Category: Holidays

Although it looks more like Christmas than Thanksgiving.

It’s funny for years we’ve always been able to count on Thanksgiving being cold maybe a little snow, but generally cold and clear.

This year we’ve been thrown a curve. 

It’s snowing like it’s January. And it’s showing no sign of letting up. We can use the water. But once again a lot of this water falling as rain at the lower elevations is running right into the ocean.

Probably not a bad thing since all the crap from the coastal cities that gets washed into the ocean will need a lot of water to dilute it. But there’s the other part of me that says perhaps it would be a better idea to have the ability to capture and store some of that water for periods of drought.

The California political leaders don’t see it that way and continue to mis-spend too much of the tax revenues on “Soft” things instead of infrastructure.

But that’s another discussion for another time.

It’s thanksgiving. I ‘m home safe and warm but will be doing a lot of work with the snow shovel today.

The only real concern I have is the accumulation on the roof. There’s a vent pipe to the furnace that can get covered. If that happens, the furnace will shut down and then it will get mighty cold in here.

I can use the fireplace as long as the wind isn’t too strong. This fireplace doesn’t draw very well and strong winds causes the smoke to blow right back down the chimney.

So I may have to get the ladder out to clear the roof around the furnace vent. I’ll dela with that when it gets a little brighter. Right now it’s twilight outside, due to the cloud cover.

We’ve got multiple winter storm warnings. It’s COLD! Last week I was running around in a t-shirt during the day it was in the upper 60’s. This week the high is predicted to be 30.

Reminds me of Kentucky. If you don’t like the weather… wait an hour.

The plus side is that by the time this clears I expect all the plants in the front yard will be asleep. Which means that I can do a little surgery and pot some portions of some of them for a friend.

We were worried that it would be another dry winter. It might be, evidence notwithstanding but typically lots of snow around the beginning of December means it’s going to be wet and rain/snow may last until March.

I’m glad I had no plans to go anywhere. It’s nice to sit here watching the snow and have my feet up. I’ll be cooking a small thanksgiving dinner and then maybe later I’ll bake some cookies.

Ok so this one is a bit late.

Happy Thanksgiving anyway. I hope that you and your family had a lovely dinner.

Happy Black Friday then!

For those of you heading out to begin your Christmas Shopping…

May God have mercy on your soul!

I used to enjoy going to Malls on Black Friday. I’d go with friends and we’d shop the day away, it was a good time and while crowded, it was just the right amount of crowding.

Then about a decade or so ago, Black Friday shopping crossed a threshold where it simply wasn’t any fun anymore. People aren’t into the holiday spirit, they’re into finding the deals FOR THEM. No-one says Merry Christmas anymore, they say Happy Holidays or Thank you and that’s it.

Christmas decorations have become more and more “Politically Correct” and protesters of various stripes are to be seen at shopping centers. The combination has bled all the fun right out of the season.

I used to like going to malls during this season to see how each mall decorated. Their creativity or whimsy was a joy to see, and much like the old Macy’s / Gimbels rivalry, attracted people to the malls to shop and enjoy the decorations.

Now, it’s all homogenous. Everything looks the same, one mall is like another so what’s the point of making a trek to a mall that’s 20 miles away when the one that’s 5 miles away is exactly the same. It probably doesn’t help that many of the malls are owned by the same consortium. 

My point is, politics, special interests, and “Political Correctness” has taken what used to be a fun season and turned it into a hollow, insincere, boring, and in some cases tasteless, version of itself. I am less and less interested in the season and even now one day one, I look forward to it being over.

Last year, most of what little Holiday Shopping I did was done online. I tried shopping once at a mall, not on Black Friday and it was so awful with parking, crowds, and bad tempered people that I simply left the place empty handed. Spending money shouldn’t be a scrimmage line activity, it should be a pleasurable experience.

When you give a gift you should be thinking about the joy it will give someone, not the nasty people you had to endure to obtain the gift.

I think that’s why so much commerce is being done onlline. It may not be about the deals, it’s about not having to interact with assholes. 

Shopping in front of my computer is a hell of a lot easier than fighting for parking. (I also don’t have to get up early, get dressed, or deal with traffic.)

Which brings me to my second point. In a season that’s supposed to be about peace on earth and good will towards men (generically meaning mankind, everyone, all homo sapiens) we’re separated by commerce and our technology instead of being happy and uniting.

I suspect this means in the future we’ll see much more bad behavior, simply because we’re all forgetting how to interact in a reasonable way with each other. 

I honestly don’t know what the solution is. If you stopped e-commerce there would surely be riots at malls across the country. However, it appears that as I’m writing this mini-riots are breaking out over children’s toys.

I know it’s a kinda of a dystopian view but I’m calling it as I see it.

So if you’re out shopping, try to enjoy yourself. Remember that you’ve got about a month to find that perfect gift in the store, and failing that, you can sit naked in front of your computer and have that perfect gift drop shipped from China directly to the recipients door.

Try to enjoy the people you’ve chosen to be with this holiday weekend.

Remember, This season is supposed to be about kindness, and family.

Just my two cents…

The weather isn’t frightful, but it has been raining in San Diego.

First time in many years that I’ve been working on a major holiday. This is a strange experience but I’m getting paid Time & 1/2 so it’s worth it.

Thankful for the iPad, I’ve watched Die Hard and am watching Die Hard 2, a couple of my favorite Christmas movies.

If I have to sit here in an office waiting for a phone call, There’s no reason for me to have to be bored doing it.

The new iPad with multi-tasking and the ability to have video playing in a small window is very cool.

Things are quiet here but all things considered I’d rather be home with myself family. I know… DUH!

Just a couple more hours and I’m outta here.

I hope that everyone is having a great Christmas.

I hope that everyone has a safe happy holiday.

For those of you working today…

THANK YOU!

I hope that you have a chance to spend time with your friends and family.

But most of all…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!