The Adventures of Jim...

Ever the student...

Since I joined Toastmasters, but specifically since I got involved in the speech contests, I have been in sponge/student mode.  By that, I mean that I'm always on the lookout for examples of speaking styles and techniques (both good & bad) from which I can learn.  I don't necessarily seek to copy those good techniques.  Rather, I seek to learn why they work, and whether or not there is any aspect of them that I can/should incorporate into my speaking style.

If being in that sponge/student mode is good for speaking, how much better is it to do that with life issues in general?  And I'm fortunate to be married to someone to whom that applies.

This past week, Angie and I were at the Toastmasters International annual convention.  On one of the days of the conference, we got pulled in to watch & evaluate the practice of Mary Cheyne, one of the finalists in this year's World Championship of Public Speaking.  Also part of the small group, was my World Champion colleague and good friend, Darren LaCroix.

Darren mentioned that since it was a very short time until the speech contest, Mary's supporters needed to shift from the mode of evaluators & coaches to that of a cheerleader.  The idea was that encouragement and love would boost her, and give her the right attitude for when she hit the stage.  He mentioned that in 2001, he told his friends that he would not be answering his phone, but he wanted to have them call it anyway, for the purpose of leaving an encouraging, uplifting message that he could listen to shortly before the contest.

Though his story had to do with something related to the speech contest, Angie recognized the application.  Without 'over-sharing', I can tell you that Angie was facing a surgery this week, and she was feeling a little anxious about it.  So she posted a note onto Facebook, asking her friends to call her phone and leave uplifting, encouraging, and/or entertaining messages that she could listen to after the surgery when she would be in recovery.

She got a good number of calls, some from long time friends, and some from friends we just met at the TI convention.  Those calls made her laugh, and that helped.  To those who called, we give a sincere 'thank you'.

To Darren, for unknowingly planting the idea of a great coping/therapy technique, a big THANKS to you, my friend.

And to you...the person reading this note...a challenge.  Be on the lookout for little hints and tips that you can pick up from other people, which will allow you to make your life just a little bit better.  In other words, join me in adopting the personal mantra of "ever the student"...

Observations from a hospital day

If you knew that you've got to get up much earlier tomorrow morning than normal, wouldn't you go to bed early tonight?  The problem with that is that it makes too much sense.  Yet, that was my plan.  Angie had to go in to the hospital for a 7:15 AM surgical procedure.  That meant we had to be at the hospital at 6, which meant we had to get up around 5.

While I had every intention of going to bed no later than 9, reality turned out to be closer to midnight.  <...yawn...>  So, I'm tired.

When they took Angie in to surgery, I went to the waiting room.  When I entered, there were only one or two people.  There was a large TV on one wall, so that would probably have done a good job in keeping my boredom at bay.  But, thanks to the age in which we live, technology gives us options.  The hospital's WiFi means that I can check my e-mail, do some web surfing, etc.  All of that is a good-good.

But...

A few weeks ago, A Slingbox came to live at my house.  For those who don't know what that is, it is a box that you connect to your cable box/DVR and to your internet connection.  Then, you can access it from anywhere in the world, such as oversease, a far-away hotel room, or...a hospital waiting room.  Once you access it, you can watch either live TV or anything you've recorded, much like you could if you were right there at home.

The reason I say that it "came to live at my house", is because I didn't buy it.  Instead, my sister and brother-in-law bought it.  They live in the Netherlands, and miss not being able to watch American TV.  Or, when they do see American programs, it is only after a significant delay.  (Imagine not being a able to watch the SuperBowl live...)  My guess is that they'll be the envy of all their American friends who live there.

So...I tapped into it while in the hospital waiting room.  No longer was I stuck watching Headline News...I watched ESPN, and FoxNews, and a little bit of Comedy Central...right on my laptop.

And it's a good thing that I had the option.  After I'd been there for about 30 minutes, a man decided to TRY to change the channel.  (I guess he didn't like seeing the same 6 stories being replayed every few minutes.  Hmmm...maybe that's why they named it HEADLINE News, and not IN-DEPTH REPORTING News  <smile> ).  The operative word is "try".  His did result in a change in the channel over to Nickelodeon (or, as I call it, Nickeload-o-crap).  The problem was he wasn't sure he'd done to change it, meaning he couldn't put it on a better channel.

