Since we will be out of town for the week of December 24, 2004 through January 2nd, 2005, I am posting this now.

We want to wish everybody here at E2 a

Merry Christmas

Happy Kwanzaa

Happy Hanukah

Feliz Navidad

solstice

Happy Festivus

Happy 25th Day of December.

I know not everybody celebrates the Christmas holiday and I do not want to leave anybody out. So even if you do not celebrate these holidays, I hope that whatever observance you choose, if any, is a happy day for you all. I hope that you have a happy and joyful week and that you take time to reflect on the past year that we have all spent together.

For my wife and myself, we always spend Christmas week in Hinton, West Virginia. We have been doing this since we moved to Missouri in 1999. We go to West Virginia to visit our son Bobby.

This year Christmas is different though. With the passing of my father, it is a bittersweet holiday for us. But we know he is looking down on us and celebrating right along with the family.

I would like to also take this time to wish everybody a Happy 2005!

Please be careful on New Year's Eve, I would hate to lose any of you, as I consider each and every one of you to be special friends.

I have one request to all of you my E2 family and friends. Take the time to let the people you hold close to your heart know how much you care about them. Even if at that particular moment in time you may not feel happy about the relationship you have with them. I took the time to let my father know how much I loved him, and how much he had done for me, and that I appreciated everything. It truly made him happy in his final hours on this earth.

There were those in my family that had conflicts with him in the past (it was their conflict not his), and they did not take the opportunity to let him know that even though they might be at odds with each other, that he was still a special person. And now that he is gone this is something they will have to live with forever.

Harmony and I will be leaving on Friday December 24th, at 7am central time. We ask that you keep us in your thoughts and your prayers (if you are a praying person). The weather over the last few days has left us with less than desirable driving conditions.

I hope we will see all of our E2 family and friends upon our return.
Once again ... Merry Christmas.

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unperson says re December 24, 2004: Don't forget solstice. ;-)...
SlackinWhileSleepin says re December 24, 2004: Festivus too!
Eidolos says Re: December 24, 2004 The proper celebratory remark for Festivus is "Happy Festivus" :)

"the practicality of politics"

went dancing on the moon with my three favorite people today. Two I failed at pursuing and now we're "just friends". One has been like my brother since time began.

They talked like people- about nothing, or about the here-and-now, what's right in front of them, and enjoyed company. I was mute- All I had was critisism and sarcasm, and I didn't want to spoil anything. What else do I have, but maybe a few tired jokes?

We critisise to keep the system honest; pointing out problems is how they are fixed. good for tomorrow, but aren't I young? But summers go by out the window while I practice saving the world.

It's hard for me to share certain things with my E2 Family but I feel, regardless of the backlash, this is important that I share.

In my time on this pebble I have met people of all races and cultures except, for some odd reason, I had not met many people of the Jewish faith... until this past summer. Since then it seems I meet more and more. Not just Jews! Many, many other cultures were all together from their native countries at Culver, Indiana. Every time I meet someone I'm noticing the craziest thing, though being Christian and hearing undertones of the Christian Superiority attitude in daily life more and more, I am feeling something that should be great: I can't find a reason to hate because of race or religion. Now, I'm not proclaiming some high and mighty position of perfect simulacrum with reality, I simply feel like I've reached a level of exposure to other cultures where I can understand how horrible racism and such is.

Let me reiterate. By not being exposed to a lot of other cultures early I just accept that yes, sure, racism is bad. But until I was put to the test, dropped into that situation, did I truly feel what it was like to despise racism. I've met people of lots of cultures that I love now. I've met people of lots of cultures that I can't stand now. I love and loathe them all... by who they are. This sounds like it simply can't be a revelation of a man of any age over 10, but it is. It's experience. I've finally had a new experience in a new department and I feel like some things simply make more sense now.

I hope this isn't the last time I feel this: New.

The dumbest customer of the day award goes to . . .

I pick up the phone.
"Hey, uh, this is Jim Kerflucktahbooey. I picked up my prescription earlier but the bag says it's somebody else's."
[Oh crap.] "What name is on the bag?"
"Jim Kerflucktahbooey."
"We have no other customers with that name."
"But it says I live at 742 Evergreen Terrace in Springfield. I live at 13 Spooner Street in Quahog. You've got the wrong Kerflucktahbooey!"
"Where do you work?"
"At the widget plant."
"Okay. That's the insurance we ran it through. What's your Social Security Number."
"577-60-1114."
"That's what we have on file. Did you used to live in Springfield?"
"Well, yes."
"At 742 Evergreen Terrace?"
[Long pause.]
"Ohhhhhhhhhh . . . Umm. Merry Christmas. Bye."

Ding ding ding! We have a winner!


[Names and locations have been changed to protect the extremely stupid. The Social Security Number I gave out above is J. Edgar Hoover's. ]