Life Is Such A Sweet Insanity.

A belated Happy New Year! My New Year’s entry is on the December page, since I put Earl and my trip to Philadelphia all in one entry.

So now we start a new page. And I am as SICK as a dog. I have somehow contracted this nasty head cold, that feels like it’s one of those 24-48 hour deals. I know, I absolutely refuse to be sick, and that’s 99% of the case most of the time, but I just can’t seem to fight this one off. So I admit defeat, and I’m spending a lot of time in bed.

Last night we went to the new East Dynasty Buffet in New Hartford… very nice, not your typical Chinese buffet offering. This place was huge and had a very large selection of food. It was very good, at least what I could taste of it because my cold was starting to show it’s true colors.

I probably caught this cold standing outside during the Giants at Eagles game last weekend – but you know what, I don’t care, because the game was well worth it!

My friend Tim had a case built for one of my clock works from my elementary school, and that arrived Thursday. It’s very, very nice… I have it here in the computer room.

There it is on the webcam. It’s a reproduction of one of the clocks from my elementary school and is very nice. I’m very pleased with it. If you haven’t seen my clock page, take a peek here.

Now I’m going to go back to bed. I’ll write again tomorrow night when this cold blows over!

With New Year’s just around the corner, it’s time to completely revamp one’s life with what I call the Resolution Revolution. I tend to take New Year’s Resolutions very seriously. With the dropping of the ball and the birth of a new year, its the best time to take a new lease on life, slip into the body that I’ve always dreamed about, clear my skin, become more spiritually focused, get involved in civic affairs, become a cook, a gardener, a sky-diver, a nuclear physist, the list goes on and on.

But seriously, I do have hopes of improving my life and well-being around the New Year’s holiday. The holiday holds so much promise.

Last year, one of my major New Year’s resolutions was to become a full-time vegetarian. I had been dinking around with being a part-time vegetarian for a couple of months beforehand, mostly when it was convenient, but I told myself I needed to become dedicated to the cause. If it had the ability to take a dump, I wasn’t going to eat it. That lasted until we went out west for vacation and I discovered “Sonic” and “In and Out” burger. So much for that.

Another resolution I made last year was to not spend unnecessary money. In celebration of this event, I went crazy on ebay and purchased a cash register system from a defunct department store. I guess I needed a place to store all the money I was saving.

One of my better resolutions of last year was to learn to speak French. I did the whole CD tutorial thing, along with “French for Dummies”. Earl and I headed up to Montréal for a weekend, the perfect opportunity to test out my French. Trying to be friendly, I tried to strike up a conversation with a nice older woman in the mall. Since it was July, I simply said “Boy, it’s hot”. After she slugged me with her purse I realized that I had said, “I’m in heat.” So much for French.

The first resolution of this year is the only one I am going to share. I’m not sharing my resolutions with anyone. After years of making promises to myself, and announcing them loudly to everyone within a 50 mile radius of my mouth, people tend to not take me seriously anymore. But after my Resolution Revolution of 2002, suffice it to say that I’m going to be rich, famous, a contributing member of society and absolutely gorgeous to look at. At least until January 15.

Saturday- Earl and I are on vacation as I write this on my Palm Pilot. We’ve combined our fifth anniversary and New Years into a getaway weekend. We’re in center city Philadelphia at Embassy Suites Logan Square. We stopped off at Earl’s dad’s for a quick visit before coming into Center City. After checking in, we went for a nice brisk walk down Market Street and in the theatre district. I have a new appreciation for Philly. I’m looking forward to more exploring this weekend. Tomorrow is the Giants at Eagles game – we’re going with Earl’s brother. I’ll let you know how that goes.

Sunday- Well, I survived the game. Upon going to bed last night, Earl informed me that we needed to get up at 7.30. Mind you, this is for a 4 p.m. game!! His brother has an old UPS truck converted to a tail-gating party machine! So we got to the stadium around 10, fired up the grill and had a good time. David and I were interviewed on channel 10 about the cold temps (it was 20 degrees), so we were on the news…Earl too as he was the cook. It was a grear game, with it being close right up until the last second, but the Eagles pulled it off and became Division champions. I guess its official, I’m a football fan, but don’t tell Earl.

