Isn't Magi another word for wizards or sorcerers?

So NYE was actually a lot of fun.  The husband and I drove all the way across the road to ST and PJ's for dinner with them and NB.  Dinner was excellent and the husband informed me earlier in the day he had volunteered me to make and bring dessert.  I went with the old reliable mini chocolate souffles.  I added homemade whipped cream this time. 

We actually stayed up to watch the ball drop in Times Square.  We were watching CNN for some reason and they had Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper hosting.  Seriously?  I don't know how CNN came up with that pairing and I was surprised to find out they have been doing it for five years now.  Kathy Griffin was so close to the line so many times, she actually was pretty funny and outrageous.  My two favorite things she said was Justin Bieber has an eating disorder and she kept harassing Anderson Cooper about if she could watch his balls drop.

OMG Dick Clark...ya gotta love the guy for still doing it but I feel sad for him as he is clearly not the host he used to be doing it.


I actually got all the Christmas cards out- not on time but mailed out none the less.  I am sure most people will assume I just forgot them and sent them out late but whatevuh...

I also plotted out my training for the god damn half marathon.  I of course googled training programs for one and found a good one.  So I put it on my GOOG calendar and lo and behold I am already a week behind.  So I have been doing my running in the mornings at the gym before work.  It seems all my long runs will be on Sundays and I have Mondays and Fridays off.

I had to laugh at this one.  A married (straight) couple that we are friends with sent us a box of Sees Candy for Christmas along with their card.  When I went to open it and I read it was the "fruits and nuts" version I of course had to text the husband and ask him just what he was implying.  OF course the box lasted only one day...if that.

There is a totally woofy conductor on the train now very early in the morning.  I think he may have caught me checking out his assets Tuesday.

I cannot for the life of me understand how the NDAA is not getting even more air time and or press?  Seriously, there are more stories and references to it on the tome of mugs than there are in the MSM.  Clearly the MSM is doing their job as the Ministry of Propaganda for the oligarchs in this country.  If you are not sure what I am referring to it is the National Defense Appropriation Act.  Basically it is the gutting of the Bill of Rights and funny, anachronisms like posse comitatus but hey, no biggie...

What I find really annoying about it is that there are people who are ascribing this to President Obama.  Yes he did not need to sign it and could have had a showdown with Congress about it but it was Congress that wrote this deplorable piece of legislation and they did in a bipartisan manner.

GOOG it if you want to find out more about it.  It aint pretty.

I was surprised to see the Fed/government/plutocrats were able to get the markets to close flat here for '11.  That is actually quite a feat they accomplished.  Clearly the Europeans need to learn some new tricks when it comes to manipulating markets.

As for training I ran three miles Tuesday in 25 minutes and four this morning in 33.  Not too shabby for a middle aged guy.

Monday night we had dinner with our neighbors and we were of course being typical gays- you know critiquing attire and fitness of others in the restaurant.  I made the comment that I am straight skinny but gay fat.  That was a good one but I cannot take credit for it as it was a joke in an episode of "American Dad."

The tree is still up.  I asked the husband Saturday if we could take it down but he said no, it stays up until Balthazar, Caspar and Melchior arrive.  That would be Friday but we will be taking it and the lights down Saturday with the boys.

Totally psyched to see The Devil Inside this weekend.

WTF?

Just a quick post. 

A month or so ago the husband asked me if I had any interest in doing the NYC Half Marathon again. I told him no effing way, go shit in your hand and make a fist.  He pleaded with me and gave me the line c'mon it is a lottery, what are the odds of you making it in again two years in a row.  Apparently the odds are really fucking good! 

Yeah, I got in, found out last night as I was giving the boys their four star dinner on the road, aka McDonalds.  I noticed I had an email so as I was waiting in the drive thru line I opened it and there it was- Congratulations, we'll see you on March 18th.

I starting cursing a blue streak out loud and the boys think something bad happened- which it has.  I explain to them the situation and they are laughing at me.  I drove like the husband- very fast and some might think a bit aggressively- and got us home in four hours and two minutes with only one pit stop.  My youngest was very impressed- he did not think I had it in me to drive like his step father...

