One more shot at Christmas, then I'll move on

Christmas is Pain
words and music by Roy Zimmerman© 1998 Watunes

There's a turkey a gobblin' out in the yard
Now he's gutted and stuffed and he's basted and charred
And your father is whistlin' and washin' the blood down the drain
Christmas is pain

There's a crowd on the hillside with hatchets and saws
With a keen disregard for the forestry laws
And they happily hum while the stumps slowly bleed in the rain
Christmas is pain

And the stockings are hung by the chimney with care
As if anyone in their right mind would hang 'em there
And some tired old crooner is croakin' out carols again
Christmas is pain

And you wait for an hour to see Santa Claus
And he's covered with velveteen, bourbon and gauze
And he pinches your mother and she can't find the words to explain
Christmas is pain

And the hungry are hungering on Hunger Street
While the people on Plenty Street . . . eat
And you punctured the roof of your mouth on a sharp candy cane
Christmas is pain

And all the good cheer is just Madison Ave..news
And all the best Christmas songs were written by Jews
And the eight tiny reindeer have left an embarrassing stain
Christmas is pain

And two-thirds of the world doesn't give half a damn
And the rest are all bloated on marshmallowed yams
And if Jesus was here, he'd be sent to the back of the train
Christmas is pain

And they double the price of whatever you need
Singin', "I pledge allegiance to corporate greed"
And you're forced to spend several hours conversing with your old Aunt Lorraine
who's insane
with a brain on a plane to Spain where the main stays rainly in the flat terrain
Christmas is pain


Now of course, Christmas really ISN'T pain, but the song's funny and provides an interesting alternative perspective. Ok, I'll leave Christmas alone now.
Jason

Merry Christmas

Five things I like about Christmas
5. getting to spend time with family
4. it falls right in the middle of varmint hunting season
3. presents, of course
2. being the family song leader
1. sleeping in

Five reasons I'm glad Christmas is over
5. consumer madness inspired by a religous holiday
4. 3454 extra customers per day in my store
3. six day work weeks that turn into 9 on, 2 off, 7 on, 1 off
2. temp workers
1. 34 versions of Jingle Bells on the muzak

Sorry I haven't posted in a while... Christmas in retail is right up there with summer in youth ministry as far as work load goes. We did get to visit both Shana's family and mine, and to see alot of our cousins that we haven't seen in a long time. We also met one of the other great-grand babies, our kids' third cousin.

That'll be it for now.
Merry Christmas to all, and please, please don't play Jingle Bells when I'm around.

Done, Done, On to the Next One

I just finished my church history final exam, the last test of the semester. I had to close Friday through Sunday nights, and worked 7-5 yesterday, so I didn't get to study near as much as I wanted to, but I think I did better than last time. I wasn't the first one done this time either. I took an hour and a half instead of 36 minutes or whatever it was on the last test.

Holiday plans are shaping up. I'm off next weekend and we're going to the Millers. Only had to work 9 days in a row to get a weekend off this time of year. I'll get to spend the evening Christmas eve and most of Christmas day with my family in Austin/Marble Falls. I may even get to go deer hunting the last weekend of the season.

Our district manager is coming again this week. I'll probably get promoted from MIT to regular manager. Still don't know what department yet though. The executive vice president of merchandising is coming with him. He's one of the top four or five guys in the company, so everyone's kind of freaking out. Kind of hard to maintain merchandising standards when you have a bunch of temp workers, when you're moving so much more merchandise, and when you have so many more customers to mess stuff up.

Hello to all the lurkers. That's not a derogatory term, BTW, just an internet term for folks who read but never comment. Got emails from a few of you this week, and I'm glad to know you still read what I have to say.

Planning for the future

What did you expect? Advice on 401 (k)'s, family planning, education, or occupational preparation? Nope. The title comes from the fact that yesterday, I put out some brush piles at the lake. Thanksgiving day when I went fishing, I found that most of the piles I fish were now too shallow since the lake's been coming down. There are two strategies from this point: find other piles in deeper water, and put other piles in deeper water. Yesterday I was on the lake for about two hours, and only fished for about 30 minutes. The rest of the time was spent driving around putting out piles and finding deeper piles. I was successful in both regards. We'll have to see how it works in terms of fish production.

It was a day to miss David Jackson. Aside from crappie fishing, I had a friend call to see if I wanted or knew of anyone who wanted a pig. Couldn't find anyone, and had to go to the lake by my self. The weather was cold, and I started thinking about trapping again. I have traps, I just don't have much time, no good places to trap, and no place to sell hides. I decided to call Dave last night, but found that his number was disconnected since they moved. Anyone have his new number?

Since I brought up financial planning...
Has anyone participated in any kind of church based financial seminar that was any good? Our church is pushing 'Financial Peace University' again. We do OK, but could use more discipline in our giving and saving. Anyone care to comment about the effectiveness of such a class in terms of sustainable change to spending/saving habits? It seems easy to take a class, do good for a few months while the class is going on, then forget all about it. Anyone see lasting results? I'm interested in hearing about it.

That's about it this time.