• Both the Mrs. and I have this cough that just won't go away. As a result, NYE was spent at home, with her in bed early and me watching football.
• Truth to tell, this isn't much different from our normal NYE celebrations; it's probably our least favorite holiday, and we tend to stay at home regardless.
• Overall, the holdays were low-key. Sarah came up Christmas Eve, and we did our gift dice game exchange Christmas morning, with my mom and our friend Gina.
• I made brunch, which consisted of the world's best breakfast potatos, eggs, bacon, sausage, and english muffins.
• For my birthday, the Mrs. gave me a very generous gift card to Sweetwater, and now I'm paralyzed with indecision. So. Many. Things.
• Also for my birthday, my son took advantage of the Steam Winter Sale, and bought Cyberpunk 2077 for me. I've been enjoying the hell out of my first real computer game in ages.
• As for Christmas, I received some fingerless gloves for typing (my hands get cold easily), and a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy tote bag.
• Aside from the completely obvious, it was also easy to tell we had a low-key Christmas on trash day: We had our normal one-trash-can, one-recycle-bin out. The neighbors around us, who all have kids at home, had piles.

On to 2024. May yours be full of hope and love.

We had a nice, quiet Christmas; both kids were here, my mom, and our friend Gina. I made everyone breakfast, and then we did our gift exchange. Rather than buy presents for specific people, we each buy two gifts to bring to the table. Then we roll dice, and depending on the number, pass them left, right, across the table, etc. The randomness is fun, and some hilarity is bound to happen. For example, my mom ended up with the Cuss word coloring book my daughter brought. Mom said she was going to get markers, color the pages and stick them to her door.

Pre-Covid, I would typically go to Gina's house (Gail dislikes NYE, so she opts to stay home). Covid put a stop to that, and this year we ended going out to sushi with some friends. I don't like fish as a general rule (but I love tuna fish on crackers. Go figure), so I got the cashew chicken the place offered. The wife had something called a Steeler roll, which I tried. And liked. A lot. And then my buddy offered another couple of pieces of his.

Lemme tell you what... I might not like fish, but I think I'm changing that to "cooked" fish. Sushi is awesome. I can't wait to go back.

Otherwise, it's back to normal. Work has me figuring out some Salesforce stuff (yuck). We've been having some house work done, and are planning a re-plumb ($$$), and we're looking to head to AZ for the wife's and her dad's birthday.

Happy New Year!

I think this is the first Thanksgiving I've ever spent on my own. Due to a last minute change in plans, Gail and the kids went down to see my folks in North Carolina. I'm flying out from BWI at 7am tomorrow morning to go to Cleveland for work related reasons.

Gail and I also celebrated our 10th Anniversary yesterday. Seems like it should be a big milestone, and I guess it is. We didn't celebrate it like it was one though. We exchanged cards, and then she left to go to NC. I spent my anniversary evening alone as well. How weird.

We have a gift certificate for Maggiano's though, given to us by a friend for our anniversary, and she's even going to watch the kids. So sometime this next week, month, whenever we find the time, Gail and I will sneak out and spend a quiet evening eating some very good food. It sure doesn't seem like it's been 10 years. I mean, that's almost a whole third of my life. It sure doesn't seem that long. I can't imagine my life without Gail, and I imagine if we weren't together, I'd be that much poorer. Not financially speaking, can't get much more broke than we are now. But I'd be so much less of a person. She's definitely become my better half, and I'm much better off with her with me. I love you Gail!

Hooray...I think I've gotten all my Xmas shopping done. I think. I hope.

In all honesty, it's NEVER done. Someone gives you a gift out of the blue, you feel as if you should return the favor. You see the one thing, The One Thing that would make a perfect gift for someone 2 days before Xmas. It never ends. There's people who go to the after Amas sales to start stocking up for next year. Ugh.

Not much going here at work now. We finished our big project, and as everyone else is slowing down for the holidays, there's not much to do. So, whilst I'm at work, I'm going to work on getting my new layout working with my journal. It's gonna be interesting. Wish me luck!!!

Damn it's been a busy week. It's only Thursday morning, but I've already put in 40+ hours. Nothing like a deadline at work to make everyone nuts, eh?

The Commercialization Train that is known as Christmas keeps moving on, and is unstoppable. And I know this isn't a lot of segue here, but have you ever gotten really frustrated when writing something down, and you have a specific word in mind, but you can't spell it correctly, so you attempt to look it up in the dictionary, but because you can't spell it correctly, you can't find it?

Anyhow...

Christmas is coming, and I'm so woefully unprepared. I haven't even started my Xmas shopping. Gail and the kids took care of the tree...it looks great!. I've been working too much lately, so I haven't even seen my kids, let alone go out and shop for them. I think sometime next week, I'm gonna take some time from work and go shopping at the mall. That, or whip out the credit card and go shopping online. Woooo...that can be so dangerous.

And speaking of dangerous (now there's a nice segue. My dad would be so proud :), check out the link to the article below. I think the most dangerous thing on this planet is stupid people. 'nuff said about that! 2022 Edit: Link removed from dead site.