The first of my radio presets has gone to all Christmas music.

As mentioned a few posts below, I often keep a draft post in Wordpress where I jot down ideas I’ve had for blog posts before I forget them. Ostensibly this list will help remind me later what the idea was when I have some time to write.

Since I basically haven’t touched this blog in about a year and a half, most of these jottings are now as mysterious to me as they would be to anyone else. I present them all, repeats and not repeats, for your perusal as I begin a new draft to hold my gestating posts.

1. J2/J1 asshat in restaurant, mom ‘calm down’
Presumably my brothers were behaving poorly in a restaurant and my mom’s reaction was not what the situation demanded. Beyond that, I have no idea what this meant.

2. funny conversation or story? Not dad backing into van… clifton park pizza?
Alas, I no longer remember even to what story ‘dad backing into van’ refers.

3. Uncle B namedropping. Dean Witter. Ellison. Michelle Pfeiffer.
Filthy Rich Uncle often talks about the famous people he knows or has met.

4. tile in bathroom - egg, clown
At least this one I can explain. In the downstairs bathrom at my mom’s house the vinyl floor has a semi-regular pattern imprinted upon it. It’s sort of faux marble and sort of not. There is one splotch that looks very much like a fried egg, and as it’s near the commode, it’s a spot I have been able to view many times over the years. Nearby is a bit of the pattern that looks like a clown head. Apparently, even though she’d lived in the house for over 20 years, my mom had never noticed these things until I pointed them out one day when we were talking on the phone.

5. joyful voices or whatever
My long overdue review of one of the strangest Newbery winners of all.

6. 2 books - dragonsong, wrinkle in time
These are books that changed my life. I don’t recall if I ever quite got around to explaining why.

7. books w/author name too large
NORA ROBERTS and JAMES PATTERSON, I’m looking at you.

I like kids.

I do not like obnoxious kids.

If your kid is obnoxious, do not expect the world to laugh it off and bend rules for you. The world understands that children are not always rational beings, but it is your job as a parent to see that that irrationality does not impact everyone else. Period.

So I applaud ATA’s decison to remove a bratty three year old and her parents from this flight. And I’m very sorry that the airline felt obligated to try and make nice with her irresponsible parents after the fact. If your child’s tantruming delayed the flight, how arrogant and self-centered are you to expect them to keep waiting until she calms down? Your selfishness doesn’t just affect the people on the flight, either, but everyone else who ends up delayed because their gate wasn’t ready, their plane wasn’t there, their family member didn’t arrive on time. GET OVER YOURSELVES.

Dear Mr. UPS Man

It may surprise you to know that we do not shoot beams of fire from our eyes. Nor will you turn to stone if we should look upon you. Thus there is no need to flee after the lightest of taps against the door; we also have no interest in stealing your truck should you by some chance not be halfway down the street by the time we walk down the hall.

And wouldn’t this be less work for you? It would save UPS a bundle in post-it notes and gas were you to actually DELIVER the packages you hold hostage rather than drive away from houses where people are home and waiting.

Results, plz.

Annoyed Customer

I’m sorry, but no matter how marketable the author is, the TITLE of the book is more important than their name. It does me no good to see that NORA ROBERTS has published her 16th title this year if the title is in such tiny print squashed nearly off the book that I cannot read it.

To me, the chore of making the bed has always stood out among other pointless household tasks as quite possibly the most pointless of them all.

The others generally contribute in at least some small part toward improving sanitary conditions in the home; even if I don’t agree with how often such things need to be done (Need the floors really be spotless with no small persons about to crawl on them? I think not.), I can see that they have some function.

Bed making, on the other hand, is completely cosmetic. Unless you’ve just changed the sheets, it serves no purpose other than to make the bedroom look neat. And, unless company is coming over and you want them to see your nice bedroom, the only person you’re impressing is yourself (and anyone else who shares the bedroom with you). Frankly, I’m more impressed by having that 5-10 minutes back in my day.

Is it just me, or is the Christmas music on the radio this year just especially crappy?

Usually, with three stations playing it constantly and the others throwing in a song or two at random intervals,one can manage to locate something that’s bearable. But this year, if it’s not two Sinatras and an Elvis, it’s the 35th rendition of Santa Baby on one channel and that damn song about the kid with the dying mother on another.

The paving project that was begun before Columbus day (and was supposed to be finished before Columbus Day) is still ongoing.

After a whole week in which not one construction worker even showed his face on the street, some new construction guys returned on Monday to start installing some new curbs along the road. This process (which was supposed to have been done already) would take two days, according to the management company. Ha ha. As of Thursday, they appear to be more or less finished, though no markings have been painted onto the curbs to show which parking space belongs to whom.

The latest word now is that they’ll be done paving next Tuesday. (Which will bring us to a total of 11 days of construction for a project that was originally 1 day -> 4 days -> 8 days). I don’t believe them. But I’m hoping that they will actually finish by the end of the next week. And hopefully before it snows. The road is currently in no shape for a plow to deal with it.

In other news, both our house and the house next to us have a random piece of rainpipe sticking in our front bushes. I walked all around the house but I did not see any gaps in our gutters or rainpipes, so apparently these pieces are just there for decoration.

I’m not a fan of Judd Gregg and never will be. I didn’t vote for him and I won’t, because I don’t agree with anything that he stands for.

Which is why it’s especially galling to find out that he managed to win over $800,000 at Powerball.

Rich Republican White Guys do not need to win any more lotteries, thank you!