Multiply 365 Day 313 -Coal in your stocking

I like to Christmas shop, I really do.  I like going out and seeing if I can't use my own unique skill set to find something for someone that, even if they didn't ask for that particular item, it turns out it is something they actually like.  Sometimes I hit the nail on the head, like when I picked out the sweater for my aunt last year that I found in a Native American shop.  Other times I am not quite as good.  I am still waiting for my parents to actually connect their HD TV I got them last year or the Blu Ray player I got them the year before.

So while I like to shop, there are some things I will just not do.  Regardless of how great the deals are, I refuse to go out on Black Friday.  I realize that by not doing so I may end up paying a little more for a potential gift for someone, but there is a risk/reward factor involved here.  And I am not putting myself at risk to shop with a pack of hooligans simply to save a couple of shekels on a present.  We have all heard the horror stories, people being trampled on just to get to that item that is on sale.  This year was no different, people were camped out in front of stores days before Black Friday, almost like they were waiting for concert tickets for an act that rarely tours, rather than for an Xbox that they can get someplace else in a couple of days for a few dollars more.

Just this weekend we had stories of a woman who, instead of whipping out a can of whoop ass, instead decided to fire off a can of pepper spray in a crowd, just to guarantee that she got one of the elusive sale items.  Or the guys that waited outside a WalMart at 2am on Friday morning, just so they could rob people who were coming back to their cars, shooting one such customer before being apprehended.  When people ask me if I will be shopping on that day I just look at them and ask, are you fucking crazy?  I would rather being a guard at a high security prison, it would be safer.

So if you were looking for me to get you that special gift on Friday, that laptop that was on sale, or that TV you always wanted, I hate to break it to you, but you are going to be disappointed. 

Multiply 365 Day 312 - Or Thanksgiving?

Okay, I did the good portion of the holiday earlier, now comes the shitty part. The reason why I don't usually like Thanksgiving all that much is that for the most part it is the loneliest day of the year for me.

I know, why would anyone pick Thanksgiving for that? The thing is, I miss having all of my family under one roof. As a kid, all of my aunts and uncles, their kids and my grandparents would all be under one roof celebrating the holiday. Sure, the celebrating consisted of just sitting around and getting fat, or in some cases fatter, but it was everyone, under one roof, laughing and carrying on. It was the eagerness of wondering if this would be the year where I wouldn't have to sit at the kid's table, if I had grown up enough to sit with the adults. It was going outside and throwing a football around waiting for dinner to be ready, wondering if we could somehow get control of my grandparent's TV to watch the games that were on, suffering through the fact my grandmother would have the thermostat set too high again and we would be sweating just by being in the house.

But times change, people grow up and move on. Many of the grand kids I shared the kid's table with are now married with children of their own, my grandparent's have since passed away and work has kept me from going home spending time with my family far more often than I would like to count. So Thanksgiving in that regard has become a thankless task, a ritual in loneliness, getting up and going to work and acting like the day is no different than any other day, coming home to an empty apartment and wondering what food like substance will pass for the holiday meal this year. Making a big meal for one person seems so much like a waste, but sitting around eating Cher Boyardee just comes across as pathetic. There is no happy medium in that equation, just suck, no matter which way you turn.

For the most part this year has been really good, at times I would say far better than I deserve, but there are still moments like this, where I am sitting here eating a non holiday, holiday meal, alone in my apartment, wishing like hell I could sit at that kid's table again.

Multiply 365 Day 311 - Thanksgiving?

Well it is Thanksgiving, and that in and of itself doesn't mean much to me. Most years I would just sit here and treat this as a same old kind of day, but recently I have been thinking about what I am thankful for. Yeah, I know, shocks me too. But so much has changed in the last couple of months, that I have just grown to have a greater appreciation of some things more, and a willingness to express that, so without further ado, what I am thankful for.

I guess this list and my desire to write it really doesn't happen without Jennifer. I can't begin to express how thankful I am for her,.how much she means to me and how much my life is better simply because she is in it. Whether it be our long, late nite chats, or a simple note sent out of the blue through the course of the day , her mere presence has changed the way I look and feel about so many things.

My family and friends are also deserving of being on this list, for all of the love and support they have offered over the years. I am not always the most pleasant person to deal with, yet they have stood by me through the best and worst of times. Muchas gracias and all that jazz.

Thanks also to the fine readers of this here blog. It is easier to write knowing someone is reading, even if those people completely disagree with me from time to time. Yes, this page does not exist in a vacuum, even if I sometimes like to pretend it does.

