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wThe Whine Column |
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I'll try to keep the actual whining to a minimum, I promise. But this is where I'll rant about work, stupid people and the like, plus make mention of the random interesting things in my life. Email me at quizbabe at yahoo dot com if you want to whine back.
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wTuesday, December 24, 2002 |
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Happy Holidays!
Just wanted to extend holiday greetings to all you fine folks out there in cyberspace reading the Whine Column. You'll be happy to hear that my holiday spirit has increased, and I'm almost excited about Christmas now. Plus it's supposed to snow, so we'll have a white Christmas after all. Hooray!
I know that most of you reading are aware of these other sites, but on the off change that you are reading my blog and are not already reading these other blogs, follow these links and read some other fine blogs that you will likely enjoy: Matt, Mark, Matt and Jon. Plenty of other links from their sites too, so go blog-wild!
So to quote Gumby, "Merry Christmas, damnit!" Enjoy your holiday or your non-denominational day off from work or your day at work (such is the life of newspaper folk, though luckily not me). Deck those halls, trim those trees, raise those cups of Christmas cheer and all that stuff. And know that I really do appreciate you reading. :)
posted by
Allyson at 1:06 AM
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wWednesday, December 11, 2002 |
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Things that are Good/Things that are Bad
In the spirit of Santa's list of good and bad girls and boys, here's a short list of things that of late have struck me as, well, good or bad.
Good: the recent uptick in Muppets sightings Apparently the Muppets are popular again, which is really cool. As a matter of fact, the jammies I am wearing right now are red with green Kermit faces all over them. Totally cute and comfy. There's from Macy's, which at least in Boston has a Muppet travel theme for its holiday windows (plus the chance to buy a stuffed Kermit the Frog-tographer complete with working camera).
At any rate, there was a Muppets Christmas special on the day after Thanksgiving, and the Kermit voice is markedly improved from when the Muppets Tonight show was on. Not sure if it's the same person or if there's someone new, but it's much closer to Jim Henson's Kermit voice. Plus the Muppets are in a commercial for a credit card and in a Weezer video. Not sure how Weezer went from Hashpipe to Muppets, but hey, anything can happen.
And for those of you who have yet to file your Christmas lists, you may want to add the Muppets DVDs. Three of 'em, each with three full Muppet Show episodes plus some other stuff. Forgot to put them on my list, but will probably buy them in the post-holiday sales. (Saw them at Target, but they're probably available elsewhere.)
Bad: too much Christmas music There is a radio station in Providence that has been playing Christmas music and nothing but (save for commercials) since at least the Friday *before* Thanksgiving. This is a very bad thing. Seriously, who needs more than a solid month of Christmas music? The DJs must be going batty already and we're still two weeks from the actual holiday itself.
If you decide to play all holiday music, it should start no sooner than Christmas Eve, and even then it shouldn't start until, say, 6 p.m., so all the people driving home from work aren't subjected to it but people heading out to holiday festivities can tune in if they wish.
I know, all I have to do is change the station. And believe me I do.
Good: electric blankets There's nothing like climbing into a chilly bed when your toes are already cold to make you realize that heating coils really do belong in blankets. It's certainly cheaper than putting the heat on, which we've yet to do since the woman who lives downstairs from us keeps her apartment plenty toasty and all that lovely heat rises to help keep us warm.
Bad: Celine Dion singing songs she has no business singing I know, some of you are thinking that Celine Dion in general is bad. I'm not a fan, but as a fellow frog I can't speak too ill of her. At any rate, Celine Dion singing "Feliz Navidad" is just wrong. I really do like that song, in its Jose Feliciano incarnation. But a Canuck warbling it is somehow ... inappropriate. Much the same as Celine singing "God Bless America" on that post-Sept. 11 special was not quite right. I mean, actual Americans were chomping at the bit to play on that thing, right? So who do we get to sing what practically became our new national anthem? A Canadian.
