Mixed

At work this morning, I got a call from my dad, to tell me that a friend of mine passed away, early last week. It was sad and shocking news, which was in my thoughts throughout the day. It's so important not to take life or friends and loved ones for granted.

The rest of the day was much more cheerful. Everyone at work was talking about the Super Bowl and very little discussion was about the game. At lunch we talked about if for a while and if we paused, we could hear neighboring tables talking about it. Before I left for work this morning, I saw film on the news from Boston celebrations. It was pretty amusing, comparing the puny celebration for a large professional team to the massive burning festivities in honor of the Duke Basketball team.

I have a quote, from my dad, that I thought was truly wonderful. He was asking me where I had learned about a term I had used and when I questioned his curiosity, he said, "You seem to be well educated and sometimes I wonder why."

Christmas Eve

In my last post, I neglected to mention that I would like to wish that everyone has a Merry Christmas!
My family is somewhat unusual in that we celebrate Christmas on the night of the 24th, a German tradition. Under normal conditions, we would decorate the tree on the day of the 24th and then light the tree's candles in the evening and unwrap presents while the Bach Christmas Oratorio is playing on a stereo, boom box or computer. Since we have a dog, FIFO, that considers everything that falls in the floor to be his, we have been putting our tree outside on the deck. This year, my dad actually put the lights on yesterday! On the 23rd! They weren't turned on, so I suppose that is acceptable. Since my brother is visiting for fewer than 2 days, he didn't want to decorate while he was here.