01 Jan 09 Happy New Year? It’s Just Another Day
The last few weeks of the year are normally quite mad for many.
In the United States it starts with Thanksgiving when a large percentage of the population eat themselves silly on Turkey and trimmings for the day.
The following day many of those take their overstuffed bodies to the local stores and cram their karts full of Black Friday ‘bargains’. Some stand and freeze overnight to participate in this activity.
Then there is the frantic flurry of updating lists. No, not the endless round of ‘Best of’ lists that come at the end of the year, but the Christmas Gift list, and the Christmas Card list.
Everyone has their own method here of course. I wonder how many tons of cards end up not getting delivered though, because Mr Smith hasn’t lived at 2030 Jones Drive for at least the last ten years, and you don’t know that, because he lost your address and can’t write and tell you. Mr Smith has email now, but he’s not sure how to find you online either, and you don’t know hes online in any case.
Then comes Christmas itself. Are you going to them this year, or are they coming to you? Everyone in the family really wants to stay at home and escape the travel nightmare, but no-one wants to admit it, so one or the other of you go through the adventure.
After all that, Christmas itself comes and goes in a flash. Jsut as you draw breath though, it’s New Year, and a round of parties etc. Again, you might feel like a quiet night in, watching your favorite host see the New Year in, but you can’t say that! “What do you mean, you’re staying IN New Years Eve?”
So for many, New Years Day, is not an auspicious start to the New Year. It’s that ‘I’m not going do that again THIS year’ feeling.
Christmas might be a religious festival for many, but on New Year’s Eve, the end of night prayers are often to the porcelain God.
So. here we are. It’s New Years Day. Perhaps it’s sometime in the afternoon when you’re reading this. The Hangover you had is beginning to fade, and you think you might feel like eating a little something soon.
You didn’t drink much? Or at all? You can feel a bit pleased with yourself as you hear from those silly fools that did then!
Now, those New Year Resolutions. You know, the crazy things you said last night? You can’t remember even to the next day?
They are a mixed thing really. If we’re running our lives efficiently, we should be making and aiming for new goals all the time. Isn’t that what resolutions are? Quitting smoking? That’s a goal to aim for. Making a million bucks? That’s another. You don’t need to wait until it’s a new year to do put those goal in place though, do you?
Let’s be honest here too. A new year is an arbitary date, on which much of the world have agreed to standardize. The year number is, of course, the number of years since the birth of Christ, but even the great theologians of the world can’t agree exactly when that was? Anyway, if Christ was born on Christmas Day, how come the New Year starts a week later? I know, Christmas Day was an old Pagan festival and the date got ‘borrowed’.
Still, if making a resolution now, helps you reach goals in your life, then go right ahead and do it. But really, at the end of the year, it’s just another day, isn’t it?
Happy New Year!
Tags: black friday, christmas, christmas card, christmas gift list, hangover, hasn, last ten years, local stores, mr smith, new year, new years day, new years eve, night prayers, population, porcelain god, quiet night, religious festival, thanksgiving, travel nightmare, trimmings
25 May 08 Easy Like Sunday Morning
I got up around seven something. I don’t know exactly, I didn’t look at the clock too hard, but it was after seven and before eight. OK, I checked my IRC log, as I know I went in there first thing. It was 07.28 so I must have got up a few moments before that.
Anyway, I made some coffee, and continued with some of my system housekeeping here. Still trying to fight off this darn cold, which at times makes the little men hammer in my head. No, it’s not a hangover – not a drop has passed my lips in almost two weeks, so I know it’s not the demon drink!
I’m never hungry when I first get up, well very very seldom, but I am after a couple of hours. So I headed to the kitchen and, as it was Sunday, I thought I’d have something cooked – usually I’ll eat a bit of fruit, or have a slice of toast or two.
So I made a bacon sandwich, and then realized the bread had nearly all gone, so while the bacon was cooking in the George Foreman, I got some bread started. That only takes five minutes, and then the machine does the rest for the next three hours.
Tags: bacon sandwich, brown sauce, clock, coffee, darn cold, demon, few moments, fresh bread, george foreman, hammer, hangover, home made bread, housekeeping, irc log, lips, little men, tak, toast
19 May 08 Coffee
I don’t find making fresh coffee a particularly long-winded task. Get the beans out, grind them, add to the coffee maker, add water, push button.
By the time, I’ve cut some bread for toast, or eaten a banana (a quick breakfast snack), the coffee is ready.
As I tend to suffer from over-acidity – and the dreaded acid reflux from time to time – I have been toying with the idea of Cold Brew Coffee
It’s the heat that apparently leaches the acid from the coffee, and cold brew avoids this to a large extent. I’m not sure, of course, until I try it. It’s a bit like decaffeinated. I’ve never found one yet that doesn’t detract from the flavor. It’s a bit like alcohol free beer – that’s actually a great idea in my view. I drink beer for the flavor, not to get inebriated, and a full-flavored alcohol free beer would be great. I could drink a gallon, and never worry about DUI, or a hangover the next day. Thing is, alcohol free beer has even less flavor than Bud Light (if that’s possible).
Anyway, now I have drunk that cup of coffee in the photograph – yes that was truly a fresh brewed photograph of a fresh brewed cup – it’s on with the day’s tasks ahead.
Unfortunately, Kathy is not feeling at all well today, and I’ve persuaded her to stay in bed. Sometimes one day off can lead to a speedier recovery, instead of ending up soldiering on, and winding up with two weeks of illness. It seems like she’s got a flu-type bug, along with a sinus blockage.
I’m going to be playing nurse today, as well as web designer.
Tags: acid reflux, acidity, banana, breakfast snack, bud light, coffee maker, cold brew coffee, cup of coffee, decaffeinated, dui, flu, free beer, fresh coffee, hangover, inebriated, leaches, push button, sinus blockage, soldiering, web designer
