchy throat, but the orange goop inside of a DayQuill bottle. I will be chugging this stuff tomorrow because I now have my wife and daughter's cold.

- and so, a day in the life of mike lee - langley park, md