Something funny for your Friday

The Spears sisters – the newly-pregnant 16-year-old Jamie Lynn and older sis Britney – caught on tape ....

Thursday Thing-along

I tried singing along with this DMX piece and hurt my throat...
But I can dance my ass off to it...



Here is the wikipedia page for DMX.

Way Back When-sday

This is a picture of Mama from the late 70s with Christmas bows stuck all over her. She's also crossing her eyes and just looking downright goofy.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

Here comes Santa Claus

Merry Christmas Eve....

Click here to track Santa's progress through the day and night.

Something funny for your Friday

Thursday thing-along

Something different... Many of you may have never even heard this. And after hearing it, may wish you never do again. It's a novelty song from the mid-70s.

Way Back When-sday

Way Back When-sday takes a slightly different turn.
Hope you enjoy this pre-Christmas presentation .....




Merry Christmas..
By the way, if you like Christmas music, be sure to check out the postings by Leather Canary ..... He has created six, yes 6, mix tapes of Christmas music.
Download the zip files here.

A few Christmas questions answered ....

1. Do you celebrate Christmas? Are you celebrating with your family or are you traveling?
Yes, I celebrate Christmas.....
Christmas is celebrated at more than one house and on more than one day in our families. For example, I am working Christmas Day so I will try to have my brothers and parents over on Christmas Eve for a bit. With three brothers that all work very different schedules, it's hard to do things like we used to. I know that still bothers my mom. Every year I find myself longing even more for the days of waking up with my brothers and running to the den to find our piles from Santa. I am a very immature 41 .... or at least a very honest 41.

2. Do you know what presents to get and have you already done some shopping?
Sort of. Some people have given me lists. I like ideas and general suggestions... I don't like lists of specifics... That -- at least to me -- ruins it. Yes, it makes for easy shopping, but .... that shouldn't be the point.

3. Do you already know what to have for the Christmas meal?
chicken wings and Jim Beam and Diet Coke would suit me just fine. BUT... there are plenty of cooks and chefs in this extended family so I leave it to them. Crown roast, hams, turkeys, prime ribs, pork loins ... it's all been enjoyed in the past.

4. Do you have a Christmas tree? When do you decorate it and when does it come down again? How do you like it to look?
Yes, there is a tree in the house (pictured at right)... and one on the front porch. The trees go up shortly after
Thanksgiving and don't come down until after the new year. Eclectic with an eye toward tradition is how I'd describe the tree. The new addition this year is something from the past – bubble lights.

Here is a link to a video of this year's tree. The song is Purple Snowflakes from Marvin Gaye. Like the song? Download it here from Aquarium Drunkard while the post lasts.

5. Are you going to church?
I do not attend church. I believe in God or a higher power .. I don't believe you have to go somewhere specific for her or him or them to hear you. I also don't knock those who like to gather together as a group to do it. More power to you. Whatever works.

6. Do you think you will be having a white Christmas?
Unlikely, but it could happen. It's cold enough this time of year, generally, but we usually don't have anything around Christmas where the temps and precip match up.

And a question added by Kim and Victoria:

7. What was your strangest Christmas?
Last year ... 2006 ... Last Christmas is sort of the demarcation of the B.C. and A.D. of my life .. and a year later, I'm still trying to figure out everything that happened.

Here are some links to others who answered similar questions. Please check their blogs for their answers. Seeing how others think and live is the kind of thing that makes blogging so interesting ... at least for me it does.

• Kim and Victoria
• BEK ... scroll down for English
• Mara at Whole Lots o' Nothin'
• Lacey

Looking for some Christmas songs to download ... shhhhhh... Then check out the daily posting at Hello Vegetables.

Something funny for your Friday

WARNING: This video may not be suitable for minors
... but it is damn funny.

Thursday Thing-along

Something a little different ... but I think worth it.



Here's a bit of info about Rockapella.

Way Back When-sday

What is the worst gift you've ever given your dad for Christmas?
Seriously. Dads are impossible to buy for. This was something one of us gave Pops for Christmas sometime in the mid '80s called a TV Duck. It sat on the arm of the chair and held the remote control and the TV Guide. I don't think I ever saw it used to do that. Pops sure looks happy to be getting it from one of us, though. Now we just try to give him things we've borrowed over the years and never given back.

So, what's the worst gift you've ever given your dad?

Congratulations to John

UPDATED WITH PICTURES
My friend John Pierce ran in and completed his first marathon this weekend in Charlotte, N.C., in the Thunder Road Marathon. At top is a picture of him from the back crossing the finish line. His daughter and her friend ran the last few yards of it with him. At right is a picture of John during the marathon -- I think he knew we would want proof. He is the one at the far right in sunglasses.

He finished 563rd overall out of 1018 total entrants. He was 71st in his division and finished in 4:27:48 (chip time) for an average of 10:19 per mile.

Here are the complete results. You can see John's split times by looking under the marathon results.

Congratulations John.

Fitness challenge

We're starting this fitness thing at work and three guys are going to go up against three of the women in a challenge. I'm one of the guys along with Andre (left) and Leon (right). It's all part of a bigger 12 week program the newspaper's health section is doing as a way to get all our readers thinking about health and fitness. Although it officially starts the first week in January, the six of us in the public challenge -- public because we'll be blogging and writing about our successes and failures along the way -- are getting our fitness assessments done now. We meet with a dietitian and then we get our love handles pinched with some pinch thingy. I can't wait for that.

As part of the meeting with the dietitian, we're supposed to give them a written list of what we ate for three days and how much of it. The problem is I work nights and that has really messed up what I eat. Breakfast food is pretty much a non-existent part of my diet anymore. I don't know how to explain that I ate leftover ribs for breakfast and had wings and a beer at four in the morning for dinner.

Anyway, once this starts, I'll put up links to the homepage for this challenge if you want to follow along with us and see how we do. Here's a little intro video I made to put with my first blog post on the site.

Something funny for your Friday

Monty Python skits crack me up.

Thursday Thing-along

My friend John (left) is running his first marathon this Saturday and wanted a little thing-along that would get his feet moving. Hope these help, John.

Want more inspiration?
I've posted different versions of this before.

Good luck. I'll be thinking of you as I sleep in.

Snowy Way Back When-sday

It's snowing here today. Not much (top picture), but it's the first time this season that it's actually going to accumulate on the ground. Right now it looks sort of like the snow we would get all excited about growing up in eastern North Carolina. A dusting would be enough to cause school to be called off. There were no snow plows. They used road graders (like this one) to move the snow where we grew up. The older picture to the right is Stephen and me in January 1970. Stephen was 3 and I was about 4 and a half.

Rainy day in Philly

We went to Sunday's Eagles game in Philadelphia against the Seattle Seahawks. The forecast called for ice, freezing rain and then rain. For once, the forecast was on the money. Luckily for me, I paid attention to it and went to the Super Walmart after work Saturday night/Sunday morning and picked up this sweet rain gear (at right). Made for fishermen, it worked perfect for tailgating and game watching. I was bone-dry at the end of the day.