HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

wholesmokedturkey, originally uploaded by Madalin Matica.

Hope you and yours have a beautiful day! Don't eat too much bird!

RISK

Risk and Castle Risk, originally uploaded by Patrick Q.

My brother William gave me this game for Christmas my 10th grade year. It's become a family favorite. I've owned a ton of copies of it. I keep picking up extras at thrift shops and then giving them away to friends and family. My favorite memories of the game are late sumer camp nights. The kids and my fellow counselors really got into it.

This Thanksgiving, I'm giving a copy to my nephews, William's sons. I've got a 2nd copy I will put up on eBay. I figure if every other family member has a copy now, there's no reason to keep mine since I only play it with them.

UNPACKING CHRISTMAS

SWEET!, originally uploaded by Patrick Q.

Every year around this time I start hauling out the boxes of Christmas decorations. I carefully unpack and inspect each one - admiring its delicate beauty. Recalling all the good memories it inspires.

This year is no exception; boxes and bubble wrap are strewn everywhere. But I'm not decorating. I'm unpacking all of them so I can sell them, things I thought I'd hold onto till the grave.

What a surprise! And another suprise? I'm not sad. Letting them go is a good thing. It might just be the merriest Christmas of them all.

YOU CAN FIND IT ON EBAY

Tree Sweet Tree, originally uploaded by Patrick Q.

I visited 2 antiques shoppes today and they have NOTHING on eBay. Poor quality at high prices meant I left empty-handed.

I'm up late posting photos to flickr. Tonight I took about a million shots of my Kenner Tree Tots Family Tree House playset in preparation for listing it on eBay (and also as a nice way to remember it after it's with its new owner). I'm happy with the way they turned out. Hopefully the bidders will be influenced by them to bid higher.

After seeing other cool photos of Kenner toys on flickr (M.A.S.K. and Star Wars action figures, Blythe dolls, etc.), I decided to form a new flickr group for products made by this great company. I mean, they made Play-Doh! They deserve a little special attention.

DEL.ICIO.US

sandwich., originally uploaded by godownmatthew.

Sweetness! I'd been meaning to check it out, but I didn't expect it to be this good. No, not a giant floating ice cream sandwich! I finally got around to setting up my del.icio.us account and transferring all 400 of my bookmarks over. Editing them and adding tags was a total hassle, but the tool's already proving itself worth the extra effort. If you use Firefox, you've probably at least heard of it. For those of you unfamiliar with what, exaclty, del.icio.us is/does (like I was yesterday), you might want to check it out.

I also got a couple of eBay auctions up. It took forever to get my photography and auction stuff unpacked and set back up - way more time than it took to pack it all away for Pauline's visit. After spending too much time on all of that, I was ready to get out of the house when my brother called from Germany with a list of things he'd like me to bring for his family when I come over in a few weeks.

That's right! I did my first Christmas shopping of the Season today. I found several of the things on his list, and I should be done after just one more trip into town. Since I'm not bringing home a regular paycheck these days, I normally stay out of stores, so the only drag about the day's outing was seeing things that I wanted for myself and having to muster the self-discipline needed to not buy them. Hooray for character development. Big whomping yay!

Tomorrow should make up for it, since I'll get to spend a little dough on myself. My friends Stephen and Samantha are going to be in town for the night, so the three of us are going to Outback. I used to go to the one on the Coast regularly before the storm took it out. None of us have been to one since before Katrina, so it's kind of a big deal for us to go. I can't wait to have one of their baked sweet potatoes. I can almost taste it.

This week has been an island of old friendship in the ocean of solitude known as 2006. On Sunday night, I saw my old friends Mike and Madeline. I'd been thinking about them all day, so when they walked through the church door, I was shocked. Then on Monday night I saw my friends Alice, Sean, Kevin, and Emily at Joe Muggs when I stopped in for a coffee. They all will be in town for extended holiday visits with their parents, so I'll be able to see them again before I leave for overseas. Being around old friends made me realize what a recluse I'm becoming. I'm glad I'll be around Dan's family for the holidays. I need to make a New Year's resolution to not be such a hermit in 2007.

COUNTDOWN

German Christmas Market, originally uploaded by Alexander Yates.

The countdown continues: 40 days until I leave for Germany.

VISIONS OF IPODS DANCING IN THEIR HEADS

I started back at the gym today after a 2 month hiatus. It was around 3 o'clock, and I was the only one there besides the gym owner. I popped in my ear buds and jogged along to Taylor Hicks. Every time I use the iPod, I think of the Sony Walkman. Do you remember those? This Japanese craze hit the US consumer market in 1980. By 1981, there were a couple dozen knock-offs, but none carried the "coolness" factor of the Walkman. They were the iPod of their day. Oh, how I wanted one! But the over $100 price, considered affordable by Yuppies, was way out of my elementary-school sized budget. It would be almost 10 years before I FINALLY got one, and by that time CD's were becoming popular, so they were no big deal. I wonder how many little kids are longing for an iPod. I guess one day they'll look back and laugh about thinking, "I'll just die if I don't get one for Christmas."

A GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE?