Happy Boxing Day!
Lacking any sort of real ambition at the moment, the planned bank deposit and trip for petrol in the Firebolt is hereby postponed 'til, I dunno, tomorrow morning before heading out to Charlotte for a mall trip. (What? We don't have an Eddie Bauer here. And sometimes you just want to, you know, physically handle something before you purchase it with free money.)
It's amazing how fast bonus money (gift card and then some surprise cash money from the executive council on Friday!) can burn a hole in your wallet. Oh, and league winnings. More on that later.
But, yeah, the siren-esque call of a plate of cookies and some hot coffee that is passing as today's lunch and some overdue LJ-ing won out over being productive. Work was a complete waste of time today, but I went in for a few hours per the arrangement. Three phone calls in five four hours. At 3:00, I figured I could read Deadspin and play on MySpace at home, so off I went.
I hope that everyone had a nice, enjoyable Christmas. I did ... though it took until Friday afternoon at work for me to really get into the spirit. The holidays haven't been as much fun since my maternal grandfather died ten years ago last week (never knew the paternal one). Jared and I got out of school for Christmas and were met at home with the news that he'd had a massive heart attack doing charity work. The medical folk said he was probably dead before he hit the sidewalk. The next morning we were off to Pennsylvania. Christmas Eve morning we were at their church for the funeral. Lousy Christmas, that was.
Anyway, my family, the extended ones anyway, is not close at all. We're small to begin with, but the family we have we go years without seeing sometimes. I've never really known my cousins. But the grandparents at least held us together a bit and we could count on seeing people around the holidays if we went up to Pennsylvania. I always liked that. Now that grandma is dead too, the glue's gone. I miss that stuff terribly and the holidays haven't been the same since. I'm holding out for good minimally adequate in-laws, but at this point maybe I should do the mail-order bride thing just get another plate of cookies.
With Friday, however, finally came the nice holiday feeling (from where, I do not know, but I won't ask questions). Saturday I even baked two batches of cookies. Church was a ghost town on Sunday, but it was nice to worship in my own church the day before Christmas. Christmas Eve is for the 11:00 p.m. service at mom and dad's church. We get out at midnight, which is cool and it's always a nice service. It was nicer at the old property because it was candlelight ... unlike Shandon, they're skittish about candles in their new digs. I don't blame them, though. And there's a fringe benefit to going there that isn't. One can dream, tho'...
And Christmas itself was nice. Not because of getting or having a break from the grind, but because if you don't let yourself get caught up in the hype, slick marketing tactics and rampant commercialism, there's a lot of good in the holiday: traditions, focus on others (and cookies). People like to bemoan this time of year (other holidays as well) for the negatives and go so far as to call it hypocritical. It certainly can be, if you let it be. Christmas is not inherently bad! But there are people out there who seem to enjoy finding the negative and enjoy some self-righteous kvetching. Why let what other people do affect your perception of something good? But I digress.
Various and Sundry:
Manchester United beat Wigan 3-1 today at Old Trafford and gained points on Chelsea, who drew with Reading.
Christmas Day also brough a podium finish for the Dublin Shamrocks FC. We managed third place for the 2006 season (and $30 for our troubles!), which is pretty lucky for having mediocre running backs and receivers. Andrew earned a well-deserved Ben Franklin for taking the championship game against Ben. Michael rounded out the top four/money winners.
The Steelers' season was effectively ended yesterday after we totally sucked lost against the Ravens. No playoffs for the defending champs, so no title defense. That's miserable, folks. But I believe 100% that we will be back next year when there should be fewer off-field distractions. Next Sunday we can have the pleasure of making the Bungles join us on the golf course if we close things out with a win at Cincinnati the new Cleveland. Those people have such an inferiority complex when it comes to the Steelers that it would make the season to know we kept them home. PLEEEEASE win, guys.
RIP, James Brown. Papa's got a brand new (body)bag. What, too soon? Tasteless humor aside, he was a pioneer and his contributions to music are worth our remembering.
