Merry Christmas

Hey, you... yes even you. Merry Christmas.

Not Happy Hanukkah, because that's already over with. What? You think all us gentiles are ignorant? Hope you had a good one though. Mine wasn't any great shakes, what with not being Jewish and all.

So, Merry Christmas to the rest of you consumers. Here's hoping you can look back on it in a couple months and remember the good things and forget the stress.

You Mean I Have to Get Dressed?

Is it Monday already? I guess I'm lucky to have realized that at some point.

The extended long weekend threw me off completely by Friday. The fact I didn't leave my condo on Saturday or Sunday didn't help either. But here I am on Monday at work, pants on and everything.

So how were your holidays?

I spent Christmas Eve and the first half of Christmas Day at my folks' place. With my youngest brother in Whistler this year (did I mention he was trapped in that gondola accident a couple weeks ago? He's fine, but that was the least fun thing that's happened to him in a while), it was a much more low-key affair than usual. A handful of presents, mostly for the sake of giving presents, and generally hanging around chatting here and there. We did a full turkey dinner around 1pm, because I had plans in the evening. All-in-all, pretty uneventful.

Although I did get a fair bit of online boxing day shopping done. The online sales always start Christmas Eve, so I took advantage. Sometime this week there will be a slew of boxes arriving at my place. A new receiever (Yamaha 6190/VX1800), a Blu-Ray player (Panasonic DMP-BD35), and a slew of Blu-Ray discs and DVDs. I've also got some cables on order, so once everything arrives, it will be time to dismantle my home entertainment unit and rejig everything for pure awesomeness.

Yah, I know the point of going with the Panasonic instead of the PS3 was to avoid the receiver costs. What can I say? I'm a sucker for upgrading my technology. I opted against the PS3 simply because I know I won't use it. I barely play the games I already have on the Wii and PC and DS, and very little on the PS3 interests me anyway. I have a HD streaming device and DVR already, that is portable to boot. Plus, the Panasonic I did get was $120 less than a PS3 alone, nevermind adding on the remote, extra controllers, etc..

Now I should look into wireless bridges.

Anyway, I got home Christmas afternoon and hung out with my best friend. She's sans-family during holidays, so I'm it. We exchanged presents (tons on both sides, I now have a kick-ass vintage bar set), and then go to cooking. Christmas dinner number two was an organic sirloin roast (fantastic!), roast vegetables (great!), mashed potatoes (creamy delicious!), challa (because it's tastes so good!), and sautéed collard greens and garlic (bright and tasty!). The roast was a bit rare (still not sure why, it's possible my thermometer is suddenly a bit off, or I put it in too deep), but the ends were perfect and another 20 min in the oven fixed the rest. So between that and the turkey, I've got leftovers a-plenty for the week. There's a reason I made a herb bread on Saturday night (more on that in another post).

Boxing day was spent indoors. I woke up at 1-something and decided against hitting the crowds at the mall. Instead I hung out with my friend, watched a couple movies (FYI - Get Smart was better than expected and Semi-Pro is Will Ferrell Movie 2008, and I'm fine with that), and almost got the car stuck in the snow. I did get the car stuck behind two other cars that were stuck behind a car stuck in the snow though. I was about to back up down the street when another car came up behind me and honked... like I could do anything. He eventually clued in that he was a complete moron and backed up himself, allowing me to get off that road and head home.

Saturday and Sunday? Never left the condo. I satellited into into the $70 grand and the Sunday Million (both on Stars) on Saturday. The 70g didn't go so hot. The Million was going fine (over $3MM pot, and over 16,000 entrants, not too shabby at all) until the horrible structure caught up to me and a flopped flush draw didn't get there. The World Record tourney (35,000 entrants, wow) went slightly better, with me going out around 3100 for a small $24 profit (top 8750 paid... what ridiculous numbers). Overall, a very laid-back extra-long weekend.

A quick story. I woke up around 3-something on Saturday afternoon. At 4:30 someone knocked at my door. I wasn't expecting anyone, but wandered over and looked through the peephole. Some guy I don't know with a suitcase. He either has the wrong place or is selling something. I either case, I don't feel like answering the door in my pajamas. I wait for him to leave. He keeps knocking. Finally, he turns to go and so do I. I guess he saw the shift in light through the peephole because he turned back around and started knocking again, and calling out "Hello? Hello?". He KEEPS knocking, and tries to open the door! Finally I throw open the door and ask "can I HELP YOU?"

"Oh! Oh shit. I'm sorry. I'm... I'm... xxxC?"

