sylvar | Entries tagged with christmas

Now that the holiday season is drawing to a close, I've used some gift money to treat myself to a few things I've been wanting:

A Moleskine large address book
Spider Robinson's The Crazy Years (okay, I haven't wanted it for long, but it got me free shipping, and isn't in local libraries)
A wide-angle lens and two filters (one for the wide-angle, one for a lens I already have)

I also got a few things that weren't just for me:

Friendship: A Philosophical Reader for Jodi
The latest Our Bodies, Ourselves for both of us

And if I can just find out where exactly Office Depot delivered my assortment of disposable fountain pens, I'll have fun with those soon too.

Bed shopping is continuing. It occurs to me that maybe we should buy a low-profile foundation first, and then if that doesn't provide the support Jodi needs, we could go for a new mattress.

Current Mood: acquisitive
Current Location: home

What I've done so far:

Gone to Stuart, Miami Springs, and Kendall to visit family and exchange gifts.
While Jodi worked on GRE prep:

Dropped off paperwork for 10 college transcripts. (The registrar's office made an error in our favor, so we got two for free.)
Ferreted out recent journal articles, chapters, and whole books by professors at schools Jodi's applying to.

Filled seven boxes with books, movies, tapes, etc. that we're discarding. The bookshelves in our living room are now merely 98% full, with a single layer of stuff, not double-stacked.
Went through a whole bunch of paperwork. Kept a 3-inch stack for later filing, set aside a 6-inch stack for shredding, and threw out 8-10 inches of stuff we no longer need.
Agreed that a new bed would be a good use of the gift money we've received.
Read what Consumer Reports has to say about beds. (Quality is mostly price-invariant; personal preference is all-important.)
Ordered a new iPod. (We waited so long that even "one-day shipping" would arrive January 2nd, so instead I'll just have it show up at the office on my first day back.)
Made a plan in my head for redoing the bedroom: bureau under the window, desk between the doors, bed between the bookshelves with the foot near the closet's mirrored doors. I don't know from feng shui but I suspect it'll be easier to use.

What's next:

Pick up pills for Pied's 'rodent ulcer'.
Give blood.
Deposit the gift money so we can put it to good use.
Get some groceries that expire in 2007.
Do more laundry.
Get rid of all the books, music, movies, etc. that segnbora and pantaloonery declined to take.
Get more colored crates ("Rubbermaid Revelations" sounds more like an erotic graphic novel than a household organization tool).
Finish creating a crossword puzzle for Grandma.
Maybe play a bit of Guitar Hero, if I have the time.
Go back to work.

Current Location: 14305 Wedgewood Ct, Tampa, FL

Current Mood: awake

Devin stunned me with an amazing Christmas gift: Guitar Hero with the guitar controller. I was just telling Jodi that I wanted to play Guitar Hero while I was in Stuart, since I can't play it at home. That's when Devin sprung the gift on me. Man, I can hardly wait to play this at home. *fierce grin*

The iPod is back up to $349.99, though -- I'm kind of upset about that. When I sold the 30GB iPod, I accepted an Amazon.com gift certificate as payment because I figured I'd be getting the best deal at Amazon. Now that the sale's over, though, I'll just wait and see. Maybe it'll be a better idea to buy one at a retail store, if I see a better deal (no more than $327+tax), but I doubt I'll be able to beat Amazon's price anyway, what with the lack of sales tax.

Well, still, it's hard to complain. I'm so blessed. This morning I said "God, this is gonna be a stressful trip; be with me. No, fuck that, be with Jodi; she's under more stress than I am." And five minutes later, at Burger King, the woman at the drive-through offered Jodi a free coffee that someone had mistakenly poured five minutes ago; Jodi accepted gleefully and smiled for the first time of the day. And the woman said "Merry Christmas, have a God-blessed day!"

Thanks, big guy. I noticed your impeccable timing.