My first question to the husband was did you get in too?  If you did not you have to do the training with me.  He did not.  Seriously- why can't I get this lucky with the good damn Mega Millions or Power Ball?

This morning was target practice in the back yard for everyone with their bb guns.  Let's just say we all need practice...

A regret and a redneck Christmas

So our Christmas cocktail party to meet the neighbors went quite well.  I make that assertion based on the fact that everyone pretty much stayed for the entire time allotted.

I and the husband have always joked that we live in the gayborhood.  We really only have ST and PJ across the road from us but we found out there really are quite a few other gay couples right up the road from us.  We invited them and when they got the invite they asked the husband if the could bring their tenant.  The husband asked me and I said "Tenant?  Yo mean their third because clearly they are a threesome and they are being polite."  To which the husband said no you are wrong.  Well they arrive and they are dressed in holiday attire and they are quite nice.  During the party as we socialize and get to know them we find out the tenant is from Eastern Europe and married to a sister of one of the couple...at which point the husband looks at me with that look of OMG you are right!  Victory never tasted so sweet.

As the party was winding down my brother's car got stuck in our rather wet yard.  He was totally stuck.  I and another guest tried pushing him out and he finally resigned himself to calling roadside assistance that comes with his car.  I am inside chatting with the remaining guests and one of our neighbors comments "You know if we had lesbians here he would have been out of the mud by now."

Christmas was great.  On Christmas Eve we went out to dinner With ST and PJ.  The meal was great and we had a good time.  We then got home and watched the season finale of "American Horror Story."  Christmas morning the husband was like a little kid!  He could not wait to open presents.  He got a composting bin thing since he has been talking about starting composting all summer.  He was excited for that.  HE also got a bb gun to handle the squirrel issue.  I got him the good old reliable Crossman 760 which can shoot bbs and pellets.  Of course he has a scope on the gun as well.  The other big hit was he got an apron- red naturally as he is Latin- embroidered with "El Jefe" on it.

We were hosting Christmas dinner- just the boys, ST and PJ.  I went to pick the boys up at 7 PM.  When they got in the truck I told them they could not open presents until after dinner.  Dinner was very simple- the husband made roast chicken, oven roasted garlic rosemary potatoes, haricot verts and oven roasted carrots and parsnips.  It was great.  I made roasted apples with cinnamon and nutmeg for dessert with homemade whipped cream.

The boys then got to open the rest of their gifts ( I had dropped off their bean bag chairs at their mom's the day before- a big hit for in front of their xBox).  They got the usual clothes and whatnot from grandma, some new xBox games, gift cards to BBY and of course they also got pocket knives and bb guns.  Seriously, how redneck is that- knives and guns for Christmas?  They were agog at the bb guns. 

Monday morning it was off to grandmother's house.  I have the boys for their Christmas break this year and they wanted to spend it with their grandparents.  It did not matter how much I pushed a beach vacation instead- they wanted to go north- the little brats.  Actually I am totally psyched at their ages they willingly want to spend time with their grandparents.  We brought along the puppy and drove up.  We arrived in time for Christmas dinner of roast beast with mom and dad, my aunt and uncle, two of my aunt and uncle's children, one cousin's spouse and children and said cousin's father in law.  The meal was great and by the end of dinner I had quite a glow.

Tuesday was a shutter day- as in don't even open the shutters.  I and the boys did not even shower, lol.  Tuesday night I had drinks with two of my best friends who are in town for Christmas.  Yesterday was dinner and movie with dad for the boys.  I was quite excited they did not choose Olive Garden for dinner.  We are stepping up as we had dinner at Ruby Tuesdays.  the server was quite cute too, lol.  We then saw Sherlock Holmes:  Game of Shadows and it was great!  Robert Downey , Jr. and Jude Law make a great team in the movie.

Today the grandparents took the boys to an indoor water park.  I am staying home with the pup as I did not bring his crate and he can't stay alone for that long anyhow.  We will got out to dinner tonight at a local Italian place right down the street.

Tomorrow we will veg out again and then we are having dinner with a girlfriend who is in town for NYE.  Leaving Saturday to go home.

As the year ends I look back and realize there really is only one regret I have- I saw Suckerpunch twice.  Other than that I think this was a pretty damn great year.