"Other building."

"Damn. Sorry. I'm sorry..."

"Yah, bye."

Door closed.

What the fuck? Nobody answers your incessant knocking and cries and you keep trying? There are three towers in my complex, and it didn't occur to you that you might have guessed wrong? How about asking at the front desk where you're supposed to go instead of randomly guessing? I'm just glad my door was locked.

One final thing. A standard joke in Toronto is to make fun of Buffalo always being on fire. Think the Springfield tire fire... that's what we think of when we think of Buffalo.

Except it's far less funny when it affects someone you know. We all know VinNay. He's fine, but his friend Jeff's place just burnt down. Details are on Vin's site and the site set up to help Jeff out. I know it'd be disasterous if I lost my place, but I'd be devestated if I lost my pets as well. Go take a look, and throw a couple bucks to a complete stranger who needs help. Fuck, to have that happen over the holidays too.

Merry Christmas

Jew? Muslim? Hindu? Buddhist? Taoist? Daoist? Shintoist? Confucianist? Satanist? Atheist? Agnostic? Deist? Mormon? Jehova's Witness? Rastafarian? Pastafarian? Cultist?

I don't care. Merry Christmas! It's Christmas for me, and I wish you a Merry one.

Now back to Stars, where I finally found a mildly comfortable way to deposit a few bucks. Still sitting at zero on Tilt until Seacrest wishes me a Happy New Year.

Retailers Can Bite Me

I think I'm done my Christmas shopping. Oh shit, I'm meeting with friends tonight and didn't get them anything. Whoops. Other than that though... done. Except for the friends I'll see after Christmas and get gifts for during Boxing week or something.

Anyway, last night involved some retail frustration.

First, I call up Downtown Camera to see if they have the lens I want in stock. They've got the cheapest local price I can find. Yup, they've got a bunch. I ask, "are you having a boxing day sale?" and they drop the price $30 right away with, "You can have it for $350 today".

Great! A co-worker is going there anyway to pick up a camera I recommended. Hell, he didn't know the store existed until I told him about it that morning. I've had pretty much all good experiences there. He gets there, and they claim there's no way my phone call happened. He gets the guy to ask around the store and nobody admits to talking to me. What the fuck? So they won't honour the price I was quoted over the phone. I tell him to forget it, that I'll fight the crowds on Boxing Day, since I don't NEED the lens for Christmas (but it would have been nice for some family pictures). I'm just glad he was already going, because if I'd trudged through the snow and cold to be called a liar, I would have been even more pissed off.

While this is going on, I'm heading over to a quirky shop in little Italy. They had a Christmas card that would be perfect for a friend of mine. Of course, this was two months ago. I didn't pick it up then, and of course, it's not there now. Waste of a trip and token... so I picked up another card for another friend. This one is entirely my fault though, so I can't be upset at anyone but myself.

Then I head to my next destination. This visit is relatively painless, except that the first person I got to help me grabbed the wrong model of what I was buying. Lucky for me, I had to go to another part of the store for something else and when I returned had a new clerk, who grabbed the right one. The first tried to correct him, but he pointed out she was wrong (I even asked for the specific model and she got it wrong... oy).

Then I have one more stop at a store that I know closes at 7. I'm across the road from it when I see them let people out and lock the door. I check my watch... sure enough, 6:53. Like hell they're closing 7 minutes early 3 days before Christmas. I knock on the door and they look over... I give the "what the fuck?!" look and they reluctantly open the door and let me in. Lucky for them, I knew EXACTLY what I was buying and it required minimal effort on their part. Still though, these last days before Christmas are crunch time and you close your store early? Fuck that!

Then I walked home past the spinning truck tires, honking horns, near-misses, and general chaos, happy I live downtown and don't have to drive in this shit.

Tonight is drinks with friends down the hall, but I'll have to at least swing by the ol' booze place for a gift for them. Then again, they just bought a new place, so maybe I can find something a bit more personal... not that I have any desire to actually shop.

That Went Quickly

How is it Monday already?? HOW? WHY? WHAT? WHO? WHERE? WHEN? HUH?

