It’s coming up on the end of Yule and I’ve spent most of it with parts of my family, which is one of the best ways to spend it, only exceeded by having the entirety of the family and my friends all in the same place. So when Yule’s over, that means only one thing: the New Year is here. 2008. And it’s now official: I’m old. Not only have I had a heart attack (that makes ya feel like an old man, let me tell ya) and my own personal odometer will click over once more a few days into January (which is lucky for me, considering the aforementioned heart attack), but I found myself standing in a toy store buying Legos for my nephew and saying to myself, “Man, they don’t make Legos like they used to.” That’s old. Seriously…they don’t. They’re so specifically cut for the model on the box cover that reusing them for any other kind of model is near impossible. And they don’t carry tubs of generic Lego pieces…that’s where you could just pull a pile of Legos and build something that vaguely resembled the object in your mind. It’s crazy, I tells ya! Oh well, if feeling old is the worst thing that happens to me in 2008 I’ll consider myself quite lucky. Anyway, just a quick note from my holiday gatherings to wish everyone a happy New Year.

The time, it has vanished. I look up and it’s the holidays again. Happily, the local CVS drug store started selling gift cards for other stores. I bought a shitload of Barnes and Nobles giftcards because, with my family, the deafult “I don’t know what to get you but I know you’ll like and use this” gift is the Barnes and Noble giftcard. And given that my family is just as bad at giving gift ideas as I am, this ability to get everyone the same gift card is an excellent out. Being able to dodge the malls and strip-malls in favor of the CVS down the street from my office is a giant bonus as well. All other presents were online, so ever better. (more…)