I have not even looked at my emails for work nor BBRG.  I have no clue what is going on and I like it.  I did get around to reading the only non-fiction book I planned on this year and it was pretty damn good.  I can see why it made BBRG's list of best reads for the year.  Mom borrowed it after I finished it and she is enjoying it.

"...State Farm is there..."

The weekend was pretty busy but in a good way.  We got quite a bit done ahead of Christmas.

My oldest actually went to a friend's birthday party and sleep over Friday night so I just had to pick up my youngest.  We had our usual dinner with ST and PJ and it was quite nice.  The husband made this amazing tuna dish but we told my youngest- the picky fussy pain in the ass eater- he was eating albacore since he is not a tuna fan.  He finished it of course.

Saturday morning was one of the highlights of the weekend.  I went to pick up my oldest and when I saw him I noticed he had ink on the left side of his face.  Apparently he was the first to fall asleep at the sleep over so off course his friends drew a penis on the side of his face, lol.  Classic!  HE did not even realize it nor did his mother until I pointed it out.  We called him penis face often during the weekend.  I also gave him advice for when he gets his friends back:  Use a black Sharpie and draw it on the forehead.  Or I suggested he shave off just one eyebrow- that is great and has happened to me in my rowdy youth- and much more devious as it cannot be washed away with soap and water, only shame works...

Saturday was allotted to decorate the house for Christmas.  That entailed getting more lights- both "twinklers" and regular lights.  the husband had me up a ladder wrapping the branches of one of our dogwoods with red, mulch-faceted spherical bulbs.  He was concerned that I would staple thru the wire when attaching the lights to the trunk.  I told him relax, it won't happen.  Of course the first staple- right thru the wire, lol.  Nothing electrical tape can't fix though.

The two holly bushes got the old school white lights (old school in shape only, all our lights are LED).  The small yew got the twinklers.  That took most of the day and then I made grilled cheese and tomato soup for all of us for dinner.

Sunday was allotted for the tree, wreath and any other accouterments  we might get.  The tree was fairly priced.  The husband wanted a large wreath for the front bay window.  We got a 48" wreath and he nearly choked when he found out how much it was going to cost.  We also ended up getting a swag for the front door to hang under the knocker.

I really cannot believe these asswipes from MF Global are using the Enron defense, or as some refer to it he Shaggy defense- you know- It Wasn't Me.  I may be mistaken but I thought the whole Sarbanes-Oxley law was enacted to prevent this situation?  It is real simple- the management of MF Global should all go to jail.  I gotta think there is some mid-level operations guy sitting on a beach somewhere because he successfully skimmed millions of the illegally co0mingled funds...

Is it just me or has France gotten tres aggressive in pursuing an  activist foreign policy?  they led the charge on Libya and they are clearly leading the charge on Syria as well.  I have heard rumblings that we and our NATO allies are building up forces along the Syrian-Jordanian border...perpetual war, do we still have a Republican President?

When the husband and I lived in the city we were your typical apartment renters- we barely knew our neighbors in passing.  So now that we are country gays I told the husband we should get to know our neighbors.  To that end we are having a Christmas cocktail party this Saturday.  I did invite my brother who lives 20 minutes away but other than that it is no family, no one from the city and no co-workers.

Last night we met with the caterer.  The husband wanted to do this ourselves and I said no, we need to socialize and meet our neighbors not work.  The role reversal is ironic as I am usually the cheap frugal one and he is the extravagant one.  The caterer was great and I am glad we went that route.  Will let you know how the food is in a later post.

The boys are coming even though they are with their mom this weekend.  I spoke with her and I am picking them up Saturday afternoon and dropping them back off in the evening.  They will also pull coat check duty.

On the invitations I wrote "Holiday attire not necessary but welcomed."  That of course caused a tizzy with many of the husband's friends. As for me I went and bought totally preppy red cords with little white snowmen embroidered all over.  I also got a Christmas plaid tie and matching ribbon belt.  The husband told me I had to wear a black shirt- fine.  I really wanted a red, sparkly, lame jacket and matching Santa hat but thought that would be a bit over the top....

