Well, it’s looking quite Christmasy out my window this morning. The trees are full of snow, the driveway is full of snow – everything looks bright and shiny. Well, not super bright, ‘cuz the sun’s not out, but it looks like the snow is mostly over (and I can see a brightening sky off to the west – not sun, mind you, but brighter clouds). And it’s already a lot warmer this morning than it ever got yesterday, so that’s good.

It’s hard to tell how much we got without actually going out there and walking around in it. Maybe 8 inches. Maybe 10. Less than a foot, anyway, which is my official standard for determining whether it’s just a little snow, or it’s a pain in the ass. So, just a little snow, and I’ll have to get out there and plow the driveway at some point (in the afternoon, after I make sure it’s not gonna snow more – though that’s hard to tell around here. All the wind has to do is switch direction and it can pile up in a hurry).

I’ve been trying a new keyboard app for my tablet – SwiftKey. It’s supposed to be very good at learning what you type and then predicting it for you, plus it has a lot of very nice little features. Unfortunately, I don’t really type all that much on my tablet, so it’s probably not going to be very well-trained by the time my 30-day trial is up. But since it’s only $3.99, I guess it won’t break the bank to buy it. It’s a shame that SwiftKey appears to be Android-only, ‘cuz if there’s a keyboard that needs replacing, it’s the one in my work iPhone. Its version of auto-correct truly blows. I don’t know how the kids bang out text messages and tweets (let alone e-mails, but maybe kids don’t use e-mail except to contact their parents) on these things. I’d say in the future, humans will evolve to have really pointy fingertips, except I’m sure they’ll perfect voice recognition (another area where Android blows iOS away) or a brain interface before that happens.

Turns out Megyn Kelly was “just kidding” when she said Santa Claus is clearly a white dude. I’m not sure I get what the joke was (really didn’t sound like her little panel of Foxists were joking around), but she did seem to admit that the part where Jesus was a white guy is still open to debate. It’s kind of shameful to admit that she not only went to SU but was actually born here (though she moved away when she was 9 – they must have messed her up in Delmar).

Out old pal Frothy Rick Santorum says that government-provided healthcare is just a way to kill off the people who don’t vote the right way. I don’t actually think that’s true – but it’s not a bad idea. I’m not sure how you make sure the right people get denied care and die off, though. Maybe some kind of a questionnaire? Of course, assuming he was bitching about Obamacare, that really isn’t government-provided healthcare. It’s not even government-provided insurance. I’m not really sure what it is, to be honest, other than certain regulations about who can get denied insurance and the extent to which insurance companies can screw people and the requirement that everybody (well, sorta everybody) gets insurance and the feds give really poor people subsidies to get insurance. Oh, and there’s something in there about death panels and killing babies and stuff. But no actual health care that I can see.

Well, I suppose I ought to go out there and tromp around in the snow for a while. The dogs sure seem to be having fun.

Doing a little channel flipping last night, I caught a few minutes of ‘Office Space.’ It never fails to get a chuckle out of me – especially the printer that looks suspiciously like the HP LaserJet 4 that I got for $25 (including spare toner cartridge and extra 500 sheet capacity tray) from the SU Law School junk sale back in about 2001. Like the one in the movie, it seems to think there’s a paper jam when there isn’t one (at least when the HC tray is pushed in). I should really get a new one, but I rarely print anything (at home, anyway) and can’t see spending the money on it.

Anyhow watching Office Space (“Human beings were not meant to sit in little cubicles staring at computer screens all day, filling out useless forms and listening to eight different bosses drone on about mission statements!”) was rather appropriate, because today is the day of our office Christmas Party Holiday Gathering (not to be confused with the Holiday Happening, where the important people show they’re just like the rest of us little people by serving ice cream. That was yesterday. Being lactose intolerant, I did not attend).

Yes, they scheduled a holiday party on Friday the 13th. Seeing as I’m working from home today, the odds of me driving a half hour to go to a bar and not drink (not only would I then have to drive home, there’s always the chance that after a few beers a little “truth” might slip out) while feeling obliged to eat pizza and wings (not that I don’t like pizza and wings – let’s just say that when I do eat that kind of stuff, I really don’t want a bar bathroom to be my only option) were quite slim to begin with. Add to that the fact that I already see the people that I’d care to hang out with every day I’m at the office and therefore have no real need to see them “out in the wild,” and, well, I guess I just don’t see the point.

