First Door on the Left

I went in and served my sentence of four hours at the office this morning. When I got home, the s/o had a fire burning in the fireplace and dinner waiting just like he said he would. You know, he can be downright sweet when he puts his mind to it. Dinner was takeout barbecue, but, hey, it’s the thought that counts. Plus, it was actually kind of good for takeout.

After we ate, we got all comfy and cozy in front of the fire and watched the football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Redskins. Dallas has won the last nine of these games against Washington, but with the team that Dallas has this year I thought Washington might break the streak. Turned out the team Washington has this year is no better than the team Dallas has, and Dallas ended up winning 27 to 20. Make that 10 in a row for Dallas.

All in all, a good Thanksgiving. I know I bitch and moan a lot, but when it comes right down to it, I do have a few things to be thankful for. How was your day? Do your favorite jeans still fit?

I am still in search of the perfect color combination for this page, so if you notice that the colors change from one visit to the next (yeah, like anybody’s visiting), please be patient. I’ll eventually settle on some colors. Meanwhile, the search continues. Oh, and feel free to comment. Nobody else does.

Last Thanksgiving was the last Thanksgiving my family will likely ever spend together. I was home at Mom and Dad’s house; my sister and her daughter were there, as were my brother and his daughter and my youngest brother and his wife and three kids.

My Dad passed away in February.

This Thanksgiving, I will be here working. Mom is going to spend the holiday with my youngest brother and his wife and kids (now numbering four). My other brother will be traveling out of town to check on some duplexes he is having built as an investment. His daughter is flying out to spend the holidays with her mother and that side of the family. My sister will be staying home with her kids and their kids.

I will only have to work four hours on Thanksgiving Day, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The s/o has the day off. He has been saying that he will have a fire burning in the fireplace and dinner ready when I get home. That would indeed be a pleasant surprise.

Somehow I seem to be having a little trouble finding the holiday spirit this year. I wonder why.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Canadian Official Who Called Bush a Moron Resigns

It is really sad when somebody loses their job simply because they told the truth.

The line at the checkout stand at the grocery store was rather long Monday afternoon. People gearing up for their Thanksgiving feasts, you know. In front of me was a lady talking on her cell phone to her daughter, who was obviously away at school someplace. They continued talking as the checkout lady scanned Mom’s full basket of groceries. When it came time to write the check (why do people persist in writing checks these days? (but that’s another entry for another time)), Mom closed with “I have to go now, babe. I’ll e-mail you when I get home.”

Isn’t modern communication marvelous?

Neither cell phones nor e-mail had yet been invented when I was in college. That was a long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. I wonder how we ever communicated? I’ll tell you how…. we wrote letters! How long has it been since you wrote a letter? I still have some of the letters my Mom wrote me while I was in school. It’s fun to get them out and read them once in a while. They bring back a lot of memories.

I wonder if “babe” will save her Mom’s e-mails? I hope so.

Somehow, these two stories seem related. Parents expect schools to “protect” their children.

Protect them from what? The real world? Aren’t kids supposed to be going to school to get an education? Why not expose them to some of what they are going to be faced with in the real world?

I will agree that schools need to protect children from snipers, sexual predators and the like, especially these days. I will also agree that the father who chaperoned his son’s fourth grade class while dressed in women’s clothing was perhaps carrying things a bit far. However, I do not think schools should be protecting children from reality. They need to be exposed to some of the things they are going to be faced with when they are finally forced out into the cold, cruel world. How many times during your day do you use (x + y)/3.2 = b*(a/c)? Unless you are a math teacher, I’d bet not often.

Then…

…and now…

I do not remember much of what I learned in college. That is probably a good thing, because most of what I learned is obsolete now anyway. I do remember one thing, though. It was from a class in developmental psychology. The professor had a theory about the relationship between the positions people sleep in and their personality types.

It went like this: if you sleep on your back, you are an extrovert with nothing to hide; if you sleep on your stomach, you are an introvert and have plenty to hide; and, if you sleep on your side, you fall somewhere in between.

I think this theory may apply to the background colors people use on their websites. People who use white or bright colors in their backgrounds would be the people who sleep on their backs. People who use black or dark colors would be those who sleep on their stomachs. People who use shades of grey or medium colors are those who sleep on their sides.

So, I switched to a (mostly) white background. I usually sleep on my back, except when somebody pokes me in the ribs and tells me to roll over because he had a dream that I was snoring. It has to be his dreams, because I know I do not snore. I haven’t heard myself yet. Besides, he talks and clicks his tongue.

(Gratuitous link: what happens when Puberty Hits at Hogwarts.)

At work Saturday night a filling fell out of one of my front teeth. I went to the dentist this morning to have it replaced. $285.00. Ouch. The holiday season must be upon us, because I think he wants to pad his Christmas fund. He now wants to put crowns on four of my front teeth, at $1100 per tooth. Double ouch. I wonder how much of that the insurance would cover? Guess I’ll have to call them and find out.

I plan on doing basically nothing for the rest of day. I especially plan on not going into the office. I’ll probably not even leave the house, because it seems that every time I do it costs me money. I don’t have a lot of money. Won’t you send me some? Please? Sexual favors are not out of the question here.

I don’t have to tell you who this is, do I?

(I have a picture of the s/o from back when we first met. I swear, if you put the two side by side, you would not be able to tell the difference.)

From Uncle Bob, via Jhames…

The Play of the Year

You need to go read this story. It’ll make you smile, and maybe believe there really are some good people left in this world.