Who wants a 50" Plasma TV? Also, dumb cows...

First the dumb cows part (I think this should be part of Dean's blog; visit it for better reading, but think about coming back here afterward, yes?): anyone else find it amusingly ironic that Chick-Fil-A, who always put educational "toys" in their kids' meals, puts out ads that intentionally misspell things ("eat mor chikin")?

And now to the TV... anyone want a 50" plasma TV for a good price? Apparently these people did. If you don't want to read the article, let me summarize: a Wal-Mart employee, attempting to open the doors yesterday morning to let in the waiting crowd, was knocked over and trampled. To death. This is what we've become? A nation so concerned about "the good price" that we no longer care about people? What kind of "Christmas Spirit" is it to walk over a man - being trampled - to get into the store to shop for gifts? Sounds sort of like another story Jesus told (albeit with a less happy ending in the modern version). In fact, other store employees were trampled trying to get to the guy, and even an 8-month-pregnant lady was injured (she and the baby are fine, according to the article). They even managed to literally break the door frame.

COME ON, PEOPLE! This is ridiculous. In fact, the shoppers refused to leave the store even after they were told it was closing because the employee had been killed.

Sorry for such a depressing article... I just wanted to say, "STOP IT!" To lighten things up a bit, here's a video that I "stole" from Dean (who got the link from Christy):



Not exactly the same, but the words ring true: "STOP IT!" Let's remember what Christmas is all about - love. "For God loved the world so much that he gave..." (the extra-underline emphasis, which you probably can't see, is mine) - that's why we give. Love. Keep that in mind while you're shopping: it's not about the giving, it's about the loving.

Ok, and now back to your regularly scheduled life...

"avoid to play song dead turkey"

Ok, what in the world does that title mean? I have no idea, but I was looking at some of the Google Webmaster Tools for my blog site, and then I went to the "Top Search Queries" and this was the 7th entry (at that search page on Google my "Turkey Day Thoughts" post is currently in the #3 position).

What?!

Who in the world searches for "avoid to play song dead turkey"? And what does that mean, anyway? Sounds like someone who should be reading a post at the [LAPSE... brain dead] blog. But, ok, let's analyze it...

"Song dead turkey" - maybe this is referring to a goofy bird (or person) with a very poor tune...

"avoid to play" - hmm... "to play" may be referring to the action taken when inserting a quarter in a juke box and selecting a particular tune? With this in mind, perhaps "dead turkey" is the name of a song, thus "avoid to play song dead turkey" could be seeking guidance on how to not select the entry for the song "Dead Turkey" in a jukebox.

That must be it - "avoid to play song dead turkey" must be someone trying to find instructions on how to not select a song (which I've never heard; maybe I'll have to write one and add it to the Music of None Yet) when making choices at a jukebox.

You know, I'll bet the guy also drives a flex fuel vehicle to avoid depriving the yeti of his cold clime areas (as I discussed in this post).

We just finished decorating our CHRISTmas tree. Ok, not the best picture in the world, but I just snapped it w/ my phone (VGA-res., Motorola Razr V3 from T-Mobile; am too lazy to get up and get the real digital camera, and this one I can transfer to my laptop via Bluetooth, kinda cool... I also added a little bit of a "zoom blur" using Paint.Net, a pretty cool free photo-editing app - I know, I know, you're going to tell me to go look at Gimp... maybe I will, thanks). Anyway, we're perhaps a little late getting it up this year, but it's up, and it was a nice, enjoyable family time. But it's not a "Family Tree" like Lowe's "accidentally" called them in their 2007 catalog. I heard Rick & Bubba talking about this one morning... where Rick said something like, "Come on, you don't want to offend people? Who's going to be buying your trees anyway? The people who want them called 'Christmas trees!' That's basic marketing; if they are offended by the term 'Christmas tree' they're probably not going to be buying a tree in the first place" (I put that in quotes, but it's not a direct quote - it's my own paraphrased recollection/summarization of Rick's comments, with which I happen to agree). Lowe's wised up, fortunately... except maybe for this oddity. What is that? Supposedly it's to allow more room for stacking presents and to make the ornaments easier to see... whatever. It's just weird. Where is your tree-top angel going to sit? Maybe you put an army of angels on top... hey - maybe I do need that type of tree... my wife suggested that we need a new angel, but I love my 16-year-old angel that's been sitting on top of our tree since the first Christmas we were married. If we had an upside-down tree, we could put all sorts of angels on the "top" of the tree, and keep the oldie-but-goodie in there as well!

I'd better quit typing now before I get in too much trouble... :)