Monday Meanderings - 12.27.2010

I'm still officially in Holiday Mode, so this may be a short blog. That statement does bring up the question though - how is my Holiday Mode any different than my Everyday Mode? I'll get back to you on that - after the Holidays.

The Missus and I had a very nice Christmas. Our kids and grands came during the Thanksgiving week and that was our big get-together so we just sort of quietly slid into Christmas from there. Whenever folks would ask if we were ready for Christmas, we would reply that we were done!

We did the traditional Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at Westover Friday night. That service gets a little more complicated (from a technical standpoint) every year, but the house was packed again this year and a very high number were visitors, so it seems to be well received.

Sunday morning when we got to the church building, Brent - the sound guy for this week - was scratching his head. Every time he tried to turn up the volume on the singer's monitors he would hear a flute and guitar playing Christmas music, with no apparent source for that music. No CD, no feed from upstairs, no nothing. I told him that maybe we have had it wrong all this time and this was a sign. However, it went away before the service started, so maybe not.

Good news on the "If I eat this I might pass out on the floor" front: the tests for a beef, pork, and lamb allergy are negative. No word about the chocolate allergy test, but there has been a great deal of independent research carried out this Christmas season and the results indicate no allergy there!

Lots of Bowl games on the TV. Which has prompted a couple of questions on my part:

    1) Do you think it is in Allstate Insurance's best interest to sponsor the big nets behind the goals? You know, the ones that say. "You are in good hands" with the image of the cupped hands prominently displayed? I have never seen those hands catch a single kick through the goals. Not a one! The "good hands" always drop the ball.

   2) Where do the Army and Navy football teams get their cheerleaders? I recognize that both academies have female members, but it strikes me that the type of young woman who is seeking a career as a military officer is not interested in participating in the cheerleader stereotype. Just saying.

And in the spirit of keeping Austin weird, here is a photo I snapped - highly visible on north-bound IH-35: