It's The End Of The Year As We Know It

Why couldn't John & Yoko have saved their disdain for everyone at Christmas and released a bitter, angry New Year's song instead? They wouldn't have had to change an awful lot of the lyrics, they could have made everyone feel good and guilty for the wretched excess of their parties and Christmas would have been saved for one and all. New Year's is a wide open target, the only song it has is Auld Lang Syne and who the heck even really understands what the words to that are supposed to mean anymore?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
and days of auld lang syne?

Christmas is a happy, fun, joyous time and no one really wants to hear about how they've done the world wrong by failing to bring an end to poverty, war, hunger and disaster. But at New Year's people are already feeling guilty about their shortcomings of the past year and are busy making resolutions to correct the course of their lives. Why not kick that guilt up a notch with a scolding from John and a shrieking from Yoko?

I've never been that big on New Year's resolutions myself. I suppose if I were pressed to make one this year it would be to once and for all get a handle on our financial situation but that's a daily struggle anyway, just like managing my weight or resisting the urge for a cigarette (it's been over six years without nicotine now and every so often I still get cravings). I think I'll just resolve to keep on trying to make things better for me and my family and if I'm lucky maybe make the world a little nicer while I'm at it.

Happy New Year, everyone. I hope 2009 finds you all happy, well, safe and prosperous. Cheers!

Just a Few Random Thoughts

ITEM: For those of you who are fans of The Flash comics this might be a bit of a spoiler - consider yourself warned...

Issue #247 of The Flash is the end of Wally West's run in that role. It's kind of sad and a little disappointing given that there is nothing that really makes this issue stand out. The art is okay at best (not bad considering three different artists worked on this one) and the story is kind of flat. No amazing triumphs or tragedies here, just a quiet departure from the role of hero for the character while leaving the door open for him to return in some capacity somewhere down the road.

After 21 years as the lead in the book (and decades prior to that as a kid sidekick) I was hoping for something a little more interesting for a send-off for Wally. At least we can look forward to Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver resurrecting Barry Allen sometime in the first quarter of '09.

*****

ITEM: It was a very clear day this afternoon when I left work so I took a more rural route home. It's very disquieting to see all of the broken limbs and branches piled at the front of people's yards and still many more (dare I say it? I dare!) scattered from hell to breakfast what is now weeks after the ice storm that crippled this area earlier this month. Even more disquieting is to drive along a ridge and look out across forested areas only to see that many, many tops of trees and large branches are snapped off, tangled in lower branches and dangling by hunks of bark.

When I got home I found a large branch had become dislodged from the massive oaks that loom ominously over my house and had fallen on my front yard, perilously close to both my electrical line and the animated reindeer. I wonder if we'll ever really get cleaned up from this.

*****

ITEM: I was never that big of a Star Wars fan so I was pretty much indifferent about the film Fanboys until Mike was kind enough to post a picture of Kristen Bell in the slave girl Leia gold bikini - yes, that gold bikini. I'm not going to steal his great ideas, go visit Mike's blog if you want a look.

Well, I'm still not that big of a Star Wars fan but the pic did get me interested in learning more about the movie and now I'm actually looking forward to it. It's a comedy set in 1998 and it's about a group of friends plotting to break into Skywalker Ranch to steal an early copy of Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The reason: one of the friends has cancer and might not live until the film's release date. The movie has already gotten George Lucas' stamp of approval, was screened at this past year's San Diego Comic Con where it got kudos from all who saw it...and it can't hang onto a release date of it's own to save it's life! Why? Check out this video from Reelz...



Personally, I think Christopher McDonald is a douche for trying to defend the Weinstein Company's attempt to get rid of the cancer plot and replace it with raunchy, vulgar humor.

Merry Christmas!

With our money situation the way it is these days this has been a very different but still very enjoyable Christmas. Baked goodies were sent out to various people & places this past weekend and we heard from the recipients today thanking us for the gifts.