After the lady who was with him (his daughter, I think) helped him, they finally got it turned to ABC's Good Morning America.  For  whatever reason, that channel was MUCH LOUDER THAN THE OTHER CHANNELS!!!  In case you're wondering...no...they couldn't be bothered to turn it  down.  So, I was doubly-thankful for the Slingbox.  (One, that I could watch something of my choosing, and two, that I could pop the earphones on and not have to listen the super-loud GMA.)   YEAH SLINGBOX!!!!

As time went on, the waiting room got more and more full.  By the time Angie's surgeon came in to give me the good report, there were probably more than 20 people therein.  Good time for me to bail out, methinks.  It was at that point that I learned what it must feel like to be a mouse in the proverbial maze, looking for the piece of cheese at the end.  Oh, I made it to the room where they will bring Angie easily enough, but then I had to go out to the car to retrieve our things.  This place (Medical City) is HUGE!!!  Plus it has a veritable labyrinth of hallways.  It took me about 20 minutes to find the exit for the parking building where our car was.  Sheesh!!!

Shortly after I got up to her room to wait, I began contacting various folks with the update.  I only called 3 people, and those were familiy members.  I notified the others via text and e-mail message.  (If you didn't get a call,don't feel bad.  It just means that you're not related to us.  Even then, I called much fewer family members than I did not.)

A couple of fun facts about her room:  it has a DVD player, so we aren't limited just to the small handful of channels they have.  It also has a small dorm-style refridgerator.  I'd brought a cooler with some snacks and drinks so that I wouldn't have to leave her in order to get something to nibble/drink, so I just transferred those things to our little fridge.  Does anyone care to guess what type of soft drink I brought?  That's right, it's my favorite:  Mountain Dew.  I didn't have one this morning, but around 11:30 I needed a boost, so I downed one.  Mmmm.......

Angie was in recovery longer we expected; about 3 hours.  I guess the anesthesiologist gave her an additional bump of the juice, because she was out for a solid two hours after the surgery.  That gave me additional time to chill out.  Again, thank goodness for WiFi.  Gave me plenty of things to keep me occupied.  They finally rolled her into the room around 1:00.

Now that she's here and I don't have to wait on her arrival, I've realized just how tired I am. I'm going to take advantage her the afternoon by grabbing a quick nap.  More updates, observations, and ruminations will follow, I'm sure...

Big, albeit late, THANKS

When Angie and I bought our TV, we got a *very* temporary stand to put it on.  It was one that could be put to another use later.  Yeah, I've got a ridiculously strong practical streak.  One of the reasons for doing that is that my father-in-law offered to build a nice TV stand for us.

There are probably a lot of whose similar offer you would have to seriously weigh about before accepting.  Not so in this case.  Jim (yeah, my father-in-law's name is Jim; so is my brother-in-law's) has a TV that is approximately the same size as mine, and he built a stand for his TV a while back.  If American Idol judge Randy Jackson would summarize it this way:  "yo, look here dawg.  When it comes to building things, the man has mad, crazy SKILZ!!  Good lookin' out, baby!!"

The evidence to support that claim:

The top is covered with some seriously sweet ceramic tile.  I'm not a designer or someone who is know as a decorating snob, but this looks very classy to me.

Lots of internal shelving, doors with grey plexiglass.  Very, very nice.

And sturdy?  I could probably jump up and down on top of this thing, and it wouldn't even flinch.  It is one seriously solid piece of furniture!

So, I'm way, WAY behind in posting about this, but I wanted to give a big KUDOS to my father-in-law.  Thanks, Jim!!

A new member of the family

Over the last couple of weeks, Angie and I had talked about getting a second dog.  The purpose we would want to do so was multi-faceted.  First, 12-lb Eddie (keep that in mind for ...12 lbs) needs a companion.  He is at home alone much of the time.  Every day, while Angie and I are at work, he is by himself.  Any time that we go out (for something to which we can't bring him), he's on his own.

We'd decided on going with a puppy.  Then, almost as if on cue, the Second Chance SPCA came to our office on Friday with a couple of adorable puppies.  One was a German Shepherd, and the other was a mix (we think lab, sharpei, maybe a little bit of pit bull).  We made the decision to visit their site on Saturday, since Angie's parents would be with us.  They are big-time dog people (currently have 3), and are very knowledgable.

