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Countdown to Los Reyes Magos

This is my traditional special Christmas news page --

depending on how much I have to report, it usually continues until my birthday on 14 January

enjoy!

* D E C E M B E R *

16 December 2007 / Sunday -- Would you believe, this 2007 Christmas page is up and running -- not a lot on here yet other than some links to holiday related things -- I was somewhat amazed to find that the Snowflake I made in 2004 when that web site first appeared, was still there as are the several comments it received -- my star was # 346,275, and as of now there are 5,573,975 stars -- you can make your own star and send it to friends or make it into your eCard or whatever -- you can take a screen shot of it, or get the link to where it is located by sending the link to yoursellf [or both, as I did].

Me [interactive - make your own and get the link] / - My 2004 Vintage Snow Flake --

22 December 2007 / Saturday -- I am still working on my Christmas card -- but there are quite a few new Holiday links for you to check out

24 December 2007 / Monday -- when I started actually printing out the cards, the colors started coming out all wrong -- I used a workaround with the color ink cartridge and got them printed -- among them some very greenish and reddish versions which I used because I wasted way too much special paper with the trials. I sent most of them out yesterday

This past week or two I feel very listless, it takes me longer to start something than usual, I have a sharp pain in my side, have difficulty breathing, and I seem to do more sleeping / dozing off at my computer chair than on the floor mat I have set up or with the cats in the bedroom. If I make it to my birthday in mid January I would be somewhat surprised, but then again maybe it is just the stress of the Holidays, including my huge eBay listings / sales.

25 December 2007 / Tuesday -- Thom, a pal from Philadelphia sent me an email --Thank you for the beautiful Christmas card. It arrived today. I didn't send out any cards this year as I have been in a bit of a 'dark night of the soul' slump. That happened to me in 1999 and 2000, and almost bit me again this year -- I tend to get very wrapped up in things during the holidays almost to the point of obsession, I cannot seem to close my thought channels down when this happens -- I want to go to the kitchen for coffee, when out of the blue thoughts about do I have any white Don Claudio Cigars t-shirts left, where is the box I have them in, what day is today, my stomach is growling but I do not have any cookies left, then I close my eyes for a second, which may turn into an hour or more, and I still have not refilled my coffee cup.

What did I do today -- took some empty boxes and trash across the street for whenever they will pick it up -- washed dishes -- cleaned out the kitchen litter boxes -- dozed off in several creative ways between each of those major activities, with feet up on work table top, feet on top of a USPS bin, on spread out foam and feather setup I have on the floor, and lastly doubling up the feather part to attempt to alleviate the pain in my side, while visions of sugar plum emails and eBay items danced in my head, quite realistic, they. Quite frankly this sucks -- I wanted to take a shower, get some eBay things packed and ready to take to the post office, and clean out the litter boxes in the bedroom and play with those cats. Yestarday my brother's daughter and her family invited me for dinner, but I forget what excuses I used to suggest that I may not be able to make it -- and then dozed off, as usual.

29 December 2007 / Saturday -- on 27 December I had a totally unexpected visit from Bernar, who brought me four cases of wine

yesterday I actually took a shower, changed the sheets and covers in the bedroom, even slept a few peaceful hours with the kittys there who were thrilled to have clean linen to hide under -- early this morning I finished updating my Christmas card list, wrote out the remaining cards for those I have addresses for, took them to the post office, did some food shopping at Marazzos, finally sent out my single holiday eCard which covers New Years and Los Reyes, so I guess one cannot say it went out late.

Those who are not yet on my card list are probably wondering what I did this year -- throughout the year I run across potential images and other material that I might like to use, place it all in a virtual computer folder for the next year, and then come back to it when holiday time approaches to see which I might use, make a couple test samples, and then decide on a model. Unfortunately my printer did not cooperate and only a few cards actually look like the images shown below --

MOST of the others were too green / red / blue because it seemed as if the multi color cartridge was not mixing the three colors as it was supposed to -- although the Limited Edition was nominally for 50, I simply duplicated numbers for the monochromatic imprints and was able to squeeze some 70+ out of those which were acceptable and not too light to see / read. It was a disappointment to me because I spent many hours getting everything just right, then would up wasting many sheets of the heavy stock paper I use for special printing, all due to a cranky olde printer.