Shelly and I paid a visit that was far too short to my mom yesterday to deliver a larger plate of goodies and a handful of packages and collect a similar delivery from her. While there, we got to play Santa and deliver some of the things my mom baked to a few of her neighbors. Then Christmas morning we were off to visit Shelly's mom and open presents with her and share a holiday dinner.

And now I have a chance to just relax and enjoy the remains of the holiday. Merry Christmas, everyone. I hope we get to do this again next year.

Ice!

Depending on where you live and how closely you follow the news you might have heard about the recent weather here in central Massachusetts almost two weeks ago. Our area was hit with a massive ice storm that newscasters were calling the storm of the century.

Shortly after my last post here we lost power when the weight of the freezing rain on a massive branch over the lines to our house gave way and took down our electricity and cable services, including our telephone. Bren and I tried to venture out to survey the extent of the damage but we were driven back inside by more and more limbs crashing down from the oaks that hang ominously over our house.

From the darkness on our front porch we could hear limbs and whole trees cracking everywhere in the woods all around us and we knew we would not be seeing our power come back anytime soon. By now it was very late and we tried our best to get some sleep while the storm made matchsticks and kindling of the forest surrounding us.

Somehow miraculously our house was spared and we awoke the next morning to find that we were still without power and unable to travel anywhere. The streets all around us blocked by downed trees, branches and even utility poles. We were without TV and Internet and even telephone and had to rely on what few news radio stations we could get here. But we couldn't dwell on the news about our situation, only try to cope with it. Coping was made much easier by the generator my mother very generously gave us as an "early Christmas present."

But before we could get the generator set up so that we could use it we had to clear debris from in front of the garage doors. Two large cedar trees at that end of the house were flattened, crushed by the weight of gallons of frozen water accumulated on them in the night. The task of removing them was made even more daunting by the fact that while my chain saw is okay for trimming the occasional tree limb it is not up to the task of dismembering whole trees. Once the generator was set up we had running water and heat and we were able to run extension cords to run a limited number of lights and appliances.

One of the cedars missed our propane tank by inches when it fell towards the back of the house and served as further proof as to just how lucky we were. We had weathered the storm with virtually no damage to our house. Many others in the region weren't as fortunate and shelters were opened at schools at senior centers where those who weren't as lucky as us could seek refuge. I heard that a million homes in southern New England had been affected and some repair estimates were looking at dates past Christmas. Also hampering the recovery was a major snow storm that hit the area this past weekend which caused outages in areas that had just had their power restored.

We were truly among the lucky ones as we had our power back by late afternoon of the 17th. This afternoon cable service was restored giving us back our telephone and Internet access along with our television. I hope those people still waiting in the dark can get their lives back to normal soon. If a storm like this only comes every hundred years I'm grateful that I won't be around for the next one.

Already?!

Wow, Christmas is only two weeks away! It really snuck up on me this time, I've still got lots to do and not a lot of time left. Gifts this year are baked goods and handcrafted items so my Lovely Wife Shelly and I need to get to work. More than half of these gifts need to be shipped by next Friday at the latest and she's going to be gone for a few days next week visiting the kids in Maine.

I saw Shelly working on some jewelry the other day and I think she's going to sew a few small things too. I enjoy baking cookies and other treats for the holidays and I've collected more than a few good recipes. Several years ago I inherited my grandmother's recipe for applesauce fruit cake, a favorite Christmas treat of some of my relatives so a few batches of that will be baked. Also some holiday peppermints, "snowball" cookies, chocolate peanut butter bars and other goodies are planned.

Did I mention that we still don't have the tree up yet? Our yard is plastered with holiday hooplah from hell to breakfast* but not a single decoration inside the house yet. This could work out well, we can have a weekend full of Christmas decoration and preparation to get us all into the holiday spirit.

* - "Scattered from hell to breakfast" is an old New England expression referring to a mess of epic proportions. Or maybe it was just my grandmother who said it, I'm not sure. The phrase used for this in Shelly's family is most often a reference to the Wreck of the Hesperus. Go search Wikipedia for more info if you really need to know that badly.