Christmas Music Time!

I love Christmas Music!
However, if it's played anytime before Thanksgiving dinner or after January 10th I don't want to hear a single note of it.

Memories of long car rides through Indiana listening to The Carpenters album, then the Johnny Mathis album, and back to The Carpenters was awesome. Working a "seasonal job" with MySister when "I-I-I-I'm dreaming... of a WHITE, Christ - MAAAAAS" ranks up there high also.

Most of the time now, I cool out here in the condo to the smooth jazz sounds of the Vince Guaraldi Trio's album. Classic and timeless - and yes, I do believe that Christmas is classic and timeless.

(that last comment, of course, is removed from how much the next few weeks will have nothing do to with the holiday - the shopping, the parking, the hassles)

Christmas music, the right kind (not the fluffy 98 degrees Christmas or worse the Chipmunks), is almost a cold hard lock to place me in a great mood.

Tomorrow morning I'm presetting the non-stop holiday music channel in my car.

Hope y'all had a Happy Thanksgiving,
TQ

Generic Thanksgiving-themed sappy post:

The following is a quick - off the top of my head - dozen of what I'm thankful for:
MySister's dedication
Co-workers' laughter
The newly arrived dining room table
Quickly meeting a cool neighbor
Friends more talented than I
Recently annouced engagements*
*Standing up
Everlasting Adidas
Cheese-centric food
YouTube profile aides
Pocket Kings
Apples

Blackberry

About four years ago I made the largest purchase of my life at the time. I bought a 1999 Saturn SL2 four door automobile (with a spoiler!). Actually, there is no "about." I know it was exactly four years ago because I just recently made my last payment on the chick magnet (did I mention it has a spoiler?).

The fact that I have no more payments was confirmed yesterday during a phone call. My question was quickly followed up by a "When do I get the title!?" The last time I saw the car's title was when the Saturn dealer showed it too me after shaking my hand. I was too distracted at something listed on the title - which will be the first thing I will look at again when I receive the title in 2-4 weeks...

COLOR: Blackberry

What kind of a car color name was that? My friend drives a "Legend Lime" Mustang. I remember my Uncle buying a "Champagne" Towncar. I guess Blackberry is what you use to describe a car that looks black at night and purple during the day.

More often than once, when handing the keys to the oil change dude, I'd hesitate when responding to his question, "what color is it?" Once a guy even followed up with a "You don't know what color your car is?"

"Well... the title says blackberry... but just put down black..."

I'll tell ya one thing's for sure - as of this month, there is no red in that car at all.

Driving a Debtfreemobile (with a Spoiler!),
TQ

TQ a GQ?

Someone at work voiced displeasure at the two main choices for IL-GOV.
He asked if anybody wanted his vote?
I told him to write-in me, and I emailed him the below during lunch:

Campaign Platform:

Make "Voting Day" a state holiday, close the banks, close the schools, mandate all organizations with Illinois work tax IDs to close for the day. This will elevate the importance of the day every year (not just every four)


"Ignorance Tax" applicable to every person of voting age. Tax waived with submittal of voting receipt with prompt return of taxes (not only a money maker, but will also result in exponentially larger voter turnout like above point)


Hire more teachers and institute school uniforms state wide.


Outlaw "double-naming" of streets. All streets will have ONE NAME. None of this Lake/Euclid or Palatine/Willow.


Re-order Area Codes for phones. All pagers will have their own area code, as will cell phones. A land line to land line phone call across the street will return to a seven digit exercise.


For all future Governor Races an automatic "none of the above" will be added to the ballot. If "none of the above" receives more votes a run-off election will take place a month later with all candidates that includes candidates that campaigned in the primaries (with a month ban on ALL television advertising)


DESTORY THE SKYWAY, and sell for scrap metal. It's always under construction, it's always congested, it's way too expensive to drive on it. Use the money from the scrap metal to add extra lanes on the many other roads into Indiana.


Build 3 foot high fence along Wisconsin / Illinois stateline. Will be effective because thousands of Wisconsinites will just rub the back of their neck and say, "Yah Hey Dare's a fence over'dare?" and will be paralyzed in befuddlement.


By force, overtake cities of Davenport and Moline. We will no longer share the economic force of the quad cities with a four letter state! And if anybody doesn't think this is possible, don't forget the armory in Rock Island.


Ban all riverboat/casino gambling with the exception of the new "ill-quad". The Quad Cities will be the Mecca of the Missisip and soon take over Atlantic City as the nation's 2nd largest gaming revenue center.

LONG TERM GOAL:

Woo back the Football Cardinals back to Chicago. Build an Elk Grove stadium to house both Bears and Cardinals. Reverse all ..renovations.. to Soldier Field and make it an outdoor music/festival complex. Reassign Landmark Status.

