Red K Blue Mart.

Earl and I finally got around to putting up the Christmas lights outside. Even though the we’ve had warm weather on and off for the past couple of weeks (aside from the snow and cold weather last week), we decided to wait on putting up the lights until it was below freezing and it was completely dark outside. It adds to the merriment of the gesture by making it a really big challenge for all involved.

We’ve lived in this house for three years and have basically followed the same template when putting up the lights around the porch. For some reason we couldn’t figure out how we got the lights mounted around the front door. So we said the heck with that and tried something new. After getting all the lights installed securely, we found several bulbs were blown and needed replacing. Since it was a Sunday evening, we headed to Wal*Mart (Always White Trash, Always) to see if they had replacement lights. We wandered through the “Trim A Tree” section where there were no trees and no lights to be found. After being reprimanded by a surly Wal*Mart “team member” (Always Bitchy, Always) that the Christmas Trees, Lights and Decorations are not in Trim-A-Tree but rather in “Live Plants”, I abandoned the cart and made a call to K-mart to see how late they were open. Turns out The Savings Place is open until 11 p.m., time to head across town. I think we can all safely assume that my blood alcohol content level was entirely too low to spend any more time in Wal*Mart (Always A Mistake, Always).

I love K-mart, especially our local store. They’ve done little to update the interior, aside from replacing the cash registers every few years. It’s like taking a step back in time. It’s the same size as every other K-mart in the world but it still has it’s “Big K” sign on the outside. I was delighted to see that despite that “Big K” thing, some ads posted had a “Kmart” logo on them reminicent of the old days, except it was all red. I don’t know why marketing folks have something against turquoise, I find a red “K” with a turquoise “mart” quite inviting. K-mart should stop trying to be everyone else and start being themselves. They should take a cue from Kmart Australia and implement that logo.

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We found what we needed, checked out via a friendly cashier and headed home without spiking the blood pressure too high. K-mart is The Savings Place.

December Walk.




December Walk.

Originally uploaded by DJSuperCub.

Today turned out to be such a lovely day that Earl and I decided we needed to get a little fresh air. We started the day by putting up the “little” Christmas tree, our white tree with green ornaments that we put in the front room. Afterwards, while in a somewhat festive mood, we both felt a little heavy after having a waffle and bacon for breakfast, so we decided to take advantage of the sunshine and go for a walk.

We ended up walking about four miles along the historic Erie Canal, which is not far from our home.

We encountered a couple of cyclists, a jogger and several hunters, some of which were on their ATVs. Everyone was friendly and luckily we were not shot.

After the walk I had a few work-related chores to tend to. Tonight we’re going to put up the “big” Christmas tree in the great room.

I think the walk did wonders for our well-being. We need to get sunlight more often.

Pray For Me.

Earl and I went to the local Barnes and Noble this afternoon for a little after supper dessert and hot chocolate and some browsing. After a piece of a delightful apple crumb pie and armed with a cup of cocoa, I walked around the Mini-Me version of our local store to look at various titles and such. As I made my way around the store, I ventured over into the New Age Spirituality section. Here I looked through various books by the likes of Sylvia Browne and John Edward, as well a selection of titles on Paganism and Wicca.

As I was looking over the various titles with a mild interest, my bionic hearing beeped a few times and started catching the conversation going on at the sofa and chairs arranged near the bookshelf. Apparently there was a study group going of some sort and after further eavesdropping, I was able to determine that this was a Bible study group and they were approaching full tilt beater mode. One of the members of the group was near tears because we are so close to the end of times and she has no way of knowing if Jesus has accepted her soul to be saved at the time of the Rapture. A surprisingly young gentleman was telling her she should be on her hands and knees day and night praying for his forgiveness, just like the man over there looking at the works of the devil himself. Being my usual self, I looked over at the group, where the two members were looking at me while still continuing their conversation. I simply said, “Blessed Be”, and I meant it with all the kindness that I felt toward these people. They continued looking at me, so I then gave them the witch’s honor sign and said “Witch’s honor”, with the best little smirk I could muster.

I wish I could have vanished in thin air at that moment, but I didn’t feel like startling them right there in the middle of Barnes and Noble. So I moved along and let them continue their study group discussion.

I believe that anyone can believe in whatever they wish. If you want to worship you’re dishwasher, then by means worship your dishwasher and offer it endless Cascade, but for goodness sake do not impose your beliefs on me. I am more than willing to discuss spirtuality with anyone, regardless of their beliefs, but I believe the conversation should be calm and rational, not fire and brimstone. And for the record, I fully believe in a higher power, and that power is all-knowing, all-wise and all-loving of all creatures. It is so big it far exceeds the concept of male or female. I find it somewhat humorous that this all-mighty power could be a man with a beard sending all sorts of judgments out but if that’s what gets you through the day then believe in it the best you can.

