You gotta face the Facebook

Well, my nieces and nephews are probably quite dismayed that I found them on the Facebook. (If you're reading this, kids, I'm not a dork. Our generation likes to add "the" to stuff like Facebook and Google, because... well, we're dorks, I guess.) There are probably some classmates out there who are equally dismayed.

On the other hand, now they know I'm on the Facebook, too. Didn't think that one through very carefully, did I?

Now all I need is a dog and my pipe

Hey, does everyone remember the story about my new boots? I got new boots! No, that's pretty much the whole story, actually.

Anyhoo - the back story on this is that my sister had given me a pair of Uggs, a few years ago, which is pretty cool because Uggs are outrageously expensive. (My nephew had grown out of them and they fit me perfectly. See? God does too love me!) Well, this year they had a blow out and I mentioned it to my sister, so she bought me a pair of Timberland boots. That's pretty cool, in and of itself, but she also bought me a pair of slippers.

Now, I'm not normally a slippers kind of guy, but, as I may have mentioned, it's been hellaciously cold around here lately. And my "office" sits over an empty hallway, so the floor is pretty freakin' cold on the toes. Well, lemme tell ya, there's a new slipper guy in town and it's me!

I'm tempted to subscribe to the newspaper, so I can wander out to get the paper in my robe and slippers. Scratch that - they'd deliver it inside the door, and I don't have a robe. Though I suppose I could buy a robe then wander over to Fareway to get the paper. "Morning, Mrs. Fjelterhagensgaard! Beautiful day, isn't it?"

I am liking this idea...

Happy Festivus!

I know you're probably thinking, "Hey, Scott - how can I be joyful when Dick Cheney still walks the Earth?" Well, truthfully, you got me on that one, but sometimes it's just a matter of will power. Or a national commitment to victory, if you will.

But Festivus is here, once again. So, gather your loved ones and air your grievances; raise the aluminum pole; revel in the feats of strength. Really, it's a shame we have to wait for Festivus to enjoy those things.

It's a gorgeous day and I should probably get out there and do some Festivus shopping. (read: buy some clothes so I can put the laundry off for one more day.) One advantage of small town America is that you don't have to fight the crowds at the malls. God I hate the crowds at the malls. I suppose Wingnut-Mart is just a small town version of the mall, but I don't go there very often, which helps me maintain my small town innocence and real American values.

Anyhoo - enjoy the holidays! If you're in D-town, look me up and we'll grab a beer or some nog of some kind.

Roanoke 52101

The storm was brutal and far greater than we had feared. We are trapped, unable to gather supplies or journey to the neighboring villages. Our stocks run low and already we have begun to see a glimpse of the devastation that awaits our small colony. The children are wan; mothers are unable to stifle their cries of hunger.

So great is the snowfall that we have lost sight of our livestock, even though they are some small rods away from our homes. Those animals who manage to survive the snow will surely fall to the roving wolves whose nightly wailing prevents us our sleep.

We cannot heat our small abodes, as the firewood is buried so deeply that we cannot see it, and venturing to the woods would leave us lost and mean certain death. I fear this to be the end of our colony and its faithful citizens. We place our hope in Gold Almighty, but catch ourselves questioning how he could visit such a calamity upon His own.

We shall have naught but prayer for our Supper again tonight. May this record survive to inform those who shall come after us, and may God have mercy on our souls.

Is that an icicle in your pants?

Man, it's freaking COLD here!   Thank god my internal organs are protected by this newly acquired layer of Grinch fat, or I don't know what I'd do.  It's another good day to stay inside but I have some errands to run, which means I get to try out my new boots! Um, yeah, I know - wearing a new pair of boots isn't particulary exciting in the big picture, but... new boots!  (Little secret:  I'm wearing them right now.  Inside!  As I type!  Cuz they're new.)  And really, who doesn't get a secret thrill when someone says, "Hey, are those new boots you're wearing?"?  I know I do.

It's snowing again.  (Albino brain chiggers!  Cover your ears!)  It's like God is saying, "Scott.  Dude.  Get your damned skis!"  Makes me wonder if I should get those skis I've been thinking about.  And I know the ladies in town are anxiously waiting to see me in my skinny spandex ski pants.  I hear you, ladies... I hear you.

I suppose I should get going.  

Must come down

In a continuing attempt to mess with my head, the weather has taken a turn and it's -21F with the windchill, today. To put that into practical terms, it's too damned cold to go outside and do anything.

This will not stand.

The Big Thaw

I'm very confused. The temperature is over 30 degrees today, which seems unmonthably mild. (unmonthably? That's a word. I just made it up, but it's a word.) There's hardly any sign of the big storm that hit us a few days ago - not that I'm complaining.

This is the time of year when people start saying things like, "We need a good cold snap to get rid of all those cold germs!", and other people nod their heads in the shared profundity of it all. Oh, I suppose there's probably some truth to it, but it always makes me chuckle.

I still haven't picked up my X country skis but there's plenty of time for that. Well, judging by my recently developed Kidney Protection Layer, maybe I need to get on the ball. On the other hand, I seem to have grown into my new jeans, so maybe I'm better off not messing with the ol' waistline. Seriously, jeans are a lot cheaper than skis, so... No, who am I kidding - I need the exercise.

Speaking of puppies (hm? what?) my friend is going to have an adorable litter of labradoodle / retrievadoodle puppies in the next couple months. Any takers? They're going to be awwwfully cute! I should also take this time to remind you that it's a good idea to spay or neuter your pets - especially if you have a male and female dog in the same household. Ahem...

