Its Coming

Chrismtas that is.   Tomorrow is the first of December.  I still have to do my Christmas shopping, but I will probably do most of that online.   I still don't know exactly what I am going to get for Yvette, but I need to think of something good.  I have the wish list to go by so I can find soemthing there.   Though i am hoping to think of something to come from my heart or that she hasn't thought of.   Its been a long weekend over Thanksgiving and tomorrow is back into the routine of work and school.   Then next week I have another short week as I have two days of vacation.  I had 5 days left for the year and needed to burn them up since they won't carry over and I won't get any payment for them. If I didn't use them then they would be gone. I also need to sit down with a 2009 calender and figure out what we are going to do for the year as I am supposed have my vacation scheduled for the entire year.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.  I suppose I should give the traditional "What are you Thankful for" list.

First of all I am thankful to The Lord for all the blessings and grace he has shown our family and myself.  I am thanjkful for a wife who loves me, four healthy children, a house, a stable job, enough money to see that our needs are met and even most of our little wants.    I am thankful to live in a country that I can be free to say what is on my mind, to worship God and tohave a say in our governmental process.   

I know that we often minimize or even forget Thanksgiving in the headlong rush toward Christmas.  The actual event is overshadowed now by "Black Friday."  We need to make sure to take the time to really stop and thank the Lord for the blessings we have in our lives.  

 

Tuesday night

Sitting here in bed on a Tuesday night, not doing much other than some surfing and playing Stargate Wars.  Yvette is watching "Paris Hilton's BFF" and just taking it easy this evening.  Tomorrow is the day before Thanksgiving.  So far the past two weeks have been quiet at work for the most part and its nice to have time to breathe and think.

Christmas is approaching fast and I;m trying to finish getting the lights up on the house.  And as was mentioned, I need to get the front porch cleaned off.  I want to finish getting lights on the porch and the candy cane lights along the driveway.  I will make  sure to get pictures once its gets finished.  Also coming up is a spectacular conjuction of Venus, Jupiter and the moon, but I don't think I can get a picture from home. Too many tall trees. I may be able to get it from up on the roof.  But may have to find somewhere clear to the southwest to get what I want since it is only going to be around right after Sunset.

Thinking of Christmas I have to figure out what to get a certain person.   Gas is down below 1.70/gallon right now which is nice.   

Trying to think of what else to write about  but I don't want to rant anymore about politics or the economy right now.  I'm being told, blog about me, blog about the kids, or life.  

The kids started the thanksgiving break with an early release day today.  Its nice that I don't have to be up at 6:30 tomorrow morning.  I can sleep in for a little bit and snuggle.  Then on Thursday is Thanksgiving dinner with the family at my sister's place.   Monday is back to work, but then I get a couple of days vacation.  I had about 5 days I had to burn before the end of the year.   After that its normal work days till the 23rd when we are taking the kids up to Bryson City to do a "Polar Express" train ride.  Back to work for Christmas Eve and then off for the rest of the week.  I get the 29th and 30th, back for the 31st.  THen of course new years day off, but we are taking a mission trip so I start off the year with a vacation day, which is my birthday as well.

Of course I have a feeling that the slow reprieve we have had at work will be short lived.  The first of the year is always really busy with everyone cramming to finish year-end reporting and doing 1099 forms.

 

--not much

Not much to say tonight.  Sitting here waiting for the twins to go to sleep watching "Sword in the Stone"

Once they do will go join Yvette in our room for some quality time.  I'm glad its the weekend.  I hope its not too cold tomorrow, I'd like to try and get the lights up.

I know, I know

Its been forever since I blogged. 

Well the election is Over, and Obama is our president Elect.  Congratulations to him.  It is a historic moment in American history.  In some ways I feel it shouldn't be.  Don't get me wrong, this is not a racist statement.  But rather a comment on race and racism.  Yes we have moved great strides forward in race relations to get to the point where a black man can be elected.  But how much greater a comment on race relations would it be if race were not even mentioned or a factor on either side.  If we could truly be color-blind and not even think twice about it.  It seems to me that many of those who scream most loudly about racism are the same who keep pointing out race and racial issues.   To me, his race was a non-issue.  No portion of my decision to vote or not vote for him was based off his race.  I looked at his policies, his stated goals and formulated my decision from that.   

In other news, Congress is raking Paulson over the coals in what they see as, deception in the Bailout plan.  The stock market continues to plummet despite the re-assurances of the Federal Government and treasury department.  Japan has officially slid into recession and that sent stocks plummetting again.  One bright spot in all this is that the collapsing stock market has also cause the commodities futures market to take a serious dive as well and Oil has dropped below $60 a barrell.  This translates into gas below $2.00 a gallon around here.  As the price drops, hopefully this will offset some of the economic worries and encourage some consumer confidence.  Retailers are already cutting prices because of the economic slump and dropping gas and energy prices can only help.   However, I understand that some congressional democrats are proposing a massive federal Gas tax to get prices back up.  They are worried that with lower gas prices, consumers will start buying large SUV's and other vehicles with lower gas mileage.  And in fact since gas has come down there has been an increase in large vehicle sales.  But why is this a bad thing?  Because there is still a push to reduce CO2 emissions for global warming.    

Let me get this straight, our economy is in the dumps, and we need to encourage investments to get it going again.  So Obama proposes increasing capital gains taxes, which would stifle investment.  Not because there is a need for increased revenue, but to promote economic fairness.   Energy and gas prices are dropping, which could add to economic recovery on the consumer side, but because it might lead to buying big vehicles the government wants to increase gas taxes to make sure that it is painful to fill up at the pump. Once again reducing economic recovery.  

Anyway... enough ranting for now.

I will try to post again soon