Monday- today we went to see the historic sights of Philly. If you decide to tour Philly, be sure to use PLASH, the tourist bus system. It makes getting around the city a snap.
We started off at the Liberty Bell, which was awesome. We then went to the visitor’s center for a bit before heading over to Independence Hall. I found the tour fascinating, and confirmed one of my New Year’s resolutions, to learn as much American History that I can. I must not of paid attention in high school, so I bought a book to read this winter. I am really looking forward to it. Earl and I both noted that there was no resistance from tourists to new security measures. Security was tighter than airport security before Sept. 11, I had to even take off my belt to have it inspected.
We also went to The Second Bank, now The Portrait’s Gallery.
We then went to One Liberty Place for a little shopping and CHICK-FIL-A. You know I couldn’t go without Chick-Fil-A!
For dinner, we went to The Chart House at Penn’s Landing. Back to the scene of the crime so to speak, as we exchanged our vows at Penn’s Landing five years ago on Dec. 26. The food was absolutely wonderful, our server, Michelle, was the finesr server we have ever had, and the company wad pretty good too! All in all, a wonderful New Year’s Eve!
Tuesday – We got up early and checked out of the hotel. I must say that I really liked Embassy Suites. I highly recommend them. We then went to Bristol to visit Earl’s folks, but they weren’t home, so we raided the fridge and headed out. On the way home we stopped at Best Buy outside of Scranton. We got a couple of geek toys and Earl got Creed and Train on CD. We then headed home, and I’m finishing this entry up on my Palm Pilot on I-81 at Exit 201. We should be home around 4:30.

It’s finally snowing here in Central New York. While Buffalo is getting buried in snow as we speak, we on the other hand, have barely a dusting, and we’re just short of 200 miles east of Buffalo! Who can figure out the weather.

Christmas was lovely. Christmas Eve night we went to my aunt and uncles for the annual Christmas Eve get together, it was good to see my relatives, and we laughed and laughed until 11:00 at night.

Christmas Day got off to an early start with opening presents. Earl gave me some wonderful gifts… a docking station for my Palm pilot, so I can synchronize it at home, a beautiful winter jacket from Old Navy, a couple of shirts, a nice aromatherapy set for my meditation and a gift certificate to “The Art of Shaving” in New York for a straight razor. I’ve become somewhat of a shaving enthusiast, and I’ve been wanting a straight razor. The gift certificate is for a razor, along with a complimentary shave and a lesson on how to maintain the straight blade. We’re going to New York on January 18 to use the certificate – I’m really looking forward to it.

Wednesday night our friends Dennis and Victor had us over for dinner – it was a very nice meal, and it was kind of special since it was our fifth anniversary as well. We bought each other matching gold bracelets to celebrate our anniversary. I’ll have to take a picture sometime to post on the web. 🙂

This weekend we’re going away to Philly Saturday to Tuesday to celebrate our anniversary and New Year’s. We’re staying right in town. Earl’s never shown me the sites of Philadelphia before, so we’re going to be tourists while we’re there. Plus, we’re going to the Giants-Eagles game Sunday with his brother David. It should prove to be very fun.

I’ve been thinking about my New Year’s revolutions again, and I’m not going to reveal them until I’m sure that I can do them!

Merry Christmas to all! Earl is downstairs getting ready for the festivities as my parents are coming over, in shifts, since they’re separated. The festivities start tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. and go until about 6:00 or so. It should be really nice. I’m a little bit nervous about my presents for Earl. I don’t seem to be as good at holiday shopping as I want to be. I can think of a million things to get when its July or August, but come holiday shopping time, forget it, I go brain dead.

We spent the weekend in Philly at Earl’s folks. It was a great time… everyone seems to be doing well and everyone was filled with the holiday spirit. We saw “Vanilla Sky” Saturday night after dinner at Houlihan’s. I wasn’t prepared to like the movie, since I think Tom Cruise is way overrated, but I did end up enjoying the movie. It was pretty good. My sister said it was disturbing, but I didn’t find it disturbing at all. Yesterday morning we helped put together the traditional cookie trays. Earl’s dad bakes up about 1000 cookies and makes beautiful trays to share with family and friends. Since I’m all thumbs I suck at making the cookie trays look beautiful, but at least I can load them on there and someone else can make them look pretty.

I only worked until noon today, with it being Christmas Eve and all. Earl and I had a light lunch and then he started cooking while I took care of business up here in the computer room. Now I need to do some cleaning before we leave tonight for my Aunt and Uncle’s. It’s their annual Christmas Eve party, which will be nice since we don’t get together as a family as much as we used to.

I’ve been thinking about New Year’s resolutions already, but I’m not ready to reveal them yet. They’ll probably be in a journal entry soon. 🙂

The holiday season is upon us, and I’m afraid of getting sucked up into the commercialism of it all. I’m not trying to sound like Charlie Brown, but sometimes I feel like the sock that’s added to the washing machine with two minutes left on the wash cycle. Floating around on top for a bit, then sucked down to the bottom of the pile by a big agitator fin. Well, maybe the agitator fin part doesn’t fit right, but sometimes I feel like the commercialism of Christmas is sucking everybody in.

When I was a youngster, Christmas marked a variety of things for my family. All four of us (Mom and Dad, my sister and I) would pile into the car for the annual Christmas shopping experience. It was the one time all year that my father set foot in any type of store, usually J.M. Fields. It was the one of two times that we would eat at McDonalds. (The other time being after our annual dentist appointment – my mother liked to watch us try to eat a Big Mac after being on laughing gas.) And it was my father’s annual trip to Central Farm and Tractor; the place we spent most of the time Christmas shopping.

It was also one of the few times during the year that my maternal grandparents came up from the city for a visit. As I look back, I realize how just a special time it was. My sister and I desperately trying to stay asleep until 6 a.m. and then running downstairs and looking at the few presents under the tree, as Mom was trying to remember where she hid the rest of them. Dad reading the pile of books he had purchased for himself during the shopping trip, looking up once in a while to contribute his favorite adjective-verb… “Huh”. And Grandma and Grandpa sharing the joy with us as opened our presents. We couldn’t actually start opening presents until everyone had their breakfast – french toast and orange juice. That was the rule. And then we would open our gifts, a game or two, some clothes, usually something crocheted by my grandma. As I think about it, we may not have had a lot material-wise as a family, but we did have love and I heard The Chimes.

My favorite writer, Erma Bombeck, often wrote about “The Chimes” around Christmas time. It’s the story of a young, poor boy, following in the footsteps of kings, queens and statesmen that were leaving gifts on the altar. Legend has it that the chimes would not ring unless a true gift of love was left upon the altar. The kings and queens left many riches of gold and fine silk. But the chimes remained silent. And then, this young, poor boy, moves up to the altar. He removes his only possession, his coat, and places it on the altar. The chimes rang beautifully.

As a young kid, I often heard The Chimes. I didn’t know what they meant at the time, but I did have the sense of being loved very much. My sister and I rarely argued. My parents did their best to give my sister and I a happy childhood. My grandparents were very nurturing. But as I grew older, something changed. My mother and father grew apart. My sister and I became teenagers, and well, teenagers don’t hear chimes, they want Atari! And while we were for the most part a loving family, it wasn’t the same as when we were young. As time moved on, we had plenty of material things, but it didn’t hear the Chimes.

As I moved through my twenties, I really took a swing at “commercial Christmas”. One year, I bought my parents a VCR. I was man now and I could afford anything! Good thing they didn’t see my face when the cops called about my bounced check. Another year I bought everyone what I would have rather wanted and didn’t really think about what they would have wanted at all. (“Mom, you really need a new calculator to balance your checkbook!”) And yet, another year everyone got a gift certificate. Boy, to see their faces light up when they opened up the envelope to see a $25 gift certificate to Papa Loon’s pizza emporium. Yeah, right.

But I did hear The Chimes one Christmas. It was Christmas 1991. I was working for Association for Retarded Citizens. I worked in a group home setting at the time, a home for ten mentally challenged adults. Because of the way Christmas fell that year, I was slated to work a 17 hour shift Christmas Day. I could have had the day off, but I opted to work, quite frankly, because I needed the overtime that would come along with working a holiday. After everyone was up and had opened their gifts, one of the folks walked up to one of my co-workers and gave her a present.

“Here, Linda. This is for you. I made it at day treatment.”

“Thank you, Jeanette.”, she replied as she opened it.

It was a construction paper cut out of a Christmas tree, colored green with crayons with little red dots all over it. On the back it simply said, “For Dinla” in huge, clumsy letters.

“It’s very nice, I’ll hang it on my tree when I get home tomorrow.”, Linda told her, with a tear in her eye.

“Really?”, she said with a twinkle in her eye.

“Yep. I promise.”

I heard The Chimes then. And in my heart, though I haven’t seen Linda in a good number of years, I just know that she still has that Christmas tree hanging on her tree to this day.

That Christmas I learned a lot of things. And it made me strive to be a better person. I called my Mom and Dad up and told them how much I loved them. I said a small prayer for my family and friends. I prayed for the soldiers that were returning from the middle east.

Nowadays, the holidays can become very complicated. My parents are separated, so that means separate dinners and separate houses and separate gift exchanges. My sister could be living anywhere between here and Boston so we need to get her schedule coordinated. Plus, Earl’s family lives in suburban Philadelphia, so we need to fit a 700 mile round trip in there to visit his folks, and we have all the nieces and nephews to buy presents for, and Earl gets sick (whoops, that’s a different story), so sometimes its easy to get caught up in the rush of it all. Gift receipts and wrapping paper and Target and bows and cookie platters… it goes on and on.

But every Christmas morning, when I get the camera flashing in my face, and my 41 year old partner jumping up and down with the glee of a ten year old because he’s excited to see ME open MY presents, I hear the chimes. When we sit down for cereal and orange juice, nothing too extravagant for breakfast Christmas morning, and we take the time to bow our heads in prayer, I hear the Chimes. When we pause for just a moment to remember our loved ones, thank our Lord and reflect upon what Christmas is really all about, I hear chimes. When I give him a clumsily wrapped gift of a coaster with two rolls of tape and 10 yards of wrapping paper, I hope he hears The Chimes!

This holiday season, take just a moment to enjoy Christmas for what it really is. Tell your family and friends how much you love them. Don’t give in to the urge to ‘flip the bird’ to the gal in the minivan that just cut you off on the Turnpike. Give that homeless person on the street an extra dollar.

Sit back, and listen for The Chimes.

It’s the MOST… Wonderful time of the year. And indeed it is. The festive spirit has finally hit me, especially with the return of winter weather. And the national weather service says we’re just going to keep on enjoying that winter weather for a while to come. Yippee!

Well we had a wonderful time at my father’s Christmas party. We had the opportunity to meet his new girlfriend, Karen, and her son, Colin. Both very nice people. I get a sense of ‘future’ with my dad and Karen, like there’s possibilities there. I’m happy that they’ve found each other.

It was fun hanging out with about half my cousins and their families. My aunt and godmother, who is being treated for breast cancer, seems to be doing well. She’s undergoing radiation five days a week for the next six weeks or so. God bless her, she is so strong. I found an old picture of us in my photo album this weekend while I was cleaning that I’d like to share. It was taken in 1988 when I lived in Boxborough, Mass. My Aunt Marg is on the left, my mom on the right. And I had lots of hair! 🙂

Yesterday (Sunday), I finished up Earl’s Christmas shopping, which was fun. The mall was jammed packed, but it didn’t bother me a bit. I’ve been feeling a little more confident lately. I feel pretty good about what I got Earl this year, I think he’s going to be pleasantly surprised.

He gave US one of our Christmas presents this year. Yesterday afternoon I was trying to resurrect one of the scanners we had and it was just being a bugger. So he pulled out one of the presents – a new HP scanjet 4400C. This scanner is sweet, I’m very excited about it. (As you can tell from the picture I scanned in above.)

