Wrapping paper and ribbons and other things
Wrapping paper and ribbon and other things
Hello gentle readers. I hope you all had a rewarding and wondrous Christmas. I did.
Happy Boxing Day and Happy Kwanzaa and Happy Hanukkah, Part 2.
I’m not sure how long this blog posting will be when I get finished with it. I have a lot to cover for the weekend plus I still have some trailing stuff from last week that never made it into a blog. Most of the stuff from last week will hopefully end up in the “other things” section.
I was up early on Christmas Day. I had a turkey to prepare and then cook for our eventual dinner that late afternoon – early evening. Actually, I started cooking on Thursday when I fixed the candied yams. They turned out very nice.
On Friday night, I cooked the two pies for dessert; one was a pumpkin pie and one was a mince pie. The mince pie was for me; no one else likes it. The mince pie is a hold over from when I was a kid. Growing up, we always had a mince pie at Christmas. The pie will end up lasting me for several days.
Back to Christmas.
As usual, the Princess, the Big Guy and their Mother showed up right on time. I knew they would since the Princess was driving and she is never ever late to an event where she will be receiving something. Christmas morning is the one morning that she does not sleep late.
I had told the Princess that I was planning a theme for her Christmas gifts. I had chosen a “life style” theme. This naturally confused her and her friends Emily and Maggie.
Dad liked to have one winner for a change.
The key gift was a Coach purse that is worn over the shoulder like a bandolier; the purse portion should hang or rest nicely on her hip. This would leave her hands free for when she is out in the sports pub/bar during March Madness for example.
If she wants to go for a Stat Trek type of them, she can pretend that it is a girls’ only tricorder that is used to detect intelligent male life forms in the bar or other venue. Granted the Star Trek idea is a bit much, it is a very functional purse since it is black and cloth and not likely to get lost or misplaced in the crush of people.
I also got her some camouflage colored ear plugs in the event the Princess runs into Mr. Boring instead of Mr. Perfect. I have tested the ear plugs at the air show at the United States Marine Corps Air Station Miramar Air Show earlier this year. They did an excellent job of blocking out jet fighter noise.
The Princess bought me some books because she knows I love to read. Her roommate Emily gave me three cigars to smoke, well yes obviously to smoke. Duoh, Dad. I smoke only outside to the balcony and I like to read while I smoke.
Unfortunately, the weather is not cooperating with my smoking needs. It is cool and damp and misty and breezy. This is the sort of nasty weather that allows the cold to creep into your bones and joints. I used to be able to read in weather like that when I was much younger. Now, I will have to wait until this coming weekend and hope the weather improves by then.
The Big Guy got his Christmas gift last week when I told him he could install Sirius satellite radio in his car. That was his big reward and he was very happy. He was offering free rides in his car so you could hear Sirius radio. I may have to take him up on the offer someday soon.
The Princess and the Big Guy got their father a six DVD collection called the LONE WOLF AND CUB. It was probably one of the most researched DVD purchases ever for the two of them. The Big Guy had seen one of the six DVDs before and liked it. He checked the box set out with his friends and samurai film genre lovers, Coulter and Mark. They gave the box set two enthusiastic swords and two buckets of fake blood up.
What’s not to like about 507 minutes of subtitled samurai graphic violence and occasional nudity? That sounds like a near perfect weekend of DVD viewing to me. Now all I need to do is find a younger woman who shares my fondness for samurai genre films.
Coulter is also the director of the zombie film FACILITY 4 which you should see if it plays nears you sometime soon.
My Younger Brother sent us a family photo from my niece’s wedding in Seattle. It was one of the two or three weekends in Seattle when it does not rain so it was a perfect wedding. We all agreed that we looked very nice in the photos.
My former wife Marilyn gave me a copy of the 1933 classic KING KONG. I’m not sure if the DVD was a commentary on our marriage or the fact that it was the most recent release of an AFI 100 Greatest Films list film. I’ll go with the AFI release list factor.
