It's beginning to look a lot like...

T-minus one day until Christmas vacation! OK, that so sounded like a third grader.
Sorry bout that. I don't think I have been this excited about 4 days off in my entire life. I've got a lot of places to go, hopefully a lot of people to see. My
whirlwind tour will kick off Wednesday night in the MQT with a visit to Upfront
and Co. to see Delta County's finest, Tripod perform. It's been far too long
since I've taken in the dulcet tones of Joey Russo and it will definitely be worth the drive through the darkness from the A Town. Thursday will be spent catching up
with old friends and doing some last minute shopping starting at about 7AM. Yeah right, I'm gonna be hung over like a mother. I don't have to return to the Fox Valley until Sunday and all signs point to a delightful Christmas time.

Good showing by the Patriots last night, with Tom Brady doing his best Aaron Brooks impression and throwing away the game in Miami. Just a really un-Patriotic night if you will.

I've been seeing a commercial for the GM Red Tag sale where the sticker price is the actual price you pay for the car. The commercial ends with the narrator stating:
"Holiday shopping just got a lot easier!" Wait, what? Unless your name is Oprah, has
buying a car as part of your Christmas shopping ever come into play?

And the jewelry commercials down here! Egad! "Get a necklace for your sister!" "A pendant for your aunt!" "A bracelet for your dog!" Listen. Jewelry is strictly for
girlfriends, wives and mistresses. That is it, Mr. Kreiger Jewlers! You buy friends
DVD's and cartons of cigs, not jewelry.

Off the top of my head, it has been 59 years since WWII ended, 13 years since the
Soviet Union collapsed, and Tupac has been "dead" for 8 years. Time flies.

And guess what we got the last two days! Snow! I learned a couple things about here:

a) 3-4 inches of snow is considered a crippling storm in Wisconsin.
b) Snow plowing skill is suspect at best down here.
c) I remember why I used to say, "Damned Wisconsin drivers!"

I'll hopefully get to see my sister this weekend for the first time in about two months. She is apparently carrying on the Holtslander tradition started by me of
working every Christmas and the days around it for good measure. It's awesome when work and money conflict with your family at the holidays. But, somebody has to answer the phones and man the cash registers and work the desk at the hotels. If not a Holtslander, then who?

That's all I've got for now. Oh! Wait! I almost forgot the triumphant return of:
RANDOM MOVIE QUOTE!!!

[on her wardrobe]
Walter Kresby: Only castrating, Manhattan career bitches wear black. Is that what you want to be?
Joanna Eberhart: Ever since I was a little girl.
-The Stepford Wives (2004)

I'm finished,
Nate