Live free or die and other things I've learned recently

My birthday was great!  The boys got me a bunch of B-movie sci-fi/horror dvds.  I did not have the heart to tell them I had seen all of them because for me it was more important that I got a gift from them.  One of them is Sharktopus  which the husband and I had watched when it premiered on the SciFi Channel.  It's only redeeming quality is Kellan Lutz is in it.  The husband out did last year's gift (it was a chainsaw) by getting me a cover for the bed of the truck.  Totally psyched and installed it, took pics and posted them to the tome of mugs.  I got two comments that made me laugh- one from a  friend saying he didn't picture me as a pick-up truck type immediately followed by another friend saying he never pictured me as the type that would name my pick-up truck- I did, Black Betty.

Thanksgiving was great!  Mom and dad arrived the day before and we celebrated dad's birthday.  Thanksgiving day itself went as smooth as silk.  The husband made an amazing meal and we had a total of nine people for dinner.  The highlight for me though was the husband admitting the center piece was really good.  The story behind that was he sent me a text Wednesday afternoon to pick up decorative squash for the table.  Have you ever tried to find decorative squash the night before Thanksgiving?  Yeah well let me tell ya- impossible!  So I improvised, picked up two small acorn squash and a bag of pine cones.  The husband was not happy.  I placed the squash and pine cones quite artfully wit candles and thought it looked quite good.  Everyone agreed with me.

Mom and dad were staying until Sunday so Saturday I went and picked up the boys and brought them over for lunch with their grandparents.  The boys o course started telling their grandparents gift ideas once mom prompted them.  They were not shy either let me say.

The company Christmas Holiday party was last week.  I decided to get a hotel room one block from the office- given my history it was the prudent thing to do.  It was a lot of fun and I was done by 9 and back in my king-sized hotel bed 20 minutes and two pizza slices later.  I think I even flirted shamelessly with my secret bf at the office.  Everyone else stayed out much longer.  I hit it early and hard and was happy with that strategery- besides I was leaving early Friday. 

The husband and I went up to the Granite State to visit MP.  She and her bf SJ have been renting a house up there.  SJ however had to go home to deal with a family health issue so it was just the three of us and the kids.

It was very relaxing even though MP put me to work moving firewood from the woodshed to the house.  The husband took the kids on a hike thru some trails while I did that and they had a blast even though they all came back wet and extremely muddy.

On the drive back Sunday we stopped off to visit the sister-in-law at her college.  It is a beautiful campus and it was great to see her- I cannot believe she is already a junior.

My views on Europe have not changed.  It is real simple- the math just does not work.  Everyone is talking bout how they are going to double the EFSF and leverage it.  Well you know what- if you double zero and then leverage it it is still zero.  Just saying.

I got into a fight discussion with a co-worker.  He is the eternal optimist and tells me I am always too negative.  I counter I am realistic- you can do the math, it will not work.  He finally agreed and said why don't we just do debt forgiveness?  I am all or that but the thing is it will cause a lot banks to fail and banksters to lose their jobs.  That is why the banks have bought and paid for all the politicians in the West. 

This weekend we are putting the lights up outside and the tree up inside.  We also have the boys to help so that will be fun.

This week so far has been eventful for my train rides home.  Monday night there was a fire on the train and last night I found it those signs saying it is a crime to interfere with the train crew operating the train is true.  Apparently a passenger got into an argument or became abusive and harassed one o the conductors.  So the next stop we sat there for 45 minutes waiting for law enforcement to arrive and arrest and remove the passenger.  Due to that I missed my classes at the dojo- sweep the leg!  I am not taking the train home tonight- we are having dinner with TK and other friends in the city at some new hot spot- Whitehall I think.  The husband is driving into JC and we will take the PATH back there and drive home.

Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle yeah

The weekend was fun and relaxing.  We only had my youngest son as his older brother was away at DIS with his friend and said friend's family.  The funny thing was my youngest asked if ST and PJ would still be joining us for dinner Friday night.  I told him of course, they dine with us every Friday night and just because his older brother was not there did not mean they weren't coming.  I am sensing therapy for him at some point with sibling issues...