Tonight we watched last week’s “Dharma and Greg” from TiVo and also “The King of Queens”. I think Kevin James is rather cute. He reminds me of Earl. It’s not a bad show, I enjoy it more than “Everybody Loves Raymond.” We also watched Ellen with Mary Tyler Moore, nice touch to the show, but the humor seems rather forced in it. I’ve always been a big Ellen DeGeneres fan, but this series seems a little too formula for my tastes. We’ll see how it goes.

If you haven’t cruised around the site in a bit, you’ve missed my first attempt at creative writing. It’s in the section called “Ponderings”. Since I suck at stand up humor (because I stammer and get my words mixed up sometimes), I decided to write about various things. Sort of like the gay male Erma Bombeck. She’s probably rolling around in her grave by that statement, but one side of me thinks she wouldn’t have minded. It’s funny, but somehow I know that I wasn’t her intended audience but boy do I enjoy her books. I miss her newspaper column “At Wit’s End”.

This Christmas marks the sixth festive holiday season that Earl and I have been together. Let’s see… 1996 was 1, 1997 was 2, 1998 was 3, 9, 00, 01, yep it’s the sixth holiday season together. I always lose track, because our fifth anniversary is the day after Christmas, so that makes six.

Where were we now. Oh yes, it’s the holiday season once again in our merry little household. The tree is decorated so festively. The outside lights have been up since the weekend after Thanksgiving, and are now blowing fuses left and right. (I don’t know whose idea it was to decorate the 25 foot pine tree in the middle of our yard, but why did we put the connecting plugs at the top?) The tinny little caroling voices are screaming through Mr. High Fidelity and No Bass Speaker in the mall. Jingle BELLS Jingle BELLS, JINGLE ALL THE WAY. All of these are wonderful clues that it’s the most wonderful time of the year. But the real cincher on the arrival of holiday spirit is my partner Earl. God love him, his body just falls apart at the thought of the holidays. It’s like his warranty has expired or something.

Our first Christmas together, he warned me. “I always get sick around the holidays. Actually Rick (his youngest brother) and I take turns, he gets sick one year, I get sick the next.” And to think I was marrying into this festive little family the day after Christmas! The giddiness of it all! Because the way the holidays fell that year and because our families weren’t quite adjusted to their newest couple, Earl went to Pennsylvania for his family’s Christmas, I went up north to my folks and then met up with him Christmas afternoon. “I was sick yesterday, but I feel great today, since you’re here sweetheart.”

So I made it through a holiday season without actually witnessing “The Near Death holiday experience”.

The following year he was just stopped up in the sinuses a little bit. I reminded him, “Isn’t it Rick’s turn?”

“Aren’t you cute,” he replied, and proceeded to suck up the entire boxes of Kleenex into his nose. Had I not been holding his baby niece, she probably would have followed the Kleenex. The honk was heard as far away as Peoria, Illinois.

I don’t even want to mention the holiday season of 1999. Let’s just say I should have decorated the toilet seat instead of the bay window.

Last year, as we were getting ready for a Christmas party at my father’s, he broke the news to me.

“I’m having a stroke”.

“So soon? We haven’t even gotten the Christmas shopping done yet and the bills won’t be here for a month, how could you be having a stroke already?”

“You know, you’re going to feel really rotten when I drop dead into this wretched egg nog.”

“How do you know you’re having a stroke? Do you feel like Grandma Walton in that 1960s version of the Waltons movie?” I asked, trying to sound sincere.

“You know, you could show a little more compassion for a man who’s having a stroke. My left arm is numb.”

“Well then, it can’t be a stroke if it’s your left side. It’s got to be a heart attack”, I said, with all the wisdom of Nurse Needles.

“No, I’m not having a heart attack”, he nearly hissed back at me. I didn’t even know he could hiss. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”

So I didn’t.

I don’t like to sound insincere or uncaring, but I think that the inner child in him gets so worked up with excitement about the holidays that his body can’t take it or something. Maybe it’s because I have a somewhat twisted philosophy on sickness. I simply refuse to be sick. I won’t do it. I won’t catch a cold, I won’t harbor pneumonia and I refuse to take part in a flu epidemic. I am going to trudge through life healthy and that’s just the way it is. I try to introduce him to my philosophies on the matter, but he’s not having any of it.

