One of my closest friends took my out to eat at the Capital Grille at the Crescent last night. My goodness I didn’t that area was that high scale, there’s not one store I would consider entering. It’s like a little piece of Beverly Hills in Dallas. I’m trying to figure out who this Stanley Korshak fellow is because his name was plastered all over the place.
I’ll be driving to DFW National Cemetery today to lay some poinsettias on my father’s grave.
I’d respect Anderson Cooper more if he could distance himself from Kathy Griffin when it comes to welcoming in the new year. Make that, if he could distance himself from her at all costs.
A pilot is in trouble for posting a YouTube video about flaws with the TSA. I thought this part of the story really stood out and proves the pilot’s point: The YouTube videos, posted Nov. 28, show what the pilot calls the irony of flight crews being forced to go through TSA screening while ground crew who service the aircraft are able to access secure areas simply by swiping a card.
I read in Barry’s blog that Gordon Keith had an interesting and maybe even insightful column about how there are two kinds of Christmas, one that is religious and one that is secular. He referenced that John Lennon once stated that Christmas is bigger than Jesus, and I think that’s something I would have to agree with in one kind of sense, but maybe not another. I then read an article about how atheists view Christmas. A few things in that article stood out. One, it’s wrong to paint atheists with a broad brush just as it is with people of faith. Two, non-believers (gosh, that’s such a church-y word) tend to celebrate the season’s concentration on values, family, and kindness. And this is how the government explains the federal holiday, from the article: Christmas has been a federal holiday since 1870. The explanation offered on the government website America.gov is that the holiday “began to honor universal values such as home, children and family life, and to incorporate secular customs like exchanging gifts and cards, and the decoration of evergreen trees.”
I guess the reason why I never took offense to “happy holidays” is because as a child I rationalized it in my tiny undeveloped mind that it was easier to say or display “happy holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year.” Since all these events take place basically within a month (feel free to include Thanksgiving) it would be troublesome and costly to put up and take down displays that represent each one. And if wanted to spread some cheer to a stranger that you didn’t know was Christian or Jew, then “happy holidays” was a safe bet. As a kid I didn’t think it was right for Christians to own December just because Christmas fell in the month, and I thought that the Jewish folk also didn’t have the right to own it because Chanukah fell in it.
I’m only writing this sentence to use the a third spelling of Chanuka since I used the two other variations in the previous bullet point.
There’s a new blog dedicated to Asians sleeping in libraries. I was asked if I was offended by it, and my answer is I’m not at all. Heck, I find it humor in it and even think it’s a form of respect and admiration. If there was a blog about people in libraries that pretended to be Asians by making their eyes slanted with their fingers, then I would be offended.
Stories in which people return long, very long overdue library books stopped interesting me about the fourth time I heard such a thing was done. Now it seems like I see that story once a week.
It appears fire poles are no longer a staple in fire houses. I always wanted to install a fire pole in GeedingManor. Heck, I sometimes think that office buildings need to have either fire poles or slides to go from one floor to another. Not only would it be fun to slide from floor to floor, but it would save electrical costs from the lack of use of elevators and it’s faster. One day when I own Bag Of Nothing Inc I’ll have slides designed into the building.
I'd love to hear you explain the installation of a pole in your house to the neighbors.
"Ya right Geeding, it's a 'fire' pole.!"