I've always wanted a dog of the retriever type...one that would actually play fetch.  Eddie...not so much.  When I throw a ball, he just sorta looks at me as if to say "yeah......what?"  When we take him to the dog park, I so many other dogs, both large and small, fetch with gusto.  Eddie...not at all.  Bummer...

To make a very long story short, the Shepherd was adopted by another family, and the mixed puppies (and her brothers & sisters of that litter), wouldn't be ready for adoption for a week or two, until after they've been spayed or neutered.  So we decided to go to another SCPA.  We looked at a couple of Labrador Retrievers.  One was a female puppy, and the other was a 3+ year old male.

Then we saw this guy: 

The timing was remarkable.  He actually arrived at the SPCA while we were there.  He'd been previously adopted, but had to be returned because his owners were moving.  I took him out into a yard to see how he responded.  Right off the bat, he fetched, obeyed the "sit" command...and won me over.  So now, 12-lb Eddie's companion will be....101-lb Jake.

Jake is approximately 6 years old, which is older than what we'd planned.  But...that means that we won't have to go through all of the puppy issues.  And his readiness to play...<sigh>.

And the dude is STRONG!!!  Man, he can pull like nobody's business.  And run...yeah, dude is incredibly fast.  He'll be a good running buddy for me at some point.  Before that, he's got  to lose some weight.  He's probably about 10 lbs or so overweight, mostly because he hasn't been getting enough exercise.  But that will change; I'll be taking him to the dog park often, and going for long walks, and eventually runs.

The thing with Eddie and Jake is the weirdest thing...even though the size differences are enormous (Jake is approximately 90 lbs heavier than Eddie), they already seem to get along well.  Hopefully, that will remain the same.

So...Angie and I now have two dogs.  One little snuggler, and one huge new playmate.

A great couple of holidays... (belated post)

Yes....I realize how late I am in posting about the past holidays.  I invoke the cliché "it's better late than never".

Every year at or near Christmas time, family get-togethers are something I always look forward to.  Normally, my extended family (my parents, and my siblings & their families) meet where my parents and older sister live in Arkansas.  This year, things were different; they all came to us.

Once the complete head-count was done, our clan consisted of 18 people.  Unless you have a HUGE house, you have to be creative to facilitate a gathering of that size.  Our creativity came in three phases, divided over two main areas:  1) sleeping arrangements, and 2) dining room accommodations.

Taking care of sleeping arrangements required two of the aforementioned phases of creativity.  First, my younger sister and her family have an apartment not too far from my home.  In addition to the three in their family, they were able to keep one of my other sister's family of four.  That left only 11 people who needed to sleep in my 3-bedroom house, giving rise to Phase 2:  Operation Air Mattress.

Don't worry, I wouldn't make my family sleep on glorified blow-up pool floatie things.  Air mattresses have come a long way in the last several years, including heavy-duty material and built in air compressors that have a queen sized mattress ready for sleep in mere minutes.  The bottom line is that we were able to sleep everyone comfortably.  Problem solved.

Now comes the dining room accommodations...  When we are all at my parents, the dining setting is pretty much pre-defined.  They have a very large dining table w seats around 10 to 12.  A simple run of the numbers shows that we have 6 to 8 people more people than that.  They also have a breakfast area between the dining room and kitchen where another group can eat.  This has frequently been the dreaded "kids table".  You can imagine how well that goes over with some of their grandchildren now in or near their 20's.  I sure wouldn't dig it.

Angie and I have a moderate sized dining table in what I guess you'd call a "breakfast nook", which can accommodate up to 6 people.  Again...that pesky math...   And though our house has a place that is probably classified as a formal dining room, I've never been too much of a formal dining room type of guy.  I can't see dedicating a large amount of space to that, then only using it sparingly.  In short, we use that room for something else, so it would not help us with our dilemma.

We decided to convert our garage into our dining room.  That conversion consisted of:

1. leaving the cars out of the garage the whole time,
2. adding insulation to the garage door (to help retain the heat),
3. installing additional fluorescent lighting (that remains in place)
4. borrowing a VERY EFFECTIVE propane heater from Angie's Dad, and
5. borrowing three 6-foot tables and eighteen folding chairs
6. draping sections of the garage with tarps, (just because they knew it was my garage didn't mean I wanted them having to look at my lawn mower while eating)

If our solution was judged it based on elegance, we probably wouldn't receive a high rating.  But judged on effectiveness, it would receive top marks.  We had PLENTY of room and enough seating for everyone without being crowded, and there was a great sense of 'togetherness'.  My Mom commented that "it sure is nice for all of us to be in the same room".