What's next, Celine's version of the Chanukkah Song?
Good: more dogs in commercials This pleases my husband quite a bit more than it does me, I think, but I have no complaints overall. There does seem to be an increase in the number of commercials that include dogs. And then of course there's the L.L. Bean catalog, which is always good for its share of adorable puppies and puppy/mom combos. Plus there were puppies on Zoboomafoo today. :) Not a commercial but still cool.
Bad: Christmas lists Making a Christmas list is great when you're a kid and you watch cartoons specifically for the toy commercials, and you hope and pray that you'll be good enough for Santa to bring you what you asked for. But when you're 27, making a list sucks. At least I hated making mine, because it was specifically for my in-laws, who now know exactly what to get me and will send it all neatly wrapped from afar. This is apparently how it's done in Matt's family -- ask and you shall receive.
This is not some kind of slight on my in-laws. I love them dearly and I understand that they don't know me entirely well enough to know what I'd like for Christmas. What I'd prefer is if they asked Matt what I might like, if there's anything I've hinted about, etc. Then again, he's terrible at taking hints so that wouldn't work and I'd end up with ... well, I don't know what.
The problem is that there will be no real surprise on Christmas day when I open all that stuff, because it is bound to all be stuff I asked for. My parents are giving me money, my grandmother is giving me money, and I suspect that my sister and my husband both got me stuff I asked for, too. It's entirely possible that the only gift I'll get that I didn't ask for is whatever I end up with from the Gongo family Yankee swap on Christmas Eve. (I know my parents will probably get me a few little things, plus the usual stocking stuff -- chocolate coins, a Nancy Drew book, maybe some fun socks -- but that's not the same to me.)
I suppose I shouldn't whine too much, given the number of people who will have nothing to open this holiday season. But given how low on Christmas cheer I already am, this is just one more reason to not look forward to Christmas.
Bah humbug.
posted by
Allyson at 2:15 AM
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wFriday, December 06, 2002 |
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Beware -- Late-Night Bloggage
Well, early morning to be truly honest.
At any rate, I've had a few things on my mind lately that I thought I'd share. In no particular order ...
~~~Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Almond lies on his driver's license. We have proof. Rhode Island just began issuing new digitized driver's licenses, very similiar to the ones we have here in Massachusetts now, and of course Bigfoot got the first one. So the Associated Press moved a photo (and we used it on our front page) of the gov with his new license, and magnified only a little bit we could see that he's listed himself as 6-6, 225. Now the 6-6 I believe. But 225? The man's chins weigh more than that! If you've not seen him, a quick google search should find you at least a head shot.
Of course, this being Rhode Island, if the worst thing he's done is lie on his driver's license ...
~~~Driving in the snow really brings out the stupid in some people. As quite a bit of the white stuff has been dumped on us lately, it's given me an opportunity to observe other drivers' behaviors. My favorite is the people who are in too much of a hurry to clear their back windows before driving on Route 95. Seriously, those people are going to end up causing an accident where someone else gets really hurt but they walk away without a scratch despite being dumber than dirt. Honestly, does it really take more than a minute or two to clear the back window?
Then there are the people who panic and drive 15 miles an hour because it's snowing. Somehow I always seem to end up behind these people on the highway, with no chance to change lanes because everyone coming up behind me is moving to the next lane over. So I crawl along, trying not to slam on my horn at people to speed up. I'm certainly not saying that if the road is slippery people should drive 70, but when the road is in decent shape it's OK to go at more than a snail's pace.
~~~If any of you know someone who is learning how to drive, could you please ask them if they teach people how to yield anymore? I've almost been hit more times than I can count by people doing 70 down the onramp to Route 95 who completely ignore the yield signs at the bottom of every onramp. The words that escape my lips are not nice out-loud words, but I've been trying to tame my potty mouth lately because Santa's watching. ;)
Time to settle in my sheepy jammies under my electric blanket and sleep the day away.
posted by
Allyson at 3:43 AM
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