Hail and Farewell

As I type this post, I am watching CBS Sunday Morning and their "Hail and Farewell" segment for 2007. I like the "best of" year-end lists, but it really feels like the year is coming to a close when I see the memorial tributes. It may seem morbid, but I like to watch them. I like to give a few moments to entertainers and other popular people who have brought me joy. I especially like to watch tributes like TCM Remembers, an interstitial that TCM runs several times during December of every year. Most networks mention the deaths of big names like Merv Griffin and Pavorotti, but I didn't know that Yvonne de Carlo and Betty Hutton had died until I saw it on TCM.

This farewell segment on CBS is even naming people outside the entertainment industry who have passed on like the inventor of Gatorade. I always wonder if people like that were appreciated for their contributions while they were alive. Taking a moment to think about them at the end of the year doesn't seem too much to ask.

Happy Christmas!

It is a little past noon on Christmas day. Prayers have been said, presents have been opened, breakfast has been eaten. For a while there was a battle of sound going on in the living room: band geeks vs. gamers. All is quiet now, however. Siblings are all playing harmoniously, at least for a little while. No wonder some people wish Christmas was more than once a year.

My Christmas Piano

(Posting from the Treo)

I couldn't put off the Christmas decorating any longer. Since it seemed silly to go all out with a tree at this late date, I went with the Christmas piano again this year. I did the decorating myself while ABM and the kids were at church. C1 gave me a hard time when I suggested going without a tree a few weeks' ago, but all the kids seemed happy with the piano once I was done. C2 went out of her way to tell me that I had done a great job. I think that if we make this part of our tradition and do it earlier in December, the kids will embrace it.

Why dress up?

It occurred to me today that I would be much more productive if I could wear sweats and sneakers to work. If you get inside my head on a workday morning, you would be amazed at how angry I get over pantyhose. I hate struggling with my clothes and hair at a time of day when I don't even want to be awake.

It all seems so unnecessary. I didn't mind wearing skirts and heels when I was a receptionist. However, my last three jobs haven't had any face-to-face customer contact. Nobody ever sees me so I don't have to be the face of the organization. On this job my office is so grubby that I'm worried about ruining any nice clothes I wear in there.

Why can't I have the same dress code that my high-school aged daughter has? It's simple -- no profanity on the t-shirts and no skirts shorter than fingertip length. I know I'd work harder if I wasn't constantly adjusting my tights.

It's only Tuesday?

I woke up at 3a on Monday morning, shivering. Apparently our furnace had stopped working. It was not easy trying to get my kids out of bed in a 40-degree house. It was even more difficult getting through the work day, trying to figure out how we would find the money to get the furnace fixed. Feeling guilty because I'd just spent the little bit of extra money we had on Christmas gifts for the kids. Is it any wonder that I have trouble spending money? Something bad always seems to happen right after I buy something nice.

Thank God that the furnace repairs turned out to be simple and not wallet-emptying. However, we had a second glitch last night -- the heat wouldn't turn off. So I spent one night freezing my behind off, and then the next night I roasted. On top of that, I've been dealing with back pain and nasal congestion for days. So I was hot, uncomfortable, and I couldn't breathe.

Everything is fine with the furnace now, but I am feeling worn out. All day I thought it was Friday because it feels like it should be Friday. I'm not usually this frazzled until the end of the week!

Owning vs. Sharing

My quest to buy Nintendo DS units has turned into a bit of a kerfuffle. Before I explain it, let me say that there is nothing more frustrating than having a heated discussion via mobile phone. Grrr!

ABM feels that in order for us to raise selfless kids, they should share all their belongings. He wants to buy four DS units and keep them in our room for the kids to check out like library books. No particular unit belongs to any one kid. On the other hand, one of the main reasons I wanted to get DS units instead of a Wii was so that each kid could have something that belongs to them. We have had them share so many toys over the years that I thought it would be nice for each of them to have something they didn't have to share.

I can't believe that I have been married to ABM for close to 20 years yet I am still learning new things about him. He said to me tonight that if a toy/book/whatever is sitting on the table and one of the kids picks it up and plays with it, the owner of the item is not allowed to go over and say, "Give that back to me." Huh? I agree that the owner shouldn't snatch the item away or be rude, but I think the fault lies with the kid who picked it up because s/he knows that the item doesn't belong to him/her. S/he should have asked the owner of the item for permission to use the item. ABM says that this promotes selfishness because the owner will say "no" just because s/he can. Yes, I have seen my kids do this, but does that mean that they should never have anything to call their own?

