Christmas Morning

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Season's Greetings

Merry Christmas!

Who Loves You?

What a successful day! I did all my Christmas shopping today for the family and in under 90 minutes. Not only that, I spent half the money as last Christmas.

There will be a followup later on the outcome, but right now, I am feeling great and I only work one day this week: Christmas Eve, when those who make it into the office are usually drunk by 2:00 PM.

Sort this one out, if you can:

Captain Mulligan's Lament

I had another action weekend. The rugby match on Sunday was the highlight, though the Hunsmen lost the match and title to the hated Clover City Mongrels. The whole experience was electric, man.

Karolyn and I arrived late to the pre-game festivities as we ended up going down on Sunday instead of Saturday as we had planned. That's a bit of a shame because I was looking forward to our stay at the Hotel Ashmont.

The Lion and Rose was jam packed when we arrive around 1:30 with rugby brethren and crazy girls. We had some catching up to do on the drinking side.

We finally found Trevor and Sky and sat with them until game time. A bit of background, here: Trevor's brother plays for the Hunsmen and Sky is a close friend of Karolyn's.

The service at the Rose was very spotty due to the huge influx of punters milling about. Once we got service, we ordered 3 rounds immediately so we were never without a full glass.

The interior of The Lion and Rose one hour before the game:


Karolyn and Sky:

Karolyn, Sky and Trevor:

Trevor took this pic of the match itself emailed it to me. That's St. Olaf in the blue and that's Trevor's brother making the tackle.
They got unlucky with the weather. If they had played the game on Saturday, it would have been 35 degrees warmer.

Here Come the Hensmen!

I am scheduled drive to San Antonio to watch the CenTex Rugby finals this Sunday. However, it won't be the Austin Lads I will be watching, but thier old nemesis, The St. Olaf Hensmen. They made it to the final game to be played at 3:00 PM at Clark-Stone Field against Clover City.

We ended up hanging out with some the of Hensmen after the Lads game in October and hit it off. The Hensmen are a good lot, unlike the limp-wristed Sallys from Clover City.

We anticipate a heavy night of drinking (either in celebration or sorrow-drowning) so Karolyn and I booked a room at a motel near Clark-Stone Field (separate beds, however.)

Some of us are meeting up before the game at noon at The Lion and Rose (Alamo Heights location) to kick off the day with beer and chips.

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I have reviewed roughly 25% of the pictures I bought at the estate sale. I have deemed roughly 1 in 75 postable. What is the criteria for posting? It has to interest me and make me wish I was there at the time the picture was taken.

This one amuses me.



I hope to have updates of this weekend posted here early next week.

Comedy Clip #6

Nice compilation. I've seen some of the individual clips before, but thought this was worthwhile.

Holiday Spirit - 2008 Style

At the risk of sounding like a Scrooge, I have to say I don't enjoy Christmas gift giving or gift receiving.  It feels like an obligation.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy giving gifts when it isn't expected.  

Until recently, I didn't enjoy receiving gifts as an adult from family members.  Their choices in clothing or books or whatever indicated that they really didn't know much about me.  About four years ago, they decided to give me gift cards so I could pick out my own gift from fine establishments like Eddie Bauer, Drucker & Sons or Best Buy.

I had begun that practice as well, so now, we are just shuffling money around in the form of merchant's cards.  This is no different than giving envelopes of cash to each other (Godfather wedding style).

I always come out on the short end.  My sisters have families, so each nephew and neice get a gift card, whereas I get one gift card from the whole lot.  

Last Christmas I did a tally.  I spent $475 on gift cards and recieved $190 worth of gift cards.  Was it worth it to see their faces light up when they opened their gift card?  In a word, NO.  They showed no emotion, though they did thank me.

This year will be different.  I am going to buy or create some thoughtful gifts and do so in frugal fashion.

First up, a gift from my Mom.

Robin and I stopped by Goodwill on our lunch hour yesterday.  I had some old clothing I wanted to donate and she wanted to poke around inside.  She's a compulsive shopper.

I tagged along as she was going through some of the women's clothing and saw some pants that I thought would be perfect for my Mom.  Robin is the same size as my Mom, so I had her try them on.  
PEFECT FIT.

And check out the savings.  That's $280 off retail!!

I am already feeling better about this Christmas.

Memory of Mike Y.

Time to play catch up on the blog thing. I will attempt a newsy, off the cuff entry (that means this will really suck.)

Chris took me to Chez Z tonight. That's one of her favorite places. Others I know, don't like it that much. The food is over priced, really. It's just OK.

I do like the ambience there, especially around the holidays. They have thousands of Christmas lights and a piano player. The piano player wasn't too loud and actually enjoyable. A nice fit for the mood the place conjures up in the winter. He was playing a Blue Oyster Cult cover when we were leaving.

At one point, the piano player took a break and the piped in music kicked in, ever so softly. I could hear Chuck Mangione's "Feel So Good" and it was a dead on moment for the scene in Fargo where Mike Yanagita professed his long time love for Marge Gunderson in the motel restaurant. The atmosphere was a positive match (DNA lingo.)

When I got home, I started cleaning up my bedroom. I picked up the shirt that I wore to the Christmas party on Saturday night and found a $100 bill in the breast pocket. What the ?!?!?! I guarantee you I didn't have that $100 bill when I left the house Saturday. Now I can afford gifts for the nieces and nephews.

No tell...

Today is the one year anniversay of my first post on blogspot.  No party, though.  I spent the past 12 hours working (rare weekend occurence.)

I was able to watch the SEC championship game while I worked. I also went through some more of the photos I purchased recently.

This one is one of my favorites. Says on the back: "Cheryl and Ed - Jan. '65". You can see Carson on the TV behind them.  I don't recognize any of the booze.

I'm just as God made me

RIP Paul Benedict, 1938 - 2008

Ted N

Second entry in a row referencing older rock star.

I went home for lunch this afternoon.  I could have eaten at the office, but I required a 20 minute nap to bolster my reserves and my couch fits the bill.

Luke and Taz had remained in the house when I left for work earlier in the day, so I had to let them out to do their dogly business.  The second I opened the back door, Luke absquatulated like a rocket and I soon found out why:  he had seen  Morrissey lurking about and when Morrissey ran, Luke pinned him and  was slinging him around like a Japanese scarf.

I rushed over to free the poor kitty and he scratched my hand in the midst of the kerfuffel.  I am sure it was inadverdent.  

Nonetheless, I now have a case of cat scratch fever that would make Mr. Nugent proud.

David B

I used to be jealous of David Bowie. When I was 25, I fell for what would be the first of two girls in my life where the arcane term "in love" felt appopriate.

This first girl, Emily, was a huge David Bowie fan. She obsessed over him, as I suppose I did her.

[a bunch of stuff happened]

And finally, I could take in no longer and threw all the Bowie cassettes out the car window and watched them cascade over the bridge.

It was a good six years before I was able to listen to him again. He will be glad to know he is back in my good graces.

And the car we were in? Just like this one here (that isn't Emily):

Greased Lightbox

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Camera phone at the Y

This is post worthy and not very long. Bluce Ree playing table tennis.