My friend Sharon gave me a Barnes & Noble gift certificate because she said I was hard to buy for. If she has asked the Princess or the Big Guy, I’ll bet that they could have come up with a dozen or more good ideas; of course they could, they had a list to work from after all plus Doug knows what type of DVDs I like and has a pretty good idea what I have in my collection.
Sharon
Sharon has not been well lately. Now, she has this nasty sort of cold that has an ugly sounding cough to accompany it. I talked to Sharon on Thursday night and made arrangement to go by her house on Saturday morning and drop off her gifts from the three of us. She said it was too far to drive and I merely replied that she was worth the drive. It was hard to argue with that sort of warped logic.
I took my time driving out to her house on Saturday. There was no need to rush and burn gasoline needlessly I thought. I arrived about five minutes late.
Sharon said, “What happened, you’re never late.”
So much for taking my time. We didn’t hang around for any real time. Sharon was still coughing but not as bad plus she had to go to market and the drug store for her mother who now had a bad cold and cough. I did not want to catch what she had.
I called Sharon on Christmas Day but she was out and about with her cellphone turned off.
Finally, I caught up with Sharon this morning. She was in the market picking up some food for her mother.
When she picked up the cellphone, I wished her, “Happy Boxing Day and Happy Kwanzaa, Beautiful.” She laughed and giggled. We talked briefly because she was about to go through the cashier station and had to pay for the food. Talking to me would complicate things for her.
We will probably talk during the week.
Picking Up the Princess
I told you all that I was picking up the Princess at Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday.
Her flight was early and the Delta Airlines information boards were broken, great combination of technology and customer service. I phoned Doug to make sure the arrival was still on the ahead of time schedule. It was.
I had about forty minutes to kill before her flight arrived. I tried phoning Sharon because she is always good for a long phone call unless she is sick and can barely talk like she was on Thursday.
I just hung out and watched people in the terminal and marveled that their collective stupidity and thoughtlessness.
There is only one escalator that comes from the arrival terminal to baggage claim. Most of the people stand back and let their friends and relatives walk to join them. But the jerks, mostly Asians, seem to bring the entire family to the airport to meet someone who is flying in from somewhere. As soon as the traveler gets to the bottom of the ramp, they all want to crowd around and block everyone else‘s exit. Then, they get upset when others push into them as they try to get off the escalator.
Come on people, the traveler is going to be here for a while; you can wait until later to the hugging and kissing. Think of others for a change.
I was wearing my University of South Carolina Gamecocks sweatshirt so it would be easy for the Princess to recognize me in the crowd. She should recognize it; she gave it to me.
Anyway, her bag arrived and we left the terminal before she was originally scheduled to arrive. The traffic to leave the airport was bad primarily because people could not
(a) read the directional signs;
(b) hang up their cell phones and drive;
or (c) both of the above.
If you answered “C,” you are a winner.
The Princess said the flight out was one of the worst she has ever had. She said she heard the flight attendants talking and they were saying it was a rough flight. The Princess does not like to fly and this was not the kind of happy talk she was hoping for from the flight crew.
Anyway, she was there and so was her bag. I dropped myself off and she drove off to her mother’s house behind the Orange Curtain in South Orange County.
Other Things
This is the grab bag of comments I should or could have made earlier this week.
Movies
I had planned to see some films over the long holiday weekend. I had considered seeing KING KONG, SYRIANA, CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, or MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA. In the end, I saw none.
Doug had said he fell asleep in the first hour of KING KONG and thought that was not a good sign at all. One of his Skeet Shooters posted a comment that he or she flew asleep also. Clearly, that was not a good review. I was not surprised when he said that he did not like on Christmas.
Work in slow now so I could bail out an hour early and get to the theaters for a late cheap matinee showing this week and still leave a film or two to see over the weekend.
Skeet Shooters
I do appreciate your occasional visitation to the blog. The attendance on the 15th gave me my one day high record of 61 visitors. I know my blog is not as fascinating as my son’s. But, I do use spell check so you don’t have to guess what the word is when you read it.
