'All that noise noise noise'

We are watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Not the new one with Jim Carrey, but the old school one. You know, the good version.


Christmas has officially shown up in the ICT. Not in the form of snow or presents, but in the form of decorations. We are ready for our families to come down and visit for practically the entire month of December. We put up lights on the balcony earlier this week and set up our christmas tree last night. It seems too early to do so but on the other hand, it is fun to decorate this time of year. It makes the apartment festive and with the lack of snow in the area, the decorations are that much more important. It doesn't feel like the end of November/ beginning of December with no snow. It has been cold enough to snow, in the thirties and forties at night, but then it gets up into the fifties or even sixties during the day.







Stupid Kansas.....

32 days

It's funny how when you are a kid, the year goes by so slowly. Three hundred and sixty five (or six) days drag on and on. Maybe because the number just seems so daunting. As you get older, the time starts to pick up. Throughout high school and college, the only time that goes by too quick is during summer or winter breaks. After school, work consumes your life and there are no three month breaks (unless you teach, but even then there is work to be done). Vacations consist of a week or maybe two if you have been working for half your life.

I suppose at the beginning of the year, you can look at a calendar and think of how long twelve months truly is. But then you forget about it as if it were a New Year's resolution. Then lo and behold, it is past the summer and into the fall. Retail stores are getting ready for Christmas all over again and your mind wanders back to the beginning of the year and thinks......




Where the hell did those ten months go?

Thanksgiving

Not much good can be taken away when you spend holidays close to 1200 miles apart from your family. So we try to make the best of it. A small dinner, just for two this year, followed up by a night with some friends. That's it. That was our Thanksgiving. Who needs a big dinner when one can be cooked in just a couple of hours?
It was so tasty. And relaxing. While in high school and college, we had two dinners for holidays. It sounds great doesn't it? Well it was for the first couple of times. And then it just got awful. There was so much food. I felt the only way to prepare for those dinners was to fast for three days before hand. And then there was the time factor. How much time needed to be spent at each house, before the meal and after. No one wants to eat and run. By the time college rolled around, we had it all down to a science. Complete with mental spreadsheets. At the end of a big holiday meal, all anyone wants to do is sit around, have one more beer, and slip into a coma for the next few days.

That time of year

Two days from now, I will have to roll out of bed at one in the morning for work. I will start my work day an hour later. Two o'clock in the morning. It is the busiest day of the year. I have always wondered two things about Black Friday.
1.) How did it start? I understand the name. It is when a store or company start to actually make money. The fourth quarter is when you go from red in the books to black. Apparently though, in 1869, there was a stock market scandal in which some people tried to corner the gold market (I love the not always reliable Wikipedia). But who had the idea to drop the prices on pretty much everything and to open at such an ungodly hour? Which brings me to my next point....

2.) Who the hell wants to stand in line for a couple of hours, in the freezing cold in some places, just to save some money? Especially if you have to get up at two or three in the morning. The only reason I am up is because of what I do. If I didn't work in retail, there is no way in hell someone could convince me to stand in line to go shopping. It brings out the worst in some people. The people that come into the store four hours after opening and wonder why the 56 inch t.v. that was dirt cheap isn't in stock anymore. Most people in the store are happy with what they get. They are usually out for one or two things and once they get that, everything else is just gravy.




And gravy for the stores I suppose.

La musica

I'm listening to The Who Live at Leeds right now. I got the album via ebay (best place for old records). It makes me sad about the music situation we are in now. Whenever I see clips of concerts from the 60s and 70s it is the band on stage playing. And eventually, if the stars aligned properly, destroy their instruments. I watched a recording of a concert by The Who that was shown on PBS earlier this year and I was in awe. They were just up there playing and singing and more than likely high on something. It was great to just get the opportunity to watch it even though the concert was from 1977 (I think).

Where have all the artists gone? Now concerts seem to be big dance productions and lip synching.