Christmastime already!

Because I've already finished off a carton of egg nog and our office chocolate supply is becoming populated by red, silver, and green wrappers, I've deduced it's almost Christmas!

And thus . . . time for a song:

It's Christmas in Heaven
All the children sing
It's Christmas in Heaven
Hark, hark, those church bells ring

It's Christmas in Heaven
The snow falls from the sky
But it's nice and warm, and everyone
Looks smart and wears a tie

It's Christmas in Heaven
There's great films on TV
"The Sound of Music" twice an hour
And "Jaws" One, Two, and Three

There's gifts for all the family
There's toiletries and trains
There's Sony Walkman Headphone sets
And the latest video games

It's Christmas! It's Christmas in Heaven!
Hip hip hip hip hip hooray!
Every single day
Is Christmas day!

It's Christmas! It's Christmas in Heaven!
Hip hip hip hip hip hooray!
Every single day
Is Christmas day!

"Christmas in Heaven"
Monty Python

Today is Tuesday

Just in case you were thinking it was Wednesday.

. . . Although I suppose some of you would easily be able to tell the difference, eh Mamurd?

Obituary for Pink Flamingos

I heard on the news this morning that the plastic pink flamingo factory is shutting down tomorrow. It's so sad! How could they ever go out of business? Everybody needs a plastic pink flamingo or two or ten in their yard. They're so stylish!

I have the urge to go buy at least a pair of flamingos. The only store I know of, though, is Archie McPhee's in Ballard. Maybe that's part of why they're going out of business: their product isn't available in enough stores!

I used to have a pair of pink flamingos, a few years ago. I got them at a company Christmas party. I displayed them on my apartment's balcony for the whole year, then gave them away at the next year's company Christmas party. My boss Tom got them and said he would stick them in his friend Ron's yard. I haven't seen them since.

unovercast

Hey, look. The sun is setting!

Aren't there supposed to be clouds obscuring my view?

All hail His Royal Majesty, me!

The Boy Who Cried "Bear!"

For the past five or six years, as the economy has steadily improved, there have been a constant stream of pundits on the television and in the newspapers claiming that a crash is just around the corner.

"The housing bubble is about to burst!"

"We're headed for a depression or at least a recession or at least a slowdown!"

But it doesn't happen. The economy keeps chugging along.

When (hopefully in the distant future), these bearish pundits are finally correct, nobody will believe them. Everyone will have tuned them out. And thus all their predictions will be for naught.

But at least they'll finally get to say, "I told you so."

How Many Times Do I Have to Tell You?

Vegetables taste better than donuts!
Vegetables taste better than donuts!
Vegetables taste better than donuts!
Vegetables taste better than donuts!
Vegetables taste better than donuts!
Vegetables taste better than donuts!
Vegetables taste better than donuts!
Vegetables taste better than donuts!
Vegetables taste better than donuts!
Vegetables taste better than donuts!
Vegetables taste better than donuts!
Vegetables taste better than donuts!
Vegetables taste better than donuts!
Vegetables taste better than donuts!
Vegetables taste better than donuts!

"Can't-Do-Well" Cantwell Doesn't Do Well

Usually, one of the main reasons (often the *only* reason) to keep an incumbent in office is because of the clout and power they have accumulated. So how has Washington's junior senator done in the past six years?

Maria Cantwell has worked her way up to being ranked number 99 out of 100! Way to go!

Oh wait. That means she's next to last.

At least she's more powerful than Senator Pryor of Arkansas. . . But he's only been in office four years, so you've got to give him some leeway.

Never mind that the nine other senators from the class of 2002 already have more power than Cantwell. Never mind that all nine senators from the class of 2004 already have more power than Cantwell. Never mind that this includes both Democrats elected that year (Obama of Illinois and Salazar of Colorado). Never mind all that. I'm sure Cantwell is serving our state's interests well.

That next-to-last slice of pie tastes just as good as the first slice, right?


(ht: Sound Politics)

Fun with Babelfish

Can you guess what language I translated it to (and back) in Babelfish?

James Dean dean, James
I knew any you meant
James you dean, said it all therefore cleans
And I knew my life can look all is good
If I can look at it in the silver screen

You are the low-down rebel if had once were
Since you did not have the cause
James you dean, said it all is very clean
And I knew my life can look all is good
If I can look at it in the silver screen

We will discuss a low-down bad refrigerator
You are just too cooling for the school
The sock hops, the soda water
The basketball and the automobile repair store
Obtains your only matter to violate all customs

James Dean, James Dean
Very hungry and is very thin
James you dean, said it all therefore cleans
And I knew my life can look all is good
If I can look at it in the silver screen

Young James Dean, in the screen
Wants to know perhaps who he is
Along has come Spyder and has carried off the rider
And brings him under the road to the eternal

James you dean, dean,
James bought its sight not to see

You too fast down to cannot live
Too is young down to cannot die
Goodbye
You will fast to live
Too will be young down to cannot die
Goodbye

-"James Dean" by the Eagles

And the Rest

The Professor and Mary Ann

Ahh, Prison

I guess it's not just the prisons in New Hampshire that are so swanky and comfortable that people want to live there. It's also true in Germany:

A 59-year-old German man who has spent the last 34 years in jail has turned down offers to be let out, an official says.

"He rejected an offer to leave in 1992," Thomas Melzer, a spokesman for the Brandenburg state justice ministry, told Bild newspaper.

"We can't do anything if someone sentenced to life in prison doesn't want to leave."

new deodorant

How can they get away with calling it "invisible solid" when it leaves a quite visible white powder on my skin (and hairs)? You'd think someone would have looked in the dictionary before they used a strange, new word like "invisible."

Best of My Pancake

Am I alone in thinking that the Eagles' song, "The Best of My Love," sounds like a pancake?

Smooth, even-thickness, warm. . . you know?

Too bad it's about a couple falling apart, though.