Lurleen McQueen wrote:Bitch ate my post, so now short version
Patterson (2 great shows of soul-balm sounds)
Dean (my yin or my yang and generally my most favorite human)
Living in sin (starting Sunday!)

That's only 4. I know Lena is going to be #5 though.

Woof.

Lurleen McQueen wrote:Living in sin (starting Sunday!)

WWOP!

kidding kidding..

1. Monday
2. Tuesday
3. Wednesday
4. Thursday
5. Friday...

...and then 11 days off.

Tequila Cowboy wrote:

Lurleen McQueen wrote:Bitch ate my post, so now short version
Patterson (2 great shows of soul-balm sounds)
Dean (my yin or my yang and generally my most favorite human)
Living in sin (starting Sunday!)

That's only 4. I know Lena is going to be #5 though.

Woof.

LENA! She might be my favorite, for sure. What a face!

Also, I'm a big fan of sin.

One big one: I went by the hospital yesterday and happened in while my niece was doing physical therapy. She is just doing so great! Her parents are as happy as they can be, under the circumstances. They're taking her down from the floor she's on to the cafeteria floor today so her sister and my daughter (no, smart ass, they aren't the same person, despite my dumbshit phraseology. They're ten and nine, respectively) can see her. (During flu season, visitors under sixteen aren't allowed--please don't tell them her younger brother is a few weeks short!) She's made so much progress. It's really great to see.

Three medium-sized ones: Wasn't that Patterson stream last night great? Especially that version of A World of Hurt. And my new car is a blast! I can't wait till I can take the top down without freezing. And they finally (it was only a matter of time, so it's medium size) caught the last guy who invaded my friend's home, the one who stuck the shotgun in her face.

And one pervasive one: Sin. I'm hoping to enjoy some today. I'm just not sure which ones.

1. being in love with my best friend who somehow is both hot and cool
2. having her wondeful daughter in my life and being able to share Christmas with her
3. going home to them in a house that is warm and festooned for the holiday
4. what ever CC is cooking (either for dinner or as gifts. someone has to test the chocolates)
5. christmas movies and music that evoke fond memories (you'll shoot your eye out, is granny spry? and the entire heatmiser song)

The Sinister Elf wrote:1. being in love with my best friend who somehow is both hot and cool
2. having her wondeful daughter in my life and being able to share Christmas with her
3. going home to them in a house that is warm and festooned for the holiday
4. what ever CC is cooking (either for dinner or as gifts. someone has to test the chocolates)
5. christmas movies and music that evoke fond memories (you'll shoot your eye out, is granny spry? and the entire heatmiser song)

The definition of a lucky man.

My niece is making great progress.
My niece is talking.
My niece is walking
My niece pulled the feeding tube out of her nose and the doctors didn't put it back in.
My niece is coming home Friday for Christmas!

John A Arkansawyer wrote:My niece is making great progress.
My niece is talking.
My niece is walking
My niece pulled the feeding tube out of her nose and the doctors didn't put it back in.
My niece is coming home Friday for Christmas!

There is a Santa Claus!!

Fantastic!

Yay!

Swamp wrote:

Kudzu Guillotine wrote:What Happens When You Get Caught Texting at a Neil Young Concert

Craig Finn will take your phone away "no texting in the front row"

I have this on good authority, as Craig confiscated uncle rickey's phone as he was texting me.....oops.

1) My niece is coming home from the hospital for Christmas Friday.

2) I'm still loving my new used car.

3) We're having a wonderful time at work this week (modulo the fact that we still have to, you know, work).

4) I saw a beloved someone at church tonight who hardly steps in the place any more.

5) But what really tops my list (for the moment, because my niece's improving health is really the most important part of it all) is this: A member of the church complained that we hadn't touched enough on the Newtown horror during Sunday's service. Independently of her, I realized I was still having a hard time with it all myself. So I emailed the relevant staff members, the worship arts team leader, and the other two members of our executive committee and asked if we needed to go ahead and have an unscheduled mid-week service to address it. When we came to an agreement that we did, the music director and I put together a service. We were up till midnight doing it, and then spent time there today making it all happen. Our preparation was a disaster and so many things went wrong that it just wasn't funny, from beginning to end. And it was a very, very good worship service. Lots of singing, lots of candle lighting, a fair number of kleenex ruined, and I got to hear my Litany in Time of Unjust Death used as a responsive reading. The crowd was small but I got multiple thank yous from people. Rev. Bob told me we did a good job and that there was a very good feeling in the sanctuary. It was really sweet.

