And.....We're Clear!

It's the nineteenth of December, and I'm finished with Christmas shopping for 2003, barring some shiny play-pretty catching my eye for somebody else.

I hit Hickory Hollow Mall up in Antioch this morning. Found what I needed for somebody who had proven oddly difficult to shop for. I picked up those things that I couldn't have found at the major department retailers....and made my final appearance in the Mall scene for the Christmas season (barring an attempt to see Return of the King sometime next week, should that occasion arise).

Let me just say that if there's an advantage to working third shift, it's that even on my days off, my sleep schedule was staggered just enough so that I could hit Wal-Mart at 4 AM, and be hassled by absolutely no other person.

This has been easily the least stressful Christmas season in recent memory.

Probably the only unpleasant moment of this Christmas season came for a brief few seconds at Media Play this morning....and it was my fault. I apparently can't tell a 9 from a 2 when reading price tags.

Beyond that, I've had absolutely no problems.

And I've gotten off, so far, without having heard "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer," which is the most insidious novelty Holiday song written. It seeps in through your eardrums and fingernails and firmly entrenches itself in your gallbladder (that's where your soul is), and there it stays until you drink a gallon of apple vinegar to flush it out.

A few quick links:

Happy birthday and Anniversary to South Knox Bubba.....how's that for simplifying the days to remember....

Congrats to Pete, at a Perfectly Cromulent Blog, who's now a Poppa.

And go look at the Hippy's pictures. I thought the one of the Pokemon machine was pretty cool.