Random Musings While Sittling by the FIreplace

It used to be that it was acceptable to send out Christmas catalogs prior to thanksgiving. Now its ok to decorate and put on Christmas carols prior to Thanksgiving. Either were going to start celebrating Christmas in November, or it will be ok for radio stations to play Christmas music 3 weeks before Halloween. I'm not ok with either of those outcomes.

Boston College football isn't the same without Matt Ryan. Atlanta Falcons football isn't the same without Mike Vick. But one of the teams is MUCH improved.

Watch out for those B's... relevance may be in their (distant) future.

It was snowing in Keene today. Not much, but a little bit. Yikes. Fall never lasts long enough.

I think Ian and I will need to keep track of our consecutive Lux wins. I only lost twice this week. I get really mad when I lose. But not as mad as Meghan when she sees me playing it.

I think the new blackberry is lame. I was afraid that if we got the iphone, and if we switched from (the vastly superior) verizon to AT&T, that I may regret it. But blackberry just came out with a touchscreen that requires you to literally push the screen into the phone for it to do anything. Lame. I don't feel stupid. Yet.

Sitting next to the fireplace in the winter (yes, its winter in Keene) is just about as relaxing as the cape in the summer. Too bad it has to be cold outside to enjoy it!

I'm still trying to figure out my ranking of breweries; I still like Sam and Red Hook... but Shipyard has crept into the mix. Luckily I've been able to drop Harpoon... it just doesn't hold up against these guys, even though I still drink it from time to time. Sam is so widespread... but I don't have Red Hook enough... hard to say at this point.

Speaking of Sam, time to go grab one. An early happy Thanksgiving wishes to all!

This is Our Country

Yep, why not bring back those John Mellencamp Chevy ads one more time!

I'm glad to see that the stuffed turkey session of congress (or whatever they're calling it) is giving the "Big 3" hell. I don't want to get in to a big, long, drawn out thing here, but I'm not in favor of bailing out the auto industry. I understand that a collapse of any one of the three could be catastrophic... but let's be realists here. If the credit markets had remained frozen, we'd be in a world of pain; without money movement, not only would the financial sector have crashed, but the entire economy would have gone with it. Say what you will about the way its being handled, but I haven't once yet had to barter at the grocery store.
Ford, GM and Chrysler played the game differently than the financials did. The Lehmans and Bear Stearns of the world played fast and loose with the Bush administration and won, a lot. But just like the casinos, the house always wins, and not surprisingly those companies stayed at the blackjack table a few rounds too long. Luckily for them, their even richer cousins, the Goldmans and Morgans of the world, have a little cred with the pit boss, so they're still in the game, its just that now they're in room 1715 in a high stakes game behind closed doors... only its not their money whether they win or lose.
Meanwhile, Lumpy, Dumpy and Grumpy (we'll give that one to Chrysler, because who cared about them BEFORE this anyway?) are at the $10 minimum table, pretending to be big shots. Only instead of playing it like the financials, they played it big, dumb and slow. They smell bad, drink too much, and have been up way too long playing with a small stack of chips, and a big bill on their credit card. And they all have the foresight to hit on 20. And 21.
Unfortunately for them, they don't have any friends at the casino. Just a bunch of mobsters in the back waiting to pound the stuffing out of them when they try to sneak out without paying the tab. No, Toyota won't be able to pick up the slack, be it in employment, distribution or production. But it doesn't need to. None of them do. Without one (or all) of the big 3, demand might actually rally to something resembling supply.
In the end, our glorious lord and president elect will raise his finger and a magic web of hope and bailout will stream upon Detroit; I accept this like I accepted the whupping he gave McCain two weeks ago (I haven't seen that kind of schelacking since my pancake incident), but that doesn't mean I'm happy about it, nor that I won't revel in the weasels from Michigan squirming in their seats for now.

Yep, this is our country. Where every news headline can somehow be told with a gambling analogy.

It Must Be The Wings

I can't think of any other reason why I always find myself rooting for the Bills when I watch them play anyone other than the Pats. It just doesn't make sense! I don't even want to root for them, but my brain just does. I just got upset when Cleveland hit a 56 yard field goal. FIFTY SIX YARDS!! AGAINST A PAT'S DIVISION RIVAL! Strange but true.

A few other random thoughts for you before I check out for two months again...

Verizon should explain the large, suitcase sized modemyrouter that they install on your wall for FIOS. All is not well in the House of Girard when it comes to this. For now, we still have Comcast.