And here are my other five favorite things, from the service:

Anne Murphy was an assistant working with special education students at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
A statement from the parents of Dylan Hockley said, "We take great comfort in knowing that Dylan was not alone when he died, but was wrapped in the arms of his amazing aide, Anne Marie Murphy.
"Dylan loved Mrs Murphy so much and pointed at her picture on our refrigerator every day.
"Though our hearts break for Dylan, they are also filled with love for these and the other beautiful women who all selflessly died trying to save our children."
Anne Murphy. Live like her.


Dawn Hochsprung was the principal at Sandy Hook Elementary School..
Hochsprung’s cousin, Melanie Buhrmaster-Bunch said, “My only hope is that the gunman actually had a little bit of fear knowing this 5-foot-2-inch raging bull was coming at him, that he had a little bit of fear in his eyes that knowing that someone like Dawn was going to come after him because he was trying to hurt her students. She was so vibrant and so full of life and I want people to know that she was a hero.”
Dawn Hochsprung. Live like her.

Liviu Librescu, a Holocaust survivor and a refugee from Hungary, taught civil engineering at Virginia Tech University.
Librescu, who was teaching a solid mechanics class, held the door of his classroom shut while the gunman attempted to enter it. Although he was shot through the door, Librescu managed to prevent the gunman from entering the classroom until most of his students had escaped through the windows. He was struck by five bullets, with a shot to the head proving to be fatal.
A number of Librescu's students have called him a hero because of his actions. Caroline Merrey, a senior, said she and about 20 other students scrambled through the windows as Librescu shouted for them to hurry. Merrey said, "I don’t think I would be here if it wasn't for him."
Liviu Librescu. Live like him.

Victoria Soto was a first-grade teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Victoria Soto hid her first graders in the cabinets and closets after hearing the gunfire. When the shooter came to her classroom, she told him that her students were in the gym. He then gunned her down and moved on. She saved the lives of all of her students. She deserves to be remembered for her bravery.
Victoria Soto. Live like her.

Greg McKendry was a member of the Knoxville Unitarian Universalist Church.
"For me, I can still see the face of the killer as he walked into the church with Jaime and me. I can still hear the 'boom' of the shotgun in my ears and smell the gunpowder in my nose. That first shot which took my new friend’s life as he jumped in front of a group of children to shield them from the buckshot with his large bear-like frame. Nothing can ever erase the images of children running out of the building covered with sacred blood of a man that gave his life for them."
Greg McKendry. Live like him.

Great post John, thank you. So glad your niece will get home for christmas.

Beebs wrote:Great post John, thank you. So glad your niece will get home for christmas.

X2

I've read your post about three times and can't keep a dry eye through it. Thank you.

Tequila Cowboy wrote:

Beebs wrote:Great post John, thank you. So glad your niece will get home for christmas.

X2

I've read your post about three times and can't keep a dry eye through it. Thank you.

X3 ....and happy that your niece will spend Christmas at home with family and friend s.

Thats good shit John.

It's just past 11 o'clock for me on Christmas night. Everyone in the house is now in bed. I am "typing" this using voice recognition software on my new iPad that my wonderful wife and father-in-law got me for Christmas. I just spent five minutes looking at the blinking cursor because I didn't know what else to say. I'm getting another beer. This is awesome. Merry Christmas everyone.

Merry Christmas Ben.

UncleFrank23 wrote:It's just past 11 o'clock for me on Christmas night. Everyone in the house is now in bed. I am "typing" this using voice recognition software on my new iPad that my wonderful wife and father-in-law got me for Christmas. I just spent five minutes looking at the blinking cursor because I didn't know what else to say. I'm getting another beer. This is awesome. Merry Christmas everyone.

Fabulous! I look forward to hearing more from you (perhaps in Athens and in person as well). Merry Your Holiday Here.

UncleFrank23 wrote:It's just past 11 o'clock for me on Christmas night. Everyone in the house is now in bed. I am "typing" this using voice recognition software on my new iPad that my wonderful wife and father-in-law got me for Christmas. I just spent five minutes looking at the blinking cursor because I didn't know what else to say. I'm getting another beer. This is awesome. Merry Christmas everyone.

