Month: December 2010

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Did Santa leave a friend under the tree for me?

Now that Christmas is pretty much over and the orgy of capitalism known as “the holiday season” has almost passed, this post isn’t as relevant as it could have been, but I still think it’s important. In a way, I guess it’s a re-emphasis of this blog post, but I wanted to write it anyway.

To keep it short and simple, I hope that you all remembered what was really important this December. Sure, presents are awesome. I rarely turn them down unless they look and smell like flaming dog poop—a man’s got to have standards. But there’s more going on than presents. There are the people who gave them to you.

There’s plenty of stuff getting passed around and plenty of people doing it. If not for the people… sure, you’re stuck buying gifts for yourself, but that’s not the point. The point is that they’re the ones who make this time the best. Stuff—material objects—will never be able to take the place of people. At least until they build androids that can travel back in time and try to kill Sarah Connor.

But it’s the human interaction that’s the most important part of the season. Love, joy, cherishing each others’ company… that’s the good stuff, baby. So I hope you all got to spend time with your friends and family and made your lives more complete because of it. Unless they gave you flaming dog poop as a present. Then you can ditch ’em.

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What, my ACL could get a cavity?

I went to the dentist today for the first time in… a long time. Since it was my first time at that clinic, I got there at about 1:10 to do some paperwork before a 1:30 appointment. I filled out the forms, then sat around until it was time for me to get my teeth cleaned. Finally, it was 1:30. Then 1:40. About 1:50, the person at the desk saw me in the reception area and said she’d go take a look to see what was up. She came back and told me the dentist was still helping someone and it’d be another ten minutes before I could get back there. Yeah, they were running a little behind schedule.

Upon my arrival into the dentist’s chair, they told me they couldn’t clean my teeth. Why? Because I had knee surgery in April and they needed Dr. Lewis to sign a form saying it was okay to do it. I was a little annoyed, but that’s their policy (for legal reasons or something else, I dunno). So I asked how far back it goes. I mean, surgery was almost eight months ago. That’s a pretty long time, right? Well, not long enough according to their standards:

You need to have that form signed if you’ve had an operation performed in the last two years.

Sure, I think that’s ridiculous, but that’s their policy. The dentist wasn’t going to clean my teeth, but they took some x-rays and found out I have no new cavities after all this time. So that’s the lesson of the day, kids: remember to brush and floss properly and you can have surgery as often as you want.

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Note to self: read the list of exercises first

I was eager to try out EA Sports Active 2 today, so I did a load of laundry first thing in the morning, ensuring that I’d have clean workout clothes. If all went according to plan, they’d be soaked with sweat by the time I was done. Turns out that even though things didn’t go according to plan, I was still soaked with sweat. Funny how exercising can do that to a person who hasn’t had a solid workout in many moons. Continue reading “Note to self: read the list of exercises first“

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It’s only the first day?!

How I celebrated the Winter Solstice of 2010:

1) Silently wished my older brother and his wife, Brent and Gail, a happy 7th anniversary.

2) Shoveled another 5″ of snow off the front steps and driveway that came down yesterday.

2a) Got hot and sweaty doing it due to temperatures in the 20s.

2b) Became sad when realizing that “in the 20s” is a warm first day of winter here in MN.

3) Took a looooooong, hot shower to help melt away the aches and pains of shoveling… and rinse away the sweat, too.

4) Napped off and on for several hours due to exertion and lack of sleep last night.

5) Learned that this is the 2nd snowiest December on record.

5a) Did not curse upon learning this fact.

6) Received a copy of EA Sports Active 2 for the Wii that I ordered from Amazon.com to help combat some of the lingering after-effects of my trip to Norway: “Have seconds!” “Go back for another serving!” “Time for delectable desserts!” “I TOLD YOU TO EAT MORE, DAMMIT!”

7) Wrote this blog entry of the day and felt a great deal of self-satisfaction having done so. Yay me.

So that’s a summary of today’s events. Given how crazy things got, I can only imagine what the second day of winter will bring.

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Skol, Vikings, let’s snow!

Dear Zygi Wilf,

I want the Vikings to stay in Minnesota. I have a lot of fun cheering for them (too loudly, according to my dad). If they move to some other part of the country, you might as well stick a shiv in the fans’ backs, then bastardize the team by not changing the name (see: L.A. Lakers, Dallas Stars).

However, if you require a new stadium to remain here, make it a dome. I don’t care how historic tonight was, the Vikings are a crappy team when playing in cold weather. (I think the TV commentators said the last outdoor game the Vikes won in conditions like these was back in 2005.) We get a lot of cold weather here in Minnesota during November and December and things would only get worse if the team plays less crappy and makes the playoffs.

The funding for the stadium is an issue I don’t want to dwell on right now, I just want you to accept the cold reality (pun intended) of the situation: it doesn’t matter what you want—the Vikings need a domed stadium. Thanks for understanding.

Best wishes,
Shawn