Monday, December 27, 2010

The Three Days of Christmas

Well, all in all, it was a good Christmas. It was a quiet Christmas, largely by choice. As I mentioned earlier, I kept my decorations and preparations for the holiday to a minimum. I wanted to have a simple Christmas and I was successful. I slept well Christmas Eve, waking early on Christmas Day. I made the pilgrimage to Christmas Mass and then met a couple of friends for an assortment of quiches and a sort of buffet Christmas day breakfast. Okay, the only thing in the buffet was quiche, so it was a simple enough thing.

From there, I went home, stopping at the bank on the way (ATM’s do not require Christmas Day off), and then settling in at home. The plan was to watch “Avatar” on Blu-Ray, but as I settled in I happened to stumble upon another excellent movie that was playing on Starz. It was “Whip It”, with Ellen Page and Drew Barrymore. That is a great little movie.

When “Whip It” wrapped up, I headed over to Bob’s for an informal “Bachelor” Christmas dinner (well, I guess it was a Bachelor and Bachelorette dinner, since Brandy was there.) Christmas dinner was a broiled rib-eye steak, mashed potatoes loaded with bacon and cheddar cheese, stuffing, and a green bean casserole. The food was quiet tasty, though Bob later reported that the marinade used on the steak gave him heartburn. There was a pumpkin pie planned for dessert, but that never materialized. Following the pleasant little dinner, I made my way home to wrap of the day with T.R. and Bill Murray (Bill was in “Scrooged”). All told, it was a great little, simple little, Christmas Day.

On the day after Christmas Tyrone and I went to the Hickory Pit for breakfast and Tyrone out did himself eating pork-products. He had the ham steak and eggs, with a side of country sausage AND a side of bacon. I could hear his arteries clogging as he worked his way through breakfast. From there, I stopped at Fry’s and picked up some incidental things. I wanted to get some twist ties to secure computer cables since I was planning on re-arranging the furniture in both my office at work and my office at home.

Additionally, I picked up a pair of movies that were on sale and that are both worthy additions to my Blu-Ray collection – I picked up “Leon The Professional” (Jean Reno, Natalie Portman, and Gary Oldman) and “Escape From New York”, the classic John Carpenter/Kurt Russell team up. I circled homeward with a stop at CVS and a stop for a haircut.

After a quick pit-stop at home I headed back out to La-Z-Boy, when I bought a new chair (the La-Z-Boy “Charlotte” http://www.la-z-boy.com/product/5524-7268/Charlotte-High-Leg-Reclining-Chair/ ), which will be delivered at the end of January. I’ve been meaning to replace my chair, since it has seen better days, so this was the opportunity to do it and it is my Christmas present to myself.

From there, I met Don at Santa Clara Billiards for a few hours of pool, and then it was off to meet Bob and Tony at “True Grit” over at Century 22, followed by a simple dinner at The Flames there on Winchester. I wrapped the day with T.R., and then followed the old adage of early to bed and early to rise.

It’s been quiet here at the office today, with one ongoing technical incident that the team is working on and a blessed change to actually think which at the office. I don’t have anything exciting planned tonight, in fact, I am looking forward to another quiet evening at home and perhaps a bit of DVR watching or maybe a movie. (Oh, and I did rearrange my office – I’m not entirely sure I like it, but it is different and I suspect it will grow on me.)

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