Saturday our friend JB came down from the city to spend the day and lunch with us.  It was great and he brought these awesome desserts from some place called Lulu.  The husband took him over to ST and PJ's gallery to show him all the pretty cool art they have.  That night we bought Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, Part II on on demand and watched it.  It was pretty good even though the husband fell asleep during it.

Sunday was switched out all the coats int he closet for the winter coats that were stored down in the basement.  Then we went and saw Immortals.  The movie sucked in a big way.  The only positives in it were Henry Cavill and Stephen Dorff being shirtless most of the time.

Speaking of shirtless hot guys, last weekend the husband and I watched Crazy Stupid Love and I blurted out during the Dirty Dancing re-enactment scene I would totally cheat on you with him to the husband- referring of course to Ryan Gossling of course.  So much for internal dialogue but the husband agreed he is allowed.

The Peace of Westphalia (which I believe I erroneously referred to as the Treaty of Westphalia in a prior post but because I don't tag I am not bothering looking)  has been the dominant paradigm for close to 650 years.  I find it hard to believe it will fall to the wayside in twelve years (how long the euro has been around) solely because of a common currency.  Yet that is what many commentators seem to believe and continuously spout every chance they get.  Which leads me to believe the euro will disappear- paradigm shifts don't happen in that quickly outside of technology.

Is anyone else getting tired of the term technocrat?  I read a great comment from an economist who said you know we are in trouble when they put the economists in charge.  But as someone else pointed out the alternative would be an extremist and Europe has quite a history of getting in and causing a lot of trouble when an extremist comes to power...

So apparently Germany says it is willing to give up some of its national sovereignty to help the euro- how kind considering they are the ones who will end up in charge.

In case you were unsure if the economy is in a recession I'd venture it is.  I know- the yield curve is not inverted so how can we possibly be in a recession?  Really?  You are trying to say that the yield curve indicator is still a valid indicator?  You do know the Fed is openly and admittedly manipulating the yield curve right?  That is what Operation Twist is, so if the yield curve is not reflecting the actuality because it is subject to open manipulation then it can't really be an indicator of anything.

I need to let go of my anger toward M. Buffet so let me get this out and that will be end of it.  Here is a guy who has actively and legally done all he can to minimize the taxes he pays his entire business career.  Now how ever he has found religion and decided minimizing taxes is bad and it should be ended.  He feels so bad for his secretary who pays more than him.  Hello- then maybe you should be paying your secretary a larger salary?  Or here is a novel idea- stop taking steps to minimize your tax bill and pay what the government intended you to pay.  I find it very disingenuous  for him to spend his life making a boat load of money, minimizing his taxes the entire tie and then say ok, I;'m done, no one else should be able to do this too.  He made it into the castle and now wants to raise the drawbridge so on one else can get in.

I think I need to get the LMFAO album.  They have a great, catchy  tune that I need to get on my iPod for my cardio work outs- you know the song already- "I'm sexy and I know it" is the chorus but my favorite line is "I got passion in my pants and I aint afraid to show it."  I work out is the secondary chorus.

Speaking of working out, I almost beat the crap out of someone at the gym the other day.  I saw this person smirk and laugh when a rather large person stepped on to the treadmill.  I am a huge fan of anyone who realizes they are not in shape and makes a choice to change that- especially if that ens they are in the gym at 6 AM.  That person deserves a pat on the back and support, not some asshole laughing at them.

The whole Penn State scandal/tragedy is appalling.  Seriously all  the people involved should be prosecuted.  The accuse- who openly admits showering with ten year old boys- should be executed.  The students who rioted because the coach got fired?  Get a clue you dumb fucks, seriously- you are supporting someone who knew for thirteen yeas there was a monster amongst them.   I also would love to see the NCAA show some balls and sanction the football program.  I doubt that will happen though; the NCAA only goes after programs that cut them out of the money making by selling game memorabilia and not giving Caesar his due. For those who say the players should not suffer, only the guilty should well those players are representatives of the university and the university probably was most likely aware of what was going on so I'd call them guilty of abetting a child rapist and thus they should be punished.  Full Disclosure:  I am sorta being petty and loving the fact that Penn State is getting dumped on and especially the football program as the entire family of the ex went there and they are huge lovers/supporters of the school.  The ex did not go there, she went to a school in New England.