Angie planned the meals wonderfully, and coordinated with my sisters the division-of-labor.  They each contributed and we had more than enough food.  I love that my Mom didn't have to stress over meal planning and prep.  She did contribute (turkey just wouldn't be the same without her dressing), but didn't have to carry such a big part of the load.  It was a major good-good, for which I strongly credit Angie.

The garage/dining room also served as one of the game playing areas.  My family is big on playing games.  I mean BIG on playing games.  So, having that much table space available suited that well.  The other game playing area was in front our TV.  One of my sisters brought over the Wii that they'd gotten for Christmas.  It was fun watching and it was fun playing.  (My family is very competitive, in case there's ever a question of where I get that tendency.)

All in all, I'd say that it was a successful time.  We had a good time, got to spend some quality time with family, had plenty of room, had plenty to eat (actually...I had too much to eat, but that's another story entirely).

All of my family departed by the day after Christmas.  Veronica went with her mom on that day to spend the remainder of the holiday with her, and Angie and I turned our attention to her side of our family.  Her parents came up from San Antonio on Christmas Day, and we traveled with them to her brother's home in Missouri.

Traveling with them was great.  It was just the four of us, in their van, so we had plenty of room to ride comfortably.  Angie's dad and I split the driving, which made the trip seem much shorter.  (Funny how that works when you get to sleep for a couple of hours here and there.  Normally, I'm the one driving for an entire trip.)  

Actually, we had a fifth - and unplanned - passenger.  It wasn't a stowaway, however.  At the last minute, the dog-sitter we had arranged for our dog Eddie fell through.  To say that we weren't happy about it was an understatement.  Luckily, Angie's brother said we could bring him along.  He has two dogs, but they are large, outdoor-only dogs.  We ended up keeping Eddie in a crate in the bedroom we had for the first night or two, and then acclimated him with the other two dogs after which he was cool to stay outside with them for extended periods.  (In fact, it was funny to watch this 12-lb Yorkie start barking at and trying to boss around these two 80+ lb dogs.  Little dude really came into his own.)

We did something while there that I would never imagine doing: going to an amusement park in freezing weather.  We rode only one rollercoaster ride.  It was fun, but it was also so freakin' cold!!!  I  don't know that I'll want to ever do that again.  I love rollercoasters, but more when it is shorts-and-T-shirt weather.

The time in Missouri was really good.  Angie's brother and sister-in-law are pretty cool, and it was fun hanging out with them, playing games, watching football games and movies, etc.  And their two little girls are ridiculously adorable.  The older one is as smart as a whip, and I enjoy cutting up with her and teasing her a bit.  And the younger one (just around 2.25 years old) says "Uncle Jim" in a way that completely melts me.  Hard to resist that...

We didn't have the space challenges in Missouri with Angie's family that we had here with mine.  They've got a good sized house and...well...there were 10 LESS people at that gathering.  That sort of has a way of adding up.

As was the case with our time with my family, it was a good time all around.

The other obvious holiday that we enjoyed was New Year's.  All of our "family-family" members were back at their homes, so we observed the out-with-the-old--in-with-the-new with our "friend-family", the Reeds.  Given that they have a baby, we went to their place.  (Makes it easy when the tyke takes a nap for him to be in his own bed.)

I think a bit of lingering road-weariness got to me, because I laid down on their couch for a moment shortly after dinner, and ended up falling asleep for almost an hour.  Not to worry, I woke up in plenty of time to ring in the new year.

So...yeah...this update was long overdue.  Plus, having to do it all through recall now 2+ weeks after the fact may have made it not as vivid.  But I think I've captured all of the important stuff.

Helping w/Christmas yard decorations

"Christmas spirit"...you know  it when you see it.  And there are probably as many different levels of it...different enthusiasms and embracement (is that a word) of Christmas traditions as there are individual people.

I'd like to think that I have a full dose of Christmas spirit.  I love the season, I love what it really stands for, the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.  I like many of the things we're attached to it; getting together with family, exchanging gifts, etc.  I also dislike many things that come with it:  stores that begin the Christmas sales before Halloween, "Black Friday" mob scenes at stores, some that even result in fights, injury and...sadly...death.  But this post is about good things about Christmas; I won't go on too much about that in this post.  Instead, I'm going to start a new "Miscellaneous Rants" category into which I'll post all sorts of...well...miscellaneous rants...at a later point.