I am also thankful to the people who apparently are blind. Twice in the past week I was asked yet again if I was losing weight. Really? For real? I know I am not on any sort of diet, so if I am losing weight, it is news to me.

I am also thankful that whatever foot pain I seemed to have for the better part of half of this year has seemingly went away. I can't begin to state just how much it hurt to even walk, yet my job requires me to be on my feet most of the day, which meant by the time I actually got home my foot would be throbbing with pain. Whatever that problem was though, it seems to have went away on its own, which is perfectly fine with me.

I am thankful for Burgers and Rice Bowl for introducing me to the wonders of the Cuban sandwich and for Deluca's, where I learned that pancakes and ice cream are perfectly good together for breakfast.

I guess my job should be mentioned on this list as well. I know it isn't the most important job on the planet, nor is it the highest paying, but it provides me enough of a challenge mentally and enough money to keep food in my belly and a roof over my head.

And thanks to all of the free apps I use that allow me to get free junk that I either keep for myself or give away to friends and family. Between Swagbucks, Mycokerewards, Mysurvey.com, Foodservicerewards and a few others, I have been able to do okay on collecting free stuff.

This would be the part of the show where the music starts playing and I am being escorted off of the stage, so I am sorry if I forgot someone in my little run of things to be thankful for, but if I did, I think you know who you are, so forgive my omission.

Repeats

Yes I saw this last year and posted it then but it is about that time of year so the video is back... Enjoy!!!!

Multiply 365 Day 310 - It doesn't happen often but....

I do not consider myself as having much skill with a camera.  I can take an okay picture of something, but when it comes to lighting and how a shot could be positioned and what not, I don't lose a whole lot of sleep over that type of thing.  Which is why I am so happy with the picture here, yes I took it right outside of work the other day.  Because of the way the terrain is laid out, it looks just like the sun is rising right over the sidewalk.  Mind you any other day of the year and the sun's position may be different, but luck would find me, my camera and the sun on a collision course this particular day.  Hope you all like.

 

 

Multiply 365 Day 309 - TITI #16 - Random thoughts

So Michele Duggar is pregnant again.  For those that don't know who she, or the whole Duggar clan are, they are on TLC's 19  "Kids and Counting" because,well, she has given birth to 19 kids.  And it appears that she is pregnant with child #20.  I know we have given this warning out on the blog page before, but in case Michelle missed it the first time, "It's a vagina, not a clown car."

Whoever advised Jerry Sandusky that he should do an interview with Bob Costas about the 40 charges against him relating to having sex with at least 8 different boys should be looking for work right about now.  That was super creepy in a not good for Jerry Sandusky kind of way.  Admitting to showering with boys, horseplay in the shower with them and touching their legs (but in a non sexual way), yeah, he is going to make a nice prison bitch for someone.

Just another reason why I like hockey.

So Republican Presidential candidate Herman Cain stumbled when asked a question about President Barack Obama's policy regarding Libya.  Well, it could be worse, he could pick Miss Teen South Carolina as his running mate.  Quick, cue the blog title's music






$1 can't get you much these days.  Unless of course you are the wife of Joe Paterno, in which case it gets you the house.  At least that is what he sold it to her for in a mysterious financial deal. Maybe she really is that good in bed or it could just be to protect family assets in case of pending civil suits in the Sandusky matter.

And lastly on the PSU incident, can Mike McQueary stop with the false bravado already.  Sorry Mike, this case isn't about how good you should look, it's about the 8 kids that Jerry Sandusky raped, so making up stories about your behavior on the night in question after the fact just to make yourself look good is almost as disgusting as what actually took place in the shower between Sandusky and the 10 year old boy he was molesting.

Every time Indianapolis quarterback Curtis Painter drops back to pass, he strengthens the case that Peyton Manning is the most valuable player in the NFL.

Multiply 365 Day 308 - Target goals

As many of you know, I collect some things that other people either have no use for or tend to throw away.  Me, I am all about free, so if I can get something without actually spending my own money on it, well then I will do just that.

Probably the three biggest collections I have going right now are the change meter, a running total of money I find on the ground and what not, Swagbucks, a search engine that awards bucks which can be redeemed later for prizes and Mycokerewards, a point system under the caps of all Coke products. 

The major goal for the change meter is nothing specific, just a cash total.  And in than vein, the next accomplishment will be to reach $400.  Well, we aren't near there yet, though the last month was relatively productive, I found another $5.45 so the new total is now $315.92.

