For That Special Someone

I spotted this while Christmas shopping with Sam. Unless there's a towel shoved in there, it looks to me like you're paying ten bucks for nothing but a box of rocks.

Thanks for the Help

Why do people comment on things they admittedly know nothing about? Are they bored? Are they trying to make friends?

Click to enlarge

Here we have a partial screen grab taken from the bottom of an Amazon page. One of today's Deals is a pair of binoculars (which, despite the fact that I have absolutely no need for them, I still decided not to buy). 

Anyway, at the bottom of the page, as is often the case, potential buyers post questions about the product, which, presumably, someone who knows what they're talking about can answer. In this case, Jeanne steps up to the plate. 

I'm not sure what the deal is with Jeanne. I'm sure she's a very nice person (actually, I'm not sure. I'm just trying to soften my critique), but why is she wasting hers and everyone else's time (i.e.: mine) by giving a non-answer? 

Maybe she's posted hundreds of these types of 'reviews', sprinkled throughout Amazon and other various websites. Maybe she's just killing time, sitting around in muumuu, waiting for her alleged husband to get home while her fourteen cats are climbing all over her. 

Maybe Jeanne needs to get out more.

Rainy Night

Gift Wrapping

Sunday afternoon was spent helping Sam wrap presents for his brother and sisters. A lot of thought goes into something like this - a lot of going to different stores, looking for just the right containers, looking for just the right wrapping paper (before deciding that maybe those gift bags we saw earlier were a better idea - and going back to get them). Not to mention the gifts themselves. That's a whole other story - one, possibly, for another day.

Anyway, thanks to Google's 'Magic Eraser' I can share a couple of pre-Christmas photos of Sam wrapping his gifts, while the presents are safely erased from the images...

A Dangerous Position

I always stand to Sam's left at an intersection. I  figure this is the more dangerous of our two spots. Too many times, some clown takes the corner next to us, going "right on red" while looking only to their left, never thinking to turn their head and see if , a) there's a walk signal, and, when there is, b) if someone is right in front of them, crossing on the street. 

Take last night, for example. Last night, I nearly got killed on my walk home with Sam. 

Last night, Sam and I, each decked out in our various reflectors, were heading home in the 5:15 P.M. darkness. As we approached a busy intersection, Sam pressed the button for the "Walk" sign --- and we waited.

When the light eventually changed to Walk, Sam and I stepped off the curb - and some low-watt individual comes sailing around the corner on my left, never stopping and presumably, never looking. I jerked to a stop and pulled Sam back - and this moron stopped - barely - ending up about six inches away from me.

I yelled at this idiot while gesturing at the walk sign - and by the time I continued past his car, he rolled down his window and yelled at me (!) for crossing in front of his car (!!!) - and for crossing while the (now-blinking) hand was up on the walk sign (!!!!).

"IT WAS A WALK SIGN!!!" I yelled, jabbing my finger in the direction of the blinking hand. My new friend drove off before I could point out that THE HAND WAS BLINKING because it had just said WALK!

Idiot.

This is (one of) my fear(s) in Sam walking alone. People are crazy. And it's hard nearly impossible for Sam to process a situation like this quickly enough to stay safe. 

The world is a fast moving place. And people are idiots.

Evening Sky

Even though the daylight doesn't last very long on these cold, pre-winter evenings, at least it leaves us with pretty sunsets.

Trimming the Tree