I had a scheduled day off which would have been perfect, except I had to wait for the FedEx guy. How come they take less heat than the cable guy? I think it's because you get to track your packages online, but still have no idea when the guy will show up. On Tuesday, I left work early because I knew I had two deliveries coming. The FedEx Ground guy called me and I scheduled that for 1:00. So, leaving at Noon, I thought I'd get them both. Nope. The regular FedEx guy came at Noon and when I went out to the facility after 5:30, the driver still had not shown up when I left 15 minutes later. Oh, online I could see it made it back at 6:15, but I had a game to go to. Hence, I had to wait for him again today. And he showed about 12:20.

Which gave me the opportunity to see my niece in the Christmas pageant at her school. I actually had a good time. I think the K-5 kids all get to participate, while I guess grades 6-8 are already jaded like me, so they just attend. If this doesn't show that Christmas is for the kids, I don't know what does. They concocted some story about Christmas wishes, and it's funny to see how the kids react. Some kids are into performing, some a little too much. Others go through the motions, while others look terrified. It was a great study in seeing who will have major psychological problems later in life.

The highlight for me was the one kid who played Santa. And after his grade sung a song, he shook hands with everyone in the front row. Not exactly my choice of seating,, but my Dad was in charge. So I told the kid "Merry Christmas, Santa!". I wanted to ask him if he got my letter, but I did not want to confuse the issue.

When I got home, I realized I still had some Christmas shopping to do and that with my upcoming schedule, I needed to get moving on some Christmas wrapping. I opted for my wrapping, and then got one gift and am now beyond 8:30. So, it was rather productive today.

Meal of Links

Mark Bittman, whose cookbook I use, has another NYTimes article. This one on 101 appetizers in 20 minutes or less. Admittedly, I don't have a lot of those ingredients on hand, but they look good.

A hodge-podge of artists sing "Winter Wonderland". Christmas song alert: Hall and Oates lurking below.

"Charlie Wilson's War" has lots of truth in it. Trailers look pretty good.

On the Seventh Day of Christmas
"Jingle Bell Rock"/Hall and Oates

Couldn't hold off much longer. It's quite possibly the worst Christmas video ever produced. Can people act any more gay? Absolutely horrid. Strange walking, worse head bobbing, G.E. Smith on guitar, Santa magically appears, as do the revelers that were initially kept outside. No good at all. Favorite Line: "Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time."



Exercise Yard

Curt Schilling opens up on steroids. I think he makes some good points. I also don't believe that fans don't care. When they come to the realization that your team was beat because your guys were clean and lost, or the opponents had the better roids, I can't see how you can't be irked about that.

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