Checking it twice

Mind you, a few things happened this Christmas, some good, some bad. I will get about discussing the good, bad and indifferent at another time, but first we are going to go back for just a second and review the list I had posted earlier. Just how close to actuality did the list get this year? Well let's take a look shall we;

 

 

Money - I actually didn't rake in all that much cash this year, the only money I got was $20 from my grandmother that she gives all of the grandkids.

Groceries (when don't I eat after all?) - This was one of the more theatrical productions of the Christmas holiday. Anyone who knows how I shop knows that I shop on the cheap. Well my mom wanted to get me groceries but didn't know what to get so she offered to take me grocery shopping a few days after Christmas. The trip to the store was hilarious. She didn't understand me shopping for the cheapest hot dogs, or buying chili to go with tortilla chips because it tastes good and is cheaper than salsa. At times she was just throwing stuff in the cart because I wouldn't pick it out myself. Other times she would suggest stuff and I would end up telling her that it would never get eaten and would thereby be wasted. Prime example, she wanted to buy me this bacon type product that apparently you can put in the microwave. I have a pack of bacon that has been sitting in my freezer for like 2 years now so I had to fight with her not to buy it because I would probably never use it. Other times she would pick stuff like some multiflavor cheesecake that was in the freezer section. I looked at it and it was $7 and I said we are not spending $7 on a dessert, I could have ramen noodles for like 2 months on that. It was a most entertaining trip to say the least, my mom trying to spoil me and me being all frugal.

Pogo membership - Nothing here, though I did win two more wall papers from Pogo, one was with the Happy New Year badge, the other I won on a token spin while chasing that horrid Carnival Blackjack badge this week.

TV shows on DVD such as - I received no DVDs this year so we can ignore this section entirely

- Aqua Teen Hunger Force (season 2 and beyond)

- West Wing (Seasons 2-7)

- Homicide: Life on the Streets

- Drawn Together (season 2 and beyond)

Rhapsody downloads - Also something that I did not receive, though to be honest, I doubt anyone in my family actually knows what these are, this would be a little too techie for them.

A female (preferable breathing, but not mandatory) - This always ends up on the list and always ends up not happening, though given the number of family members that are squeezing out more kids and others having relationship problems, I might rethink ever putting this on the list again, as the more I see of this whole coupling thing, the less and less I am liking it.

My own radio show - To my knowledge, the radio station didn't give me this and I didn't see any offers in the mail or email from other stations, so I guess this didn't happen either.

A day of nothing but sleep - I didn't get one of these, but I did make it a sport of lounging quite a bit. On Christmas morning, I was the guy sleeping until after 10am. That was awesome.

Gift cards (Target, Wal Mart, Barnes & Noble, Giant Eagle, Borders, Best Buy) - I actually got 4 of these, a $100 gift card to Best Buy from Lynn, a $25 gift card to Radio Shack from Phil who sometimes will sit in for Lynn on the radio show, and 2 $25 gift cards to Barnes and Noble, one from my mom and one from my uncle Fred, who had my name in this year's name exchange on Christmas Eve.

Lottery tickets (winners only please) - I got $7 of lottery tickets which won $6, I cashed them in for more tickets and the new tickets didn't win anything.

Shoes (size 9 1/2) - I got two pair of shoes which meant one of the first things I did when getting back to my apartment was to throw out a bunch of shoes that had holes in the tread or on the side. I must have had like 5 pair of shoes that I couldn't wear anymore but was holding onto for some sentimental reason that I can't figure. Now the garbage man can hold them for landfill purposes.

Haircut - I did get a haircut the day after Christmas, it was one of the few things I did that I would consider productive during my vacation.

Massage - Nothing here, but as a side note, when I am relaxed my neck tends to pop quite loudly as the stress leaves my shoulders. I think every day of vacation my neck cracked at least once.

Penguin tickets - No Penguin tickets, but I am looking forward to New Years Day when they will be on national TV playing a game outside in Buffalo when they take on the Sabres.

A maid - Nope

Books (too many to list here, so inquire within for more info) - This was a place I did better than expected. I got three books (plus the two gift cards). Mind you I still had books from work I could read so I wasn't hurting for reading material, but I also got "Blaze" by Richard Bachman (aka Stephen King), "The Quickie" by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge and "Bone Lake" by Drusilla Campbell. I also got a book of Sunday New York Time Crossword puzzles (thankfully the answers come with the book) and another of the few accomplishments of vacation was finishing reading "Mr. Adams's Last Crusade" by Joseph Wheelan which was a biography of John Quincy Adams that focused on his life in the House of Representatives after his time as President of the United States. To my knowledge it still isn't on bookshelves, I was reading an advance copy sent to the station. It should be available in Feb if memory serves me correctly.

Socks - Yes, I received a package of socks.

Underwear - I also got this, though I hate to disappoint the ladies out there, but they are just tighty whiteys, no cool boxer action for me so I will not be doing any underwear modeling on the page any time soon.

Dress shirts - I did get one dress shirt and also a sweatshirt, which is fine, I am coming to like sweatshirts more and more these days. As I type this I am lounging in a sweatshirt and non Christmas related boxer shorts.