I am closer on the mycokerewards front, where I am trying to get the MP3 player.  That would require me to collect 1500 points, and right now I am getting there, I have over 1320 points, but I still have little ways to go yet.

Lastly would be my Swagbucks, where really the only thing I get is the $5 Amazon gift cards.  Sure, I could save my bucks for bigger prizes, but any of those very same prizes I can buy with the Amazon gift cards anyway.  Plus Amazon lets you bank the gift cards, so you can build up a balance and they also allow you to use the gift cards for shipping and handling also.  Not many places do either one of those things, usually it is just one gift card per order and you are still responsible for shipping charges.  I have in the past used those monies to add to y reading collection, but for now I a trying to save up for a Kindle.  The cheapest one they have is $79, not too expensive but not cheap either.  Anyway, I already have over $70 now saved via Swagbucks and another $5 gift card pending, so I am about one gift card away (450 Swagbucks, I currently have 10) from cashing in on a free Kindle as well.

See, I can get a blog out of just about anything, even free stuff.

Multiply 365 Day 307 - Still on the island

So I figured today was the day I finally lost. The survivor poll I am in was down to 3 people, and I was one of the remaining three. For those not in the know a survivor pool works something like this; each week of the NFL season you have to pick one team on the list of games that you think will win. If you pick correctly, you survive and move on to the next week. The only stipulation is that once you pick a team, you can't pick them again. So 9 weeks into the season, the number of possible teams you think will win is somewhat diminished.

With that In mind I looked at the slate of games for this weekend and decided that I would take the Philadelphia Eagles. The matchup they had looked promising, Arizona was flying across the country to play them, without their starting quarterback and with their starting running back at least banged up. And by taking Philadelphia I was saving a couple of teams that I like for another week, should I need them.

But what is it said about the best laid plans and all that jazz? All of my careful inspection of the schedule and scheming to make sure I took a good team but not too good a team backfired. Philadelphia gives up a touchdown with less than 2 minutes remaining and loses by 4 points.

That would seem to be the end for me, I didn't survive after all. Except it turns out the other two people also lost, both taking Baltimore over Seattle (I would have considered Baltimore had I not used them two weeks earlier) so even though we all lost, we all get to play at least one more week, until a definite winner is decided.

Multiply 365 Day 306 - Quitting time

So I a faced with a perplexing dilemma as I come to you this evening. I think it may be time to quit my job. It's not that I don't like my job, I really enjoy it actually, but anymore I am thinking I can find more money elsewhere. Namely lottery tickets.

I know, the lottery sounds like a really bad idea for a plan for the future, but anymore it is like I can't lose. Last week I hit on three separate occasions for $100. Mind you I did spend some money on those tickets, so it wasn't all profit, but I would bet at least $200 of it was. Then the last few days it has started again. Yesterday at work I had to run an order down to our other store. Because of the Veteran's Day parade the delivery truck couldn't get there, so he dropped the order off at our place and asked me to deliver it. On the way back I bought $20 in tickets, first one was a $50 dollar winner. Today I got up and headed out to work, got my coffee and 2 $5 tickets, first one was a $40 winner. I figure I will hold onto it and just cash it in after I get off of work, so I go to lunch, stop by the grocery store and cash in the ticket, getting 2 more $5 tickets. Both won, another $55. Now I just walked to my corner store, wanted to grab some chip dip and a chicken salad sandwich to snack on (I already had chips, I don't face plant into the dip, thank you very much), cashed in those tickets, keeping $40 and buying 3 more $5 tickets. Two more winners, $50 and $20. I am getting closer and closer to just packing it in and sitting around scratching tickets all day.

Just kidding, I wouldn't be that foolish. After all, I still have a paid vacation that I need to take first.

Multiply 365 Day 305 - Waiting

Waiting. I am not very good at it. Even as I sit here and type this entry, I am at the Squirrel Cage, waiting on a steak sandwich and fries and wondering why they aren't here yet, even though I just ordered them a couple of minutes ago.

As for why the Squirrel Cage? Well, just needed to be out of the apartment for a bit, and I seem to be more inspired to write when I come here than anywhere else. Also there is the fresh cut french fries and the fact this is one of the last places around where I can smoke and eat it the same venue. I wonder sometimes if I am the only person who comes here to be inspired. After all, the place isn't much to look at on the outside, and nobody would mistake the cuisine for that of the 5 star variety, but just the same it has a hominess about it, one that I haven't been able to put my finger on. It is like a comfy pair of sweat pants, each time I visit I know what to expect, a few regulars at the bar, the same barmaid bringing me my glass of iced tea usually without me even asking, and the same quiet feel that allows me to write. I wonder if guys like Michael Chabon ever stopped here to put pen to paper, or cursor to keyboard in order to find that writing muse that is so elusive some of the time.

But before I go off on a tangent about fleeting muses, I better bring this all the way back around to the original premise, that being waiting. I am not good at it. Good thing my food is already here, one less thing to wait on. I think the hardest part about waiting for me isn't the suspense, it is more just wanting to get to the eventuality of it all. Just as I have a pretty good understanding of what my steak sandwich will taste like even before it gets to the table, I am getting a real feel for what my future will hold now (at least I think I am), but that doesn't mean I don't want it here now. Much like Christmas, you know you will get lots of cool presents, yet you still are eager to tear into them and see just what they are. I am so eager to tear into my future, that waiting for my own personal Christmas morning is hard.

So I try to distract myself, taking my mind off of the eagerness that is enveloping me. Maybe that is another reason I find myself at the Squirrel Cage right now, as a way to keep me from sitting around doing nothing but fantasizing about a future to be, a future that just a few short months ago I wouldn't even have considered and now am looking at as an almost certainty. I take comfort in that notion, that it isn't a matter of if but a matter of when, but it doesn't make the waiting any easier.

Multiply 365 Day 304 - What we deserve

Amidst all of the hullabaloo over tea parties and occupiers was a simple message yesterday, that being no one really gives a shit.  When headlines come up with turnouts under 35%, and those are the glowing ones, well then it is hard to take any movement all that seriously.  Yes, I know it was an off year election, but those are the exact times when legitimate movements should be able to make gains, a sizable group voting in a low turn out election, yet it was incumbents across the nation that were yesterday's biggest winners.

I was thoroughly impressed to be hitting my polling place, which opened at 8am, around 3:30 in the afternoon and find that I was voter number #53 for the day.  Yes, they were rocking a big 7 voters an hour.

It becomes hard to take anyone seriously about what is wrong with this country when they can't even be bothered to vote.  We may not get the government we need, but if no one can be bothered to vote, perhaps we get the government we deserve.

Multiply 365 Day 303 - Hearing things

I heard it today, but didn't recognize it for what it was. It was that low, melodious hum that rang through everything, in all places at all times. Maybe it just followed me around, maybe others heard it too, I really do not know. I couldn't even place my finger on it at first, what it was than simply was everywhere I went. Usually I am the type that just tunes such things out, nothing more than background noise, but today I actually listened.

I first realized I was hearing it at my desk, getting ready for another ho hum type day, when a simple note changed my whole frame of mind. It wasn't just who sent it, or what was written, it was the love and conviction behind them that swept over me, lifting my very spirit in a time when I didn't even realize it needed lifting.

It was there again when I went out for a simple cigarette break at work, filling a crystal blue sky with its sound, making a mid fall day in Pittsburgh feel more like something from late spring or early summer.

I heard it again when I went to my favorite pizza shop where I hadn't ordered an actual pizza from from for years. Usually I don't have time for such frivolities at work, and making a special trip just for a pizza isn't something I am prone to doing, yet here I was opening a pizza box from that very shop and realizing that sometimes things are really just as good as you remember them to be.

Still later in the day I heard it again at my desk, this time it was from the mother's love for a son and a simple recognition that sometimes the process works exactly as it should. Fear will never be able to inspire us to great acts the way love will.

Finally I heard it on my ride home, as I took a bus I normally wouldn't and watched as a young man sat down beside me and his daughter beside him and saw the look of adoration in her eyes for her father. Maybe her face will never be called upon to launch a thousand ships, but she can sleep soundly knowing she has one person who will always protect her and keep her safe. And on the same bus, as if the sound wasn't loud enough already, a man just starts singing a Temptations number, slightly off key but absolutely perfect for the moment.

It wasn't until I finally got off the bus that I realized what the sound was that was running through everything today, it was the sound of beauty. Maybe before today I wouldn't have heard it, maybe I would have heard it or not recognized it for what it was or maybe I would have done both, but then turned a deaf ear to it, lest it ruin my cool, snarky persona I have on the page.

Jennifer, the other day you asked me what it is I see in you. While I did answer your question, the answer was somewhat incomplete. Because it isn't simply what I see in you, but what you allow me to hear as well. Thank you!!!!

Multiply 365 Day 302 - It's early but.....

This is still nice to look at, by far my best start in a fantasy football league ever.  Truth be told it helps that I have the fewest points against of anyone in the league, but 8-0 is still 8-0.

http://fantasy.nfl.com/league/399175

Multiply 365 Day 301 - He lives, I swear

Coming to you live from, well my apartment where I do most of my blogging, it's me. Somebody quick turn on the applause light. Cue the sheeple and all that jazz.

I sit here with my belly full of grilled chicken taco (I cooked, everybody panic) troubled by something I saw the other day, or rather, didn't see. It would seem Jesus on a Stick Guy is gone. Just gone. Or else the Jesus on a Stick Guy Local 43 has a pretty good contract regarding sick days and the like. Because it is now two straight weeks where there have been no Stick Guy sightings. If this keeps up, those of us remembering him will be treated as lunatics, like those people that actually saw Bigfoot or were abducted by aliens. I can take you to the location where I saw him, but no evidence remains, not even a plaster cast of a footprint he left behind.

Blog readers will start to shun me, I will go from the person that on occasion could turn a funny phrase or two to that guy that mumbles in the corner to himself, occasionally piping up just long enough to say, “Some day you will see!!!” and then set out to devise a not so clever trap to capture me a living Jesus on a Stick Guy to prove I was right. Thoughts of devising a plan similar to the one Peter Griffith used to capture James Woods come to mind. Taking a crucifix and busting it up, then leaving a trail on the sidewalk to an upturned box, in hopes that the Stick Guy sees the trail and bends down to start picking up the parts. '”Piece of Jesus, mmm, Piece of Jesus, mmm, Piece of Jesus, mmm” Then I can show the world just how wrong they were in denouncing the existence of Jesus on a Stick Guy.

Multiply 365 Day 300 - The next 100

I did thjis once before, right around the halfway point of the 365 project.  Given that right now I don't even know how many days I am technically behind I am just going to write until I get to 365 entries this year, then reassess where I want to go after that point.  That being said, I know I am within a day or three of where I should be, so catching up will not be a problem, just means I have to do some two a days here and there over the next couple of months.  And one way to aid that process is to see what I liked out of the last 100 entries of the blog, so this is my personal 10 favorite blogs from 200-299.  No ranking is involved and by all means, feel free to disagree with my assessment, but these are the ones that I liked.

Multiply 365 Day 204 - TITIT #15 That's hot, or maybe not

Multiply 365 Day 207 - Brought to you by the letter "C" (Camcorder, Correctional Facility)

Multiply 365 Day 211 - Lives of quiet desperation

Multiply 365 Day 219 - Dollars and sense

Multiply 365 Day 224 - Batshit breakfasty (w/pics)

Multiply 365 Day 236 - Original or extra crispy?

Multiply 365 Day 249 - 9/11 Fatigue

Multiply 365 Day 256 - Meat Jeebus

Multiply 365 Day 261 - Forecasting for dummies

Multiply 365 Day 279 - You got your zombie in my Jesus

Multiply 365 Day 282 - Anti-blog 

Okay, that's ten and truth be told I think I like more of my writing in that group than at any point of my blogging career.  And before anyone says there are 11 entries in the list, the last one is just for me.

Multiply 365 Day 299 - Where we are at

I guess now is the time I start to spill a few more beans about what is going on round these parts.  I am sure that you all have gathered that I am in a relationship with someone.  If not, the amount of smiling I do on a daily basis would most surely give it away.  And given how long it has been going on now, I feel more comfortable in saying a few things about it, without getting into too many details, there are still some issues that I would like to keep private.

First is that the relationship is an online one at this point.  We live a significant distance apart, so for either of us to just decide to meet would be a pretty big step on either of our parts.  Not that we haven't discussed it, we have, but it isn't something that will happen overnight.  We are both taking the time to get to know each other, exploring each others likes and dislikes, talking about our pasts and presents and exploring our dreams for the future.  Whenever we do decide to meet, it is going to be at a time and place in our relationship where we are both comfortable in taking that step.

There are nights where we just sit up and talk for the longest time laughing, or listening to each others concerns and what seems like just a few minutes is actually a few hours just blowing by.  Whether it be chatting on voice, or just sending a hurried email, I find my days are so much better just by having her in them.  It is a place that I can't believe I am in at times, certainly anyone who has read the blog for longer than a week has to wonder just who the hell is doing the writing around here these days.  It is just the same old me, with a side of happiness thrown in for good measure.

There have been moments to this point where we have both questioned things, in a world full of sham artists it is very hard to take things at face value without a certain critical eye.  It may be the downside of not meeting first in person, but by the same token I find the time we are spending to really learn about each other ahead of time is a bonus in its own right.  Some of the more petty things that go with meeting in person are all but washed aside this way.  We have exchanged photos, so when we do decide to meet we have an idea of who to look for at the airport but we haven't got hung up on initial appearances that can ruin the chance of really getting to know someone.

Not that everything has been all hugs and kisses, there have been bumps along the way, moments where we have both slipped up, but even in those times I find that I want to fix things, make them better and move on, without looking back.  That in and of itself is a place I am not sure I have ever been emotionally before.  Our pasts are just that, the past.  Whether something happened be before or after we met, we provide a shoulder for support for each other, pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and continue forward together.

This has been an eye opening experience for me, after spending literally years on this page talking about how I didn't mind being single, I now look back and wonder why I ever thought that way.  To a certain extent I am glad I did feel that way then, otherwise I might not have ever met her, or if I did, might not have been graced with her presence in my life as anything more than an acquaintance.  Instead, just by her being who she is, she not only found her way into my life, but my heart as well.

There is a downside to all of this, just not for me.  Instead it is for you.  While I have been talking and writing to her on a daily basis, I haven't been here on a daily basis as much.  There is only so much writing I can do in one day, and my best writing these days is saved for her.  Sorry, I guess that is just the way the cookie crumbles some times.  But there is something to be said for going into work and people seeing a change in me, and no it isn't me losing weight or growing an inch taller, it is an actual change in overall outlook and that is due to her.    So if I am making a trade by being more liberal with my blogging to spend time with her, well that is a trade I will make any day and twice on Sunday.

Okay, now you know a little bit more.  Not all of it, but enough.  And enough will have to do for now.

Multiply 365 Day 298 - Pornification

I remember the first time I had seen the cover of a spoof porn. I don't know if spoof porn is the proper phraseology to be used in this instance, but what I call spoof porn is a porn that is a take off of an existing body of work. My first encounter with the genre was seeing the conver of one such movie, “Edward Penishands”. As you can guess, the cover feature porn actors and actresses in a setting similar to the movie “Edward Scissorhands” but with the lead actor have something other than scissors for hands. I never bothered to watch the movie, maybe because I never cared for the original source material, maybe I was too embarrassed to watch, or maybe I was laughing too hard at the concept, I really can't recall. But the other night, the thoughts of “Edward Penishands” came dancing back into my head because of Halloween.

Now why would that happen you may ask? It is simple really if you think about it. Halloween has become a spoof porn of itself. What was once a holiday for kids where you would mix a dab spookiness with the collection of sugary treats, has been turned into just another reason for adults to go out scantily clad in hopes of getting fucked. Whereas children's costumes were at least an attempt at fooling their friends and neighbors into getting confectional delights, the current crop of costumes have nothing to do with an actual disguise and all about carnal delights. Does anyone really think someone is trying to be a polar bear when their costumes consists of a white fuzzy two piece bikini and a pair of pointed earmuffs? Of course not, because where a child's costume is designed to hide the wearer's true identity, the current crop of costumes adults wear are designed to not only not hide the wearer's identity, but to not hide anything at all.

You can already see the cover of the spoof porn box for the holiday, two women wearing some cheap sexified version of a real costumes ringing the doorbell of a house, their plastic pumpkins full of an assortment of condoms and the lord of the manner answering the door wearing nothing but an eye patch and a pirate hat. Trick or treat indeed.

Multiply 365 Day 297 - Disclaimers

Okay, I have been slacking around here recently. I will not go into too many details, because frankly it is none of your business, but suffice it to say matters far more important than writing down a few lines of nonsense have been occupying my time recently.

This project of mine has been fun, and I hope that it will continue to be so. I have found a voice doing this that I didn't know I had, sure I had blogged before, but there are times now where I do this that I step back from the page and just think, that's it. It wasn't always like that, before my blogging amounted to throwing paint on a wall and hoping it looked good enough. Now I am just starting to get the idea that sometimes actual brush strokes are needed.

Now though is not the time for talking about what I like about this project, it is about doing something about it. So if it is okay with everyone, I am going to go ahead and start with catching up this evening.