My Mark on the World (Part 2 of 2)

The following are examples, courtesy www.widescreen.org that thoroughly showcase that when movies are formatted to "fit" your television screen, you are not seeing the entire picture:

Some of the best examples are from the Lord of The Rings trilogy:

If you turn your back on letterbox - you are turning your back on composition, intent, focus and most importantly: the truth.

My Mark On The World (Part 1 of 2)

Every once in a while a human being's life transcends his or her time on Earth.
Their impact shapes the world for the better.
Great causes or ideals are eternally liked with their name.
Like this guy:

And how this bus is linked with Rosa Parks:

These have to do with civil rights.
I want the following image shaped to me:

If you view this picture as a square with two black bars, you are in a prison without knowing. If you view this as a rectangle, you are emancipated.
For those who do not see the light, tomorrow you will be informed.
Tomorrow will hopefully be the first day in the rest of your life.

Minor Setback

After about five hours of watching Pro Basketball with "Keaton" at the Race & Sports Book of the Wynn Property, we were hungry and happy. The Heat not only covered but my over parlay hit and Keaton benefited enough from Kobe's first 70 point effort of the season to put money back into his pocket.

"Chaplin", who just game back from a journey that is worthy of its own post in the future, had no gaming interest in Pro Basketball. When he arrived we left for The Mirage, more specifically a fancy hamburger restaurant called The Carnegie Deli. This place was less famous than its NYC inspiration, and vastly less populated. We were met instantly from a 40+ year old server from Washington who, according to Chaplin -and Chaplin ONLY- told him he had "beautiful eyes." I'd still bet a few green chips that the server said no such thing.

This was not the last hearing failure of the dinner. FYI: Chaplin does not say, "What?" "Pardon me?" or "Excuse me?" when he fails to hear an audible message. With the precision of a Swiss watch he always responds, "Say again."

Keaton theorized that I was too slow in responding to the server's order cues (i.e. How do you want that cooked ? Fries or chips? etc...):

Keaton: Your ordering style is inflaming the waitress.

Chaplin: Say again.

Keaton: Tom is inflaming the waitress

Chaplin: Say again.

Keaton: Inflaming.

Chaplin: (silence)

Keaton: Do you know what inflaming means?

Chaplin: (after more silence) Gay.

TQ: (laughter) Yes, Bill, my ordering style is slowly turning our waitress into a lesbian.

Chaplin: Oh, I didn't hear the last part of that.

Keaton: No, you didn't hear the first part of that.

After we were handed the total from the server, who's sexual orientation was unknown to us, continued to stand at our table and stare us down. I think it was retribution for my slow-play of ordering, Keaton believed she was just nuts. Chaplin did not provide his theory.

Finally we threw our cash in the leather flap book and the server checked to make sure we didn't pay with Monopoly money. After she was certain it was true legal tender, the sever stood for a few beats silent and stoic. Finally she shrugged her shoulders and made an expression that read, "well... that's it."

We walked out with Keaton insisting that she was in fact nuts. 25 yards away were the Craps tables.Keaton , who might have wanted to continue his foray into "wrong betting" chose a different craps table. I decided to stick with Chaplin, who I insisted read my Craps Book when we were back at TI at the start of the day. First time craps players always seem to have better luck.

That night was the debut of my new "snap enhanced" audible shooting routine. It proved successful and Chaplin and I began to draw fans from foreign worlds. Fast forward 90 minutes later, I'm back up to shoot and have already made a point. Keaton stops by on his way out saying that he had to escape. His table had turned cold and he was next to a large boisterous man who'd yell, "MINOR SETBACK" after every failed point.

Shortly thereafter, without warning, Mirage officials close down all the craps tables. In the middle of a point. In the middle of MY POINT! Citing a "fire regulation" we all stand in limbo when all the lights in the casino go out. Less than ten seconds later I see more flashlights than an X-Files convention as everybody around me makes the worst attempt at an Oceans Eleven reference in history. After the 4 odd minutes the lights go back on and the craps table opens back up.

Gambling in a silent casino, with no slot machine noise and no background music, was the closest to a slow-motion dream sequence that I have ever experienced. The Mirage was operating on a bare bones energy grid, but that couldn't stop the game. The only thing that I could hear was the random "MINOR SETBACK" yelled from 20 feet away. I repeated that same statement in a pissed off sarcasm as I silently roll a seven minutes later.

Wanting out of that Twilight Zone I cash out and leave. The lights in the Mirage bathroom were out and the faucets had no water. When I got outside I noticed all the lights on the outside of the hotel were out, and the steady hum of generators was more chilling than the casino's silence.

I give one of the security guards outside a puzzling shrug and he assures me they are just "testing a power failure." I respond back with, "Minor setback?" The security guard nodded in approval.