I woke up 2 or 3 times this morning in a daze. First I imagined that time didn't quite work the way it really does, but that somehow my clock was synched up with the alarm through some temporal twist of fate. My bed was also 30 miles wide yet I managed to traverse it in less than a second to slam my hand down on the "off" button (snooze is for pussies!). Then I fell asleep again. I had a dream that I was waking up like I usually do (in brief, blinking moments where I stare at the clock and determine how much more time I have), except that my sense of time was distorted and I figured 9:00 was plenty of time for more sleep. In this dream I awoke at 10am, and realized that I was already 30 minutes later than as late as I could be, and panicked. As I ran around in my parent's house in my dream, it never occured to me that I was getting changed in the den. Finally, I woke up in the real world (or is it?) and realized it was, in fact, 8:30am and while later than I'd like, it was not beyond the point of no return.

Yah, it's one of those Mondays.

I spent Friday night at home practicing ye old culinary techniques. I made marshamallows (really Alan, they're quite simple and delicious), which are essentially gelatin, corn syrup, and then more sugar, and a lot of mixing. I made mint chocolate chip cookie dough. I made shortbread and coated pieces of it with hot fudge. I called it a night at 5am (two hours of Prince of Persia were jammed in there too).

I got a phone call at the ungodly hour of 12:30pm that woke me up. I fell back asleep for another hour. I slowly got myself together and then got back to the kitchen. I wanted to make chocolate fudge for a party that night (oh the fudgepacking jokes... okay, one joke, repeated every time anyone discovered the fudge... I wonder how the recently out-of-the-closet gay guy took it... oh, wait, he made it too). The problem was... no marshmallow creme, no milk chocolate. So I made marshmallow creme (waaay more than necessary), and substituted white chocoloate and semi-sweet + sugar for the milk chocolate, and it made it better. I simultaneously made strawberry ice cream, which I added the fudge-covered shortbread to in a (generally successful) attempt to recreate Ben & Jerry's now defunct "Cool Britannia" ice cream for my best friend.

I never got around to the corn flake wreaths, which was the point of making marshmallows the day before.

I was cleaning up as my ride arrived, which was fine, since he was early. We got away to a pretty good birthday dinner and party, where the fudge and shortbread was loved by all. I got home around 3am. I wrapped presents, cleaned up the mess in the kitchen, played some more video games, and got to bed around 6am.

Then my phone rang at the ungodly hour of 1:30pm. I went back to bed, and was up at 4pm. I eventually was in a more human state in time to head out for Sushi down the road in the frigid wind. It's a 5 minute walk that's quite easy in the summer... it's a 4 hour walk through arctic tundra in the winter. The sushi was quite good though. Got back home with my friend, gave her the ice cream, baked up some of that chocolate chip cookie dough (MUCH better than last time), and got my ass kicked in Monopoly. I played some more Prince of Persia and called it a night around 2am... which brings us back to this morning.

I still want to get out after work to pick up a few last presents and cards before getting home and finally making those corn flake wreaths. Tomorrow is pre-Christmas drinks with friends down the hall, Wednesday is a half-day at work before heading to the folks' for Christmas. Thursday is Christmas lunch before coming back downtown for Christmas dinner. Friday is Boxing Day which means hitting the downtown stores for bargain hunting. I love Christmas, but man, can it can be exhausting.

Remind Me To Go Home

Yesterday's original plan:

- Come in to work
- Do work
- Do Christmas shopping on way home
- Go home
- Make dinner (the plan involved poutine)
- Call family to see what the Christmas plans are
- E-mail brother who was stuck in a gondola for 3 hours on Tuesday at Whistler/Blackcomb
- Do a couple chores
- Play 10pm PLO8 Stars blogger game
- Sleep

What actually happened:

- Went to work
- Toronto Stock Exchange doesn't open all day, so we sit on our hands and kill time
- Went to bar with a couple co-workers to meet up with our favourite ex-co-worker
- Stayed at bar until 11pm
- Grabbed and ate McD's on way home
- Checked e-mail
- Talked to friend
- Ordered and shipped a Christmas gift to Switzerland
- Slept

Yah, productivity wasn't quite has high as expected. So today I skip the company Christmas party to do some more shopping (although I just took care of a whack of it online, just in time). I endeavour to avoid the malls at this time of year, which isn't THAT hard when you live downtown, but I'll probably have to brave the big one regardless. It seems I also need a new coat, possibly a Christmas tree (artificial all the way!), and who knows what else? Elbows high! Then, if there's time, a return to the company party for the auction.

Crisis? What crisis? I'm spending like it's going out of style. I can't wait until Boxing day.

Shit, that reminds me... need to check out a couple charity sites too. I recommend Child's Play.

'Tis The Season

Merry Christmas everyone. May you tolerate your relatives and enjoy the time with your friends, and may Santa bring you a deck of cards that looks just like mine has this year... all aces and kings.