Merry Christmas! 2012 Edition

I hope that everyone has had a great Christmas.  I spent mine at church.  There weren't very many there and it was noted by the pastor.  The Christmas Eve Candlelight Service has always been packed but I suppose most families would rather just stay in on Christmas Day.

You would think that pretty much everything would be closed today.  Nope. We could have had some after-church lunch at Hardee's or McDonald's but we ended up at a Chinese restaurant-a nice one not one of those buffet or take away joints.

Once we got to my parents' house, we opened presents.  One of the gifts that I got received is this toy of the Queen that waves her hands and is powered by a small solar panel. I'm thinking that will put on my computer tower where it can be visible from below on the production floor.  There, she will be able to wave at all the common folk working to make a buck and they will all look up to her.

The Hobbit Post

I remember back in college when I heard about this fantasy film that was coming out.  I was only vaguely aware of The Lord of the Rings.  My dad had read the books and recommended that I read them as well.  I never took his advice as I was not a fan of fantasy.  In my mind, it was superficial medieval stories infused with magic and monsters.  Had it been a sci-fi story, I'd be more inclined to try it out.  So the movie, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring came and went.  But eventually it made it to Wells Hall.

MSU's Wells Hall showed (and probably still does) free movies to dorm residents.  Otherwise it was $2 for students.  I had known that the movie was critically acclaimed and so I went.  I was blown away and became and instant fan.

Fast forward to now and I have been waiting with excitement to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

The story starts off slow and we hang around the Shire for far too long in my opinion but once the company gets on their way, they run into problem after problem.  I wonder if their journeys to the Shire were met with half problems that they encountered on their way to the Lonely Mountain.

Some complaints out there go to the high frame rate.  Personally, I didn't even notice the difference.  Of course, I don't go to a high tech theater.  I also watched the 2-D version and I think that people who aren't keen on 3-D will still be satisfied with the picture.

Still, I wasn't that impressed with the movie. I enjoyed it but it was nowhere near as good as Jackson's previous LOTR films.

Regarding the CT Shootings

I’m against the death penalty but when these shootings happen, like the recent one in Connecticut, I always reconsider that position. It’s ridiculous that I would wish that this Lanza guy to be resurrected only to put him on trial, found guilty, and then executed.

On the various websites that I visit, there has been a lot of chatter about gun control. It doesn't surprise me as it always happens. It doesn't interest me to get drawn into a conversation on that but there was a clip that saw posted from Bryan Fischer that really infuriated me:

I know better than to listen to this guy are read his tweets, but the douchebaggery and insanity that spews out from this guy is hard to ignore. He’s actually blocked me on twitter. He’s the only one to do so because I get so riled up by his anti-gay rhetoric that I have to respond.

My heart really goes out to the families and everyone that is touched with grief. It’s always and especially horrible when little children are the victims. I wouldn't dare think that the anguish approaches to what it must be for a parent to lose their child and in such a manner.

My Mom's Depressed Dog

I've been dog sitting for my parents since Thursday and I still have a couple more days to go.  I can't wait for it to be over.  Not for my sake but for my mom's dog.  He is ridiculously depressed and I don't think it is going to go away until my mom comes home.

When my parents pulled out of the driveway, Charlie (the dog BTW) was going nuts with his barking and whining.  He jumped on the furniture, ran to every window facing the driveway, and scratched at the door.  I wonder if he does this whenever my mom goes to work.  From what I can guess, he doesn't but maybe that is because my dad is here when she goes.  Anyways, the way he was freaking out, you'd think that he was being left behind forever.

Charlie isn't eating.  I've tried mixing some warmed up canned dog food with his dried dog food and he won't touch either.  He'll accept some scraps of my food but I want him to eat his own food.  I figured that he would have eaten his food by now, 3 days later but he still hasn't touched his bowl.  I gave in somewhat and cooked him up some bacon.  He still wasn't enthusiastic about it like he normally is.  If he could talk, I think he would say, "Meh, bacon?  Oh alright, I'll eat some of that."

Charlie also wasn't drinking until last night when I finally caught him sneaking in some gulps.  I've been changing the water in his bowl twice a day and I think it helped to put some ice cubes in there.  At least his drinking means I don't worry about him dying on me.

As I write this, he currently on the couch looking out toward the drive way.  He'll bark and growl whenever the neighbor dogs across the street become visible but mostly he just sits there and stares out.  Otherwise he is trying to get my attention and take him out for a piss.

There was one brief moment of excitement on Friday night when I took him outside at night, he took off toward the back shed.  I saw him disappear into the shadow and felt him strain at the end of the leash.  I heard a low hiss and I had the feeling he was sniffing out a cat.  I turned on the light from my phone and to my surprise, Charlie was about three feet away from a possum.  After yelling out some choice expletives, I pulled him away, leaving the possum to make a get away.  Good thing I didn't let him have more slack.

The leak in my wallet.

This has been a bad couple of days financially. I let slip one of my problems on facebook and decided that it probably wasn't the best idea to rant about it where coworkers could see.  Then this morning I was walking to my car to get to work when I saw that I had another flat tire.

A couple of months ago, I got a flat tire and I found a screw embedded in the tire.  I took the tire off, put on the donut, and headed for the shop where it was plugged.  I hadn't really noticed until my friend Kraig pointed it out, but my car had a sort of reverberation due to the plug.  As time has gone by, the sound and vibrations have really begun to irritate me.

When I saw the flat this morning I got into a very bad mood.  I'm talking about using some physical violence. By the time I had gotten to the shop I had calmed down a bit but I really wasn't in any mood to be sociable or be bothered in anyway.  Since it was the second tire to go flat, I just asked that the flat and the plugged tire be replaced.  I had a couple hundred available for Christmas presents this year.  I'm once again back to square one.

I've joked about it before but the cars I own--I swear they can smell when I've got extra cash because as soon as I do...