In which Sarah comes home

Yes, today the international traveling daughter returned safely to us, all as per plan.

Our eagerness at the airport gate where we all waited for her was high. You can practically see the doors trembling with an-ti-ci...say it...pation.


And then she appeared.


A short while later, we were home.


It's so very good to have her back.

Bad Santa sums up the worst of Christmas

As is our tradition, tonight a small group of us watched the unrated version of one of my favorite holiday films, Bad Santa, and ate sandwiches. (The sandwich part makes sense only if you've seen the movie. If not, go watch it.)

Though foul in language and tone, the movie really does have at its core a soft heart and an attempt at redemption. It also comments perfectly on the dark side of a commercialized Christmas. Near the end, Marcus is about to kill Willie (the Santa character, Billy Bob Thornton) and says the following:

It is Christmas, Willie.
But this is what we do.
We get the shit.
Christmastime, we get the shit.

Whatever one's religious beliefs, I think it's good to remember that this is not what Christmas is all about.

See: another reason to watch Bad Santa!

Sometimes a weird notion

Most work days when I am in town, I eat lunch at the little cafe in our building. The food is generally good, and the people who own it are very nice--and working behind the counter preparing your food. We like the place enough that our company gives a benefit of a quarterly allowance to each staffer so they can buy some lunches there.

Like anyone who eats at the same place frequently, I tend to fall into ruts, eating the same few items over and over.

Yesterday, while I was deciding what to have for my lunch, an odd notion struck me: why not try everything on the menu at least once? Having considered that idea, I, of course, had to come up with an orderly way to proceed, so I decided to start in the upper left and work down and then left, as one reasonably would.

So, that's what I did.

Here's the menu. Click on it for a version large enough to read.


I've now eaten the first two items.

I also know what I'll be eating for many in-office work days to come.

Problem solved.

Welcome to my mind.

So bad it's mandatory

I can't artistically defend the fact that I'm already psyched to see this movie, but I am.



So it goes.

Health update

After seven weeks of being sick, five of them with this wracking, choking cough that will not go away, I finally visited my ENT today. Who says I'm slow to take a hint?

After checking me all over, he concluded, as Bill had said he would, that I have bronchitis. He said it was a miracle I was walking around and working, at which I shrugged; I'm not going to let bronchitis slow me.

He prescribed a strong antibiotic, which I will start tonight when I get home from work. He also said I should indulge in a couple of weeks of rest and no work; that would be no. He finally prescribed a strong cough syrup to help me sleep, but I'll probably also ignore it.

I expect to be fully recovered in three to four days.

Were I a doctor, I would not enjoy having me as a patient.

A few promised happy snaps from the Las Vegas trip

I'm overdue on these, but I just got around to downloading them. Most are from the Grand Canyon trip, and I already posted one of those, so I won't put up many.

As always, click on any image to see a larger version of it.

Our helicopter, on which you can read the name of our trip company. No, it was not the one that suffered a crash last week.


Lake Mead from the air was magnificent and almost jarring, the only blue against the unrelenting shades of sand and brown that constituted most of the desert landscape.


The Colorado river wandering through the desert, another life-affirming bit of blue, though one that from a distance looks rather fragile.


On the ground, on the Native American side of the Canyon (with their permission, of course), you can see both the many geological strata and also the shades of green in the vegetation that manages to live there.


We had to stop to refuel on the top of a plateau. There we saw what was for me the first snow of the season.


For the surprisingly (to me) many who have written and asked, yes, there was shoe shopping.


And, yes, Jennie went home with another pair of Louboutins, this one insanely sparkly and color-shifting. Jain called them "all lizardy and shit," an apt description.


Lest you think I've forgotten that it was near Christmas, here's an example of Christmas subtlety, Vegas-style.


Even Cthulu had a Christmas exhibit.


Where else but Vegas?

How awkward can I feel posing while dressed up?

This awkward.


Did someone say "no-necked Mafia enforcer?"

How awkward can two men, my business partner Bill and I, feel while posing dressed up?

This awkward.


That's more than enough.