My father-in-law is one who really gets into the spirit full-tilt.  He lives in a city/neighborhood that gets into decorating their houses and yards, and his is normally a standout.  This picture shows their house from Christmas two years ago, when the theme the city chose was "A CandyLand Christmas".  You can click on it to see a larger version.  You can also view more pics from that year's award-winning display (he's won either 1st or 2nd place in the city-wide judging for several years running).

And he doesn't just throw money at it by buying all of his decorations at stores.  He MAKES his yard decorations.  The man has crazy skills at designing and building rock-solid things.  Here is one example:  there is a large planter in their yard, on which he built a platform (which can withstand several hundred pounds), on which there is gingerbread house adorned with large candy canes and peppermint candies (built from wood, but painted/decorated), two rotating (motorized) wooden silhouette Christmas trees.  He also built a large wooden Christmas tree that has large lights, both colored and white.  The lights flash/fade in a pattern that underlines the "reason for the season"...the colored lights fade out and leave the white lights in the shape of a cross.  Pretty cool....pretty clear.

Bringing all of the pieces and assembling them in his front yard is not a small task.  There are many pieces, and some of them are very heavy.  I am happy to help, however.  It is the least I can do, since he has brought his crazy skills to bear at my house for countless projects that I simply don't have the know-how to do.  So, brother-in-law, and I helped for a good portion of yesterday.  We've got more to do today.  I don't know how long it will take, but it shouldn't be too bad.  Even if we don't get it all done, the more we can complete before heading home will be that much more that he has to do without assistance.

The cool extra he has going for him that not many of his neighbors do, in terms of making his house that much more attractive for neighborhood "Christmas cruisers" is that he...is...Santa Claus.  This is a picture of he and my niece from a year or so ago.  He bleaches his hair and beard go further enhance his "Santa appeal", and stands out at the curb handing out candy canes to kids in the cars that come by.  Think about the wonderment that comes from the perspective of some of the younger children...there are many houses with cool Christmas displays, but how many of them are where Santa actually lives?  Yeah....pretty cool.  In addition to enhancing his house display, he also serves as Santa for several elementary schools.

How could I not get into the Christmas spirit when your father-in-law is Santa Claus one of the icons of the season?    :-)

More importantly, how could I not get into the Christmas spirit when I am a family member of the reason we celebrate?

I paid $1.19 per gallon for gasline on Nov 25, 2008 (really!!)

As one who has an "genetically-acquired aggressively frugal" streak (that means that I have an eye for value that I inherited from my Dad), I HATE overpaying.  Needless to say, during the last two years, I have chaffed every time I've filled up my gas tank.  Especially when gas was near $4 per gallon.

Quite by accident, I discovered a way to save on fuel purchases that I had been entirely overlooking.  Angie and I predominantly shop at a two different grocery stores.  Both of them have "frequent purchaser" programs, and we normally scan our cards when we're shopping.  I haven't seen any abuses (like a ton of spam), and figure that it helps them market specifically to me.  As evidence, I've received a couple of directed e-mails when things that I frequently purchase have gone on sale.  All a good-good.

What I wasn't paying attention to was every time I accumulated a certain of purchases in a month ($100, I believe), I got 10 cents off per gallon at their gas station.  And it is cumulative...if I spent $200, I get 20 cents per gallon off, and so on.

We hadn't been paying attention for a while, and had been racking up the credits.  The clerk at the grocery store explained that we had 5 credits...meaning that we would save 50 cents per gallon!!!!  To quote one of my favorite comedians..."THERE's some good news!!!"  This is especially true since both of our vehicles were getting low on gas, and with a Thanksgiving road trip to San Antonio coming up on Wednesday.

So we waited until they were almost both empty, then took them to the store's gas station at the same time, and filled them up for $1.19 per.  I took the picture you see above from the pump's per gallon price as I was filling up.  Total amount of gas purchased between the two vehicles:  29.19 gallons.  Total price:  $35.

The lesson here is this:  Pay attention to "frequent purchaser" programs at the places where you're going ANYWAY.  If they have gas stations, and offer a discount on gas calculated on purchases (intentional redundancy alert) that you're going to buy ANYWAY.....use them.

