The Year in Review

This is a kind of obligatory post now, isn't it? On the other hand, there was a lot that went on this year and recap really does seem in order.

• Macworld! I finally nabbed the opportunity to be a part of it this year, and while it wasn't all roses, there was surely some awesomeness as well. All in all, a great experience.

• Traveling: In addition to San Francisco, I hit up Washington D.C. for a day, Portland and Corpus Christi for a week apiece, and of course, two major roadtrips — first across the continent to Jacksonville, Florida, and then sweeping across another half ot it to peruse Route 66.

• We moved out of the Deliicous house — just across the street, really, but you know how I hate moving. Yay for professional movers! Now if only I could get around to procuring a desk and living room seating.

• Oh, and there was work stuff too. I got promoted twice (if you consider a parallel move to a much larger voume place as a promotion as well), which was fun and profitable.

• I attended at least 3 beer festivals this year, which is more than I ever have. In fact, I'm not 100% sure I went to a beer festival before this year. Huh.

• The agony and the ecstasy (but mostly the agony): I took part in organized sports this year, which I haven't done since high school. Sure, it was only bowling and I mostly did it for the beer, but still. It was pretty great while it lasted.

For these and other reasons, this past year is really one of my favorites of being alive. Here's hoping 2007 is as good to me — and I don't foresee any reason why it wouldn't be. Cheers!

* For anyone keeping track, here's last year's same post.

Merry Christmas!

Hope yours is as full of booty as mine. Yar!

Stage Three: Bargaining

Dear mid-lower back,

Please don't hurt me any more. I can't take it.

love,
mary

So tired.

That's all.

Just so so tired.

'Tis the season

It might seem odd, but it only really hit me today that Christmas is next week Monday, a scant 9 or so days away.

I know, I work retail, it should be obvious. But here's the thing:

This is the first year I haven't been subjected to customers out on the sales floor. I'm in the back, all day, everyday. And sure I see the masses of shipping coming in and then slowly fading from my back room — the ebb and flow of inventory if you will — but it's not as in your face as running around for eight hours a day fetching things for people. I've got a lot of other things on my plate to worry about.

I did spend a couple Christmases as receiving manager at Giant Bookstore A, but they were constantly short of floor management at holiday and I would have a couple days a week or so that I would dress "nice" and play manager-on-duty or do head cashier-type duties for a few hours a day, and it's really hard to escape the fact that there are masses of people clamoring for your attention then.

Today, I saw the consumers out en masse just wandering about the mall like zombie hordes looking for some hot retail action, and it was insane like I hadn't seen yet this season.

Part of it, I think was the immense windstorm that cleared through here on Thursday night. It knocked out power in a lot of areas, including spots around my house and the work, but not my actual home or work. A lot of workplaces in the area were closed, however, and quite a few schools were shut down, as well as some roads being blocked, and the 520 bridge was closed, which meant . . .

. . . even people whose work was open and operational were not going, since they had to take care of the kids, or the way there was blocked, or they just didn't want to deal with traffic.

On the other hand, since there wasn't any kind of actual emergency going on, and it wasn't raining for the first time in a while, and since tons of people still didn't have electricity at home, people were bored and needed something to do and somewhere else to be besides home.

Luckily for them, they could take advantage of this unexpected day off to get some Christmas shopping crossed off their list. Unluckily for them, some of the malls in the area were closed. Luckily, our mall was open, so they could all flock there.

I couldn't even get coffee this morning because the line for the S'Bucks was out the door and down a ways, and it's not worth money and freezing my patootie off to get my grinds before work. One or the other, really.

Anyway, masses. Of people. Everywhere. It took forever to get my hot sandwich on my lunch break. I couldn't get help for what seemed like forever at the bookstore because there were all these people.

Madness.

Anyway. One more week or so until it's over.

. . .

This is the first year ever we haven't had a Christmas tree. It's the first year in my life that there is no tree. Or decorations in the house.

Part of me is a bit sad at the dearth of hoopla in the household, and the lack of lights and sparkly things, but most of me is pleased with the calm, quiet, un-holidified cocoon away from consumerism that the apartment has become to signify to me.

When I am old, will I become one of those weirdos that doesn't participate in anything and every day is just like the last before, with no signifiers to mark the passing of time? I don't think so. I think I just need a breather right now.

. . .

It might be too, that not being bomarded by mass media has affected my "christmas spirit" as it were. I mean, part of the whole holiday thing is that it's something that everybody's doing, and television/radio/etc. throw so much at you that the deeply reinforces that "HEY, THIS IS WHAT'S NORMAL SO YOU'D BETTER GET ON IT!" feeling, as subconcious as it may be.

We can think to ourselves, "Man, I just don't really feel like doing Christmas this year" and you can say it to yourself, but you can't just say that to other people. It's weird. It goes against our training, pushed deeper into us year after year.

People who think things like that are mocked. Remember Skipping Christmas (either book or movie, your choice of horrors)? Those people didn't value the day of our Lord and Saviour's birth (or whatever) and were taught a valuable lesson — You can't escape Christmas, motherfuckers!

Now don't get me wrong — I don't hate Christmas. I love Christmas. Plus all the other assorted holiday goodness aorund this time of year. New Years? Yeah, I'm into that, for sure.

I also fully support everyone else's want to have a merry season of joy and all the tidings and such that go along with that. I'm not even gong to say, "Hey, celebrate your crap over there."