Fair share

The past weekend was very relaxing.  The weather was amazing and we actually had no guests- per se.  The husband's book club was supposed to be down here for lunch and their discussion.  Of course there was drama so the book club was cancelled and instead we had our friend LJ and AKR came for lunch.  LJ is a member of the book club and hey spend a lot of time down here as AKR's career is down here.  They are some of the best guests as they are sooo laid back and easy as guests go.  We enjoyed an excellent lunch the husband made and then our guests had to get going as they had an appointment. 

The rest of the day was nap time and general relaxing.  We then had a dinner date in the village down the road.

Sunday was manual labor day.  The husband had me back up on the roof installing gutter guards to keep the leaves out.  I really hope they work.   Then it was time for me to do my lumber jack routine and split more wood.  The husband did the Mexican work- fitting no?- and shuttled all the wood to where I was chopping.  He tentatively asked if he could try.  I quickly told him no, you can't even use a hammer properly- there i s no way in hell I am letting you touch the axe.  He asked if I would teach him how to use it and I told him maybe grasshopper, maybe...

So the Italian government- kinda an oxymoron no?- has fallen and apparently that is good for our economy?  Seriously, what is going on in the tape is all the long only PMs who are under performing are now buying because they are so short term they are afraid to explain to their investors why they did not even though they have quite possibly ten thousand great arguments for not doing it.  Then of course today reality sets in- reality hits ya hard bro!- and everyone realized Italy is totally fucked and I do mean totally.  The funny thing is once the spread blew out yesterday you knew the cannoli was done.  What everyone should really be focused on now is the French spread and it aint looking too good.  The thing that amused me today was the RTRSY story saying France and Germany are f"going through an intellectual exercise" of what it would take to make a smaller Euro zone, aka kicking out the southern countries.  The amusing part is once Germany realizes that France is totally fucked too then it will end up being a new Hanseatic League of some sorts with Germany and the Nordic countries, possibly the UK as well.

Speaking of the UK I really think they owe Soros a huge thank you for breaking the BOE in 1992 and forcing them out of the ERM. 

I see Jefferson County down in Alabama is officially going to file for bankruptcy.  I think that is Chapter 9 int he code, not sure.  Regardless it is a huge issue and is also the largest of its kind...to date.

So the whole OWS movement has gotten me thinking just what is my fair share to pay in taxes.  I have no problem paying taxes to support the nation and the social safety net that was built up since the Depression as I and most of my family has taken advantage of the benefits of the social safety net.  But as it is now I am currently paying ~50% of all my income in taxes already.  I am ok with that, I still live a nice life and have no complaints. 

I am fairly certain that if I had to start paying 60, 65 or 70 percent of my income in taxes I would not be so sanguine.  I would definitely want a larger say in what constitutes the social safety net as well.  I read somewhere that the top 5% of the income earners pay 40% of the taxes already.  So, how much more until it is fair?  And the whole line of shit Warren Buffet is spouting- you know what, if he wanted to he could stop using the current code to his benefit to minimize his personal tax bill and just pay what the code intends him to pay but of course he says he'll only do that if everyone else does; so much for leading by example....I also bet that he could influence the companies he has large stakes in to also stop sing the code to minimize their tax bills.  When GE effectively pays no taxes and possibly gets money back there is something wrong with the code.  The irony is their CEO is supposedly the jobs czar...

I am glad to see some of the Republicans are starting to do the math and realize just cutting the size of the government and the services offered will not solve our problems and we need to increase revenues as well.  I am a huge fan of a flat tax and getting rid of all exemptions.  The foolish 9-9-9 plan is no the right number , I am guessing if we go flat tax it is closer to say 15% to actually make a difference.  If we get a flat tax I have no problem with a VAT either.

Orange Nikes has been at he gym making my days start right.

My oldest is off to Disney.  Apparently his best friend who lives next door was going with his family and his older brother could not go do to some school commitment.  So the ex got asked if our oldest could go.  She said sure.  They left yesterday afternoon.  I told him I expect him to call or text me and his mother when he arrived- which he did.  I also told him I expect him to take my nightly calls and so far so good.