Page three had room for my short personal message, with a note on the lower right mentioning that the card was blessed by touching it to a Catholic relic of the Manger Christ was laid in

actually it is a so called Multi Reliquary because it contains several sacred relics -- a religious nun / priest / monk would contact the Vatican [perhaps via the head of the convent / monastery] asking for relics of a particular saint that she / he has a special devotion to, to be used as a constant reminder of their choice of a religious life, possibly in a specific Order. In this case, the reliquary contains several specific sacred relics, so the blessing imparted upon each of my cards also includes that of the accompanying relics

the relics mostly refer to the life and death of Christ -- from the place of [ex loco] Christ's birth, from the manger, from the flagellation column, from Monte Calvario where Christ died, from the Holy Sepulcher of Christ, from the sepulcher of the Blessed Virgin Mary [B. M. V.] -- enclosed in a sterling silver reliquary, possibly dating from the late 19th / early 20th century. When the back is opened. one sees the red wax seal of the Cardinal who approved and issued that particular multi reliquary -- notice that the red silk threads which were added before the seal was placed are still attached and unbroken, meaning that the contents have not been changed or otherwise tampered with since the red wax seal was impressed ...

if one could identify this seal and discover who this specific agent of the Vatican was, and the years he served would narrow down the date of its issuance -- I believe it was issued to a religious person in Puerto Rico.

Tomorrow I hope to do a couple loads of wash, take a dozen or so boxes of things out of the Honda and put them in the van [I hope it starts -- the Dodge battery dies on me after each assisted start up -- I really have to take it back for a battery replacement to the garage in West Trenton that put it in new only a couple months ago] -- ok, enough for one update

30 December 2007 / Sunday -- we are on the threshold of the mysterious and imponderable 2008, a new year which may or may not hold some those things many of youz are predicting, but that's par for the course ...

I rarely make resolutions as I know from experience I never keep them, so why bother wasting time making lists -- predictions are just as flakey ...

yesterday I sent my eCard for New Years and Los Reyes vis email and posted it on two AOL Message Boards so those who might be kinda lonely could participate in some of the snuggly warmth and love that seems to go around this tyme of year ...

so I wakes up from my foam and feather nest on the study floor and do what I promised myself I wouldn't do, boot this dam iMac gizmo and waste time doing unnecessary things rather than all the wash sitting there staring me in the puss, and udder personal stuff --

[ohhhh, shut up you robotic moron, if I wanna be reminded that it's 10:30, I'll let you know -- do you understand me? Now go hide under a cyber rock and play with your pixels or something -- it was my iMac telling me what time it was -- ohhhh, the wonder of it all] ...

I had three emails waiting for me, two of those dorky horrorscope thingys and

the third was from an Aussie science student of mine from way back when, who liked my eCard and made up a little story as his own holiday contribution ...

In a message dated 30/12/07 01:11:23, xxx@yahoo.com writes:

Hi Sigmund,

Here's a little story I've written as a Xmas / New Yr present for you.

Cheers Tony

Mr Kardas was aged in his late twenties and was tall with a strong jaw. Unlike most of the other teachers at the American School of Madrid, he had a good sense of humor.

"Are you Russian?" a pupil in our science class once enquired.

"No, I'm taking my time," he said, with a hint of Groucho Marx intonation.

His classes were relaxed and I remember one time he turned it into a slideshow to show us pictures of his trip to Greece. He also took us outside the classroom one weekend to a hillside outside Madrid from which we dug up shards of ancient pottery.

Plus of course, there were many Saturday visits to his laboratory at the Dept of Echinoderms at the Museum of Natural History.

In his office across the corridor from the lab, there was a cupboard from which Mr Kardas once proudly produced two human embryos preserved in a jar of formalin.

Marble-white, with ET faces, they floated together in an eternal embrace (well, eternal for as long as they remained in that jar together).

They were a sight to bring joy and wonderment to the eyes of a 13-year-old boy.

Thanks, Tony, those were special happy times -- I think I still have those embryos in a large upright specimen cabinet in Tenerife -- what a spectacular Saint Valentine's Day eCard that image would make!.

Well, I got the wash done, refreshed the litter boxes in the kitchen and bathroom -- it rained for a few dreary hours. NO, I have not yet started thinking about new format logos and stuff for my hopefully upcoming 2008 news pages -- I am still in recover mode and it may be several weeks before I get back in the swing of things.