This morning I noticed he started sniffling, so I suggested “Try some of the Echinacea. It suppose to boost your immune system. Or maybe you want to start building up on Cold-Ezze”.

“I hate that stuff. It tastes awful.”

“Yes, but sweetheart, maybe it’ll herd off this cold that you seem to be catching.”, I replied, trying my best to be the doting lover.

“No, I’m going to have a cold. It’s because of the holidays.”

Tonight we went on one of our annual “Ride Through The Snobby Section of Town and See The Lights” rides. Since today was such a beautiful, mild day, I took the opportunity to vacuum and clean the car, and I put an air freshener in it.

“That air freshener is a bit over powering, isn’t it?”, he nearly snarled.

“Why don’t you wrap it up in a napkin and put it in the glove compartment?”

He wrapped it up like a dead minnow and shoved it in the glove compartment, underneath all the manuals and everything. He then rolled down the car window and hung his head out like a sick dog. Since we live in Upstate New York, and it’s winter, I needn’t point out that it was 30 degrees. “You are going to get sick if you keep up the dog routine. Shut the window!”

As we held hands and enjoyed the beautiful Christmas displays, I noticed he was sniffling more and more. So we headed home, had a mug of hot chocolate each, and then I announced I was going upstairs to update the website.

“I’m going to watch a little television”.

I had just started up the internet connection when he dropped the news.

“My leg is numb.”

Always the concerned lover, I went downstairs and dug my fingernails into his leg.

“Ouch! What the hell are you trying to do to me?”

“I thought your leg was numb. I wanted to be sure.”, I replied, trying to sound as authorative as Marcus Welby, M.D. “If you don’t feel good, why don’t you lie down?”

“People lie down when they’re tired. I’m not tired. I’m numb.” he said, a little exasperated.

“You didn’t sleep well last night, maybe you need some rest.” I suggested.

And so he did. He actually took my advice. I just went and checked on him… he’s snoring away, once again making the cows down the road restless with all that noise. I just know he’s going to be all sniffly this week. And being the loving lover, I’ll be there pushing the Echinacea and Cold-Ezze… after all, what are lovers for? But isn’t it Rick’s turn this year?

Sigh. I’m still trying to get into the holiday spirit. Earl and I just got done watching “A Charlie Brown Christmas”, which is always wonderful to watch. Thank goodness for TiVo. TV your way! 🙂

Earl is downstairs making Christmas cookies and they smell wonderful. I haven’t figured out how to share a smell yet on my journal, but wouldn’t that be wonderful! I’ve been chatting with a penpal in the U.K. named Richard. He apparently stumbled across this site and dropped me a line. A very nice gentleman, I look forward to chatting with him more.

I spoke with my mother last night. She seems to be doing well; actually she’s doing much, much better than she was doing two weeks ago. I’m happy for her. Maybe she’s got the Christmas spirit in her! We’re looking forward to seeing her over the holidays.

My dad is having the family Christmas party tomorrow night. This is going to be very interesting since he doesn’t cook or anything. But it’ll be good to see a good share of my cousins and such. The family doesn’t get together nearly as much as when my grandmother was alive, it’s nice to hook up now and then. Gosh, I miss both my grandmothers. They passed away six years ago. My mom’s mom in December 1995, and my dad’s mom shortly afterwards in February 1996. They were both very special ladies. One could cook like there was no tomorrow, good down-home farm type breakfast, dinner and supper goodies, including wonderful cookies and other baked goodies, whereas my other grandmother was very artsy-craftsy with plants and yarn and all the sort of stuff. I have a good number of her Christmas decorations, and Earl and I put them up on the tree every year. We lived across the street from my paternal grandparents, so I saw them everyday; my maternal grandparents lived about 45 minutes away; and we saw them just as much and talked to them several times a week on the phone. I always felt like I had a special connection with them both, and I guess that’s why I miss them so much.

