I know it is early in October, but I feel compelled to write about Christmas. In late September we went to Lowes and they had their Christmas trees up, according to my MIL Costco’s had their Christmas stuff up since mid-July. Yesterday, someone in the office was playing Christmas music.
It’s OCTOBER people, it’s still 22 days away from Halloween. After Halloween I’m more OK with people putting up Christmas stuff. Two months of overly commercialized Christmas stuff is already a Bit Much, but to start in July (or August or September)?! Madness.
I admit, I used to work in a little shop that sold Christmas ornaments all year round, and hosted quite a few rounds of Tea with Mrs. Claus, but we didn’t really get started with Tea until sometime in November… then we totally went overboard with all things Christmas, but it was after Halloween.
Two months of generic canned seasonal music, red, green, tinsel and faux trees is bad enough. Do we really need four months of overly commercialized Christmas “cheer”? Enough already!
“Kendra”: I will be happy to answer your questions regarding AT&T services. I specialize in setting up new phone accounts and High Speed Internet service.
you (Gavin): Hello, having some trouble finding out what services would be available at ******, Sebastopol, CA 95472
you (Gavin): The “closely” matching results are in some cases about 120 miles away
“Kendra”: What services are you looking for?
[”I specialize in setting up new phone accounts and High Speed Internet service,” Those, of I wouldn’t be talking to you would I?]
you (Gavin): DSL without a standard POTS line
“Kendra”: The only way to place an order for the direct dsl is through customer service. What state do you live in?
[Right, the website I was on for placing an order was clearly fake. As for what state, lets see, ah yes I just told you that.]
you (Gavin): California
“Kendra”: The number for California is 1-866-593-0724
[I wonder what would happen if I said I didn’t have a phone, given you know, I’m trying to setup phone service.]
[So I tried that number and it didn’t work]
I spoke with my parents about 20 minutes ago. About 30 seconds after mom picked up the phone the lights came back on! My parents are doing fine, the house sustained very minimal damage, and there was no flooding.
The cat, who usually supplements his diet liberally with small mammals and lizards, is annoyed they’ve run off, and that he’s mostly consuming kibble.
For more on the storm and how the Houston/Glaveston area is coping, visit the Houston Chronicle’s website www.chron.com, for updates on how my parents are doing, you can now call or e-mail them.
For those of you who’ve asked how my parents are doing after Hurricane Ike decimated the Houston/Galveston area, the answer is they’re doing OK.
They don’t have power, but their land-line phones are working again. There was minimal damage to the house, some siding blew off, no flooding, or extreme damage. A few neighbors lost chimneys, and some trees snapped on the Golf Course. The Cat is also fine.
Friends of ours in the area DO have power, so my parents spent the afternoon with them. Hopefully they’ll get power back soon.
For updates on how things are going, the Houston Chronicle’s website, www.chron.com ,is doing a decent job covering the issues.
For those of you who have not yet heard the news, Gavin & Kindli are excited to announce the newest member of their family will be arriving in mid-February. Right now, our gender-unknown little one is being affectionately referred to as “the Pudge” (sort of like the anonymous, very brilliant, Stig on Top Gear).
To answer all the questions we’ve been inundated with, we’ve given the Pudge it’s own tab on our website, and created an FAQ. The Pudge’s tab will be periodically updated through out the process, and you can track it’s process with the baby tracker at the top of the page.
Several months ago I unearthed some mystery bulbs that were sitting in a pot that had been left by the previous tenant. My MIL and I planted them in the lower tier of the garden. They dutifully sprouted into generic looking, slightly tropical, long leafy things. About a week ago, I noticed they were blooming.
I have no idea what sort of flowers they are, they’re pretty, and they bloomed on their own after some neglect. Always good things.
Yesterday Demon Kitty came over to visit us. I’d been out watering the yard and I left the screen door open.
When I came back inside, DK was basking in the sunlight cleaning himself.
Continue reading ‘Demon Kitty & the Onion Thief’
Yes, we’re still alive, we’ve just been busy and nothing all that exciting has been happening. Our yard is still alive, we’re both working, I haven’t had much time to bake anything worth talking about, and we’ve started watching the Olympics.
I realize I did not write about the books I read in July. I did read several, most of them on our trip to Oregon. None of them were particularly good, or memorable, so I don’t feel bad about leaving them out.
I’m going to go back to do doing laundry now.
The mystery plant bloomed, I think everyone was right, it does look like a lilly of sorts.
This week Gavin is back in Portland, OR for a conference. To help the time pass I’m (finally) assembling photo albums with Aperture. I’ve finished our first year together (May ‘06-’07), including our trip to Germany in April 2007.
The second year (May ‘07-’08) is mostly compete, I just need to add captions. I’ve just started the third year (May ‘08 forward). They’re fun and colorful. Eventually we’ll get them printed.
I’ve also made a vat of chili, my fingers still smell like onion.
Photo by Stephen, taken in early July somewhere on the Oregon Coast