31 December 2007 / Monday -- I took a bottle of Italian red wine and Belgian Christmas Ale for the peeps at the post office, leaving another box of chicklets and breath gum on the counters for the clients. Then I went to Marazzos for some things and at checkout discovered that I did not bring my wallet -- went over to one of the jolly managers with whom I like to kibbutz when I see him and explained the situation -- he whipped out a fat wad and gave me 50 clams, saying he wants it back this week and if I disappear he will find me no matter where I hide out! Then on to the garage about the van battery -- they may send out a tow truck to pick it up on Wednesday -- Happy New Year.

Back home I hear the Chihuahua mutts yapping next door, so I guess Carlos' wife came back from Puerto Rico for New Years. I bagged another special Belgian ale and two Italian red wines and rang their bell -- la Señora answers, I give her the bag with medicamentos for Carlos [it is a private Carlos joke / euphemism for alcohol] -- she ushers me in, Carlos is sitting in an armchair by the window with an inhaler thingy in his mouth -- Carlos has some kind of cancer [probably prostate], difficulty breathing and walking, and now wears CROCS because he saw me with mine -- into the kitchen we go, stove covered with pots, small side dishes sitting on the adjoining counter top -- I take Belgian ale out of decorative metal tin, throw the wood shaving packing material in the trash, she puts it in fridge -- I get a plate of paella with chicken and beef or pork [or all three], another with a sizable elongated bar shaped light brown colored whatever [it may be filled with something I guess], and a small side dish of dessert which looks like perhaps a rice pudding -- I am saving these for breakfast / lunch tomorrow.

I started the Grinch List.

1 January 2008 / Tuesday -- It was a very subdued passing of the new year in the neighborhood, with only a few firecrackers heard in the vicinity -- I did not attempt to check out any online live cams, such as the one in Times Square, because in the past they were VERY flakey and did not stream anything.

The plate of paella was with turkey -- the elongated bar shaped specialty was a filled burito like snack, and the dessert is an amazing raisin rice pudding, something I love but can never find anywhere -- that I only nibbled on so it lasts longer. I finally replied to over 90 eBay emails dated from 25 December, cleaned the kitchen, changed the cat towels again, put Baby Blue Eyes [who has grown very handsomely] in the center of the apartment with the other two young males, Triangle and Boysie -- their pics are now on the adoption page -- they like to snuggle up in a padded clothes hamper I have in there for them, and it keeps them away from the older males and the females.

2 January 2008 / Wednesday -- went to the bank -- filled up the Honda at 2.889 / gallon -- the van was towed to West Trenton due to dead battery; I assume it should be ready before the end of the week. At the start of December, Steve G in California told me he sent a CD containing 343 Christmas carols from the several thousand he has on his iPod -- I waited and waited, nothing arrived -- UNTIL today! You will not believe how shitty the USPS is, particularly during major holidays -- here is the CD envelope, professionally labeled / presented -- for the shocker, click the CD image for a view of the shipping envelope with enlargements of some details ...

as you can see, it was first postmarked on 6 December 2007 in Santa Clara California [on the right] -- to the left of that is a second postmark, 31 December 2007, Trenton New Jersey -- why the hell did it take them some four weeks to deliver it to me? That note at the bottom left hypothetically explains it all -- FOUND IN SUPPOSEDLY EMPTY EQUIPMENT !! Weird -- their empty headed employees, empty equipment all the time, but they do not empty anything totally, they leave an item or two in the bin for good luck, as people do with a penny in a wallet / change purse -- then, with any luck, some other brain dead employee might turn a bin over and watch something drop onto the floor that should have been delivered eight months ago -- so he grabs the handy dandy stamp readily available for such snafus, warfs it on the envelope, sticks the thing in a bin to be delivered -- unless, of course, it lands in the bottom of that one and is lost for another half year. They raise prices, make thinner mailers, horrible Priority labels, and automate everything -- for what? In any case, I have the tunes playing in the background of my iMac as I type this -- kewlio stuff, thanks Steve.