Oh! The online charity I'm working with is doing really well (no thanks to PayPal, yeesh!). I posted something this morning and we received over $800 in donations in just a couple hours. That means we can do some real good for some folks who are having a tough time. And there are plenty of them, frankly. With children. Frankly, it would be depressing if we weren't working to help make a better holiday season for them. I think I may have found my calling, to be honest. I just need to find a way to make a living at it and I'd be good.

Anyhoo - that's about it for now. Hope you're all having a great weekend, so far.

Storm's a comin', best get the chickens inside

I went over to Fareway today and it was madness. Not a shopping cart to be found, great empty spaces on the shelves - the soup section was decimated. So, when I got to the register, I asked "Is there a storm coming or it always like this on Mondays?" She laughed and, apparently, there is a storm coming.

Growing up here, I don't remember panicking or stocking up on groceries before a storm, but maybe I just didn't notice it. Then again, we always had fairly good stockpiles of food, so there wasn't a need for a rushed trip to the store. I'm sure I would have found it very exciting, though. MNMom is going through the very same thing, as I write this.

The storm, so far, is a crappy bout of ice pellets, so people are smart to stay off the streets tonight. I don't know if the stores are open late for Xmas, yet, but this weather isn't going to help. As my Dad used to say, "t'aint fit for man nor beast out there!"

The title of the post is something my friend, Scott, said once and it's always cracked me up. You have to say it in a kind of creaky, old New England voice to get the full effect, though. Go ahead and try it.

I miss Nor-Ski

A cold, cloudy, snowy day like this reminds of the time I spent at Nor-Ski when I was a young scrapper. From my first, tearful runs down the bunny hill as a seven year old to driving out there for night skiing on Wednesdays when I was in high school.

I can remember the acrid smell and dry air from the heater in the "chalet", the smell of wet leather from my mittens and mitten guards. I remember the exact shades of green of the tow ropes, and the difference between the new ropes and the old. Learning to flip that towbar behind my back. I remember how cool I thought I was with my red gators and Look ski gloves when I was older. I remember my skis stretching from the middle of my car seat back to the back deck, because I didn't have a roof rack. The silly walk we all did in our ski boots, but nobody thought it was silly.

Bunny, Snow Bunny, Novice, Expert... the Suicide Run... Bob Hunt and the Ski Patrol classes... My friends' older brothers, who skied hell bent for leather and were practically gods in my eyes... The dull ache of snow jammed inside the cuffs of my gloves and stuck on my wrist... And the smell of snow, on the ground or in the air...

This year I'm going to buy some X-country skis, but I don't suppose I'll ever lose those memories of Nor-Ski.

Zero Hour, 8AM

For the last few weeks, I've been working on a project with some of those Dirty Fucking Hippies from the Great Orange Satan. (Ooooh, I hope Bill O'Reilly doesn't catch wind of this!) Basically, it started as a program to match up folks who had no place to go for Thanksgiving with folks who could host a guest or two. In just under a week, we were able to assist in making some success stories and helping some people connect and make new friends. (Some of the success stories brought a tear or two to my eye. Just sayin'...)

Of course, once you get a taste of that kind of work, you want to see what else you can accomplish. So, it turned into a full on program to raise money to help folks with bills, buy toys for children, match up more folks for the holidays, and who knows where we'll take it from here.

There are three of us doing most of the work on this, right now, and since I have a brand new website with no content and lots of bandwidth available, I've been doing the tech work. Frustrating? You betcha! I'm using an interface that's new to me and there's a certain amount of pressure to get this thing set up in time to manage the requester and donor information so we can provide some real results. But it's been a good learning experience and, frankly, it fits perfectly with the vision I had for the new website. So, maybe I was preparing myself for this project before I even knew about it. That's cool. Well, as long as Sarah Palin doesn't find out and make snide comments about us being Community Organizers.

Anyhoo - we're going to launch the second wave tomorrow morning and it should be an interesting week and a half. I'm hoping that we can really make a difference for some folks who are going through tough times. No idea what's coming down the road after Xmas. One of the principles mentioned helping people with heating bills, which could keep us busy all Winter.

I'll let you know how things turn out.

It's like a weekend, without all that pesky free time

Oh, Saturday mornings - how I miss our quiet time together, drinking coffee and wondering what the busy people are doing.

Y'know, if it's going to snow, why doesn't it snow? This quarter inch of stuff on the ground is a real pain in the ass. Sure, I need the exercise, but come on... It's a perfectly good day to stay inside with a few pots of coffee and the internets, but now I have to go outside and "shovel".

I need to go over to Mom J's house this morning. She's not doing too well after the stroke - wait, scratch that. She's doing pretty well for an 88 year old woman who's had a stroke, but it's a rather scary situation, all in all. I'm completely out of my sphere of experience with it all, too.

Then it's off to the PT job, tonight. I can't complain, I guess - it's not really "work", in the strictest sense - but still, it would be nice to have a weekend to myself. I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't whine.

More, later, if anything exciting pops into my head.

Needing me now is something I could use

I can't explain it, but I love this video. Enjoy!

Not with a bang, but with a whisper

And, so, with little to no fanfare, I start another blog. You'd think I'd get tired of jumping in to bump elbows with the rest of the blogosphere but I'm apparently some kind of glutton for obscurity. Surprisingly, to me anyway, several of my classmates have blogs and we've been making the rounds, visiting each other via the web and, in some cases, reconnecting after quite some time apart. Huzzah!

Local blogging is a bit weird to me, so we'll see how this goes. (Hey, I'm not paranoid, I'm just afraid people are watching me and plotting against me.)

So, to begin, here's a "Hi-diddly-doo, neighborino!" to my friends Michael, Ruth, Brenda, Suzie, Mindy, Margaret, Ben and whomever else I come across from our old school.