I noticed that one of the Skeet Shooters who visited on the 15th also read 11 other pages of my blog.
Fascinating.
Tattoos
I think you all know how much I like [NOT] tattoos, especially on young or old women. As I was driving out to Sharon’s house on Saturday, I noticed the Body Art Expo will be held on January 6th, 7th, and 8th at the Los Angeles County Fair Grounds.
I actually thought for a moment about spending some time out there. Then, I quickly came to my senses and decided this would be too much of a very bad, bad idea. Watching LONE WOLF AND CUB will probably be a better way to spend my time weekend after next.
Lawyers
Why would a law firm employee log into my blog for 45 minutes?
I hope that wasn’t logged as billable time. I don’t believe that I have offended anyone to point of hiring a lawyer to sue me. Besides, most all of the names are only first names so it is hard to identify anyone with a specific set of comments.
One of the first law firms was unknown to me. The most recent law firm to log on to a sizeable viewing was a big old line San Francisco law firm that has been around for years.
Did I say something unkind about the City by the Bay perhaps? Oh well, not to worry now.
Jump Boots
When I was in the Marine Corps Reserves, I had to wear jump boots and green utilities. Back then, in the early 1970s, no one really cared much for those of us who served our country. I’m over that period now.
But, I can’t get over how those who protested the loudest against the military have now co-opted and seem to wear only cast military issue clothing like field jackets and camouflage utilities. I wear civilian clothes because I am a civilian now.
You can imagine my surprise the other day as I drove to work when I saw a young lady walking to school, I guess, and who was wearing jump boots that almost reached her knees. I was under the impression that the Goth look was long over and faded out.
I was wrong. She was wearing torn black nylons with fish nets over them. They went very nicely with her short plaid skirt and green field jacket. I was stopped for a traffic light when I saw her. I would say she was marching along in what we used to call a “route step march.” She was taking a good 30 inch / 750 millimeter stride at a good 120 steps per minute pace.
I think my old Gunnery Sergeant would have been pleased with her pace and style of marching. The poorly shined jump boots would have made the Gunny very sad; he was big on highly shined boots.
SETI@home
I have been a long time supporter of the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence web site and project.
They recently change operating systems and I had to re-establish my account to continue doing work for them. It was a struggle to log in so I gave up for now. I plan to spend some of next weekend getting logged into SETI again.
In the mean time, I signed up for the Einstein project that maps gravitational signals from pulsars. I think this is a useful application for my laptop’s spare time.
There are a total of seven other shared computer projects that are managed by the University of California at Berkley. You can check the projects out at http://boinc.berkeley.edu. I would encourage you to sign up and support a project that appeals to you.
Nice Dad
The Princess has to fly back to Atlanta on the red eye tonight. That sucks and then she has to go to work when she arrives in Atlanta.
We all know that airline food is a serious oxymoron. I think that even MRE’s [Meals, Ready to Eat] taste better than what passes for food on an airplane these days. If you are flying in the back of the plane like the Princess, food is either not there or for sale at scandalous prices.
Nice Dad, that would be me, makes up a flight food baggie for the Princess. I know she will not be hungry when she arrives in Atlanta.
Remembering how she did not like the flight out, I found her, what I call her Russian buddskies, four small airline size bottles of top quality vodka like Ketel One and Stolichnaya to help her relax and rest on the flight. I just hope the flight attendants will give her a glass with a lot of ice in it and not hassle her about bringing her own drinks on board.
I also stopped by my favorite deli to get a submarine sandwich for her. It is her favorite one.
Then, there is the salty snack of dry roasted cashews. There is a sweet snack of Hershey’s Dark Chocolate. There is a protein energy bar I guess for the morning. I even include a liter of water from Fiji to wash everything down.
If all goes well, I will have to her to the airport in plenty of time to check and find her way to her gate.
Programming Notes
I may not be posting every day this coming week. It is a slow time and there is not likely too much for me to write about. Besides, I am fairly confident that you are off with other things to do than read my blogs.
Live well and play hard; it is the holiday / party season.