I'm cool with it.

I'm just not really into it this year.

That's cool, right?

I'm no grinch, I'm just lazy, and need to curl up in my den to hibernate this one out.

Bruce Schneier knows your private key.

Schneier on Security: Real-World Passwords:

Common Passwords: The top 20 passwords are (in order): password1, abc123, myspace1, password, blink182, qwerty1, fuckyou, 123abc, baseball1, football1, 123456, soccer, monkey1, liverpool1, princess1, jordan23, slipknot1, superman1, iloveyou1 and monkey.

monkey?

Doing my bit to spread holiday cheer

I bet life would be pretty fucking cheerful all the goddamn time if I really was a dancing elf.

A string around my finger

I've been busy and tired and sick and busy this past month and there's no reason to believe that's going to let up until the christmas/retail season has passed. Thus, as one of the primary reasons for this blog here is to keep my memories intact, I'm going to brain dump as much as I can remember now, so it doesn't get further lost down the line.

And really, all I can remember is three weeks back, which is really really sad and frightening. Maybe flickr and my e-mail can help me out here. Starting now and running backwards. Ready, steady, go:

Today was a fine day of shopping with one Morgann. We braved Bellevue "Hell" Square and spent hours walking about and "shopping". Highlight: trying on fancy dresses to stunning and hilarious results. When am I "too old" to shop the juniors section again? Highlight: Impulse purchas of what has to be the world's most fabulous zip-up hoodie for 67% off. It looks like it was made by my grandma — if dear old granny was a former Hell's Angel. (Bonus: I got it home and it's fully fucking reversible. Hotness.)

Yesterday was a bittersweet day of getting together with friends and helping J-Glo (and Kyla Tew!) pack their apartment out to a U-Haul and then down to storage pods for their move across the country to the Commonwealth of Virginia. Mike and I showed up late, but made a strong showing at the end. Note to self: learn to tie some goddamn knots at some point in your life, ok?

Prior to that Dragons and I headed to Beth's Cafe (which he'd heard about from Rob) and partook of the 12-egg omelette with all you can eat hashbrowns. Heavenly! And man, does that place have a distinctly charming ambience. I have only now finished the leftovers from that massive plate o'vittles.

The night before was delicious drinks and mexican at Tacos Guaymas with Russ and Morgann (of the shopping).

The night before that, we got to see Aaron who was up in Seattle to catch a flight. I got coffee, we all got delicious sandwiches from Paseo (best ever!) and played a smidge of Wii.

And work, work, work.

Last week was Thanksgiving, for which I roasted a duck, and made some fixin's on the side as well. The pumpkin pie turned out great, all scratch, especially considering the woeful lack of appropriate kitchen implements around this place. Dragons sacrificed Big Sleep to get a t.v. on Black Friday, while I worked until I was exhausted.

Then we went to the cabin on Whidbey and proceeded to get drunk and play games with our friends for the weekend. I played exceptionally poor poker (alas!) and got sick (flu, not from the drinking). Jake, our host, was there, as was Cap'n & Mrs. Szyperski, all three Fredericksons, and Rich and Julie. Bonus: Zach Frederickson did not throw up on me and he's super cute. I think the kid may be growing on me.

I don't remember much of the week before that, but the Sunday prior (I want to say the 17th?), we went over to the Thornton-Shelton's for a going away par-tay for Glover (and Kyla Tew!). There were drinks, discussion of the definition of "crunk", and general love of friends in the air.

The week before that was getting together for Morgann's birthday, the Frank Black show at The Showbox (seen with Nick and Lindsey), and getting together with co-workers for a goodbye to one of my favorites.

The week before that, not much happened that I can remember except that I went to see For Your Consideration with Ellen and then Dragons joined us for deliciousness at the Crepe Cafe.

And the week before that I went to Tyler's Birthday thingy at Brouwers, and saw Stephen King with the my Pretty Brown Girl.

Aaaaaaaaaaand . . . that's really all I got.

Eesh. I need to commit these memories to blog more often if they're going to survive.

. . .

Earlier today I informed Dragons that we were out of beer and it would be delightful if he brought some home from being out and about. He went way above and beyond and brought back not one, but four seasonal brews to enjoy:

• Widmer Bros. Snow Plow — of which I have opened a bottle already. It's lighter and more delicately fragrant than I imagine most winter beers to be, but it's good. The bottle describes it as a "milk stout" and being "silky, smooth warmth for the winter season". It is silky and smooth, but I like a deeper, creamier goodness from my winter brews.

• New Belgium 2 Below — which I recall trying a few years past. I don't recall it being bad, so I suspect I will enjoy it while it's here. Note: The carry-case says "Wind Powered / Employee Owned," neither point of which I was aware.

• Redhook Winterhook — a friend told me the other night that it was very good, but not as good as last year's, which was awesome. My own taste-tests confirm this to be true. If luck holds out, last year's recipe may find it's way into it's own bottle, ala Black Hook, which started out as a Winterhook, but proved so popular, it was spun out as its own beer available year-round. Note: Winterhook's recipe changes every year.

• Alaskan Winter Ale — Brewed with spruce tips. I must have had this beer at some point since moving to Seattle, but for the life of me cannot remember ever downing a draught of it.

I am looking forward to demolishing this supply and re-supplying with even more tasty quaffs.