I have a feeling that this discussion is going to continue when ABM gets home because I don't think I got my point across over the phone. Mainly, if the kids are forced to share, are they really going to share on their own when given a choice? I don't think so. My mother didn't take it to the extreme that ABM is espousing, but she didn't jump in and referee when my siblings took something of mine, either. As an adult, it is difficult for me to share anything -- my food, my yarn, anything. Don't even get me started on sharing my computer :-). I can already see the same tendencies in C1. She is fiercely protective of her stuff. I've tried to tell ABM that this is a result of making the kids share so much, but he doesn't believe me. What do you think?

iPod Convert

The MIL bought M a used 30g video iPod a couple months' ago. The casing is pretty scratched up but it works, so she doesn't care. Anyway, her grades have slipped in Spanish so ABM confiscated the iPod. Guess who is using it until she gets it back in January?

I originally wanted an iPod when it was first released. When I couldn't get one, I told myself that I was earning my geek cred card by listening to music and podcasts on something other than an iPod. Now that I've had a chance to use M's iPod for the past week, I must admit that I am drawn to the ease of use. The iPod and iTunes were definitely made to work with each other. Even before this week, I recommended iPods to my non-techie friends and now I am even more confident in that recommendation. I had very little problem importing my CDs into the iTunes library and loading them on to the iPod. Also, the selection of podcasts in the iTunes store has improved since the first time I wrote about the subject.

This iPod experience pointed out once again that I don't buy a lot of music. I have loaded almost all my CDs and recent episodes of my favorite podcasts, yet I've barely used 5gb of the 30gb storage capacity. As much as podcasters love to tout the fact that terrestrial radio is dying, some of us are still a slave to it. I can't buy enough music to give me the experience I get when I flip the radio dial and hear a song I haven't heard since high school. I like the randomness of radio. I even like the way the ads and the DJ chatter give me a break between songs.

The perfect solution for me would be to stream my Yahoo! radio station through my Treo 700p. I've been fine-tuning that station for almost five years and it is just right now. I would even pay for it if Yahoo! supported my Treo, but the last time I checked they didn't. Ah, well -- I guess I'll be listening to a lot more podcasts :-).

Christmas shopping and eBay do NOT mix

This year we seem to have given ourselves an impossible task. ABM and I had been talking about buying the kids a Nintendo Wii for Christmas. Then, two weeks' ago we thought that it might more for them (and less expensive for us) to buy them each a used Nintendo DS. With certain games they could still have group play, yet they would each own their own electronic device without having to share. Since we have broadband internet access and a wireless router, they would also be able to get on the internet and play their friends. I thought it was a perfect plan.

The original Nintendo DS was released here in 2004 so I figured I wouldn't have any problem finding four used units for about $75 each. I was SO wrong. The pawn shops, where ABM usually has good luck, haven't had any units at all. Gamestop sells refurbished units but they are more than I wanted to pay -- $100 for a DS Lite. That is too close to the price for a brand-new unit ($130). I don't want to pay that much because I still want to be able to buy them games as well. So, I turned to eBay.

Let me tell you this: eBay is not the place to shop at Christmas time when you are getting desperate. My big rule for shopping on eBay is to determine what an item is really worth to you and stick with that price. I've seen too many people pay $150 for an item that is available in the stores for $100, and I can only attribute that to auction fever. I'm usually pretty good at avoiding that malady, but with only a week left to buy something and have it shipped in time for Christmas I was starting to fall victim to it myself. I've been outbid so many times that I just wanted to pay any price to win an auction.

Luckily, as I was typing this post, I won an auction! I am getting an original DS unit for $96, which includes the shipping. It is $21 more than I wanted to pay, but that is my second rule of shopping on eBay: realize when your max price is unrealistic. I may think that $75 is a reasonable price for a DS, but the market doesn't agree with me. On eBay and in the pawn shops, DS units are flying out the door at $90-$100. It is still a very popular item, apparently. Wish me luck on my DS search!

"My Night at the Grammys"

A few TV bloggers dismissed Friday's broadcast of My Night at the Grammys on CBS as a clip show used to fill time because of the TV writer's strike. However, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I've been wishing for years that the Grammy organization would compile the best performances on DVD or stream them on their website. I stopped watching awards shows a long time ago, but I always kick myself the next day when I hear about some great performance from Grammy night.

One fact this show reminded me of is how much more you can get out of a song when it is performed in a different way. For instance, that Celine Dion song "My Heart Will Go On" definitely tips the melodrama scales for me when I hear it on the radio. Seeing her actually sing it makes me understand why people like Celine Dion and the song so much. Also, I can gain a new appreciation for a song if someone else sings it. Several of the performances on My Night at the Grammys were from artists paying tribute to musical legends by singing their songs. In several cases they gave the songs new life for me.