Easily Tangented

Well,

The wreath that Maggie made

Here it is, the 28th already. The rush of the Yule/Christmas holidays starts with Thanksgiving, and, we slide down the hill of celebration til now. We’ve almost reached the bottom of the hill, when January takes over, and we really appreciate the carol, ” In the Bleak Midwinter”, but, for now, we are still basking in the glow of the holiday.

Bill & Mollie, our gracious and good friends

We had, and are still enjoying the holiday. The only downside is that Maggie works most of the two weeks before Christmas, so, she’s pretty worn to a frazzle by Christmas day. Unfortunately, a cold managed to hold her in it’s grasp, but not too tightly to enjoy the day.  We do celebrate in our low key way. Christmas eve, our friends Mollie and Bill are gracious enough to host a small get together at their lovely home. Set against a backdrop of thick woods, and quiet, we had dinner, and an evening of sharing with great friends. Good friends are the most special gift one can have.

Surrounded by Spirits...

We opened our 'poppers'

Christmas day, we rose a little later, than usual, had breakfast, and, with global warming giving us the gift of a warmer day, we went for a walk around the neighborhood. Nice, for the Wisconsin/Illinois area. Opened presents, made a lovely dinner, napped, and, Maggie managed to get one last bike ride, short it may be, in for the day. She’s never rode on Christmas before. One more thing to scratch off the list…

The glow of the Season

Back to work, the next day, to receive all the people with returns, is not the best way to spend Boxing day, but, whatcha gonna do?  Part of the job… She has worked this week, but we will hopefully have the rest of the week off. Ikea, Algonquin, and other adventures await… Part of the decompression/recharging of the week.  We will ring in the new calendar, in a very low key way, and wake to the new year…

They were hung by the fire, with care...

Then, next week, the glow of the Season dims, with the boxing up of the decorations, ornaments, lights, trees, and sentiment of this holiday. Packed away but not forgotten. It is our 19th Christmas together, and, they are all boxed up, for remembering, whenever we desire to …

Winterberry

hey.

Google has a project starting, to bring gigabit ethernet to cities of 50,000 to 500,00 people. Google fiber for communities… That’s us! We fall in the range. We could really use this as a feather in our community caps.

So, Google. Rockford. Get together. Let’s work this out…

Please!!!

If you live in Rockford Il, contact your mayor, alderman, mother superior, anyone that can help. Get involved!

https://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/

Thanks!

HI
Our friend Mike, got a gig at a local farmers market, Friday afternoons. He was nice enough to offer us the chance to be the ‘break band’ while he rests. We get to play a half an hour at a stretch. It’s fun, and a nice way to get some microphone/audience practice. Maggie gets better and better, though she was good before, with the mic. I am getting used to playing acoustic with a pickup, or, plugged in. Not the same as playing on the deck or in the house with friends. It’s also good practice for the Willow folk festival, which is Aug 8th & 9th. Our annual camping trip, with music…
It’s a nice little market, where, things have to be local, as in grown/made within like 30-50 miles, I believe. Our friends, the Lombardos, are involved, along with several really nice people. It’s been fun, the 3 Fridays we have played.

HI
Started off with getting to work this morning @ 5am, cst. Too early for most normal people to be up and ‘at ‘em’, but, that way I’m home to still have the whole day yet. Getting ready to torture ourselves @ the gym. Haven’t been there in a week. The weather and work get in the way, sometimes.Then, this afternoon, we are headed off to Madison Wi with my sister for dinner, @ Bluephies, , our favorie Madison restaurant.In the evening, Maggie and Jeannine are going to the Overture Center to see psychic Lisa Williams. I’m going to be across the street @ a coffee shop w/ my macbook, downing excellent latte’s.  Should be an interesting evening. One must liven up January…

morning all,

This is a link to a story in the Irish Times newpaper…

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0108/breaking8.htm

I have been in the computer usage family for almost 8 years now. 1 HP, 3 Dells, 4 Macs. For a windows PC, I really love Dell. However, being an Irish american, I really love Ireland too.  In the next year, Dell is pulling 1900 jobs from Limerick, & sending them to Poland.

I understand that businesses have to stay competitive, but, c’mon. I am sure that Dell feels like they are doing what is best for Dell, but I’m disappointed.  To show my support for my Irish peeps, I’m not going to buy any more Dells, and, there’s a good chance the Dell we are running now will go to the basement.

One has to show their support, or disagreement with a company by speaking with your dollars. I am, though I am sorry to do so.