Hello gentle readers. I hope you all had a rewarding and wondrous Christmas. I did.
Happy Boxing Day and Happy Kwanzaa and Happy Hanukkah, Part 2.
I’m not sure how long this blog posting will be when I get finished with it. I have a lot to cover for the weekend plus I still have some trailing stuff from last week that never made it into a blog. Most of the stuff from last week will hopefully end up in the “other things” section.
I was up early on Christmas Day. I had a turkey to prepare and then cook for our eventual dinner that late afternoon – early evening. Actually, I started cooking on Thursday when I fixed the candied yams. They turned out very nice.
On Friday night, I cooked the two pies for dessert; one was a pumpkin pie and one was a mince pie. The mince pie was for me; no one else likes it. The mince pie is a hold over from when I was a kid. Growing up, we always had a mince pie at Christmas. The pie will end up lasting me for several days.
Back to Christmas.
As usual, the Princess, the Big Guy and their Mother showed up right on time. I knew they would since the Princess was driving and she is never ever late to an event where she will be receiving something. Christmas morning is the one morning that she does not sleep late.
I had told the Princess that I was planning a theme for her Christmas gifts. I had chosen a “life style” theme. This naturally confused her and her friends Emily and Maggie.
Dad liked to have one winner for a change.
The key gift was a Coach purse that is worn over the shoulder like a bandolier; the purse portion should hang or rest nicely on her hip. This would leave her hands free for when she is out in the sports pub/bar during March Madness for example.
If she wants to go for a Stat Trek type of them, she can pretend that it is a girls’ only tricorder that is used to detect intelligent male life forms in the bar or other venue. Granted the Star Trek idea is a bit much, it is a very functional purse since it is black and cloth and not likely to get lost or misplaced in the crush of people.
I also got her some camouflage colored ear plugs in the event the Princess runs into Mr. Boring instead of Mr. Perfect. I have tested the ear plugs at the air show at the United States Marine Corps Air Station Miramar Air Show earlier this year. They did an excellent job of blocking out jet fighter noise.
The Princess bought me some books because she knows I love to read. Her roommate Emily gave me three cigars to smoke, well yes obviously to smoke. Duoh, Dad. I smoke only outside to the balcony and I like to read while I smoke.
Unfortunately, the weather is not cooperating with my smoking needs. It is cool and damp and misty and breezy. This is the sort of nasty weather that allows the cold to creep into your bones and joints. I used to be able to read in weather like that when I was much younger. Now, I will have to wait until this coming weekend and hope the weather improves by then.
The Big Guy got his Christmas gift last week when I told him he could install Sirius satellite radio in his car. That was his big reward and he was very happy. He was offering free rides in his car so you could hear Sirius radio. I may have to take him up on the offer someday soon.
The Princess and the Big Guy got their father a six DVD collection called the LONE WOLF AND CUB. It was probably one of the most researched DVD purchases ever for the two of them. The Big Guy had seen one of the six DVDs before and liked it. He checked the box set out with his friends and samurai film genre lovers, Coulter and Mark. They gave the box set two enthusiastic swords and two buckets of fake blood up.
What’s not to like about 507 minutes of subtitled samurai graphic violence and occasional nudity? That sounds like a near perfect weekend of DVD viewing to me. Now all I need to do is find a younger woman who shares my fondness for samurai genre films.
Coulter is also the director of the zombie film FACILITY 4 which you should see if it plays nears you sometime soon.
My Younger Brother sent us a family photo from my niece’s wedding in Seattle. It was one of the two or three weekends in Seattle when it does not rain so it was a perfect wedding. We all agreed that we looked very nice in the photos.
My former wife Marilyn gave me a copy of the 1933 classic KING KONG. I’m not sure if the DVD was a commentary on our marriage or the fact that it was the most recent release of an AFI 100 Greatest Films list film. I’ll go with the AFI release list factor.