Pants - I got one pair of dress pants and one pair of jeans.

Yes, this is the clothing portion of the list

Neckties - No ties, though I really don't wear them all that much, this was more of a list filler than anything else.

A new zipper for my leather jacket - For the second straight year this made the list but didn't happen. Luckily I have a fleece jacxket I can wear under my leather jacket until I get off of my ass and get my coat fixed. I am way lazy in case you didn't notice, otherwise this wouldn't be on the list for two straight years.

Washington Post subscription - No newspaper subscriptions WaPo or otherwise. I did raed the paper semiregularly on vacation which is odd, because I almost never buy one when I am not on vacation, I just rely on online versions of the paper, yet during vacation I had a hard copy of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette in my hands just about everyday, including Christmas morning when I bought one at Sheetz, where they were also giving out free coffee Christmas morning. Yummmm, free coffee!!!!!

Bed sheets (twin) - I got a set of twin sheets for my bed.

Stamps - One book of stamps, by the time I use them I am sure the postage rate will go up again. You may think I am kidding but before I left on vacation I found unused .37 cent stamps in my apartment or two postal rate hikes ago for those keeping score at home.

Combo Lo Mein - No combo lo mein but duirng the grocery story run I did pick out in the Lipton Noodles and Sauce section of the store two Asain side dishes including Beef Lo Mein. Not sure if it is any good, but it was on sale (1 dollar a pack, again with the bargain shopping) so I grabbed some.

A good Philly Cheesesteak - This is another of those things that will just never happen but has to appear on the list out of principle. There are cheesesteaks and then there are Philly Cheesesteaks and all imitators need to take two steps back becaue they just aren't the same.

Vaccuum cleaner - This was probably my big gift and one of the reasons I haven't blogged earlier this evening, as I was putting the vacuum cleaner together. I had a brief brain cramp not understanding why it wouldn't suck stuff up until I realized that it might have something to do with the tube that runs from the base of the vacuum to the filtration unit (it is a bagless thank god) wasn't connected. I had a brief "Oh my god I am as dumb as my ex girfriend who thought that if you microwaved one hot dog for a minute, you microwaved 10 for 10 minutes" kind of moment, thankfully that has passed and the vacuum works wonderfully now.

Someone to take about 15 lbs away from my gut - The fat fairy was a no show, maybe next time I will jam my fat under my pillow and hope for a quarter or something.

More hours in the day, as long as they aren't work hours - I wish this would have happened because then I would still be on vacation.

A victory in the fantasy football playoffs would be nice - This didn't happen, in my two leagues I finished 4th and second, 4th in yahoo which means my 10-4 regular season was all for naught and second in the bar league which means I at least made a couple of bucks as second place paid out $139.50.

Recipe for a good hot garlic sauce for chicken wings - No recipes for wing sauce, but someone who listens to the show did send Lynn and I some presents and one of mine was a cookbook for all things Campbell's soup.

Home cooked food ( I could serious dig on some chocolate chip cookies, but I am trying to not be too picky) - I did get cookies to bring home with me, which I am not taking to the radio station, they can have my box of chocolate covered cremes but they don't get my cookies. Actually I ate quite well while at home; turkey, carrots, mashed potatoes, cheesecake on Christmas Eve, ham, corn and baked potatoes Christmas day, pork chops and steak fries on another vacation day and last night was homemade beef stew so plenty of home cooked eats here and probably an extra 5 pounds for the fat fairy next year.

Towels - No towels, but these are an easy snag for me, especially with everyone running after Christmas specials seeing as how they apparently didn't make enough money before Christmas. I have bad news for you Lee, if you thought the early Christmas stuff was bad, I was shopping a few days before Christmas and they had already rolled out the stuff for Valentine's Day.

Sims 2 for PC - This is one of those things where evidence of my family's non techiness comes into play. I got Sims 2 Nightlife, which is an expansion pack to the game, the thing being that without the game, the expansion is of little use. Now some people would take a gift like this back to the store and try to get their money back or credit at the store or they would bitch and moan that it wasn't what they wanted, but not me, I don't roll like that. It is all about the thought, I know that this wasn't purchased as some sort of slight against me, and chances are I will end up buying Sims 2 at some point anyway, so tis can sit on my shelf for now and I will get to it when I have the chance, but I will never take a well intentioned gift back to the store simply because it didn't suit my needs.

Greendot card uploads - I don't think anyone in my family knows what these are so the chance I would get anything like this is slim and none.

 

And that kids is the story of the list. For the record, I know I didn't pull an Asshat out during vacation, that would go to our illustrious House of Representatives who decided that it might be a good idea to pass a resolution to confirm the fact that Christmas is important. After reading about JQ Adams time in the House of Representatives, to see our elected representatives waste their time on garbage such as this makes me want to scream. This doesn't just go out to all of those who voted in favor, this goes out to those that voted at all, as casting a vote on something this ridiculous goes to show just how much you really don't deserve your job. I can think of plenty of things the House can be spending their time on, affirming Christmas is important isn't one of them. Thus the largest ever issuing of Asshats, 391 in all that voted either yea, nay or present is handed out to this most dubious of groups.

Seasons Greetings Indeed!!!!!!