Love this. Merry Christmas Ben.

My favorite memory from yesterday's gift exchange with the family. My 10 year old boy and I frequently stop into this odds n' sods second hand store...you know, the place where they have a little of everything for sale (predominantly movies, books and music) but lots of obscure things from historical action figures, old gaming systems and card collections. It is gloriously unorganized, cramped and chaotic. I'm not a shopper in general, with the notable exception of Record Stores, of course, but these are the types of shops I like to explore when shopping is in order.

We usually stop in so the boy...Ethan...can pick up some hockey cards. (Screw the NHL by the way...I gets me lots of hockey as Ethan plays on an advanced team, which means ice time 5 times a week at least). On Xmas eve the boy and I are strolling the vibrant main street of the nearby little town and he asks to go into the shop. He wants to buy my gift. So, in we go. There are enough nooks and crannies that I can 'disappear' quite effectively for 15 minutes and let him shop.

Fast forward to Xmas morning and the first gift I am to open...at his insistence...is his. He digs it out from under the tree. It is obviously vinyl. That in itself would be enough. I have not got the gift of vinyl in close to three decades. I am all aglow from his thoughtfulness and have no idea what to expect. He would have no idea really of what I have in my collection. The options are endless. So, I open the present. Two albums (@ $2.00 per) from....Glenn Frey. "From all those boxes of 2nd hand vinyl, what made you pick that bud?" ... "I liked his name."

So, I've never been an Eagles fan, nor have I heard any of Mr. Frey's solo material. I have no idea what to expect. Nonetheless, I am beyond pleased with his thoughtfulness. So I pull the sleeve for the first album and the song note for the first song - "I Found Somebody" reads in part "In 1971, on my first trip to Alabama, a guitar player named Eddie Hinton showed me the fingereing for what I call the Booby Womack Chinese soul licks. I am ever grateful" Then I note that on 3 of the songs, Papa Hood is playing bass. After grinning at these connections, I think, man, at the very least, this guy, despite the co-writes with Huey Lewis, must have more cred than Don Henley.

Now, enjoying a cup of coffee, I am typing this as I listen to my 'new' vinyl. In this case, it doesn't really matter what I think of the songs. These records will always be connected to this moment in time. A moment of pure thoughtfulness and in some round about way, confirmation, that maybe, just maybe, the Kids are Alright.

Peace and Happiness to all of you from the hinterland. Off to the rink in a few.

The spirit of Christmas lives.

So very sweet. You must be doing something right.

Great story, blessedcurse!

1. Having the next five days off.
2. Spending the next five days with family from Richmond and friends from Vermont at my mountain home in West Virginia.
3. Having six dogs in the house over the next five days.
4. Possibility of snow while we are up in WV.
5. Second Christmas this weekend. (Should be better than first Christmas...spent nine hours at the emergency room starting at 10pm on Christmas eve. A friend visiting from Kentucky got wasted and fell on the deck and broke her shoulder and cut her head wide open. She's doing much better now but I think the embarrassment of it all hurt her more than her wounds have. Didn't leave the emergency room until almost 7am Christmas morning.)

1. semi-annual sale at Victoria's
2. My new coffee maker
3. the red leather tote I had been coveting since 2011 and ended up under the tree
4. kittens with attitude
5. watching seeemingly intelligent people make extraordinarly stupid choices and standing there going "what??"

and well the entire freaking world today is looking specatular!!!

1. Karma
2. what comes around goes around
3. what goes around comes around
4. pink noses on kittens with attitude saying "hey get up I need to sit on your lap and snuggle"
5. my new kitchen set!!!!
6. my new rolyal blue scarf, just smashing I must say!!!!
7. size 15
8. finding the best grinder EVA!!!! and oh yea lots of happy going down....
9. friends big ones, little ones, old ones, new ones, short ones, tall ones...
10. sub zero temps today, screaming "WEAR THE FUR-WEAR THE FUR!!!" so I did (so I did nekkid

1) Lurleen
2) 75 degree weather
3) seeing the Alabama Shakes tonight
4) did I mention the weather?
5) The fact that The Pinto has come up in discussion on 3DD What's next, the Edsel?