We won't save 50 cents per gallon every time we fill up, primarily because we won't be waiting so long to cash them in.  But you can bet that we'll be saving those 10 cents per gallons a lot more frequently.

Class dismissed....  ;-)

My Christmas Q&A

I'm not one to normally participate in those e-mail chains.  Really.  In fact years ago, I famously flamed a sister-in-law, CC:'ing ALL of the people who she'd sent the you-never-know-it-might-be-true e-mail about Microsoft paying people to test an e-mail tracking program.  Even offered to write a check for $1,000 to anyone who could provide proof of being paid for such.  Surprisingly, I never had to write that check <fake shock>.  Not surprisingly, I didn't get any more of those e-mails from her.

And I've been know to have a choice word for the "forward this e-mail if you love Jesus" e-mails.  (For the life of me, I can't find that one in the Bible.)  Sooooo....I'm somewhat of a Capt. Poo-Poo when it comes to those sorts of things.

That cold hardness aside, a month or two ago, I did participate in a questionnaire e-mail with some of Angie's family.  But I don't do the whole "forward it to 10 of your other friends" bit.  I just send it to the distribution list that was on it when I got the note.  In some cases, it lets them know a little bit about me.  But in most cases, my answers are strictly geared to make them laugh.  That's me; forever the ham...

Yesterday, I received one of these questionnaire from Angie, who had received it from my daughter.  It had 25 Christmas-related questions.  Angie posted the answers to hers on her blog, so I thought I'd do the same.  I've tweaked a couple of the answers a little bit here and there, to bring them closer to achieving their maximum comic potential.

If my answers help you understand more about me, that's cool.  If they gives you a chuckle, that's even cooler.

---

01. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Wrapping paper.

02. Real tree or Artificial?
Artificial.  I only have to buy it one time (and I'm cheap...uhm...frugal), and it's less mess/hassle.  Both good-goods.

03. When do you put up the tree?
When I get good and ready, dagnabbit!  And you darned kids get off my lawn!!!  (Seriously...no set time; sometimes around Thanksgiving, sometimes a little after.  This year...a little before.)

05. Do you like eggnog?
Nope.  Unless it tastes EXACTLY like Mountain Dew.  That would be totally awesome.

06. Favorite gift received as a child?
This is an easy one.  A BB gun, with which I shot my older sister.  In the butt.  Yeah...good times.

07. Hardest person to buy for?
My Mom & Dad.  What gift could possibly top having me? <blink-blink>

08. Easiest person to buy for?
Veronica.

09. Do you have a nativity scene?
No.  Well...via Angie....yes.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Mail, because they're a little easier to use in person at the store.  For instance, I've received WalMart gift cards via e-mail, but I either have to use them online, or convert them to a physical card to use at the store.  Oh wait...that question meant just regular Christmas cards, didn't it?

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
A 80's-ish sweater (given in the mid-to-late 90's) that screamed out "THE GIVER OF THIS GIFT APPARENTLY DOESN'T KNOW ME VERY WELL...AND HAS NO FASHION SENSE."

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
It's not even close.  "A Christmas Story" wins by a leg...lamp.  So many quotable moments.  ("You'll shoot your eye out"..."Dad's gonna kill Ralphie"..."Must be Eye-talian.  Says Fra-gee-lay"..."FUDGE!!! (The queen mother of all dirty words)", and countless others.

13. When do you start shopping?
Usually not soon enough.  I'm trying to get started earlier this year...but I say that every year.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Only White Elephant gifts.  My sense of personal integrity is way too high to consider doing that for anything else.  (Or if I did recycle, I wouldn't admit to it, lest one of the recipieints of this note received such a re-gift.)

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
No absolute favorite; I like alot of Christmas food.  Turkey/chicken and dressing w/cranberry sauce is always a winner.

16. Lights on the tree?
Yep-yep.  Gotta do something with all my extra cash, and supporting the families of electric company employees - especially during the holidays - seems downright noble.

17. Favorite Christmas song?
Don't have ONE favorite.  Like a lot of songs (I actually have Steve Wonder singing Ave Maria, if you can believe it), but only versions that aren't lame.  (That is according to my definition of lame.   ...and I reserve the right to change my definition of lame.  Yo.)