You can only make so many "caulk" jokes when working in the bathroom. I just don't know how many that is, I never got there.

I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving. And the two extra days off I have around Thanksgiving. I'm not looking forward to working on my final paper.

Its finally time to start turning the heat on... the floors below us only heat us for so long before it gets too cold outside.

After two months and a combined three hiatuses, I still find myself unable to comprehend 90% of Matt & Ian's blogs.

Fallout 3... first XBox purchase for me in 1+ year, and well worth it. Especially after spending vacation in DC, getting to run amock with a minigun against post-nuclear mutants in the nation's capital is fantastic. Especially when you head down into... L'Enfant Plaza Station!!!

Sounds of the Season

Heard on NPR that the Salvation Army was going out to start ringing a week earlier this year because they're worried that they can't raise as much money in these economic conditions.

I wasn't surprised then when I saw a ringer at Stop & Shop tonight. What I wasn't expecting was that it would be the Worst. Ringer. Ever. She only rang her bell about 8 times before taking 30 seconds off. I'd say she was mailing it in, but that wouldn't be doing it justice. And its not even Christmas yet, nor is it cold! I'm sure within 5 years the ringing will be handled by friendly money taking robots, but for now, we could use some people with a little pep. I'm just saying is all.

Anyway, I realized, as I shopped (saltines... oranges... fruit cups... granola bars...) that this was (yogurt... milk) a good analogy for how you all feel about my blogging skills these days. And I'm sick of listening to you all moaning and whining, so I'm back. I just can't promise that I won't employ a smarmy money taking robot to write my posts for me.

DC Wrap & The Ensuing Market Madness

Ok, so today is the 2 week anniversary of our return from the DC trip. I figure anything outside of that timeframe, and I'm not even allowed to comment on days 5 & 6. But as all of it is still kind of hazy (margaritas + time = fuzzy memory), I'll just say this:
Day 5 - Like everything else in DC, the zoo was half closed, so we could only half enjoy it. Of course, the fact that it was 180º made us enjoy it half as much as we halfly did. We did a twilight tour of the city that night. This on the other hand was fantastic - we got to see a few monuments again, and also made it to the Jefferson Memorial and the FDR Memorial. Cool stuff at night. The WWII Memorial is VERY cool at night.
Day 6 - We did a tour of Arlington Cemetery on Monday morning. The changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is always cool. We also went to the White House visitors center, which I'm assuming has considerably less security than the actual White House does. Oh, and we went to Old Ebbitt Grill for our end of the trip lunch. It was much more relaxed in there on a holiday, that's for sure! One last note, the Dunkies coffee stand in the terminal at DCA is a pour-your-own, which was legitimately strange. But it was ok, and I really needed some DD after 6 days without.
Anyway, it seems like a year ago since we went. I can't believe its only been two weeks. Oh well. Anyway, a few random thoughts on the state of the world since then.
- Thank you, Apple for IPhone 2.1. Better. Not great, but better. Keep working at it.
- Thank you, Matt Cassel. Thank you.
- What exactly is the point of a zune, and has anyone ever bought one? Just wondering.
- If I have a great fantasy team one week and lose, and a terrible one the next and (potentially, as of writing) win, does it mean anything? Ok, well, don't take that question literally. Of course it means nothing. But its kind of annoying. For me.
- Why do bars have to be loud? I'd be so much more inclined to go if I could hear. Anything. Else.
- And I'm not waiting in lines. I didn't wait in lines in DC, I'm certainly not doing it in a bar that I've already gotten into. Lame.
- I've got a great new idea for a facebook game: a word jumble with all of the ticker symbols of failing banks. LEHBSCAIGMER. I mean, there's gotta be something in there, right?
Anyway, that catches us up. Now I've got to go and get caught up on everyone elses life. I'll be sure to update again when my thoughts are near-expiration.

DC Day 4 - Smithsonarific

Ok, so we're past the DC trip. In fact, a week ago, I was writing a post about day 1, and today I'm just exhausted from work, and school. But here were the day 4 highlights:

