PhoneBoy Says

A relatively warm, sunny day for December. Gymnastics was closed, but the park was open.

This weekend suddenly went up in the air on me, and even next week may be up in the air now too.

My wife had two parties to do this weekend: one at her house tomorrow and the neighborhood Christmas party on Sunday. Personally, I think it's insane to sign up for both, but hey, it's the holidays and really the only weekend during December where parties can be had. Unfortunately, what she didn't count on was getting sick, which at least when she was awake earlier was definitely the case. And of course let's add the additional difficulty factor of Gracie having a cold at the same time and you've got a recipe for disaster on your hands.

I was warned I may have to cancel my trip to the Bay Area next week. If she's going to be as bad off as she seems to think, then I'll have to. But we've got a couple of days between now and then, so we'll have to see. Let's just hope that whatever the wife has passes quickly. She went to bed early so hopefully she will sleep some of it off.

Snow still on the ground, there's enough clearing to see the moon. You do the math. Captured with and posted from the Nokia N73.

When I saw this article on ArsTechnica about how people with online friends feel as close to them as real-life friends, my gut reaction well no duh! Of course, the biggest example of this in my life is my wife. Met her over 10 years ago online. We've been married for seven years.

There are, of course, plenty of others, both in my professional life and my personal life. Plenty of people I have yet to meet in real life that I feel close to. Online is just one more way to meet and/or stay in touch with people. Or not stay in touch, depending on your druthers.

I have a confession to make. It's not that I don't like Christmas, I just don't care much for the decorations, the music, the singing, or just about anything that people actually do at Christmas. As much as I'd like to hunker down and hide out until this wholeChristmas thing blows over--and I was lucky enough to be able to do that a couple of years--it's very hard to do that with kids and awife who just happens to love all the decorations and the music.

I remember when I was living with my dad. I was riding the school busduring Christmas time and some of the kids were singing ChristmasCarols. It drove me absolutely ape shit, especially since they made apoint of taunting me with the songs for a while. I'm not sure if I wasin tears--probably blocked out some of it--but I was definitelyaggravated and wanted it to stop.

Recently, my wife bought a gingerbread man that plays "Jingle BellRock." It was someone my wife gave to Gracie to get her through thestore. Unfortunately, when it came time to leave, my daughter wouldn'tgive it up, and so it ended up being taken home.Both kidsfought over it. They actually had to have five minute turns with thisthing. And of course, it played the song over and over and over, whichdidn't do a whole lot for my mood.

We also have this "Christmas train" that plays Christmas Music. My daughter is completely fascinated by it. After a couple of rounds of the music (and it plays something like 15 different songs), I'm ready for it to be done. But of course, no such luck. And of course my son likes it too, but thankfully he wasn't home long enough to demand to have it on.

At the end of the day, I tolerate Christmas. What bothers me most is I don't even really understand why this stuff bugs me like it does. It's not like my dislike for these things is debilitating, but it does mean I spend more time irritated at a time of the year where you should be happy. Eh.

Since Vox can point at videos on YouTube, I came across this video that combines two fairly cool songs--one from the Beatles, and the other from The Monkees.

paperback believer

If you came with a warning label, what would it say?
Submitted by chris.

Talks too much. Overly obsessed with items with blinking lights, particularly mobile phones. Sensitive to the emotions of others. Needs care and affection.

It dumped on me when I was coming home from Costco in Silverdale, but wasn't doing anything at home. That's changed, obviously.

Or cheesy anyway.