Yes, Virginia....

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus! That's certainly how I felt as my Christmas kicked off with a Notre Dame win in the Hawaii Bowl. What a nice present. Let's hope that the team's performance in that game is a harbinger of what's to come next year.

The rest of the holiday has been a fun one - celebrating with family and friends. I've just finished cleaning up from all the festivities and preparing a favorite meal for my sister's birthday party. Whew!

While I was thinking about what to write tonight, I was reminded of a Christmas present from long ago - a green diary that my mom gave me. I was thinking of how it was supposed to be a special place where my very best musings were to be recorded for my eyes only. Interesting, isn't it, how we now do our diaries electronically and want everyone to read them. Hmmmmm. What does that say about us?

Kindle-ing

I talked my husband into getting me a Kindle for a graduation present.

I am loving it. Yes, there is a problem with the sensitivity of the page turning "buttons," but it is so easy to read and take anywhere. I find the gray screen easier to read than a regular white printed page. I can carry a whole totebag full of books and newspapers with me in just one little 10 oz. device. So far I've read "The Lucky One" by Nicholas Sparks and "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer. (I may actually even go see the movie!). Right now I'm reading "Human Smoke" by Nicholson Baker and am just ready to start "Sleep Pale Sister" by Joanne Harris, a favorite author. I've been subscribing to the "Boston Globe" but I miss the comics, so it's back to the print edition. There is one major problem, though - the Kindle store is open 24/7 so it's very tempting to go download a book every time I come across something that tempts me which is quite often!! I could easily fill a Kindle to its capcity (about 200 books) in a very short time. Since most books are less than $10, I can buy twice the books I normally do. But, so far I've been good. I still have a lot of print books that I've amassed that need attention, not to mention book club selections, and interlibrary loans, and...........

All's well with the world

As long as we're not talking finances, all is well with the world. I'm watching the Fighting Irish earn their first road win of the season. You can really see the improvement in the team from week to week. Now if I could only see that kind of improvement in my fantasy team.... It's been a Notre Dame week of sorts. The ND Glee Club gave an excellent concert here in Maine the other night. Of course, I walked away with 5 cd's.......

This has been an absolutely beautiful Fall here in Maine. The colors have been spectacular. One day while driving to work there was an incredibly black sky framing the gold, orange, and red trees in the West. I timed it just right so that the sun was just breaking through the clouds in the East, adding a brief rainbow to the mix. What a phenomenal sight. Of course, no camera in the car.

Yesterday I drove to ski country for a library conference - another beautiful drive. To see the snow on the mountain tops was a thrill. I would have given anything to have gotten to the summit to make my first snow angels of the year. Now the wind has arrived and there is a blizzard of falling leaves. It won't be long now before there'll be a blizzard of another sort.

Here we go! Let's start with the "how come department"

Is it a relatively boring MNF game that has sent me over the edge to create a new blog (can't access the old one) or just my general crankiness??????

How come..............?

1) It's all about the credit markets? Didn't the over-extension of credit get us into all the trouble in the first place? On CNBC tonight I heard a mortgage banker say that they're now going back to checking credit and income and assets - standards that she said the industry had gotten lax about. Cheap credit - that's all we've been hearing about for years. Well, you get what you pay for and now we're all paying for it. I hope that when they (i.e. the government bailout officials) work with people who face foreclosure that they let people stay in their homes, but re-write the mortgages to get back some of our investment through profit sharing. Maybe someday they'll reward those who have saved and spent wisely. How about a tax credit for socking away some money?

2)Speaking of rewards.... Why do magazines always have special deals for new subscribers only? How about rewarding long-time subscribers?

3) Our Congressman is running against our Senator. He says it's time for "change." Um, Sir, haven't you already been in Washington for 12 years........................? Does changing chambers constitute real change? My brother says he's only going to vote for those who aren't incumbents in any shape or form. Maybe he's on to something.............

By the way, I'm forming a new political party - "The mad-as-hell-and-I'm-not-going-to-take-it-anymore" party. Care to join........?

4)The camera always catches a baseball player spitting something foul from his mouth? The other night during a Red Sox game, the camera did a close up of a Tampa Bay player leaning his chin on a railing. He had a mouth full of something. You just knew some disgusting projectile was going to come out of his mouth and the director would tell the camera man to stay with the shot until he did spit! Ugh.

5)"It's company policy......" Had a conversation with someone a couple of days ago about company policies. My favorite corporate ridiculousness? Going to the doctor's office every day for about 3 weeks for physical therapy. Not only did I have to present my insurance card each day, they had to take a xerox of it each and every time.

I once had to pick a large package up at the local UPS distribution office. It was a glass lamp. The box was in terrible shape. I wanted to open it right there to inspect it, but they told me that I had to take it home and open it there. If there was damage to the lamp, I could then call them and they would then send a truck out to make a special pick up to return the package. Um, wasn't I right where the trucks were when I went to pick up the package in the first place?Hmm, let me see. That would have cost them additional man hours, paperwork, gas, wear and tear on their vehicle, etc. Duh! Sorry that was company policy. I did ask to speak to a manager and convince him that the economical and common sense thing to do was to let me open the package there. Fortunately the lamp was in fine shape.

Whew! That's enough for tonight. Patriots win! Good game, Bruins - sorry it didn't end with a W. Heal well and quickly, Mike Lowell. Thanks for another fun year, Red Sox.

Up next - good reads and other favorite pastimes................BTW - I'm not really a cranky person, but that felt good. Let's see what a cup of tea and a biscotti does for my mood..........