On a slightly selfish note, ever since going to New Hampshire I’ve been having cravings for Chick-Fil-A.

I’m hoping by putting the logo there it’ll calm down my appetite for it in some weird way, but I guess not. We’re going down to Pennsylvania Saturday to visit with Earl’s family, so we’ll have to stop in Allentown, Pa. on the way down and get some Chick-Fil-A! 🙂

I deleted Yahoo! Messenger off of my system last night. I’m a strictly ICQ type of guy, so if you want to drop me a line, go right ahead. I have it open whenever I’m at the computer. My ICQ # is 125628700. You can see my ICQ status from the index page or my journal pages.

Earl and I watched Survivor:Africa last night and I was quite happy to see Brandon voted off. I know, I know, I wasn’t going to watch Survivor this time around. I will admit that it generally sucks, but I felt a certain amount of wicked glee by seeing Brandon voted off; if Lex (the biggest horse’s ass to ever hit a reality tv show) gets voted off next week; then I’ll watch it to the end. If he doesn’t get voted off, I’m giving up on it and vomitting in toilet.

“It’s the most… wonderful time… of the year!” Happy Holidays!

Earl and I have had a festive weekend as it may be. Yesterday we began and for the most part, completed our Christmas shopping. We always have to do it with a big bang, so we decided to go to a mall I hadn’t been to in 10 years.

In Nashua, New Hampshire.

Now, if you look at a map of the United States, you will see that Utica, New York (the closest city) is a drive from Nashua, N.H. Who cares! As a matter of fact, it’s 4 hours away. So we jumped into the car Saturday morning and headed to New England. One tank of gas later, we were there at Pheasant Lane Mall.

One of the most beautiful things about Pheasant Lane Mall is that they have a Chick-Fil-A. I think I’ve mentioned before that I absolutely love Chick-Fil-A. Not to sound hypocritical, but the vegetarian deal goes on HOLD when I’m near Chick-Fil-A. Ideally, that would be my only exception to the rule, but I’m still wrestling with that a little bit. If you can go to Chick-Fil-A, GO! Best fast food that can’t be beat.

I lived in the “Mass-Hampshire” area back in the late 1980s when I worked for Digital Equipment Corp. So I was pretty familiar with the area, and I had been to Pheasant Lane before. But wow, how things have grown up around there! We used the debit card until it had skid marks on it and managed to buy all of the necessary Christmas presents except for the ones for each other. I have an idea of what I’m getting Earl, and I’m going to pick that up this week and then I’ll be done done done with Christmas shopping.

We drove home in a pretty good snow storm last night, and got home around 12:30 a.m. I made the mistake of going the “back way” through the Berkshire mountains on Mass. Rt. 2. I forgot how twisty and windy those mountain roads could be, especially with a lot of snow falling! The was the first snow storm for the Impala, so I was pleased to see that it handled very, very well.

Why is it that people forget all laws, rules, etc. on the road when the snow begins to fall? A one way street is still a one way street. Turn signals are still required. Stopping in the middle of a travel lane is prohibited. The New York Thruway can be a pain in the snow too, because there’s a lot of out of state drivers that are in an absolute panic when it comes to driving in snow. I grew up in the Upstate New York snow belt, so it doesn’t really bother me to drive in any snow conditions, but some people get so crazy! And the crazy people usually have Jersey plates on their car.

Today we drove into town and picked up our Christmas tree, a beautiful wreath for the front of the house and a nice table centerpiece. The tree is currently “falling” so we can decorate it tomorrow night after work. With the snow on the ground and the tree in the living room, it’s beginning to feel like Christmas. Finally. Of course, Mr. Weatherman says it’s going to be 60 by the end of the week again, so who knows.

Otherwise, today has been a lazy day with us doing laundry, etc. The geek in me is trying to figure out how to switch over to Linux here at home without losing any of my functionality, but I’m not having any luck with the webcam part. And the webcam is important to me. So I’m going to keep working on that issue. Hopefully I’ll find an answer soon. I’ve used a bunch of the main Linux distributions before, but I’m trying to find the one I like the best. Right now I’m leaning toward RedHat 7.1.