We were supposed to RSVP for this by Tuesday, but on Monday the upper mucky-muck’s assistant called around for a head count, and I sadly had to tell her that I would be unable to attend. Much to my surprise, a spreadsheet was soon distributed to the manager-level folks, detailing who would be coming and who would not (with the reason why not). Apparently, only my office mate (who had some lame excuse about having to pick up her kid from college) and I are not going. Had I known we needed to provide an excuse, I’d have had my wife write a note explaining that I had to wait for a previously scheduled appliance delivery.

So, I guess I’m on the shit list. Personally, I consider this harassment.

Just got an e-mail from “BJs” the shopping “club” I belong to (hey, it’s a union perk and they have pretty good gas prices, plus if you need a pallet of toilet paper it’s the place to go), and they’ve got a good deal on a Keurig coffee maker. I’ve been lusting after one of these for a while now, having first encountered one a few years back when I went to a training thing in DC and they had a commercial Keurig at the training center. It was plumbed to water, so all you had to do was put your pod in and put your cup down, and whoosh – a cuppa Joe in like 15 seconds. And it also magically whisked the pod off to parts unknown so you didn’t even have to deal with that (I’m a bit chagrined to admit that, not being one to read the directions, I didn’t realize you weren’t supposed to peel the foil off the pod before you put it in – makes a but of a mess).

Anyhow, it wasn’t long after that I started seeing them for the home, and I’ve wanted one ever since. But then I quit drinking coffee, and while I still inexplicably wanted one, it seemed silly to get one and not use it. But now I have one cup in the morning, and it seems like that would be perfect. Not that I’d be throwing all those little plastic things into the landfill, of course. I’d get the reusable one and fill it with my own damn coffee.

But seeing as I already have a coffee maker that I bought to use during my summer in hell (aka, Washington DC) and my wife has her own coffee maker that she uses, and we actually have at least one more around here someplace, I can’t see spending $100+ on another one. And I don’t get how they can have three different cup sizes. I mean, it’s the same amount of coffee, no? You either get a small strong cup or a large watered-down one. Not sure I get it.

We have one at work. I’ve never used it, but they “coffee club” folks do, and for some reason, even though I don’t use the thing (frankly, I’ve only been in the break room where it’s located about two times in the past five years) I’m subjected to the e-mails about new coffee flavors and how people aren’t paying the $1 a cup or some people are bringing in their own pods but goddamn it are slopping up the supplies (supplies? What, like cream and sugar? Bleh – what a way to ruin a cup of coffee), and they need to pay, too, damnit!

This is why I don’t go to the break room – I’m afraid I’ll be frisked for contraband on my way out.

Oh well, time for a cup of :joe:

Be careful out there today.

Wow, been over a week so I feel compelled to put something up here – though I don’t really have much to say (what, you don’t really wanna hear about the weather or the “Texas Bowl” do you?). I guess I need to start titling these posts with something other than the day of the week.

As was mentioned in the comments on the previous thread, I didn’t watch any of the live “Sound of Music” on NBC. Mostly because I’m not a musical kind of guy (I like music, just not musicals). I just have a hard time suspending my disbelief. In my experience, people don’t spontaneously erupt into song and dance numbers. And, I mean, a bunch of “street tough” gang members bursting into song and snapping their fingers and dancing? I don’t think so. I never saw that happen on “The Wire”. I will give credit to NBC for at least trying to do something different in this age of “American Idol” bullshit teevee. Along those lines, I liked this Simon Pegg tweet earlier this morning:

Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer is a preëmptive satirical critique of X Factor culture in which social misfits are imbued with sudden fame.

— Simon Pegg (@simonpegg) December 11, 2013

Congratulations to Uruguay, which has legalized (and nationalized) the pot industry. Apparently every adult will be able to buy 40 grams a month, and if you get a license you can grow up to six plants. Let’s see, 80 grams for me and the wife to split a month, 28.3 grams in an ounce, that’s a bit less than three OZs a month. Yeah, I think we could make that work.