My friend Sharon gave me a Barnes & Noble gift certificate because she said I was hard to buy for. If she has asked the Princess or the Big Guy, I’ll bet that they could have come up with a dozen or more good ideas; of course they could, they had a list to work from after all plus Doug knows what type of DVDs I like and has a pretty good idea what I have in my collection.
Sharon
Sharon has not been well lately. Now, she has this nasty sort of cold that has an ugly sounding cough to accompany it. I talked to Sharon on Thursday night and made arrangement to go by her house on Saturday morning and drop off her gifts from the three of us. She said it was too far to drive and I merely replied that she was worth the drive. It was hard to argue with that sort of warped logic.
I took my time driving out to her house on Saturday. There was no need to rush and burn gasoline needlessly I thought. I arrived about five minutes late.
Sharon said, “What happened, you’re never late.”
So much for taking my time. We didn’t hang around for any real time. Sharon was still coughing but not as bad plus she had to go to market and the drug store for her mother who now had a bad cold and cough. I did not want to catch what she had.
I called Sharon on Christmas Day but she was out and about with her cellphone turned off.
Finally, I caught up with Sharon this morning. She was in the market picking up some food for her mother.
When she picked up the cellphone, I wished her, “Happy Boxing Day and Happy Kwanzaa, Beautiful.” She laughed and giggled. We talked briefly because she was about to go through the cashier station and had to pay for the food. Talking to me would complicate things for her.
We will probably talk during the week.
Picking Up the Princess
I told you all that I was picking up the Princess at Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday.
Her flight was early and the Delta Airlines information boards were broken, great combination of technology and customer service. I phoned Doug to make sure the arrival was still on the ahead of time schedule. It was.
I had about forty minutes to kill before her flight arrived. I tried phoning Sharon because she is always good for a long phone call unless she is sick and can barely talk like she was on Thursday.
I just hung out and watched people in the terminal and marveled that their collective stupidity and thoughtlessness.
There is only one escalator that comes from the arrival terminal to baggage claim. Most of the people stand back and let their friends and relatives walk to join them. But the jerks, mostly Asians, seem to bring the entire family to the airport to meet someone who is flying in from somewhere. As soon as the traveler gets to the bottom of the ramp, they all want to crowd around and block everyone else‘s exit. Then, they get upset when others push into them as they try to get off the escalator.
Come on people, the traveler is going to be here for a while; you can wait until later to the hugging and kissing. Think of others for a change.
I was wearing my University of South Carolina Gamecocks sweatshirt so it would be easy for the Princess to recognize me in the crowd. She should recognize it; she gave it to me.
Anyway, her bag arrived and we left the terminal before she was originally scheduled to arrive. The traffic to leave the airport was bad primarily because people could not
(a) read the directional signs;
(b) hang up their cell phones and drive;
or (c) both of the above.
If you answered “C,” you are a winner.
The Princess said the flight out was one of the worst she has ever had. She said she heard the flight attendants talking and they were saying it was a rough flight. The Princess does not like to fly and this was not the kind of happy talk she was hoping for from the flight crew.
Anyway, she was there and so was her bag. I dropped myself off and she drove off to her mother’s house behind the Orange Curtain in South Orange County.
Other Things
This is the grab bag of comments I should or could have made earlier this week.
Movies
I had planned to see some films over the long holiday weekend. I had considered seeing KING KONG, SYRIANA, CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, or MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA. In the end, I saw none.
Doug had said he fell asleep in the first hour of KING KONG and thought that was not a good sign at all. One of his Skeet Shooters posted a comment that he or she flew asleep also. Clearly, that was not a good review. I was not surprised when he said that he did not like on Christmas.
Work in slow now so I could bail out an hour early and get to the theaters for a late cheap matinee showing this week and still leave a film or two to see over the weekend.
Skeet Shooters
I do appreciate your occasional visitation to the blog. The attendance on the 15th gave me my one day high record of 61 visitors. I know my blog is not as fascinating as my son’s. But, I do use spell check so you don’t have to guess what the word is when you read it.
I noticed that one of the Skeet Shooters who visited on the 15th also read 11 other pages of my blog.