- Meghan and I have differing views on breakfast & lunch. But one thing is certain, if neither of us eats, we get a little grumpy after a couple hours.
- Of course, when you get up late, lunch comes quicker than you would think, which really solved that problem.
- The Museum of American History, and Arts & Industry were both closed. But we hit up all the others.
- And the Museum of Space & Aviation, though open, should have been closed about 15 years ago. Lets put it this way... one of the star attractions was brought to you by Digital Equipment Corporation. WOW. Now that goes way back. Please send your donations. They need it.
- The Museum of Natural History is great and all... if you're interested in the heretical ideas that they display. Evolution? Wow. Just plain evil. The next time I go to Washington, they best have put up signs at the Smithsonian saying that evolution is but one viewpoint, and that it is not widely regarded as correct.
- Rounding out a Smithso-tastic day, we did the National Portrait Gallery. This was actually very cool. And who knew we had so many former presidents? I swear there were at least 37 of them.
- We went to the Union Grill in Union Station for dinner, and we were the only people sitting outside on a beautiful night. People in DC are weird, that's for sure.
- And then we went to Thunder Grill, also in Union Station, for an after dinner drink. I had an 1800 margarita (or two). Uhm, and we made it home, later. But the details may be a bit hazy... mmm...ritalicious.

DC Day 3 - Introducing Mrs. Palin

I'm a little behind at this point. There's reasons, but none of them are good. Read on and you'll (eventually) see why I'm writing about Friday on Sunday. Here's a recap of Day 3:
- Third day in a row that our foray into DC starts with the Federal Triangle Metro stop. Its getting old at this point. And once again its raining. What the flippity-eff!
- The National Aquarium seems at first to be a $7 scam. But what it lacks in size, it makes up for in butt ugly fish. Its nothing like what we've got back at home in Boston, but it was a good way to spend some time in the AM.
- The Metro is an interesting system. Its like each line works on the buddy system. Anyway, we took the LONG way out to the Pentagon for our 1:00 tour. The Blue Line goes ALL the way around the north western part of the city before crossing the Potomac, and shooting down to the Pentagon via Arlington. Still, its a hell of a lot faster than taking the Red Line from Boston to Quincy, so it has that going for it.
- I was expecting "airport" security virtually everywhere down here, and I've been conveniently disappointed. The Pentagon definitely had the toughest security of every place we've encountered, but we were able to crack it with two forms of ID, and a handy reservation email.
- Nothing like military precision. Our 1 pm tour started at 1:20.
- Nothing like military accuracy. The nice enlisted gentleman that lead us around didn't bump into a single thing while walking backwards for 45 minutes.
- The woman in the yellow "Jazz-ercise" t-shirt on the tour that didn't understand the well armed military man's instructions to "STAY TO THE RIGHT, ESPECIALLY ON ESCALATORS" annoyed me greatly. He would have done the world a favor if one of his buddies with an MP5 had put a couple in her for her insolence.
- Exiting the Pentagon: more rain. Yay.
- Big night out on the town (don't worry, we came back to the Courtyard for a quick afternoon nap before going out!), we hit up the Regan International Center for a performance by the Capital Steps. It wasn't until we were seated in an auditorium that reminded us of the Dana Center at St. A's that Meghan and I realized that we've been Capital Steps before. At St. A's. In the Dana Center.
- It was still well worth it (definitely go if you are in DC on a Friday/Saturday) - they managed to work Sarah Palin into their show, even though her nomination had been announced just hours before.

DC Day 2 - The Yeungling Effect

After a pitcher of Yeungling, I'm posting a little late, and I'll have to make this brief. Here's a recap of day 2:
- Apparently it rains in Washington.
- When you walk out the door, and you've checked the forecast, and it says rain, and you're outside, and it is lightly raining, this is generally a sign you should buy an umbrella, or two. Most people would take that sign and stop at the local CVS... not hop on the train.
- Getting to Nat Geo in the rain? Not very fun.
- There aren't enough Dunkies around here, and not nearly enough near me.
- Nat Geo. I'm disappointed in you. Not because the exhibit wasn't cool, but I was just expecting a lot more!
- Red Line, Green Line, Yellow Line, Orange Line, Blue Line, they all make the same stops it seems. Just get on a train.
- OK well its not that simple, but it seems it at times.
- Went to an authentic Mexican restaurant for lunch. Cows tongue and grasshoppers on the menu. You'll be shocked to find out that I had a chicken taco.
- Congress, its not just for congressmen anymore. Apparently they have congressladies these days too. Interesting tour. Kind of. Meghan was disappointed with the tour, but I like that it was brief.
- Newseum? She wanted me to go into a place called a Newseum? Well, it was very cool. Check out the better half's blog for more details.
- Found a sports bar for dinner. It was fab, and I got to have Red Hook, which is always a bonus. Red Hook in DC! Who knew!
- And then there's that pitcher of Yeungling in the hotel bar last night... well, lets just put it this way, after a few glasses, Obama almost seemed appealing to me... and not just politically...