*Teaser* Christmas Day 2006 post...

Look what I got for Christmas:


Isn't it beautiful? It's the 30gb video iPod! Santa heard me mention it, but I would've been happy with just the Nano model... a nice surprise.

More tomorrow...

Our new digital age...

This "Lucky Cow" comic gave me a chuckle today. I work in tech support for a large daily newspaper and the issue of "new media" vs. "traditional media" is a hot topic on our editors' agenda. We recently hired an "online photo editor" to work for our online news department, for example. This person works with picture selection and deployment of electronic slide shows for our web site. and Will the next generation gaze in wonder at a hard-copy newspaper in a museum years from now?

You might not be who you think you are...

I was perusing Tom Timmerman's "Hit & Run" column in today's Post-Dispatch over breakfast this morning. This little nugget near the end caught my eye:

"— An Indian runner who won a silver medal in the women's 800 meters at the Asian Games was stripped of her medal after failing a gender test. The test revealed she had more Y chromosomes than are allowed. Frankly, I didn't know there was a limit.

— Talk about a tough job. How do you break the news to someone that a test showed she isn't a woman?"

A gender test? A gender test? Whoever heard of such a thing?

(insert gratuitous Michael Jackson joke here)

So, folks, it may be a good idea to go and get tested; you may not be who you've always thought you were...

Family Feud Blooper...

I ran across this last week - if you want to see Richard Dawson absolutely LOSE IT, check this out:

Not So Fast Money...

Sports follies...

As I previously stated, it's a good thing the Cardianls won the World Series. Our fall/winter pro sports franchises are flopping.

The 6-8 Rams did manage to pummel the hapless Raiders yesterday. It's pretty bad when the best chant you can muster is "our team beat the %#$%# out of a team that's actually worse than we are" Their odd reality is that they are still hanging on to a wild-card spot in the playoffs by a thread! That's how whacked-out the NFC is this season. The recently-deceased Lamar Hunt is doing the watusi in his grave already.

Our intrepid hockey Blue-noters find themselves in last place in their division. Which is exactly where they were this time last year! A new ownership regime hasn't made much of a difference. They finally gave poor Mike Kitchen the ax last week and predictably hired a crack-the-whip coach as his replacement. The damage done by the Laurie ownership will be felt for quite a while, folks.

Weird television - slightly rant-ish...

I was surfing the channels last night and noticed that G4, the "video game network" is now showing episodes of "COPS" during an hour of prime time. Its lack of connection to video games aside, I was only annoyed because it replaced the second daily episode of "Star Trek The Next Generation" that I normally tuned in to. Why the Sci-Fi channel never picked up STTNG is beyond me but it certainly doesn't belong on a video game TV network. It's all about the demographics and the audience you're targeting, folks.

Speaking (or blogging?) of weird television, why is the TLC channel airing shows about freaks of nature? Case in point: last evening they aired shows about conjoined, TWO-HEADED teenage girls and a toddler with primordial dwarfism. Previously, I noticed they have aired a British show about a kid whose skin falls off. There is some inspirational value to these shows but mostly, it smacks of exploitation! They likely air it under the guise of "TLC is THE LEARNING CHANNEL," but I think it's distasteful and appeals to our base instincts, as much of television does today. Am I way off base here or is there something that I'm missing? Thoughts?*

"SO IF IT OFFENDS YOU, DON'T WATCH IT!!," protests the network executive.

yeah, but how about not putting it out there in the first place?

*I'm guilty of watching much of the two programs, I admit. But only to judge their content! And I am also guilty of imagining what it would be like to be a cop and pull over a car that those two-headed girls are driving. Who would you give the ticket to? Would it be two tickets for them? Would the cop faint dead away at the sight of them? : )

One week and counting...

How is it already December 18th? I looked away for just a second, and here it is! The Christmas season has flown by this year, for some reason. Strange, very strange. My Christmas cards did get into the mail this morning, however. My Christmas shopping has NOT EVEN BEEN STARTED! : )

Let's do the usual recap...

Friday night was the premiere performance of the resurrected "Living Christmas Tree" at my parents' church. The program was divided into two halves - one distinctly secular and the other distinctly religious. The tree made its proper debut in the second half. It was decked out spectacularly, as the music director is a florist during the week. Very glitzy, indeed, with computer-controlled lights illuminating lush green garland. There wasn't enough room for all the singers, with one group of black-clad choristers standing off to the side in ensemble fashion. The program was certainly the most ambitious production ever done at the church and it came off nicely. My bro and sis-in-law also came down to see it with me and my mom. We all went out for a late supper at the local St. Louis Bread Company afterwards.

