Now, I bring you my update from Christmas in bullet point format.
- Thank goodness for Slingbox. I arrived in Indy on Saturday, and didn’t have to worry about where I was going to go to watch the Browns game on Sunday. Just find a relaxing corner of the house. Push the power button on the laptop. Connect to the wireless. Start Sling player and change the channel. That’s it.
- Unfortunately for one friend who lives in Texas, my slinging meant that the box was unavailable for his use. He called me shortly before game time to make sure that I was using it because he didn’t want to have to go find a bar to watch the game if he didn’t have to do so.
- Unfortunately for all of us, the Browns defecated the bed and lost to the Bengals, mostly due to Derek Anderson melting down before our very eyes when the spotlight was brightest.
- Amazon Wishlists rule. I got a lot of cool stuff, mostly because I picked out a lot of cool stuff. I got the first two seasons of Rescue Me, the second season of Extras, and plenty of other good stuff like running clothes gift cards, etc.
Unfortunately, some people don’t play by the Amazon Wishlist rules. What I mean here is that if you are going to buy something on someone’s wishlist, make sure you BUY IT OFF the wishlist so, like a wedding registry, it disappears and nobody else will buy that item for someone.
- As a result of the above scenario, I bought a copy of BioShock for the Xbox 360 from Jen’s brother. It is an AWESOME game that I am enjoying immensely, but giving him $50 wasn’t the point of buying the gift. It worked out cleanly, but still. Just buy things off the list and make sure they disappear from the wishlist.
Uncle Craig was in effect this weekend as Jen and my nephew Nathan was around for Christmas. Uncle Craig is a very fun persona. I have about a million noises that I can make to entertain children. I have all kinds of clicks and whistles, as well as Nathan’s personal favorite, the hand fart. By that I mean, I can squeeze my hands together to make a farting, squeezed balloon type of noise. Between that and constantly lifting Nathan in the air and faking sneezes, I was a very popular buffoon this weekend. Combine this with the fact that Jen and I gave a really awesome kid gift, and I would say it was a successful trip for Uncle Craig.- I have never claimed to be cool. That’s why I was really excited about one of the gifts that Jen got for me. I got a Kitchen-Aid mixer. I know it isn’t a sexy gift, but no kitchen is complete without one. I do a lot of the cooking, so I am happy to have it. Now, my goal is to find a recipe for the honey wheat pizza crust that they use at California Pizza Kitchen.
- Dressing up for Christmas dinner isn’t something I am used to. At my parents house we never “dressed for dinner” on any holidays at home. At Jen’s dad’s house we all wore suits and ties for dinner. It isn’t a bad thing, but it does feel a bit strange doing all that to stay in. It sure helps out the family picture, though.
- The weather in Indy was really nice and I started running again. I haven’t really run since October 17th. When the first snow came, I got kind of lazy and complacent. When we arrived in Indy on Saturday in the mid afternoon, the weather was in the mid 50′s, so I went out and ran a very painful two miles. Taking two months off from running makes the first run back a very painful experience. It wasn’t easy to get the two miles in. I ran another two miles on Christmas Eve when the weather was still in the mid 40′s and it went much better. Now, I am back in Cleveland where the weather is in the 30′s or lower with an icy mix of rain and flakes.
- The holiday break is a good time for me to listen to music because all my radio shows are on vacation. I am something of a talk radio addict, but when there isn’t any fresh content to listen to, I immediately go back to music. On the way home yesterday, we listened to a bit of the new disc by Serj Tankian from System of a Down. Jen hated it. We also listened to some of Dashboard Confessional Unplugged, which I find largely annoying lately. We listened to Counting Crows Live at the 10 Spot from their live album. Those songs from Recovering the Satellites are still my favorites in the entire Counting Crows Catalog. (How about that for alliteration?) We also listened to ( ) by Sigur Ros. It is very ambient, but it makes me happy.
And that is where I am going to leave this list. I had a nice first Christmas away from home.
