• Problems, real and imagined.

    Thousands of people died from pneumonia in the U.S. last year. No one in the U.S. died from eating a “mad cow steak”. A whole freaking mess of people died from pneumonia world wide last year. Less than 200, world wide, died from eating a “mad cow steak”. “Mad Cow” could become a really big problem if left unchecked. Being infected by a “mad cow steak” is a frightening prospect, but is incredibly unlikely. Based on last years statistics, you are infinitely more likely to die of pneumonia than from eating “mad cow” tainted beef. (Any whole number divided by zero equals infinity.)

    Which do you supposed folks are more afraid of right now?

    Of course, this trend could be over with just one story from your local news channel… “TONIGHT AT ELEVEN, FIND OUT ABOUT THE KILLER DISEASE THAT IS HIDING RIGHT UNDER YOUR NOSE – A CHANNEL ELEVEN INVESTIGATIVE REPORT THAT YOU AND YOUR FAMILY CAN NOT AFFORD TO MISS!”

    The freedom loving people of this nation just love their local news. Is there someone I can blame for that?

    By the way, red meat gave me a little pause the other night too.

  • Christmas past.

    Today I had a great Christmas. We had a bunch of folks over to celebrate with us, and it was cool. We don’t often have a bunch of people over to the house, so today was quite the event. I was never popular in school, I was never popular at work, and I am not popular in the neighborhood; so having a bunch of people in my house gives me the opportunity to pretend that I am. It didn’t hurt that it seemed people actually didn’t mind so much being here. I just hope that I didn’t make a jack-ass out of myself. We folks with a shortage of self esteem get a little nervous putting ourselves on display – and I did. Ah well, if nothing else I did a fabulous job of entertaining myself, because I had a great time.

    I sent a Christmas greeting to most of my friends and family, but suddenly I feel like that is not enough. So where ever you are, what ever you may be doing, regardless of whether you are paying attention (and most of you are not, but that’s o.k. – I wouldn’t either)… I hope you enjoyed your Christmas as much as I did.

  • Christmas day.

    This is it, the grand-daddy of them all. Christmas is the one that all other holidays look up to with envy. The smell of baking bread fills the air. Wrapping paper and Christmas lights color the living room. The metalic clang of oven racks colliding and the sound of Cheryl groaning in frustration spreads good cheer to all that can hear.

    These are the memories that will sustain me through the rest of the year.