Saturday, I attended a holiday luncheon for the volunteers at the church service where I serve on Sundays. The lead pastor of the service and his wife gave it at their home. The eats and fellowship were great! That night I dropped in on my friend K's birthday party at her home. There was an interesting book on her coffee table, "Horrifically Bad Album Covers," which covers some of the worst of the old LP album covers. Great for many laughs at parties! Looks like it's exclusive to Barnes and Noble, though.

Yesterday, I crashed at home after church and lunch at Applebees. I got my Christmas cards done and did chores.

My mom and dad are hosting the annual Matlock Family Christmas Day Spectacular at their house this again this year. After all the time and energy they spent running around caring for my grandpa this fall, I'd have not been surprised if they opted out this year. It will happen, albeit with dinner contributions from the attendees, I suspect.

Speaking of my grandpa, he continues to recover. He got a good post-surgical report last week. My mom will continue to work with him part-time, supplanting the other home-based therapy he is already receiving.

And I wish to state for the record that any Christmas gifts I receive will pale in comparison to the gift of my grandpa's presence this year. The reality that he's alive and well enough to be home for Christmas is enough.

It helps to read the fine print...

OK, so my *free* copy of the TaxCut software actually isn't so free after all. I started installing it tonight and it turns out that, yes, the software is on the CD but....

.....have your credit or debit card ready to cover the $29.95 to unlock it from the CD. Yep, all they've done here is save me a trip to Best Buy to purchase it.

What your daddy told you is true, folks; if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

The moblog is history...

My moblog at Textamerica.com is history. They are going fee-based and leaving free users out in the cold at the end of the year so I downloaded my images and deleted everything. Now, should I cancel the internet service on my phone?

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On an unrelated note, it was a personal thrill to be back on stage at Powell Hall last night. Even though the "official" symphony orchestra wasn't in residence, it was still fun. I'd not heard the guest soloists, American tenor Hugh Smith and Icelandic soprano Diddú, sing before. They and the Compton Heights Band performed most excellently!

I'm not ready to think about tax preparation!...

but the fine folks at H&R Block TaxCut software apparently think I am. They sent me a *free* copy of the Premium version of the Federal AND State editions for the 2006 tax year. What did I do to deserve that? : ) It is the software I have used for the past several years, so I'll certainly take it but why me and why now? Was there a class-action settlement that I'm part of? Curious!

He's Gone Away...

from hospitals, that is...my grandpa is home in Malden as I write this. He left Barnes-Jewish Hospital on Friday with my parents for the trip home. After eight long weeks in two different hospitals, he is finally back among familiarity. He'll return to St. Louis on Wednesday for follow-up exams. His stroke recovery will be continued with home-based therapy. He's already beginning to walk pretty well (with the aid of a walker) and my mom's experience as a reading teacher will greatly help his speech and cognitive recovery. Thanks to all who prayed. We got Papaw home for Christmas and that's a huge answer to prayer.

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The Amabassadors of Harmony are putting on another great series of Christmas shows this year. I caught the first performance last night. They managed to top last year, somehow and I shook my head with amazement!

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my community chorus is also in full swing with our Christmas performances. We sang for members of the Missouri Botanical Gardens today and will do our usual concert at St. Anthony's church tomorrow afternoon. Tuesday we're backing up the Compton Heights Concert Band for their annual Christmas shows at Powell Symphony Hall. After that, we'll breathe! : )

My Celebrity Look-Alikes

Happy Birthday to my blog!...

I totally forgot to acknowledge the one-year birthday for this little blog, on December 2. I started this thing shortly after Cooks In Kansas was born. It's been fun, folks - thanks to all who have read and commented!

My grandpa's out of surgery...

and resting *somewhat* comfortably tonight. Everything apparently went as planned and he survived the ordeal in good shape. There will be the usual round of post-surgical pathology but all is well for now. Thanks for praying!

An old tradition revived...

Back in the day, my family's church in Malden, MO put on a pretty cool Christmas show. It involved putting singers inside a "living" Christmas tree for an unusual twist on the traditional Christmas cantata. The church stopped doing the show many years ago and the tree's pieces sat in a storage locker outside of town gathering dust.

Until this year, that is. My dad convinced the music minister to revive the show at their church. $1 later, the tree was sold. Read about it here:

Trim the Tree--With Singers!

I can't wait to see it come alive again!

Prayer request...

If you're so inclined, please say a little prayer for my grandpa today - he's having fairly major surgery this afternoon. The move to Barnes has paid off with a certain diagnosis of the source of his problem and the surgery is unfortunately necessary.

