yikes!

So, I made it home after about 7.5 hours.  Woohoo!  There were many points along the drive where I said to myself and anyone who happened to call, "What the fuck was I thinking?!"  Anyway, I'm glad I did.  I get to hang out with the fam, watch Planet Earth on BlueRay, play with the pooch and cat, AND play Crazy-Hat Monopoly... or Mexican Train dominos.

Happy Holidays.  Travel safe.  Or stay home and reschedule your festivities.

a mixed bag, but on the whold, pretty good

Things to report from the last week or so:

• being iced in is lame. even with the latest technologies to keep me entertained. much prefer the option to leave.
• migraines have been scarce lately. BUT! I did have a glass of wine last night and do have something extremely funky going on in my head at the moment. there could, however, be another explanation... no established patterns regarding wine yet.
• my powers of persuasion and coordination combined with a general feeling of if-not-now-when? to create an extended international trip this spring. On the docket we've got Germany, Ireland, a certain trailer in the Alps with a hot cup of Jägertee, and mayhaps even Istanbul (not Constantinople)
• I'm behind in my Christmas shopping.
• I'm extremely happy with the fact that I won't be working at all next week.
• I'm extremely happy with the fact that I'll be working the week after next.
  

Ice and Snow, Snow and Ice

So, there's a "snow and ice emergency" in effect. Move your cars from the main roads so they can plow/sand/de-ice/et cetera. We finally saw snow when we woke up this morning, a bit later than predicted. I can hear people spinning their tires trying to move their cars. Three things to carry to help you out of such a situation: kitty litter, carpet sample (I hear it does in fact work), or..... Yeah. That third one escaped me.

Anyway, if you're after a look at the snow, try the U of O Webcam. I tracked it down from a distant memory for y'all to enjoy. Besides, its cold outside. I don't want to go take a picture of people sliding around. Big Ups to the ability to work from home.

As a side note, I braved the mall yesterday for the first time this holiday season. One of the more entertaining thins I saw was a mom trying to convince her little son that he should want to give his dad a Christmas present. He refused. She kept at it. He caved. "So what would you like to get him, then?" Mom inquires. Kid: "A bag. A paper bag."

the longest week ever... maybe

I don't know if its because we're just now at the midway point between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but this week just seemed to drag on. and on. and on. That okay though. Its Friday. I really have no pithy comment beyond that. It is the end to a long week, after all. Anyway, we're on the final slide towards the holidays so I thought I'd share some things that have kept me going. Apply liberally.

• coffee
• toast with peanut butter and jelly
• elbow (see video below)
• new adventures! I used my butcher block table!
• dodgeball playoffs... alas, we did not win.
• Deadwood... I feel as if I reviewed my notes from Advanced Cussing 401
• evolving schemes of travel

Elbow - One Day Like This


Elbow - Grounds foe Divorce

Thanks, yo

Generally speaking, I like to hide under a rock on my birthday. Thanks to KFR, I cannot do that this year. Its not that I don't enjoy birthdays, I just like to run away from the extra fuss and attention that can accompany them. And this applies only to my own. Anyway, a couple of years ago I really had no say in the extra fuss. I took to calling it my birthday week, actually. That was a bit much. I annoyed myself by the end. Anyway, to my birthday wish list:

• may you raise a drink to good friends
• may your play list include the following songs: Sin Wagon by the Dixie Chicks, Speaking in Tongues by the Eagles of Death Metal, and The Happy Song (Dum Dum) by Mr. Otis Redding.
• may you be able to enjoy the sunshine this fine Friday
  

Mazel tov!

chicken tic tac toe

In my auspicious home town there was once lovely store aptly named "The Country Store". Its difficult for me to describe how grand this store was. They had a fantastic shoe section (my love of shoes started early), sold industrial amounts of toilet paper in large cardboard boxes (before such things as Costco arrived), and had a Tic Tac Toe game where your opponent was a chicken. That's right. You could play Tic Tac Toe against a real, live, and dare I say cunning, chicken. Visits to this store always meant fun. And how could it not be? Honestly? I mean, you match wits with a chicken and then leave the store with the knowledge that the giant toilet paper box would soon turn into a play house. Like magic. All one had to do was to get an adult to turn the box upside down and cut out windows and a door. If you had a marker you could even tell the adults where to cut.

Little did I know that you can now play Tic Tac Toe against chickens in casinos all across this great land. Oh, and that the Country Store would soon die and be replaced with a Home Depot. Such is life.

I hope to never encounter chicken Tic Tac Toe again. I'd like to keep that one locked away in a happy place of distant memory rather than some smoke-filled, sleazy, small-town casino... not to mention that whole animal cruelty thing.