New Shoes in the Rain

The shopping is done, the wrapping is completed, items to loved ones a distance away have been shipped, the Christmas cards have been written and mailed....now all there is to do is wait. Which gives me an opportunity to ask some valid if rhetorical questions about the holiday season..... Do people wait to see whom they receive Christmas cards from to decide to whom to send cards themselves?  My wife and I review our received cards each year and occasionally remove people from the list if we've not heard from them in some time (possibly due to an inaccurate address or a general lack of  contact outside of the Christmas season).  When my wife and I met I knew that there were a good many people with whom she and the kids exchanged cards because of her first husband's past relationships (friends, classmates, coworkers).  And we've maintained contact with many of those folks, even though I've not met many of them. The unfortunate part of this scenario is that some...

I bought an iPad last weekend. There, I said it....I've done my bit to stimulate the economy and get my jollies, all at once. The worst part was that I bought it Friday night during the annual Christmas shopping trip my wife and I make to Cincinnati, and it never occurred to me that I would need a computer in order to activate the damned thing. I did, so it sat tempting me until I got it home Sunday afternoon. It is SO slick, I simply cannot tell you. In fact, I'm writing this post on it. Thought briefly that this little guy could replace my laptop when I travel, but alas, no such luck. While I am fortunate enough to be able to use my Mac for work (good thing, since my company issued computer is circa 2003 and looks/feels it), I was unable to get past my employer's restriction on company e-mail on a personally-owned portable device. That's the rub...it's as though this thing is an overgrown cellphone, given that limitaton. Far more than that, obviously, b...