Processing work email with the Phantoms pregame show on Ustream. Life is good. (It'll be even better when WNYQ restores their audio stream.)

Copycats! Synchronized Sleeping

That's Stanley in the foreground, and Captain in the background. When I say they do everything together, I'm not kidding. They even nap in harmony. :-)

Yay! I ordered a 12x telephoto lens for my iPhone. It arrived in time for the outdoor hockey games. :-) Yes, I'm a geek & easily amused. ;-)

Well, Merry Christmas to all of them, even the ones I didn't know I was texting. :-)

LOL. I just responded to a "Merry Christmas" text msg which, unbeknownst to me, was to a whole group. Getting "Who is this? responses now.

Buon Natale to all!

A particular favorite Christmas song of mine -- which, regrettably, does not seem to make it into the rotation on the All-Christmas, All The Time radio stations.

Welcome, Christmas! Christmas Day!

Every gift is now bought and wrapped. And as an added bonus, I came home from my errands to find work in my inbox. Yay! :-)

Yes! Work email = Inbox Zero! I just completed a week's worth of work in 2.5 days. Go, me. :-)

I keep seeing Phantoms ads during Flyers games. They serve to remind me that three years later, I STILL miss my team. Nothing replaces them.

I hate when I eat something too hot and scald the roof of my mouth. Ow. Note to self: next time, let the food cool off longer.

Last week's system outage made for a dreadfully slow work week. This week seems poised to make up for it. Thank You Lord. I like being busy.

You know it was a bad game when the only legit
reason you have for cheering, outside of some fights, is that your injured player got up.

You know, I really do loathe that "delay of game" rule. Seriously.

Nothing freakish about Boston's 2nd goal. Grr. But the fans are chanting so the WFC crowd is still "in" the game.

Holy cow. Jody Shelley fights literally the biggest guy in the league. And takes one of the league's best D off the ice for five minutes.

Aw, Jiminy Cricket! A freak deflection lease to an early Bs goal. Well, time to start some freak deflections of our own.

Joan

Dear Joan,

We all still miss you, but particularly on the anniversary of the day you left us.

I heard this song for the first time recently, and I thought of you instantly.

Enjoy Heaven. We'll see you when we get there.

Love,

D, J, & J

I wish it was posible to un-see things

Yesterday, I went into a Walgreen's and, since the umbrellas were hidden in plain sight, I went over to a clerk to ask where they were. She answered with a location, then turned her back to me and bent to pick something up off the floor.

Her low-rider pants revealed at least a quarter-moon. I had to bite my tongue not to blurt out, "Also, where is the eyewash?"

What is seen, cannot be un-seen. Regrettably. Think of me as an Old Phart if you will, but I just don't appreciate seeing the posterior cleavage of total strangers.

My Friday aide job was cancelled today, but I was productive anyway. Prepped 2 gifts for mail & made ALL jewelry I was commissioned to make.

&)€#¥%*?•!!!!!!! Pronger is out for the season with severe post-concussion syndrome. As a friend of mine used to say, SOAFB. :-(

YAAAY -- FCC moves to squelch extra-loud TV commercials

Those of us with a long memory will remember that in June of 2009, I posted THIS ARTICLE about a proposed bill that was before Congress, to limit the volume of TV commercials.

Well, freaking FINALLY, the FCC is telling TV advertisers to lower the volume of commercials. Gotta love bureaucrats -- it only took two and a half years from the time of that first article until there was concrete action to report today.

FCC tells advertisers to CALM down, lowers the volume on commercial breaks

By Joseph Volpe posted Dec 14th 2011 2:31PM

Pretty soon, you won't have to scramble to lower the volume during noisy commercial breaks -- that's if you even watch live TV. After making its way through Capitol Hill, the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act (or CALM) -- which aims to keep the sounds coming out of your flat panel even-keeled -- has just been adopted in a ruling by the FCC. Starting next December, ads and promos will have to remain in-step with the audio levels of scheduled programming. While the affected parties have a full year to get their acts together, the main burden of enforcement lies with broadcasters and MVPDs like Comcast and Verizon FiOS. So, come next holiday season, you'll be able to tune in and tune out without being blown away.

Los Angeles Times FCC

I always coil my earphones neatly when putting them in my pocket. So why do they come out looking like someone knitted a scarf with them?

What a ripoff that TicketB@st@rd wants you to pay MORE money to use YOUR OWN ink and paper to print tickets. Will Call Window, here I come.