That's all I've got for ya. Enjoy the rest of your Boxing Day! I should have RAPPTOR Award nods out later in the week to close out the year in TRR.
It's amazing how fast bonus money (gift card and then some surprise cash money from the executive council on Friday!) can burn a hole in your wallet. Oh, and league winnings. More on that later.
But, yeah, the siren-esque call of a plate of cookies and some hot coffee that is passing as today's lunch and some overdue LJ-ing won out over being productive. Work was a complete waste of time today, but I went in for a few hours per the arrangement. Three phone calls in five four hours. At 3:00, I figured I could read Deadspin and play on MySpace at home, so off I went.
I hope that everyone had a nice, enjoyable Christmas. I did ... though it took until Friday afternoon at work for me to really get into the spirit. The holidays haven't been as much fun since my maternal grandfather died ten years ago last week (never knew the paternal one). Jared and I got out of school for Christmas and were met at home with the news that he'd had a massive heart attack doing charity work. The medical folk said he was probably dead before he hit the sidewalk. The next morning we were off to Pennsylvania. Christmas Eve morning we were at their church for the funeral. Lousy Christmas, that was.
Anyway, my family, the extended ones anyway, is not close at all. We're small to begin with, but the family we have we go years without seeing sometimes. I've never really known my cousins. But the grandparents at least held us together a bit and we could count on seeing people around the holidays if we went up to Pennsylvania. I always liked that. Now that grandma is dead too, the glue's gone. I miss that stuff terribly and the holidays haven't been the same since. I'm holding out for good minimally adequate in-laws, but at this point maybe I should do the mail-order bride thing just get another plate of cookies.
With Friday, however, finally came the nice holiday feeling (from where, I do not know, but I won't ask questions). Saturday I even baked two batches of cookies. Church was a ghost town on Sunday, but it was nice to worship in my own church the day before Christmas. Christmas Eve is for the 11:00 p.m. service at mom and dad's church. We get out at midnight, which is cool and it's always a nice service. It was nicer at the old property because it was candlelight ... unlike Shandon, they're skittish about candles in their new digs. I don't blame them, though. And there's a fringe benefit to going there that isn't. One can dream, tho'...
And Christmas itself was nice. Not because of getting or having a break from the grind, but because if you don't let yourself get caught up in the hype, slick marketing tactics and rampant commercialism, there's a lot of good in the holiday: traditions, focus on others (and cookies). People like to bemoan this time of year (other holidays as well) for the negatives and go so far as to call it hypocritical. It certainly can be, if you let it be. Christmas is not inherently bad! But there are people out there who seem to enjoy finding the negative and enjoy some self-righteous kvetching. Why let what other people do affect your perception of something good? But I digress.
Various and Sundry:
Manchester United beat Wigan 3-1 today at Old Trafford and gained points on Chelsea, who drew with Reading.
Christmas Day also brough a podium finish for the Dublin Shamrocks FC. We managed third place for the 2006 season (and $30 for our troubles!), which is pretty lucky for having mediocre running backs and receivers. Andrew earned a well-deserved Ben Franklin for taking the championship game against Ben. Michael rounded out the top four/money winners.
The Steelers' season was effectively ended yesterday after we totally sucked lost against the Ravens. No playoffs for the defending champs, so no title defense. That's miserable, folks. But I believe 100% that we will be back next year when there should be fewer off-field distractions. Next Sunday we can have the pleasure of making the Bungles join us on the golf course if we close things out with a win at Cincinnati the new Cleveland. Those people have such an inferiority complex when it comes to the Steelers that it would make the season to know we kept them home. PLEEEEASE win, guys.
RIP, James Brown. Papa's got a brand new (body)bag. What, too soon? Tasteless humor aside, he was a pioneer and his contributions to music are worth our remembering.
That's all I've got for ya. Enjoy the rest of your Boxing Day! I should have RAPPTOR Award nods out later in the week to close out the year in TRR.