Blessed Be.

Apple Passion.

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I was chatting with my sister and getting ready to do some web site work on my PowerBook when all of a sudden “it” happened. The fan in my PowerBook kicked on and started making a really funky noise.

It sounded crunchy.

Panicked, I abruptly ended the conversation with my sister and powered down the PowerBook, hoping it would stop making this awful noise I was hearing.

My heart sank.

I love my PowerBook. I have had many computers over the past 25 years and I have to say that my PowerBook G4 has been my favorite. I can’t imagine replacing it. I can’t imagine getting rid of it. I shall get it fixed, it shall be as new and we shall be as one once again.

I turned into a Mac fanboy a couple of years ago. Back when I was a system administrator I was all about Linux and FreeBSD. I tolerated Windows on the desktop. I couldn’t stand the Mac I had to support, as it was running something called System 7. Mac OS X turned my opinion of Apple around and I haven’t looked back.

I don’t think I could ever part with my PowerBook. Ever. It’s my little computer baby.

I’m backing up my files now, with a fan blowing on it to keep it cool, thus keeping the internal fan from kicking on, and then I’m going to shut it down and work on the studio Mac Mini until I can find a way to get it fixed. But in the end, I will not be without my PowerBook. Ever.

The Friday Night Club Beat.

It wouldn’t be the weekend without a little dance music. Here, enjoy one of my favorite dance tracks from the mid 1990s, “Sky High” by Newton. It’s from 1994 and I spun it to death on the dance floor and on the radio back in it’s day.

By Myself.

It’s that most wonderful time of the year at work. It’s the time when everyone is feverishly working hard to use up their vacation time before the end of year. We have this crazy little “use it or lose it” rule when it comes to our benefit time. I don’t really feel the crunch to do as many of my co-workers do because I happily use vacation time throughout the year. I think it’s one of my shining skills when it comes to my employment. I might even list it first on my resume.

What completely boggles my mind is that some of my co-workers don’t like taking time off from work. When our supervisor is telling us what time we need to use before December 31, they sigh and roll their eyes and say things like “I guess I can take the next three Fridays off.” What? Are you mad? Why the hell wouldn’t you want to take the next three Fridays off. Heck, go crazy and throw in a few Thursday too! I’m considering putting an entry in the dusty suggestion box in the break room: “Employees are free to share their vacation time with other co-workers. It can be used as a bargaining trip for favors such as taking the calls of the more cranky customers or putting the trash cans out in the hall.”

Since it’s mad rush time, everyone that sits near my quarter of a cubicle is off this afternoon. I’m all by myself at our end of the room.

It’s the perfect time to get started on my holiday shopping.

Now It Feels Like December.

The snow is coming down like crazy as I type this. As I made my way home from school in the Jeep, I trudged through three or four inches of snow on our unplowed roadway. I had to make a quick stop at the gas station to fill up the tank and I noticed that there were several people in and out of the parking lot as I was pumping gas; they were all picking up gallons of milk.

Predictable. I did forgive the hottie that was fueling up at the set of pumps next to mine. Our eyes met, he smiled, I smiled. It was a gay thing. But he still ran in and bought a gallon of milk. The cap color indicated it was whole milk. Perhaps my gaydar is off – what gay man drinks whole milk?

The National Weather Service is predicting possibly a foot of snow or more in selected locales in our region, courtesy of that big snow-maker we call Lake Ontario. I often wonder if my fellow citizens forget that we live on the edge of the Lake Ontario snowbelt and that heavy snow at this time of the year is not uncommon. As I said before, they may be lactose intolerant and on the Atkins diet, but by God they need to stock up on milk and bread!

I’m hoping the snow tapers off and doesn’t bury us tonight. I’m not plowing the driveway before leaving for work tomorrow, regardless of how much snow we get, and with Earl out of town, I won’t have to worry about getting him on his way tomorrow morning. If it does snow a lot, I’ll just shoot out of the garage like the Batmobile. Perhaps our cat Tom can dress up as Robin and sit in the passenger seat.

Motivation.

I’m really trying to get motivated about Christmas shopping but I haven’t started yet. Earl and I have shopped a couple of times for the family gifts on our list, but I haven’t started buying Earl’s gifts yet. There are so many things that I want to get him but I’ve been told to keep it reasonable.

I was going to do some shopping online last night, but ended up working on my road website and going to bed early.

I thought the snowfall would kick me into holiday shopping mode, but it hasn’t happened. I’ll probably get it all done this weekend though. I really need to, if I think about it, so that I have everything here in time to get wrapped and such.

Maybe Santa himself will kick in and help me out.