It's snowing! We get all excited up here when it snows, since it doesn't do it every year. Unfortunately, I still have to go to work, since I live next door and there's no excuse not to. But I'm pretty much alone. Everyone else is "working at home". Ha! But it's as pretty as it can be.

It's supposed to warm up later and it'll be flooding by Friday. Ah well...

-30C today. (-22F for the Celsius-impaired).

I wouldn't mind so much - I still walked to work and all - if the office space were properly heated. It's not, and I'm wearing the boots, windpants, gloves, scarf, extra sweater, and hat as I type.

Brrr.

.....Doc Martens are the answer to all your shoe crises.

Walk in 'em, preach in 'em....the lot.

Possibly not the best with summer frocks,.......

Merry Christmas everyone.

Happy Friday! I guess I'll be the only person on earth working next week (just the first 3 days). Then I'll be on vacation the following week. Can't wait! And since it's Friday, here's a song (for best results, picture Brenda Lee singing it--if you don't know who she is, find out):

Rocking around the Christmas tree
at the Christmas party hop
Mistletoe hung where you can see
every couple tries to stop

Rocking around the Christmas tree,
let the Christmas spirit ring
Later we'll have some pumpkin pie
and we'll do some caroling.

You will get a sentimental
feeling when you hear
Voices singing let's be jolly,
deck the halls with boughs of holly

Rocking around the Christmas tree,
have a happy holiday
Everyone dancing merrily
in the new old-fashioned way.

This isn't a Friday song, but it's extrEEEmely amusing to me.

At the lumberyard in Des Moines this weekend, (no, I don't know if there's more than one), they're having a special event. Bring an unwrapped toy and get free admission to a strip show.

They're calling it "Toys for Ta-ta's".
BWAH!!!

Over the Rhine is in a Jon Favreau film!

This next song we're going to dedicate to a great American
organization. Tonight I'd like to dedicate this to our boys
in the FBI.

Well, wait a minute. It's hard to be an FBI man. I mean, first
of all, being an FBI man, you have to be over 40 years old.
And the reason is that it takes at least 25 years with the
organization to be that much of a bastard. It's true. You just
can't join, you know. It needs an atmosphere where your
natural bastardness can grow and develop and take a
meaningful shape in today's complex society.

But that's not why I want to dedicate the song to the FBI. I
mean, the job that they have to do is a drag. I mean, they have
to follow people around, you know. That's part of their job.
Follow me around.

I'm out on the highway and I'm drivin' down the road and I
run out of gasoline. I pull over to the side of the road. They
gotta pull over too - make believe that they ran out, you
know.

I go to get some gasoline. They have to figure out whether
they should stick with the car or follow me. Suppose I don't
come back and they're stayin' with the car.

Or if I fly on the airplanes, I could fly half fare because I'm 12
to 22. And they gotta pay the full fare. But the thing is that
when you pay the full fare, you have to get on the airplane
first, so that they know how many seats are left over for the
half fare kids. Right? And sometimes there aren't any seats
left over, and sometimes there are, but that doesn't mean that
you have to go.

Suppose that he gets on and fills up the last seat, so you can't
get on. Then he gets off then you can get on. What's he gonna
do?

Well, it's a drag for him. But that's not why I want to dedicate
the song to the FBI.

During these hard days and hard weeks, everybody always
has it bad once in a while. You know, you have a bad time of
it, and you always have a friend who says "Hey man, you
ain't got it that bad. Look at that guy." And you at that
guy, and he's got it worse than you. And it makes you feel
better that there's somebody that's got it worse than you.

But think of the last guy. For one minute, think of the last
guy. Nobody's got it worse than that guy. Nobody in the
whole world. That guy...he's so alone in the world that he
doesn't even have a street to lay in for a truck to run him over.
He's out there with nothin'. Nothin's happenin' for that cat.

And all that he has to do to create a little excitement in his
own life is to bum a dime from somewhere, call up the FBI.
Say "FBl?", they say "Yes", say "I dig Uncle Ho and Chair-
man Mao and their friends are comin' over for dinner" (click)
Hang up the phone.

And within two minutes, and not two minutes from when he
hangs up the phone, but two minutes from when he first put
the dime in, they got 30,000 feet of tape rollin'; files on tape;
pictures, movies, dramas, actions on tape. But then they send
out a half a million people all over the entire world, the globe,
they find out all they can about this guy.