The Boys send you all their most sincere wishes for 2008

4 January 2008 / Friday -- yesterday I somehow managed to get together some nineteen eBay wins, between sessions of dozing off [which still unfortunately keeps happening], and off to the post office -- if I am super lucky, I may have another smaller batch to send tomorrow, God willing

click on the to see the gift -- my brother surprised me with a year subscription to Reader's Digest -- -- the cover story highlights the iPhone as a devil, among other high techy gadgets, something I always complain about -- the damned gizmos cause us to waste more time on mindless things, turning us into brain dead humanoids -- the greedy makers tell us that they provide us with quality leisure time -- really? It is as addictive as illegal drugs, causing us to lose perspective of necessary personal and interpersonal things, making us distant, feeling a sense of seclusion, less responsive to real live people since most of the ones we interact with are the virtual kind. It is the root cause of all the ills in the world today including social / political / economic and all the others.

The kittys in the bedroom and center of the apartment pitched in to get me a couple Christmas music CDs -- -- -- while the ones in the kitchen did their usual movie DVD splurge -- -- -- I listened to the CDs, but have not yet watched the flicks. Lastly, as I mentioned several days ago, Bernar presented me with two cases of Santa Ema Merlot 2005 from Chile [a Top 20 Wine Spectator pick] -- -- and two cases of the same brand Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 [another Top 20 Wine Spectator pick] -- I have not opened a bottle of either one yet

7 January 2008 / Monday -- Reyes came and went -- I left another bottle of wine and a tin of Christmas ale for Carlos and his family.

12 January 2008 / Saturday -- YAWN -- Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

14 January 2008 / Monday -- Robin / - eCard -- Pam / - eCard -- I got myself a birthday cake [the lettering is not on the cake, I put the text there while processing the pic] --

with this last entry I fianlly close my 2007 Christmas page -- thanks for allowing me into your life

Miscellaneous January news may now be found on the new 2008 YES page

Christmas -- Me / - Edge with the Young -- Me / - It's About the Cross -- Bertie / - Christmas With a Capital C -- Dorothy / Liana / - Singing Santa & Reindeer -- Thatch / - Shop Around the Clock -- Flin / - About Hanukkah -- RonL / - The Dreidel Song -- TxSug [interactive] / - Happy Holidays from Rail Europe -- Denise / - 12 Days of Christmas -- Flin [xxx] / - Cadeau de Noël --- RonL / - Snow Birds -- TxSug / - Christmas Shoes -- BelaV [interactive] / - Click a Deer for a Holiday Cheer -- Flin / - Handel - Messiah -- Flin / - Mariah Carey - All I Want for Christmas --

Flin [interactive] / - Elf Yourseelf -- Flin [interactive] / - Scrooge Yourself -- Cyndi [interactive] / - Christmas Carol Quiz -- Autmigh / - eCard -- Deb / - Snow Globe Boy -- Flin / - Holiday Lyrics Quiz -- Me / - Villanova University eCard -- Marge / - Frosty Gets Caught Picking Nose -- Me / - Nightmere Before Christmas -- NanH / - Hanukkah in Santa Monica -- Cyndi [interactive] / - Christmas Puzzle -- Bob / - Porky Pig Christmas -- Donna / - The Chanukah Song -- TxSug / - Barney Cam - White House Christmas -- Cyndi [interactive] / - Christmas Puzzle -- Bob / - Apple PC - Mac Christmas --

Me [interactive - make your own and get the link] / - My 2004 Vintage Snow Flake -- RealWick / - White Trash Christmas -- Autml / - eCard -- Lynh / - Blue Christmas -- Misty / - Same Olde Lang Syne - Fogelberg -- Me / - Villanova Alumni eCard -- Luxet / - Black Christmas Trees -- Bard / - Elfed Herself -- Mare [interactive] / - The Penguin Show -- Bertie / - eCard -- Bertie / - Snow Men -- William K / - eCard -- Marcella / - Louisiana State U Christmas -- Klynn / - Bud Snowball Fight -- Carol / - Watercooler Christmas Tree -- RonL / - iPhone Christmas -- RonL / - Snowmen eCard -- Bertrie / - Oh, Holy Night -- Me / - Coldplay Christmas --

Flin / - NORAD Tracks Santa -- Misty / - Music Angets Christ Child -- BenB / - eCard -- Me / - eCard -- Sharon / - ABBA - Happy New Year -- Sybil [interactive] / - 2007 in Review -- Me / - Countdown to New Year 2007 * Brandenburger Tur, Germany -- -- Cyndi / - New Years eCard --

God Bless !

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