I guess everybody heard that Nelson Mandela died and (horror of horrors) Obama shook Raul Castro’s hand at the funeral. You know what that means, right? John McCain reminded us that Neville Chamberlain shook Hitler’s hand, so clearly that means that we’re going to cede Florida to Cuba. I’m trying to think of the downside to that, but can’t really think of anything. For one, it’ll mean national healthcare for all our NY retirees down there – gets them off our books, and they won’t need insurance anymore. Plus we probably won’t be hearing much more from Marco Rubio.

OK, I guess I’ll give in and talk about the weather. It got cold again here (not super cold, considering it’s December, but colder than it’s been), but we more or less got nothing from the big killer storm that worked its way across the country. I’m starting to wonder why it is we’re supposedly known for shitty weather around here – we’ve become the Miami of the Northeast. Our friends to the east of Lake Ontario aren’t so lucky, though. They’re currently in the midst of Lake Effect snow where the accumulation is being measure in feet. Like a foot or more yesterday and another couple of feet today. Sucks for them, but they’re used to it.

Oh well, time to get going for work. I guess we’ll have to talk about the Texas Bowl next time.

I’ve gotten to the point where reading the words “Black Friday” literally nauseates me, and now “Cyber Monday” is doing it to me as well (might also be slightly hung over from having so many days off in a row). It could also be just the thought of going to work this morning also has me a bit queasy. My wife has the week off and I’m trying not to resent her for it, but I’m having a hard time with that.

Today is an especially crappy day for work because I have the “support” duty this week and today is the second day of the month following a holiday weekend. This means everybody will be logging in straight away and trying to do their beginning of the month type stuff. The system will be slow and everybody will be especially cranky and bitchy and I’ll have to hear about it. Not a big thrill for me.

On the bright side, it was a relatively good sports weekend. SU mens basketball won the Maui Invitational, the women won the “Paradise Jam” tournament in St. Thomas, and of course the football team won and has a chance (though it’s not certain) to go to a relatively meaningless bowl game (the main benefit to this is that they’ll get an extra 15 practices, which, let me tell ya, they definitely need). The only real positive on Sunday was that the Giants beat the Redskins, but, hey, good enough.

I was just looking at the Woot-Off today, and they had a Gourmet Mandoline for like $25. I’d like to get one, but I’ll be damned if I can tell how to string it (never saw Dave Grisman play anything that looked even remotely like it).

Oh well, much as I dread the thought, I suppose I’d better get ready to head out to work. On the bright side, I think we have enough leftovers that I don’t need to actually cook anything for lunch.

Normally, I’d be happy that it’s finally Friday, but since today is the last day of the holiday (not that I have to work over the weekend, but that doesn’t count), I kind of wish it was Thursday again. For the amount of work that gets done over the next 5 weeks or so, they really ought to just give everybody time off until after New Year’s.

At least anybody who doesn’t work at Wal-Mart, gas stations, or grocery stores. And maybe keep a skeleton crew of people working at the hospitals. Oh, and snow plow drivers, firefighters, and police officers. We’ll be needing the post office to stay open, of course, and UPS and FedEx and those poor people who bust their asses picking orders at the Amazon work camps (good god, without those folks, I might actually have to go out and shop in person, amongst “the people.” Now there’s a disturbing thought). And then there’s the people who keep the Internet and DirecTV running….

I guess what I mean is they should just give me time off – until after Martin Luther King day. Oh but then you’ve got the Super Bowl and President’s Day, and then you’re getting in to St. Patrick’s Day and March Madness…. So, I should get paid time off until April, and then I can be fresh and productive right up until Memorial Day. Then I’ll be needing the summer off.

According to the 4,853 e-mails in my inbox this morning, today is something called “Black Friday.” I’m not sure what it is (I think it’s got something to do with Obama and the war on Christmas), but it seems kind of anticlimactic since it’s been “pre-Black Friday” for about six months now. Whatever it is, it appears that there are some great deals out there (assuming there’s anything left over from the crowds fighting over cheap shit at Wal-Mart on what used to be known as Thanksgiving).