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
I'm trying to get in the mode of traveling less around Thanksgiving/Christmas.  That goal is either complicated or helped (depending on your perspective) by the time I split with the kids with their Mom.  Luckily, my family is coming here for Christmas before we head to MO.  So...I'll get all of the perks of spending it with extended family, while not having to travel to both.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's?
Let's see...Pookie, Earl, Shah-NayNay, Bubba, Lil' Bow-Wow, Lil Brudder, Shaniqua...I'm drawing a blank on the rest of them, so I guess my answer is "no".

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
As a kid we always had a star.  As an adult, I can only remember having  an angel.  I'm good with either.  Or a picture of Captain Kangaroo.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
A Christmas purist would probably say Christmas morning, but the eternal kid in me always wants to open presents early.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
Trying to balance family, community, and work activities.  And the super-congestion of the last minute shoppers (like me).  It only compounds the stress of what should be a peaceful time, and that bites.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?
Balls.  (Write your own jokes.)

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?
See my answer to #15.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year?
Not sure.  I'm still building my list (thanks to Angie for suggestiong Kaboodle).  I need to get a hobby that's conducive to gifting, don't I?

No, I don't know what happened to question #4.  This list of Q's is exactly as they were in the e-mail.

Cool night...

Last night was a very cool night.  The church to which Angie and I belong, Fellowship Church in Plano, is amazing.  They do all sorts of creative things that, quite frankly, other churches lack either the willingness or boldness to do.  (If that comes off as a slam on other churches...sorry.  I've been in churches my entire life, and this is my observation and opinion.  It is what it is.)

So last night they had Date Night.  Very low-cost childcare was provided for couples with children who were too young to stay on their own.  A couple could drop off their kid(s), go out to eat, then return to the church an hour and a half later to enjoy salsa lessons.  Yeah...dance lessons at the church.  (Given my experience with churches, some would think that this sort of a thing is absolutely heracy.  S'why I don't go to one of those churches.  But...I digress.)

My daughter is with us this weekend, but she is too old to need childcare.  So she got to hang out with Eddie (which she digs) and watch our brand-new copy of Kung Fu Panda  (ditto on the digs).   So Angie and I simply went out to eat, then  back to the church.

We had to get there earlier than most couples however, because Angie had volunteered to take pictures of the couples.  She recently got some additional photography equipment that lets her take her already-high level of photogging excellence to a new level.  She let them know that she was willing, and they "called her in from the bullpen".  (She's also going to be taking pics of the baby dedication service they're doing tomorrow.)

While she was enjoying the role as photographer, I was happy playing "clipboard boy".  Essentially, I just kept a list of the sitting order and the people's names.  It (both my role and Angie's) was a great way for us to meet more people.  We essentially greeted everyone who came in, whether or not they opted to get their pics snapped, and that was way cool.

Then, when the salsa lessons started, we stopped taking pics and took part.  Since we had taken dance lessons on our honeymoon cruise a few months ago, one of which was salsa, we had a bit of a head start on the couples who were first-timers.  Thankfully, it didn't take too long for those lessons, which we had not practiced since the cruise, to come back.  And it was so fun!!!

After the dance lessons, a few of the couples who hadn't sat for pics beforehand came back to the pic station to have their photos taken, so we go to meet the ones we hadn't had the chance to before.

One interesting turn...one of the ladies recognized Angie from her blog.  When we first started visiting Fellowship Church, she had made a blog entry about our experience.  The lady found her blog by searching for the church, had read it, and knew a little bit about the both off us.  It was partially freaky/creapy, but mostly very cool.

Over all, it was a very cool night, and I'm hoping that the church does it again periodically.

My spin...

Some time back, I began blogging on the everyday things that I experience and observe as a means to a) preserve those memories for myself, and b) share those things with whoever chooses to read it.  I've shared some things that I'm sure surprised people, as well as things that I KNOW angered or offended people.  (I'm just judging by the various reactions I've received.)

One of the challenges of putting daily events in the blogosphere is when you have a technically proficient spouse who blogs about the things they do/experience.  In a majority of cases, they are things, that we've both done together, or at least share common knowledge about.

That's primarily why I really haven't blogged that much about the health situation with LaShunda Rundles, my WCPS colleage.  Angie already began a thread of entries about it, and she probably gave much more detail than I would've thought to put.  (By nature, Angie is much more verbose than I.  MUCH more; I'm more of a summarizer.  If our partnership was like a newspaper, I'd write the headlines, and she'd write the accompanying stories with all of the details.)

