i text

my new phon pln has free in txts :)

I finally prevailed upon Verizon Wireless to sell me a shiny new cell phone. This new one does text messaging better than the crumby old one I was using. So I splurged on the plan bolt-on that adds unlimited "in" and 500 non-Verizon texts. Exchanging text messages, it turns out, makes the long holiday drive pass quicker. May be a way to keep in touch better.

Family Holiday Hockey Game and Ice Pageant

My extended family is big enough and my uncle generous enough that we rent some ice time each Christmas for the family hockey game and ice pageant. Some years we've plugged in to the ice rink sound system for our own game announcements and music. Good times. Most years someone gets at least a little bit hurt; I'm hoping for no injuries this year.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, one and all.

Tremendously enjoying vacationing with the extended family in northern Michigan. One of the most fun advantages of getting together is it provides a critical mass of people for playing games. One of my cousins received Blokus, which is a lot of fun and has depth. Hit the Deck and Swap are mostly the same game but they're both quick and easy to learn. Upwords is a perennial favorite (and very Scrabble-like).

The Playstation 2 experience advanced this year to include Guitar Hero and some kind of karaoke game. My uncles crooning out songs was a highlight of the evening. Might have to get me one of those PS2 things.

Christmas dinner was, as always, tremendously delicious. The sweet potatoes were particularly delectable this year. After dinner we took a walk in the mud. This has not been a white Christmas. It made for a suitably muddy foodball game on the lawn, though. It turns out I can sortof catch and throw a football. Becoming slightly less Charlie Brown like.

Taking the fight to the bees

So, I know bees are good for the universe, and polinate our crops, and all that good stuff. Supposed to love them and live in harmony with nature and all that.

Fine.

This story of taking out some bees still appealed.

I don't get it

I mean, it's cute and all, but really, I kind of just don't get it.

Will you defeat them, your demons

Basically, life is defined by whether and how you cope with your demons. That's it. That's the key.

I've been hearing My Chemical Romance's Welcome to the Black Parade on the Edge lately. The intro is kind of cool, I could do without the rest of the song.

When I was a young boy,
My father took me into the city
To see a marching band.
He said,
"Son when you grow up, will you be the saviour of the broken,
The beaten and the damned?"
He said
"Will you defeat them, your demons, and all the non believers, the plans that they have made?"

Heat

I haven't turned my heat on yet in my apartment. I don't expect to have to. But I'm prepared to be reasonable if it actually gets cold in here. Still, President Carter asked that we set the thermostats to 55 degrees in the energy crisis and I expect it will stay at least 55 in here without benefit of the furnace, so it may be a low energy usage winter.

Sophomoric Telephone Humor

I don't know why I'm reminded of this, but sometimes when I was working as a casual at Technology & Planning I would answer the phone (not my phone; I didn't have a phone at my desk, another story) "TP morgue, you stab 'em, we slab 'em". I thought it was awfully funny at the time. I picked up that line from my seventh grade science teacher.

Las Noches De Las Luminarias

My grandparents, parents, and aunt and uncle visited me and we went to Luminarias at the Desert Botanical Garden. It was really neat to see everything lit up at night, and the barber shop quartet was pretty good.

New Goldfields Hiking Guide

There's a new hiking guide available at Barnes & Noble bookstores and elsewhere about hiking in the Goldfields. Looks to be a good one.

Winter Wonderland

“WINTER WONDERLAND” – AZ. STYLE

PALM TREES WAVE, ARE YOU LISTENIN?
IN THE POOL, WATER’S GLISTENIN’, A
BEAUTIFUL SIGHT, WE’RE HAPPY TONITE,
LIVIN’ IN A PHOENIX WONDERLAND.

GONE AWAY IS THE BLIZZARD, HERE TO
STAY IS THE LIZARD, A WARM SUNNY
DAY, WE LIKE IT THAT WAY,
LIVIN’ IN A PHOENIX WONDERLAND.

IN THE DESERT WE WILL HAVE A PICNIC
CACTUS, SAND & RATTLESNAKES IN
THE SUN, CHRISTMAS IS AN OLD
TRADITION: IT’S PINTO BEANS AND
TACOS BY THE TON.

LATER ON WE’LL PERSPIRE
TEMPERATURES RISE EVEN HIGHER,
A WARM SUNNY DAY, WE LIKE IT
THAT WAY, LIVIN’ IN A
PHOENIX WONDERLAND