Whether you went shopping or just sat around the house watching Detroit finally win a football game on the fourth Thursday of November (or, god forbid, spend time enjoying friends and family forgetting for a day about all the things that suck in the world and remembering all the things there are to be grateful for), I hope your holiday went well. We didn’t actually do much of anything here. I mostly finished binge watching season 2 of Homeland while I cleaned my office, though I also did get out on the tractor to plow the driveway. According to the radar, it looks like it’s snowing out there again, but it’s too dark for me to tell how much, if anything, is accumulating.

They say we’re in store for a few cold days around here, which kinda sucks because the heat is only on for a couple hours on weekday mornings, and then it’s off until the afternoon. So it gets a little nippy in the house. Yesterday it was about 57-58 most of the day, though if I keep my office door closed, the computers keep things in there a bit warmer (also has the benefit of keeping the cats from coming in to claw the upholstery on my chairs and puke on everything; yes, I cleaned up a lot of cat puke yesterday, though it was kind of old and fossilized, and therefore easier to deal with). I’ll have to try one of those tea light and flower pot heaters from OKat’s video the other day.

Ah, here comes e-mail 4,854. Lowe’s Home Improvement wants me to know that “Black Friday Is Here!” 20% off on Char-Broil infrared gas grills. I bet I could heat up my office with one of those suckers. Guess I better get out there and start shopping. Either that, or start on season 3 of Homeland (which I hear sucks, but, hey I’m hooked now).

Yeah, I know, people are have already coined the term “Thanksgivukkah” but I like mine better. The real question is, why are there two Ks in Hanukkah, but only one K in Chanukah? Anyhow, as you no doubt have already heard, today is both the first day of Chanukah, and Thanksgiving – a coincidence that shall not happen again until something like the year 79881. My prediction is that this means this will actually never happen again, ‘cuz if humans haven’t managed to wipe themselves out of existence by then, things will be a lot different and they’ll have other made up holidays to celebrate.

Anyhow, for those of you who don’t work at Wal-Mart, have a happy holiday today. And stay out of the department stores.

Phase one of the big scary storm has slid slightly to the east of us (though it looks like there’s lots of precipitating going on all up the East Coast). At some point, the snow turned into a cold drizzle (based on how wet the dogs were when they came back in this morning), but it’s supposed to get cold and start snowing again at some point later today. There’s still no telling how much snow we’ll get here – as usual, it all depends on which way the wind blows. If it comes out of the north/northwest (that would be from across Lake Ontario), then we’ll get dumped on. If it comes from due west, then our friends on the Tug Hill will get buried (as they generally do – it’s OK, they’re used to it). Normally, it kind of comes and goes, so we’ll see.’

The bad news is that the commute home tonight could be a real pain in the ass. The good news is that my boss said I can work from home today, as long as I cover support from 3-5. The bad news is that the wife doesn’t have that option. So, being the magnanimous kinda guy I am, I’ve offered to bring her to work and pick her up (because a: I have my snow tires one and b: driving in shitty weather doesn’t generally bother me – it’s in my DNA, like being an SU fan).

If I was a real fan (or at least a wealthy one), I’d be in Maui right now, preparing to watch the basketball team play in the Maui Invitational championship game, and then I wouldn’t have to worry about snow. But wealthy, I am not. Also, I really don’t like flying. I’m good for maybe a two-hour flight, but after that I find it intolerable (though I’ve never flown first class, so maybe that wouldn’t be so bad). My knees, back, neck, shoulders (pretty much all of me) just can’t take being crammed into economy class for that long. Sucks to be old.

Well, I hope nobody who has to travel today or tomorrow gets stuck in any bad weather (in less you need a good excuse to just stay home, in which case, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow).

We awoke this morning under the threat of the dreaded “Winter Storm Warning.” Actually, I was awake when it was still just a “watch,” but that’s only ‘cuz I get up so goddamn early. Fortunately, this storm is looking like it’ll be pretty wimpy. They say a couple inches of snow this afternoon, then turning to rain, sleet and freezing rain, and then back into snow (snow on top of ice makes for my favorite driving conditions). Supposedly an extra 6 – 12 inches by Thursday morning. Not exactly a monster storm – just enough to be a pain in the ass. Though they say the farther west you are, the more snow it will be, and what with us being about 20 miles west of Syracuse and in what the refer to as the “higher elevations” you never know.

