The Packers have sucked some serious wind today.

Maybe they'll suck less next week?

So much for the snow yesterday. It's melting pretty fast, and will probably be gone in the next two days. crud.
Packers.com, the Official Web site of the Green Bay Packers.
well, the Packers would clinch a first-round bye if they win today, and also secure home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. I'm not much of a football fan, but I do seem to gravitate to the Packers this time every year.

Is that so bad to be a Packers fan, but not necessarily a football fan? In any case - Go Pack!!!

I spent an hour in snow removal this afternoon. It's times like now that I reflect on money better spent on a snow thrower, rather than perhaps, clothes.

Oh my goo-goo-goodness!!! It's snowing! How delightfully cold!

Coffee, Tea, or Should We Feel Your Pregnant Wifeís Breasts Before Throwing You in a Cell at the Airport and Then Lying About Why We Put You

Is this what the world has come to?

So, I skipped a day. I'm a bad blogger. But bad blogging habits aside, I have had a pretty great holiday season so far. Yesterday, our friends Dennis & Paul came by again along with my brother and his wife. We had some drinks, put the kids to bed and watched a bit of Primetime. It was an amazing story about the couple that had sextuplets. Having two babies two years apart is as close as I'd ever wish to get to having six babies at once!

I pulled away long enough to count out money for a vicious game of MonopolyÆ. We began pretty slowly, establishing our rules for engagement ñ no free parking cash, one free pass for life allowed (against my wishes, though it worked in my favor in the end), and mortgage pay-offs (when selling back properties, ect.). Most of these items are in the rulebook, so not really new, but the audience involved needed a refresher course.

If anyone feels the need to give me a belated Christmas gift, you can get me one of these.

In the past, Iíve always understood MonopolyÆ to be a competitive and virtually festive free activity, as Iím usually losing and rarely ever get in any good shots at my competitors. Last night was different in every category. We were all a bit giddy and punchy. I got to laughing so hard at Dennisí comparison of me to Joan Crawford and the wire hangers; tears came streaming from my eyes. On top of that, my domination of the game on all fronts led me to a showdown with my wife.

It came down to her, the four houses each on the yellows and one house on Boardwalk & Park Place; to my hotels on the light blues and the purple. I owned the Jail corner and crushed each player as they strolled by. The feeling of power left me intoxicated with joy and my mouth was uncontrollable with cocky stabs and insults. Itíd be safe to say that the next time we decide to play a rematch, Iím going to be dead.

Today I had lunch with another good friend, Lane, downtown at Erbert & Gerbertís. Yummy! I strongly recommend the Boney Billy with bacon.

Besides all this holiday cheer, I also introduced myself to the owner of a company here in Wausau, and told him I heard he was looking for someone to sell his wood. Well, an interview is set up for Monday at 10am. Wish me luck!

Hey - pleasant surprise! My friend Dennis & Paul came by tonight. Actually, it wasn't much of a surprise since they called earlier adn said they would come by, but that's beside the point.

Dennis now lives in Santa Barbara, so I don't get to see him very ofter. Holidays are a good excuse to catch up with good friends. I think we should have more of them.

Christmas Day.

What can I say, but Merry Christmas. My daughter Olivia was amazingly patient. She maintained self control amidst a room full of wrapped gifts, while waiting for the rest of the family to arrive so she could open her presents. When there's a two year old involved, every member of the Fam wants to enjoy the expressions on her face as well as hear her little voice exclaim, "oh my!" and "maybe Santa got this for me?" My little girl was adorable, running around in her brand new Barbie ballet outfit. I can't believe she came from the Nelson stock. She spent her morning casually opening packages, spending quality time with each and every item so as not to make one toy more jealous than the other.

Stewart, on the other hand, was gleefully drooling and cooing as only a six month old enjoying his first Christmas would. My father, as to be expected, fell asleep on the couch. My mom spent most of the morning kissing on Stewie.

We feasted on quiche, New Zealand sausages and a lovely fruit salad (can I descride a salad as lovely and still sound masculine?). Seriously, what a yummy brunch. I could be very happy making that the new family tradition.

I'm a very blessed man.

More tech support. I'm headed to a store today to install a POS System for an in-law. We've discussed this recently, and yes, I said no more freebees. But I've been offered money this time. Incentives abound. If I screw it up (unlikely), I'm going to be pretty urinated at myself.

If only I could just show up on time...

and now... for hours of mindless enjoyment, I give you this.

Okay, so I agreed to fix this guy's PC. Someone I don't even know. It took way longer than it should have, and I agreed to do the work as a trade out. I'm out of work - what did I do that for? Isn't money a more necessary compensation right now? In any case, I have decided no more freebees. I'm constantly doing these things for people, for free or less. Just because I can RTFM, should not mean that I have to play digital janitor for other people's laziness.

In other news today, I did manage to get this website up. Cheers for me. All of my adoring fans will be so stoked. Okay, so that's me and nobody else, but who's counting anyway. I'm finding this very therapeutic already!

Also, the relatives came by for some early Christmas cheer. They had a bunch of gifts for my son and daughter that could not wait until Christmas morning. Not much to complain about here. Our family is blessed to have such kind people as not just kin, but good friends to boot. I guess if one of them decided to call me for tech support, Iíd let it slide. Good folk deserve good help.

After much deliberation, it has come to this decision. Iím going to fill my web page with a blog. Iíve been unemployed now for almost two months now, so itís not like I donít have the free time.

Itís getting pretty grim collecting UI checks every week. What really chaps my hide is not being able to collect all of the unemployment funds that has accumulated over the year, taken bit by bit from my bi-monthly paycheck. This really bites monkey kraut because some Johnny q. Public out there is probably going to benefit from my extra seven grand in fees that I canít collect on. How is this fair and just? It was money I earned. Money put aside for me, when and if I ever became unemployed (well, "when" seems the more obvious now). But Mr. Government says I can only have $324 of it each week for six freaking months. AND, Iíd have to pay taxes on that unemployment check come April!!! I find it very perplexing and even annoying when pondered upon for large chunks of time.

In addition to this solemn time of unemployment, some killjoy stole my name dot com so he could put his cruddy sport scores for some Florida school team, which totally blows. Who stinking cares how the Florida Atlantic Owls are doing anyway? Not me. Why did he have to spend his hard earned money on my good name to post this nonsense?

crap!

So it's Christmas. As much as I look forward to this time of season, I have found that every year it comes and goes before Iím completely sick of it. What the H-E-double L! Shouldnít I be sick after being bombarded by capitalistic commercialism and multiple episodes of Rudolph, Olive the other reindeer and the classic, Charlie Brown Christmas? Itís not like I donít have the time to be inundated by heaps of this stuff.

No, somehow I have remained unscathed. I guess if I had started my Yuletide celebration in October, Iíd stand a better chance of ruking my eggnog by Dec. 25th out of sheer disgust. Hmmm, eggnog. Yum.

Well, you wonít hear a ìBah hum-bugî from this camp. Not this year anyway. Maybe I should try harder next year?