[prev] Fri, 26 Dec 2003 18:52:53 -0500 [next] [life] - [comment]
After Erin (not ARIN) and I tidied up the apartment on Wednesday morning, we headed out in completely different directions back to our respective homes. Had an easy ride back down, until I hit the GWB. Sat in traffic for about an hour once I hit the city.
Once home, I caught my breath for about five minutes before we headed out to Bethpage (former home of Grumman, amongst other interesting things) to my Grandmother's house. Had dinner and exchanged gifts. Being fairly poor, I made my Grandmother a gift certificate, good for one tour of Albany. My aunt said, "You should market that!", letting her Amway heritage show through. "I'm too lazy to market anything.", came my reply.
So, back home. I slept like a log until christmas morning, until the not so unexpected happened. I was awakened by the shrill cry of our singing Christmas Hamster. Now, last year, Dad had used this little toy to wake us up, and it was sort of funny and nice. This year, mom was in charge, and somehow she turned a little cheerful Christmas hamster into a sound that I can only describe as that of a thousand flaming knives piercing every single orifice of my body. Yes, every single one.
I've noticed a lot of people making lists about things they've received. I have no interest in doing that. However, I will mention a few things. The coolest thing I got: Dolemite on DVD. Very few people, aside from my friend John, can appreciate the coolness of this gift. The geekiest thing I got: The TinyTrak3. I'm not going to explain what this is, or what it does. But know this: it is awesome. There were plenty of movies, and a lot of great CD's. I got a very interesting book on the history of Long Island, which intrigues me, because it makes me think about a time when Long Island maybe wasn't such a pit.
So, Christmas, at the Styne house anyway, was over in the matter of a couple hours. It wasn't planned to be that way, but that's how it turned out. Open presents! Eat! To church with you, scurvy knaves! Somehow, I think our lectors try to make the readings boring. I only realized that these things could be interesting in high school, thanks to one of my religion teachers, Anthony Marinelli. Eh, well. Maybe next year.
Then, it was off to my Aunt's house in Westbury. Drove past 1103 Stewart, which closely resembles the Titanic these days. Showed Jeremy X-Plane, when he inquired about a Flight Simulator alternative. Great food, as usual. I think I had a few beers too many (which, sadly, these days means like two) -- because I found myself dozing off after dinner. We took Grandma back home to Floral Park, and then, Christmas was offically over.
Up at 7:30am, on the road an hour later. I was out of the city in 45 minutes, which was amazing. Had a nice QSO with W2FLA on simplex outside of Newburgh. Back in Albany at 11:30, and off to work until 4.
Then, "home".
I'm really tired. Party at our apartment for New Year's Eve. Details and such to follow.