She is also much quicker to blog about events than I, and I've found myself on several occasions with the following thought pattern:  "oh, I need to blog about tha...aw, crap...she already did".  If you're wondering why I don't make as many posts as she....that's largely why.  I don't fault her for her promptness, and I'm not in a competition with her to see who can hit the 'Net first with details of our life.  If that were the case, my guess is that we'd end up with cases of "blogger's remorse" for rushing things to post which, no offense, you don't have any right to know.

Every once in a while, however, I feel the need to give my side of the story.  To defend myself, if you will.  Last night, Angie posted about some apparrel we bought for our dog, Eddie.  This begs some background, and a rebuttal.

For the most part, I am not a fan of clothing for animals.  I was raised in rural areas of Arkansas where pets were most likely outdoor animals.  In fact, Eddie is the first indoor pet I've had that didn't live in a glass bowl/tank.  Most of the animal clothing I've seen have been silly, frivolous, fruh-fruh things that are uber-feminine.  Call it chauvinistic if you will (and I'll try to care), but while feminine things on a female animal are acceptable to me, they don't belong on a male animal.  That's kinda like putting a dress on your son.  Or like Ralphie being forced to wear the bunny suit in "A Christmas Story". (see right)   It's just wrong.

If the clothing you get for a male dog is quasi-masculine, then I find that not so objectionable.  You've got to leave the guy with at least a shred of dignity.  I have expressed my feelings on that to Angie's parents on multiple occasions.  They've bought him articles of clothing on occasion; partly, I think, to tweak me.  (We have a wonderfully cool relationship, that way.)  The most ridiculous one is a pair of light blue pajamas.  I'm not kidding....pajamas....for a dog.  For a FREAKIN' DOG.  On the very small handful of times that it's been put on him, he looks at me as if to say..."Dude, if you have a heart you will get me out of this ridiculous thing RIGHT NOW!!!"  Maybe I'll get a picture of him in that testosterone-free get-up and post a picture in the next day or two.

Back to the matter at hand...  For the most part, I have been the primary dog-walker.  In the morning, in the afternoon when I get home from work, and again at night before going to bed...I've been the one to take Eddie out to do his business.  Last winter, I came home from work on a day that was cold and rainy.  I mean BITTERLY COLD and rainy.  The rain was virtually sleet, and it was freezing on the sidewalk.  But...Eddie had been penned up all day, and I knew that needed to at least go for a healthy pee.  I bundled up, pulled on a waterproof Dallas Cowboys coat (with a hood), attached Eddie to his leash, grabbed an umbrella, and out we went.

The boy was not happy.  And he didn't want to pee.  He just wanted to go back in the house, but I was insistent that he do his thing before we did.  I didn't want him leaving a "surprise" for me in the house.  That's one of my (pun intended) "pet peeves".  So we walked....and no pee.   So we walked more....and still no pee.  He kept looking back at me with this pitiful look in his eyes.  Ice began forming in his hair.  (He has hair, not fur.)  Little dude was literally a pup-cicle.  Every once in a while, he would do that whole-body-shake that dogs do to get rid of water on their hair/fur, he would slip on the icy side walk and whump...down he would fall.  While I'll admit it was funny on one level, you would have to be a hard-hearted crotchety old %*#$!& to not feel compassion for the little guy.

After being out there entirely too long, he finally did his thing and we went in the house.  I promptly gave him a warm bath as both a reward and pay-back/therapy for the torture I put him through.  It was at that point when I decided that, as ridiculous as it might look, I was going to find some way to protect him from the rain on the days when it was too cold to simply let him get wet.  While I admit that it looks foolish, I bought the little guy a raincoat.  At only $10, it is well worth it to prevent a recurrence of what I described above.

What I didn't include in the equation is the....entertainment value.  Angie put the raincoat on him, and I just about died laughing.  It looks so ridiculous!!  And possibly the best part was when the little guy tried to walked.  I don't know if it was because the hood was up over his head, but he walked sideways.  SIDEWAYS!!!!  It was just about too much to take!!  What was the icing on the cake was that as I was laughing uncontrollably, he looked at me with an expression that said "Dude, when you aren't looking, I am SO going to pee on the carpet...in some place you won't find for a while.  That'll teach you to laugh at me."

I'm hoping that the kindheartedness of buying him the raincoat in the first place offsets the mockery I heaped on him....because I have the feeling that every time we put it on him........   :-)