Current Mood: grateful
Current Location: 34994

I went to the Florida Blood Services bloodmobile, which was parked outside a theater. I figured I'd get movie passes instead of a t-shirt, and I was right; I got two passes, not good for special engagements. Certainly the best swag I've gotten for blood.

I tried donating by apheresis. The system takes whole blood, holds onto the red blood cells, and pushes the plasma and platelets back into me on the same line. It didn't hurt until the first cycle was ending; apparently the vein they picked wasn't terribly fond of having fluid pushed INTO it. I started feeling pain and pressure, and they quickly shut off the machine. I imagined the crook of my elbow swelling up like a cartoon hose, but I'm sure it was nothing like that.

They were able to use the portion of blood that I had managed to donate, but I have to wait the full four months before I can donate blood again. I'm not saying I would have gotten around to donating again, but I'd like to have had the option. Oh well, maybe I'll help someone out around Christmas.

Speaking of donating blood at Christmas: I was at a funeral a year or two ago, and one of the speakers (referring to the deceased, whose life was bound up with organ donation, both as a recipient and as a lifelong advocate and activist) said that Christ was the ultimate organ donor. Well, I tend to think He was the ultimate blood donor.

Anyway, I think giving blood ought to be part of the modern Christmas celebration, for anyone who chooses to regard Christmas as a religious observance. (Frankly, the Christmas I'm aware of is primarily a secular phenomenon.) I don't know how to make it happen. Maybe I should just put a bug in God's ear and hope God will nudge the Pope, or other influential people. So do I pray about it or just figure that God is everywhere, even on LJ?

Current Mood: drained

Well, I've gone and joined a cult. My membership badge is black and has a 30GB hard drive, and it plays videos -- I like the Clerks 2 videoblog (vodcast?) and I'm still discovering others.

turtlebat23 has forbidden me to mention her happy news, so let's just hope she blogs about it soon.

We've been cleaning the apartment bit by bit, and buying textbooks, and just generally defragging our lives.

So... favorite video podcasts, audio podcasts (retronym much?), and other stupid iPod tricks?

Current Mood: geeky

I've played more Monopoly this weekend than I ever thought I would. It's not really all that much fun, but Jodi likes it, so I play it. And besides, it's marginally more difficult to play than Uno and Skip-Bo. The Geevers are playing Taboo now (and arguing about whether "CD" is a valid answer for "compact disc"). This is the game-playingest family I've ever seen.

I've got a variety of presents in the car. One mom gave my disease a bunch of presents; the other mom gave me candy and oatmeal creme pies (and corn chips, which goes to prove that it was the standard stocking stuffer assortment). I'm not sure which is more depressing. I've been walking, though -- three or four miles a day, generally.

Sudoku is probably going to force my brain into the sort of zone it used to fall into, the sort of glassy-eyed concentration that Fischer operates in, the Csikszentmihalyian flow that used to accompany my math-competition days. Or it might not. I can see myself abandoning language to operate at the level of pictures. To my surprise, I've realized that I do think in pictures, at least more than I thought I did. I seem to have some things in common with Aspies, though whether that list includes the obvious would be a matter of speculation.

I thought this would be the year I finally got the menorah right, but it turns out that I was supposed to light the first candle after sundown on Christmas. Screw it. I'll try again next year.

Someone needs to buy this T-shirt for

chrispytoto.

I've just finished writing out 33 envelopes with ZIP+4 codes for holiday cards. I still lack information for about a dozen recipients, so there will be more envelopes to address pretty soon. I even used different colors of ink so I'd remember who gets the "Happy Hanukkah" and who gets the "Merry Christmas". Hope I haven't forgotten anyone -- I'd hate to make someone feel bad just when everyone else is setting stuff on fire and participating in feats of strength.

Current Mood: exhausted
Current Music: Please Come Home For Christmas

Rage wishes you a Happy Holiday. His trademark five-point stars begin and end this wall: "Merry X-mas 93" and "Happy New Year".

Click on the photo to check out all the graffiti photos I've shared on Flickr!