The lights are on...

at my place. I returned from my parents' house this morning and found that power had been restored. I made a beeline for the thermostat and switched the heat on. The house is nice and warm as I type this.

For all the hassles the storm created, it left behind some majestically pretty winter scenes. The St. Louis area got mostly ice and a little snow so all the trees got a beautiful coating of ice that glistened in the sunlight today. Some trees didn't fare so well but my oak trees stood up to the ice just fine. That's why they're OAK trees. The Bradford Pear tree that formerly stood in my front yard would have gone down, though.

Woke up this morning...

...at 5 a.m. to find that the air in my house was quite...nippy. Yep, yesterday's ice storm knocked out power to my house, so once again I find myself at the mercy of the local power conglomerate. :) Thank goodness for my gas water heater, which delivered hot water for my shower. Hopefully this won't be an instant replay of July's prolonged power outage!

I must chuckle, however, at the fact that the temperature hovered near 70 degrees for nearly a week then in the space of 24 hours bottomed out like my voice did between the 8th and 9th grades. Spring one day, winter the next. Ah, Missouri!

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My grandpa was moved up to Barnes-Jewish hospital on Wednesday. His stroke recovery is right on track but his other problem is still a problem. The doctor treating him in Cape Girardeau couldn't do any more for him so we moved him to get treatment from some of the world's best doctors. We remain optimistic that he'll be home for Christmas. Fortunately, my brother and sis-in-law live near the hospital so they provided lodging to my mom and grandma last night during the ice storm.

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It's a rather strange experience, attending your boss' funeral visitation. I hope none of my readers ever have to do it. It was gut-wrenching, seeing him laid out in a casket on Tuesday night. I'd last seen him on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. He was our department's heart and soul and our team feels a distinct emptiness now that he's gone. A "Dilbert" manager he was not, tough but fair. A little too "chummy" with us, frankly, but everyone loved working for him and coming to work in his department. I volunteered to stay behind and keep things running while everyone else attended his funeral; it was my final tribute to him. Gonna miss ya, RB.

The falling leaves / shaken on a sunday night...

***WARNING: bad haiku ahead***

The falling leaves
drift by my window
and make a crunchy carpet

I bagged *28* bags of leaves just from my back yard on Saturday. I reckon I'll do 10 or 12 more before the end of the year.

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I rented "Return To Me" on Saturday night. Did any of my readers see it? Not a bad little movie. It's a romantic comedy/borderline chick flick.

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So I was performing the Vivaldi "Gloria" last night with my community chorus when I got paged to call into work. I shut off the vibrate, then it went off twice more. (This had NEVER happened before.) The message said to call in ASAP so I left the stage at the start of the next solo movement. I work in IT for a newspaper so it wasn't entirely unexpected. I raced out to my car and dialed in.

What was unexpected was the news that my manager had suffered a fatal heart attack while at home. He was only 50 years old and left a wife and 3 young adult children. As you might imagine, this has left me and my co-workers stunned. This will be a difficult week and will certainly mean changes for our department as we come to grips with this loss. He was a good manager to work for and I enjoyed knowing him. He must have enjoyed me too, since I received a service award last month and he wrote part of the nomination. : )

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Gene Eugene's words are wise and true: 'hang out with your loved ones while they're still around...'

Thanksgiving, done differently...

I'm safely home now after a decidedly different, special Thanksgiving day today. My grandpa is still in the hospital in Cape Girardeau, so I ate my Thanksgiving meal in the hospital! :) Really, where else would I have been? He couldn't come to dinner, so the dinner came to him! He was moved to an inpatient rehabilitation area last week and the area has a nice big sunroom with a kitchenette. My dad smoker-ed his usual turkey and my mom whipped up a few other Thanksgiving essentials, packed up a couple of coolers and off we went! With other attendees bringing various and sundry food items, we had quite a feast. There were 12 people, including my grandpa in attendance. It was just like having the feast at somebody's house, really. I looked around while we were eating and saw my wheelchaired grandpa sitting in his usual place at the head of the table, with his twin brother on his right and his wife on his left; it was a very comforting scene.

He continues to progress rapidly in his recovery from the stroke, but the original problem he was in the hospital for prior to that event, is still a problem. If he can get that cleared up, he should be home for Christmas.

Driving home, I passed my local Circuit City and Best Buy stores. Both stores had intrepid shoppers camped out, waiting for the opening bell of the Christmas shopping season. Someone please stage an intervention with me if I'm ever that obsessed!