Fascinating.
Tattoos
I think you all know how much I like [NOT] tattoos, especially on young or old women. As I was driving out to Sharon’s house on Saturday, I noticed the Body Art Expo will be held on January 6th, 7th, and 8th at the Los Angeles County Fair Grounds.
I actually thought for a moment about spending some time out there. Then, I quickly came to my senses and decided this would be too much of a very bad, bad idea. Watching LONE WOLF AND CUB will probably be a better way to spend my time weekend after next.
Lawyers
Why would a law firm employee log into my blog for 45 minutes?
I hope that wasn’t logged as billable time. I don’t believe that I have offended anyone to point of hiring a lawyer to sue me. Besides, most all of the names are only first names so it is hard to identify anyone with a specific set of comments.
One of the first law firms was unknown to me. The most recent law firm to log on to a sizeable viewing was a big old line San Francisco law firm that has been around for years.
Did I say something unkind about the City by the Bay perhaps? Oh well, not to worry now.
Jump Boots
When I was in the Marine Corps Reserves, I had to wear jump boots and green utilities. Back then, in the early 1970s, no one really cared much for those of us who served our country. I’m over that period now.
But, I can’t get over how those who protested the loudest against the military have now co-opted and seem to wear only cast military issue clothing like field jackets and camouflage utilities. I wear civilian clothes because I am a civilian now.
You can imagine my surprise the other day as I drove to work when I saw a young lady walking to school, I guess, and who was wearing jump boots that almost reached her knees. I was under the impression that the Goth look was long over and faded out.
I was wrong. She was wearing torn black nylons with fish nets over them. They went very nicely with her short plaid skirt and green field jacket. I was stopped for a traffic light when I saw her. I would say she was marching along in what we used to call a “route step march.” She was taking a good 30 inch / 750 millimeter stride at a good 120 steps per minute pace.
I think my old Gunnery Sergeant would have been pleased with her pace and style of marching. The poorly shined jump boots would have made the Gunny very sad; he was big on highly shined boots.
SETI@home
I have been a long time supporter of the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence web site and project.
They recently change operating systems and I had to re-establish my account to continue doing work for them. It was a struggle to log in so I gave up for now. I plan to spend some of next weekend getting logged into SETI again.
In the mean time, I signed up for the Einstein project that maps gravitational signals from pulsars. I think this is a useful application for my laptop’s spare time.
There are a total of seven other shared computer projects that are managed by the University of California at Berkley. You can check the projects out at http://boinc.berkeley.edu. I would encourage you to sign up and support a project that appeals to you.
Nice Dad
The Princess has to fly back to Atlanta on the red eye tonight. That sucks and then she has to go to work when she arrives in Atlanta.
We all know that airline food is a serious oxymoron. I think that even MRE’s [Meals, Ready to Eat] taste better than what passes for food on an airplane these days. If you are flying in the back of the plane like the Princess, food is either not there or for sale at scandalous prices.
Nice Dad, that would be me, makes up a flight food baggie for the Princess. I know she will not be hungry when she arrives in Atlanta.
Remembering how she did not like the flight out, I found her, what I call her Russian buddskies, four small airline size bottles of top quality vodka like Ketel One and Stolichnaya to help her relax and rest on the flight. I just hope the flight attendants will give her a glass with a lot of ice in it and not hassle her about bringing her own drinks on board.
I also stopped by my favorite deli to get a submarine sandwich for her. It is her favorite one.
Then, there is the salty snack of dry roasted cashews. There is a sweet snack of Hershey’s Dark Chocolate. There is a protein energy bar I guess for the morning. I even include a liter of water from Fiji to wash everything down.
If all goes well, I will have to her to the airport in plenty of time to check and find her way to her gate.
Programming Notes
I may not be posting every day this coming week. It is a slow time and there is not likely too much for me to write about. Besides, I am fairly confident that you are off with other things to do than read my blogs.
Live well and play hard; it is the holiday / party season.
posted by Chuck Reinhardt at 6:42 PM
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