My Christmas Madness Hits New Peaks (or lows...)

I love Christmas lights and decorations. Utterly love them. I suppose in some ways it's a guilty, no-longer secret pleasure. I started as a young man, helping my Dad do the outside lights. Eventually I got to trying to organize the lights, to figure out their placements, suggest new purchases, the whole thing.

Once I moved out, that was one thing that I really missed. The only way to satisfy that craving was to visit those wacky neighborhoods where everyone went crazy with lights, animatronics, inflatables, the whole business. But instead of laughing at them, I was jealous. I wanted to be those people with the house that can be seen from space on Christmas Eve.

For some reason or other, perhaps it's her pregnancy, Amanda has really let me go nuts with decorations this year. We now have five good sized plastic tubs filled with Halloween decorations thanks to her indulging me (and a lot of day-after bargain hunting on her part). This Christmas, well, as you can see, it's craziness with lights. A few weeks back, I saw a box of electronics that cam preloaded with 20 songs, a speaker, six power inputs and the ability to make those lights plugged in dance to the music. Like that house with the lights that are totally synched with that TransSiberian Orchestra song. And now, for only $120 suggested retail price, you too can do it too.

But at that price, it was too much. Until the day after Thanksgiving...where it came down to only $60. So like idiots, we woke up at 5:50 to hit Michael's to make sure I got the Lights And Sounds Of Christmas box at 50% off.

I've got a total of 8 strands of lights...the power load of this bad boy will let me do anywhere between 30-40 strings depending on their wattage...can you imagine what I could do with a real house and a proper yard? Amanda shudders at the thought...

Stole this from Frank's blog

Thievery is apparently acceptable in the post-modern digital world. At least this kind of thievery, in which postings and ideas from other blogs get taken and posted on your own. I know, I know, most of them are called "memes" but let's be honest, most of the time it's just a little digital pickpocketing.

And before I sound too grumpy (which I don't really mean to be), it's all good.

I found this on Frank's blog (see the link on the side, it's the #2 Lane one) and as an English teacher, I couldn't resist.

Out, damned offwhite knight! Out, I say!

Which work of Shakespeare was the original quote from?

Get your own quotes:

There are times...

There are times when I wish I had a PC and not my trusty Mac. This is one of those times; there's a new game called Hellgate: London that just looks awesome. I just finished reading the first novel for the game and it was really cool. Not great literature (they never are), but it was a cool, fun read.

But the game is only for the PC and the only PC I have is the one here at work...and it wouldn't really do to tell the kids to sit down and shut up so Mr. Jameson can play his videogame.

Anyone interested in donated a PC to me so I can play this game?

Didn't think so. Oh well. I'm used to suffering as a Mac-man.

A Suite RAW

Suites are sweet. I got tickets from one of my colleagues here at work to go see WWE's RAW last night. He gets them from a band booster or something to sell to us to get money for the band. So cool, it's a tax write-off also. But the best thing is that these tickets are for a suite at the Staples Center and sometimes they also include VIP parking.

Honestly, in some ways the VIP parking made it worth it right there. Parking is outrageous at Staples, with the decent, just across the street parking at $20. Just wrong. But the tickets I got came with the VIP parking pass, which meant we parked in the structure right behind the arena for free. No crossing streets, no dodgy attendants, no sketchy characters skulking about. Awesome.

The suite itself was also cool. No food was laid out and the refridgerator was locked, so we had to cough up for food, but even that was better. The suite levels have their own bars and food stands and I swear the food is better. Hell, the floor itself is carpeted! As dumb as that sounds, it just makes it that much more luxurious than the normal plain concrete.

Anyway, the suite seats up front were these sweet theatre style chairs with plenty of leg room. The view was awesome; totally unobstructed by anyone or anything.

About the only thing that was missing was the comaraderie between fans. Attending a live WWE event is a genuinely communal event in a lot of ways. In an isolated suite with a handful of other guys (half of whom hadn't seen wrestling in 10 years), that whole communal side of things is removed.

But all told? The show itself was really cool, very fun to watch. And it was freakin' awesome to actually sit in a suite at Staples instead of nosebleed seats or something.

We're gonna have to try again and see about maybe hockey or basketball tickets. I'm pretty sure the hook-up will have those a few times and it looks like the view would be even better.

It's like a funny Reese's...two loves combined!

As most of you know, I love me the wrasslin.' Been to a bunch of PPVs, TV tapings, even a house show. It's modern American vaudeville to me. Purely entertaining.

I also love the supernatural. Ghost Hunters is one of my favorite shows. The last two Halloweens, they've done a live investigation. And a wrestler from ECW goes along with them...last year was CM Punk, this year, Elijah Burke (he's the black dude in the little clip below). I haven't watched the DVRed episode yet, but saw this on a wrestling BBS I frequent, taken from the show...I can hardly wait to see the whole thing now!