Silly Site o' the Day

 Hank Azaria sings excerpts from The Little Drummer Boy as some of the Simpsons characters he voices.

Once Again: The Wholly Trinity

It's Christmas Eve again, so in between watching versions of A Christmas Carol I'm putting up my Wholly Trinity for the holidays:

And You Shall Be Upheld in More Than This (all about the aforementioned A Christmas Carol)

"I Hear People Singing, It Must Be Christmastime" (about holiday music)

"So That's How He Got the Crown of Thorns!" (about my love/hate relationship w Rankin/Bass)

Enjoy! And remember, tradition is merely peer pressure from dead people!

And That's a Wrap!

I have logged off work for the rest of the calendar year! I actually had enough to do today, as two of my partners were also working and needed stuff from me, so I didn't feel like I was doing make-work, but still, glad it's over and I can start on my holiday plans. Tomorrow I'll be watching my traditional as-many-versions-as-I-can of A Christmas Carol, reading as many comics as I can as I got a new shipment today, trying to right my intestinal system so I can get back on the bike once it's no longer freezing (I'm beginning to suspect the two are related), and taking lots of well-deserved naps. I also plan on visiting Mom at least twice if the weather and my health permit, so I'm not without things to do! Onward to the holidays!

Rata-whooey!

I was up in the night for the second sleep cycle in a row, but the temporary insomnia doesn't concern me overmuch as, both yesterday and this morning, I got plenty of napping in after I went back to bed. If this is the new sleep cycle during my vacation break, I'm fine with that. As long as I remember to call my mom every day, and visit once the cold spell has broken. The ratatouille, made without bell peppers because burpage, came out great, and there's even enough left over for another meal. I don't really follow a recipe with that one, so really it was just sweating onions and garlic while the eggplant supposedly drained in a colander in the sink (it didn't really drain, maybe I use regular table salt next time instead of kosher salt), then throwing in the eggplant, then adding zucchini and yellow squash and stirring them for a bit, then adding Campari tomatoes and button mushrooms and a few herbs and s&p and letting everything simmer. A mish-mash, kind of like the way I do stir fry. If it tastes good it's a success, and this one did. I think today's high was like 23 degrees F, so I'm glad I made something so satisfying and warming! Now that the sun has gone down it's getting way colder again, so time to dress in my sweatshirt for the exercise bike. So far the holiday vacation time is going very well!

Frigid Groceries

Well, it finally snowed in NYC overnight and into the wee small hours of the morning, when both Robin and I were awake for the official start of the winter solstice, wondering how on earth we were going to clear the outside steps and the car in preparation for shopping, as today is the least frigid day until after Christmas and we really don't want to go out until Thursday (when I'm hoping to visit Mom). As it turned out, the landlord's handyman whom we haven't seen in a week came 'round to get the trash, we were able to hand him our annual holiday gratitude tip, and in return he swept the steps clean. So I only needed to change into my waterproof sneakers to help Robin clear the car of around 2" of not-yet-icepacked snow, and we were on our way! And OMG, that supermarket. I suspected lots of others had the same idea we did, as there was nary a cart to be found at the store entrance and every aisle was packed with holiday shoppers. Even so, once we were through the veggie aisle (where I beefed up on root veg for our Christmas Day roast veggie extravaganza, and eggplant, zucchini and squash for tomorrow's warming ratatouille) we had time to browse a few other aisles, and wound up with a hefty total but I'll be home all week to partake of it. Home and back in the warmth by about 1:30 or so, and very grateful.

Silly Site o' the Day

I managed to fill an 8-hour workday by giving myself another project that will benefit me in the long run, gathering the names of all the engagement teams with which my partners and managing directors work so I can both add them to our EA group repository and actually start paying attention to the folks in question and what they do. Of course, that sort of thing is the furthest from most of my coworkers' minds now as we gear up for our winter break; only one more workday and we're off until the new year! It's the little things. Unless you're in Texas, in which case it's the big things:

Via Laughing Squid.

Manhattan Madness

Thank goodness I don't have to go into The City again until 2025! Doubly thankful that, at my age, my FOMO is fading fast; I quite like staying at home and watching other people be all touristy in midtown. Mostly I miss the way things used to be when attractions like the shops at Bryant Park or Columbus Circle were actually navigable. But I'm glad I went into the office, as two of my partners who were also in gave me some much-needed cash for the holidays. And I didn't get run over by any gridlocking vehicles as I crossed the streets, so that's a win as well. Now if only I had enough energy left to sort and put away the clean laundry...

I Can See Almost Clearly Now

Yesterday I'd remembered that I was supposed to have an ophthalmologist appointment this month, and I found it weird that they'd never called to remind me, and naturally this was the one appointment I'd forgotten to put on my calendar. Turns out the office had mixed up me and Robin (as he goes to the same eye doc), and the reminder came to him. As his appointment is next month, he thought nothing of it and filled out the paperwork. So today I straightened things out, got my appointment rescheduled for February, then the office called and said I was already seeing them next month. "No," I said again, "that's my husband. Please straighten this out." Meantime I was on the phone with the people who administer the hospital's website to make sure things worked on their end. It all took about half an hour out of my workday during my peak performance time (I'm definitely a morning-work person), but by the end of the day my appointment was properly scheduled and I'd filled out the forms even though I never got an email or text reminder. But it's okay as it's on my calendar now! It's all just as well since we've used up our FSA money for 2024. But the goings-on made me forget to call Mom, so I'll touch base with her Friday and plan to see her once the weather is no longer frigid, probably Boxing Day. Dang, I'm exhausted just typing all that!

Of Gridlock and Drones

Too many things on my mind to pay attention to local or even world happenings, but apparently there's another UFO scare going around and people in New Jersey are shooting down drones or something? Leave me out of it, I'm too busy navigating Manhattan streets. Got to the post office today to mail out holiday cards, where the worker at the window apologized that there were no foreign stamps left, and besides which there's been a postal strike in Canada for the past month (I told you I haven't been paying much attention). I told her I didn't care about foreign stamps, could she please just get them mailed whatever way works best, and while she was doing that I affixed the US stamps to those cards, then walked back to the office where I read how the Canadian postal strike had ended, so good timing, I guess! Also, even though walking through holiday crowds and gridlocked traffic at the intersections proved tricky at best, I lucked out in that the weather was downright pleasant for this time of year, so I'm glad that's all done and I get to work from home tomorrow. Only one more Manhattan day for the rest 2024!

Silly Site o' the Day

During the last month or so I've managed to amass a lot of silly sites by not posting one daily, so as nothing of bloggy-note happened today let's take a look at my pile... ah, here's one: tushy trees!

How Do You Solve a Problem like Dr. Doolittle?

I think I'm binging too many movies that only seem to come 'round at the holidays (but of course they play more often, it's just I feel more like watching them now). I rewatched the original Dr. Doolittle for the first time in forever, and now The Sound of Music is on but I'll probably turn away before the stormtroopers arrive. After all, I got a lot done today now that my body is obeying me again. In addition to getting back on the exercise bike, I roasted a whole mess of vegetables for dinner, got caught up on finances, and stuffed and addressed 75 holiday cards to friends, coworkers, and family, the last year we plan on doing so since the world of greeting cards is becoming increasingly antiquated, and I'm an Old often enough as it is. Say, did you ever notice that a melody snippet from one of the Dr. Doolittle songs sounds suspiciously like "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria"? It's true. Now, back to the Von Trapps.