FINALMENTE! I got a shipping notification from an item I ordered at the end of October. 'Bout time!

Sitting in the car listening to the song about Snoopy &the Red Baron. It came on while I was parking the car. I waited to hear all of it.

My Amazon saga

I got a damaged item from an Amazon seller last week. Two emails requesting an exchange went unanswered. Today I got an email from them requesting feedback. "Please leave a 5 in all categories".

I'll give them a 5. I'll give them five fingers in a knuckle sandwich.

I got back on Amazon and basically dropped the gloves. I told them i was displeased that they found the time to request feedback from me, while ignoring my two emails to them about exchanging the defective item. Moreover, if I don't hear from them by Wednesday, I will file a claim with Amazon and request a refund.

I think I'm being MORE than fair. More fair than they might deserve, frankly. But they get one more chance. If they don't start the exchange process by Wednesday, they're dead to me and I file a claim.

My phone recognizes, and offers to auto-complete, the names of Bryzgalov and Bobrovsky. :-) Smartphone

25 Clever Ideas to Make Life Easier

I've got to share this great article that I just found on Facebook:

25 Clever Ideas to Make Life Easier

Holy pinball shots, Briere! 1-0 Flyers. Wow. What are the odds of banking it off BOTH defensemen and in

For the 2nd time, our new railing's installation was rained out. Come on, Mother Nature! Send some SUN so we can get this railing put in!

Though I am going to keep using my Mr. Softee ringtone, I now have a backup. A Tardis ringtone. I love the internet.

OMG, I'm on Cloud Nine

 This Flyers/Rangers Alumni Game gets better and better!

Neil Little is playing. Lindros and LeClair are playing. Bobby Clarke is playing

AND NOW BERNIE PARENT IS PLAYING! OMG OMG OMG

Two Goalies Added to Flyers Roster

Pinch me, I'm dreaming. On second thought, DON'T wake me up. This is like my lifetime fantasy Flyers team come to life.

Wow. When the doc said my incision could continue itching for a year after surgery, he wasn't kidding. It still does sometimes. Like today.

On Christmas Decorating Themes

I love the decorations, particularly the lights, that go up at this time of year. If it were up to me, the displays of lights would stay on for the duration of the winter. I find it kind of ironic that the end of the Christmas season comes during the time period when the hours of daylight are at their shortest. Christmas itself comes a few days after the Winter Solstice, and the liturgical end of the Christmas season comes on the Sunday following New Year's Day. At that point of the year, there's precious little daylight and those of us with Seasonal Affective Disorder would really benefit from leaving all the pretty lights ON when the sun goes down.

But I digress.

My main hint to all those who are setting up their Christmas decorations is this: it looks best when you choose either a secular OR a religious theme. Not both. Santa was not present at the Nativity, nor was Frosty the Snowman. Neither the Magi nor the shepherds were accompanied by reindeer, nor did they present gifts of candy canes to the Holy Child.

When I was walking my dog last week, I passed a display that included three snowmen, a Nativity, and three Santas. I thought, "What the heck is this? The Three Wise Snowmen? We Three Kringles of Orient Are?"

But even this mixture of secular and religious pales beside the display my friend's neighbor put up a few years ago. That house had an enormous illuminated Nativity on their lawn, and a couple feet away was a huge, also-illuminated sign: SANTA STOP HERE". The first thought that came to my mind was, "Santa didn't come down the chimney to stick gold, frankincense and myrrh into the Christ Child's Christmas stocking. Sorry."

Anyway, let me reiterate: please do decorate, as it makes the world a prettier place. But pick a theme and stick to it. It looks better and makes more sense.

I *finally* got print drivers installed on my laptop. I got tired of using the old, slow, senile laptop in the computer room to print.

Mini is on my tummy, snoring. Captain is above me on the back of the love seat, also snoring. Clearly, my pets are inspired by my presence.

Hooray for Boscov's free gift wrapping!

I'm down to needing three gifts for Christmas. And I know what I'm doing for two of those. Dang, I'm good. :-)

See Donna. See Donna stay up late to watch the Flyers game in CA. See Donna wake the whole neighborhood when the Flyers SCORE IN OT!

Flyers @ Anaheim. The crowd has cheered Flyers goals so loudly, it sounds like a home-team goal. Wow, lots of our fans in the Ducks' house!

Dear IGNORAMUS who left their dog's mess on my pavement: I hope you step in ten canine land mines for every one you leave behind. Forever.