Mostly, I’m hoping my wife can get back and forth to work (actually forth and then back) and then there’s enough snow that we cancel Thanksgiving and we get to hang out at home alone (seeing as I preemptively stocked up on beer – and the little store in the Village actually has one of my preferred brands on sale this week, so I can snowshoe down the hill to get more if need be, though coming back up the hill might be problematic). I’m not especially worried, though, ‘cuz mostly they tend to make a big deal out of these things and scare the shit out of people and then it turns out to be no big deal.

But enough about boring topics like the weather. Let’s talk sports! No, just kidding, though I will say that yesterday evening there was the happy convergence of two sports-related items – an SU game on TV early enough after work that I could stay awake for the whole game (namely because they were playing in Maui and tipped off at 5:45 or so, which means I didn’t have two or three hours of beer drinking before it started), and an SU game where they actually won (not that a win in hoops – unlike football – is all that rare, but it was still nice).

It has just occurred to me that if I don’t take three vacation days between now and 12/31, I’m going to lose them, since I’ll be over the max of 40 days. That is pathetic – when did I become such a company man?

Always nice to start the morning off with a plow job, so I guess today was my lucky day. The snow was supposed to taper off yesterday afternoon, and when there was a break in the action, I went out and plowed the driveway. It was pretty damn cold, too. About 20 degrees (up from 11 when I got up), but there was a fierce wind, and since nobody bought me a cab for my tractor, it was pretty damn cold.

Not long after that, it started to snow again, and I guess it finally stopped at some point, but not until it was too dark out to see what was going on. So I had get out there and plow again. I’d say we got about 4 or 5 inches after the first wave, and at least another 5 after the second. They even delayed school for a couple hours in my little town (nowhere else, though – lucky us). Little wimps.

Now they’re telling us we may get hit by a nor’easter on Wednesday. Hopefully it’ll wait until after I get home (and stop for beer).

Of course, there’s also been quite a bit of snow down there in the southwest (at least by their standards), with ice and snow cancelling flights and just generally making people’s lives miserable. Hopefully the mess will all be cleared up in time for T-Day.

Thank goodness this is a short work week. I’m tired already. We’re apparently supposed to have the in-laws over on Thursday, but they don’t like to leave the house if there are snowflakes in the air (or rain – hell, even clouds), and since it’s supposed to snow at least a little, it’s doubtful they’ll come. So Plan B is to have us bring dinner over to them. Unless this nor’easter leaves us buried and/or doesn’t come through until late night Wednesday into Thursday morning. Then nobody will be going anywhere.

Naturally, I’m rooting for the storm.

Yesterday, of course, was the 50th anniversary of the assassination of JFK. I had just turned three, so I don’t really remember where I was when it happened. Probably playing with my blocks or asleep in my crib. It’s Bobby that I remember quite vividly (and MLK – tough years to have a last initial of ‘K’ I guess). Of course even if you don’t really remember 1963, you feel like you were there, what with all the conspiracy stuff that’s been out there year after year. I used to be really into it, but at some point I realized it was all pretty pointless. Whatever actually happened, anybody who really knows is either dead or aint talkin’. And even if somebody did come forward, how could you tell if they were legit or not?

It’s supposed to be cold and windy today, and then things are gonna get worse. There’s a dreaded “Lake Effect Snow Advisory” in effect beginning at seven o’clock tonight, and lasting until tomorrow afternoon. They’re currently saying three to ten inches, depending on which way the wind blows. Fortunately, it looks like most of this will be to the south of me. Unless the wind shifts, that is – we seem to be right on the edge. So I reckon I’d better get off my ass and finish up my tractor PM and get the chains on.

If I get my work done early enough, I may even get to watch some of the SU football game. In spite a few games that shall not be mentioned, we can get “bowl eligible” with a win today. Bowl eligibility isn’t really a high bar these days – all it takes is six wins, and there are so many bowls everybody with six wins get one. Still, we’ll take it if we can get it.

Well, I reckon I’d better head out to Tractor Supply and get my shit.

Have a good one.