Decompression

In the hectic days immediately surrounding the Christmas season, it was good to get away from the old Blogspot and chill a bit. I say in the sidebar that reading this blog from top to bottom might cause headaches or seizures. That was never more evident than in the days just before Christmas when my posts consisted of Quotes of the Day intermixed with Christmas songs. It made for a weird read. But then, Christmas strikes me as a weird time anyway. It should be a solemn religious occasion, and there are some aspects of that, but it usually turns into a frenzy. Rampant commercialism and greed run amok.

My loot consisted of an mp3 player, some Coca-Cola memorabilia, a restaurant gift card and other assorted curios, but I had more fun playing with some of the gifts my relations received. My son got a R/C race car and put a good show on out in the road. He had to repair it a bit after he jumped a speed bump, came down at the wrong angle and cartwheeled about five or six times. We put my grandson's NASCAR racetrack together and put on some good races until the Tony Stewart car (sold separately) broke. Not long after that, the batteries ran down in the charger and we had to put it up. We then got out my grandson's art kit and the assorted pencils, pens, markers, &c. he got in his stocking and did some coloring and drawing.

Christmas dinner was turkey with most of the trimmings. As usual, my favorite dish was my wife's sweet potato balls. She saw Paula Dean make them and got the recipe off her website. She doesn't make them exactly like Paula does, but mmmm mmmm, they're good!

My time online has mostly been spent reading news feeds with Google Reader and changing out the shared articles to keep them current. If you haven't noticed this sidebar feature yet, it's right below the Bush countdown clock (just 24 days left!!!) and just above the Blogroll. I've also been trying to figure out the Picasa Web Albums and organizing some of my old photos. My first two web albums (Downtown Chattanooga and Chickamauga Battlefield) are immediately below this post.