Stuff

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That picture above is where The Missus Herself and Your Humble Scribe went for Thanksgiving dinner this year. Good food, good company, and in a very nice setting. Though the company was far smaller than past years (thanks PRC), it was still a good time. The benefit of the smaller company was not having to yell down the length of the table if you wanted to talk to someone at the other end.

Okay, we weren't literally yelling down the table but it was often necessary to get up and walk down to the other end to hear (or tell) a story being related down there. With a group of five it was far easier to converse. As the only reservation I could get was at 11:30 or noon (I chose noon) it was surprisingly uncrowded. The receptionist said that most folks like to start around 1:30, 1:00 at the earliest. As I can eat virtually any time of the day, I had no problem with the time. Hey, lunch, amirite? But I did get a couple of raised eyebrows from a couple of the clan.

The only way my better half can tell if I'm truly ill is that I won't eat. Which is seldom. Remember the old saying, "Feed a cold, starve a fever"? Well, I believe in feeding everything. But if the fever is high enough, then I won't eat. I'm talking 104°, which I've hit three times, then I get strange. Probably because my brain is boiling, I suppose. (The docs never did figure out what caused that, hasn't happened since I was on Okinawa.)

After my most recent stint in Sandy Eggo, I resolved to take a bunch of days off, twelve to be precise. Two of which were covered by the Thanksgiving holiday (yes, we get the Friday off) and only two required vacation time. Working a lot of extra hours on the ship does have its benefits. Returning to work on the 28th of November was somewhat surreal, I hadn't been in the office since the 4th of November.

Okay, I was going to bitch about the WuFlu and masks and stuff but decided against it. Hey, it's the holiday season, f**k the government. (I almost spelled that out, but I have qualms about doing that here on the blog. I use it enough in real life that it could get out of hand here. Yes, I see it occasionally in the comments, it makes me grit my teeth, but hey, 1st Amendment, etc.)

So yes, work, back to. For three weeks, four day weeks I might add, I have enough comp time to make that happen. Then three full weeks off for Christmas. I did that last year for the first time, rather enjoyed it I did, so I'm doing it again this year.

The plan is to visit Maryland for a week or so, if they don't throw us out sooner. Well actually me, if they don't throw me out sooner. The Missus Herself will cook and clean and generally make herself useful. I'm good for asking questions like, "Hey, are there any donuts left?"

Which leads me to this, is it "donut" or "doughnut"? I can go either way. What say you?

Moving right along ...

I'm still not ready to write any fiction, I blame end-of-the-year-laziness. Not run-of-the-mill -laziness, but the other which is linked to "it's almost Christmas" and "Holy Shit, this has been  a long freaking year."

Christmas means, among other things, time off away from work, time spent with family. I'll get to the other meanings sometime in the next fortnight, I'm in the midst of a theological impasse with the letter and the spirit of things. Not quite along these lines ...

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But close ...

It's getting close to that time of year when I get to recharge my batteries for the coming fiasco year. I'm seeing indications in these parts that juvat's saying of "We're winning!" is closer to reality than the spew I've heard in the Meejah.

Carry on, and let's go you-know-who.