'Cause there's a number of questions involved in this guy. I
mean, if he was the last guy in the world, how'd he get a dime
to call the FBI? There are plenty of people that aren't the last
guys that can't get dimes. He comes along and he gets a dime.

I mean, if he had to bum a dime to call the FBI, how was he
gonna serve dinner for all of those people? How could the
last guy make dinner for all those people. And if he could
make dinner, and was gonna make dinner, then why did he
call the FBI?

And they find out all of those questions within two minutes. And
that's a great thing about America. I mean, this is the only
country in the world...I mean, well, it's not the only country
in the world that could find stuff out in two minutes, but it's
the only country in the world that would take two minutes
for that guy.

Other countries would say "Hey, he's the last guy...screw
him", you know? But in America, there is no discrimination,
and there is no hypocrisy, 'cause they'll get anybody. And that's
a wonderful thing about America.

And that's why tonight I'd like to dedicate it to every FBI
man in the audience. I know you can't say nothin', you know,
you can't get up and say "Hi!" cause then everybody knows
that you're an FBI man and that's a drag for you and your
friends.

They're not really your friends, are they? I mean, so you can't
get up and say nothin' 'cause other wise, you gotta get sent
back to the factory and that's a drag for you and it's an
expense for the government, and that's a drag for you.

We're gonna sing you this Christmas carol. It's for all you
bastards out there in the audience tonight. It's called "The
Pause of Mr. Claus".

Why do you sit there so strange?
Is it because you are beautiful?
You must think you are deranged
Why do police guys beat on peace guys?

You must think Santa Claus weird
He has long hair and a beard
Giving his presents for free
Why do police guys mess with peace guys?

Let's get Santa Claus 'cause;
Santa Claus has a red suit
He's a communist
And a beard, and long hair
Must be a pacifist
What's in the pipe that he's smoking?

Mister Claus sneaks in your house at night.
He must be a dope fiend, to put you up tight
Why do police guys beat on peace guys?

-There's someone in my head, but it's not me.-

Summer and winter are different... how, again?

I was thinking about making that "women dress for other women, but undress for men" comment, but I won't.

And if 'summery' doesn't come up in my Microsquish Word thesarus, it isn't a word.

Also, I'd like to publicly thank my wonderful wife for not asking me to go with her to shop for dresses. I do offer to go with her to help pick out, shall we say, undergarments, but she rarely accepts that kind offer.

There are plenty of women around who don't really care about fashion, and who aren't in competition with or showing off for other women. Really.

(I have one pair of shoes, which I'm wearing right now [they frown on us going barefoot in the office]. The way I pick out my shoes is this: the ones I have are worn out, and the new ones are comfortable.)

I know I'm not the only woman like this. Look around, there are plenty. Of course I try to look as nice as possible, but that means dressing so that I think I look okay, not how someone else (male or female) might think I look.

lucky for me - leather is year-round. But then again, I think free-range hamsters hiding under a cashmere sweater are the schnizzles.

You will never catch me in any stiletto heals. I'd twist both ankles and fall over. No that wouldn't be funny.

Also, summery is a word:
Of, intended for, or suggesting summer. Of or pertaining to summer; like summer; as, a summery day.

All I'm going to say is that I've gotten some very favourable reactions to strappy black stiletto heels.

if he really wants to, he can wear the farmgirl dress he likes from last season & she can wear the slinky black/metallic/shiny dress she was hoping to find at BCBG... then everyone's happy, right? :'P

Summery? This isn't even a word. Women complain about men not being good communicators and they're out there making words up and getting irritated when the guy doen't know what the heck she's talking about.

All he really wants to know is will he get fed at the party and what kind of beer will they be serving.

And if the young ladies out there want some insight into the male fashion sense, keep in mind my teenage son's fashion goal for the winter is to wear shorts to school every day. So far he he's making it, but I think he's cheating by driving himself to school and parking close to the door. Of course, we do live in Texas.

"You can't wear white shoes after Labor Day. Didn't your mother ever tell you that?"

"I don't really want to spend that much for this. And, you know, as much as I know you'd enjoy seeing me in a flowery cotton bikini, I don't really feel it's party-appropriate."

Sometimes, fashion rules are just a convenient way to politely tell a person, "No way in hell am I wearing that, you idiot."

is this like no light pants rule in winter? I hate fashion rules. If the weather permits it I think you should be able to wear it.