Today is Christmas card day, and we're sending one to every viable human entity; friend, family, and customers alike. It's a good day for it, with this dismal wet weather, so we'll be inside licking and sticking. Everyone within sneezeshot of this family has either been infected, or infected us, with the inummerable colds and flus going around, and when you get our Christmas card, don't worry: I'll microwave them.

It's also that time of year where we update the address databases. (We have several. I'm not sure why. I think it's a PC/Mac thing.) The Christmas cards that come to us go up on the HOLIDAY WALL OF HONOR and their envelopes go in a pile on my desk. I sift through them all, making sure I've got updated addresses on everyone. There are few things at year's end that are more demoralizing than a returned Christmas card in your mailbox on December 27th, because it's usually addressed to someone you haven't connected with in a while, which is why the address is wrong, and your feeble attempt to "keep in touch" failed. Someone out there wonders why you never call.

So, there's that. If you don't get a card from us it's because I'm mailing it to your old college apartment addressed to your maiden name. Try not to be offended. The freshmen who inherited your dorm probably ripped it open looking for gift certificates to Best Buy. Don't worry. We didn't send out gift certificates to Best Buy.

Speaking of gift certificates to Best Buy... I was on the phone with my bank -WESCOM, the greatest bank in all the world- doing some year-end debt allocation and balance transfers (gotta keep up with the lowest rates, don't ya know), and the good people at Wescom reminded me that I have about 12,000 unused rewards points! 12,000! I'm in the club, I guess. They suggested that I use some of them right away, as about a thousand of them were set to expire at the end of the year. So I went on line to book our family vacation in the Caribbean and, lo and behold, I need about 600 million more points for that. But, hey, I was able to get myself about $80 in gift certificates to Best Buy. This was good news, as I was wondering how I was going to afford that new router. So, note to everyone: check your clubs for rewards points for free stuff.

My router problems have been routed, in case you were wondering. It vexed me for a good long while so I educated myself in CAT and WAN and LAN and DSL and GIGABIT and USB and ETHERNET and all that fiery, nerdy jazz. (I was very popular at the Moms Group Christmas Party with my AppleTV solutions.) Seems one of the router ports was bad, so I hooked the printer up to it and just jiggle and smack the thing when nothing prints. Awesome. By the way, when are the gigabit cable modems coming out? The technology is there, so what's the hold up? Let me know.

So... crying babies, illness all around, cookies, pine needles, dampened spirits, broken patio umbrellas, cold and bothered tortoises, arthritic cats, dance recitals, family issues, and boxes, socks, pajamas, and diapers. Busy day, but I'm upeat about it all.

Keep in touch!


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