December 27, 1999

I'm actually writing this on the 28th but since it's been so long since I wrote an entry, I have enough to fill up two days worth of space. So I figured rather than making one long entry, I would just divide it up!

This entry will be recapping my holidays and the next one will be recapping the visits of Eric, Wing Chun, Glark and Ken. At least that's the plan. I've been known to wander into unfamiliar territory.

So, holidays. Jim and I went to my parents' house on the 23rd and didn't do a whole lot except just kind of hang out and watch TV and chat with my mom and dad, which was the point of the trip, really. We were disappointed to discover that Rochester's cable system does not have a UPN station and we could not get the signal through the antenna, so we weren't able to watch wrestling on Thursday. Just a minor setback, though. I tried to fix my mom's e-mail for her and only made it worse, but it has since somehow fixed itself, so that's OK too.

On Christmas Eve day, I went out to visit my Aunt Marion. My mom and I stayed and visited for a while, and brought her some presents. She seemed well. I also went over to drop off some wedding pictures to Gretchen, and Brenda was there as well. It was good to see them, even if it was only for a short while.

Later that night, my brother and sister-in-law came to my parents' house and we opened our family gifts. My mom gave me my first house in my Christmas village collection. I remember talking about it in my journal, but I can't remember if I ever told you my decision. I ended up collecting the Dept. 56 Dickens Collection. My mom bought me the Chancery Corner starter set, which includes a house, a light, a fence with a gate, two trees and some fake snow. I love it! I can't wait to add to my collection. I got lots of other great gifts as well -- some wine (which may already be gone) and fancy vinegar from my brother and sister-in-law, as well as movie gift certificates (which we have already used!). My mom got me a bunch of cat-themed stuff, and some other gifts. I don't want to list them all here because I am sure I will forget something and hurt someone's feelings. It's not that I don't love all of my gifts - I really do! It's just a bit overwhelming to get so much all at once and I haven't had the chance to go through everything more slowly yet!

Anyway, after that gift-opening, we went out to my Aunt's house for the Reed family gathering. I got to meet Jordan, my cousin's baby, who is adorable and incredibly well-behaved, although he really looks nothing like me as I had claimed earlier. As you can imagine, he was quite the center of attention. We ate, we talked, we laughed, we opened gifts. I didn't get to talk to everyone as much as I probably wanted to, because Jim and I left about 10:30 in order to get back to Syracuse at a decent hour. The drive back was a bit snowy, but we made it home. Then we opened our gifts to one another. Jim got me some CDs from my wish list, and a beautiful snow globe from Disney. I'm not always the biggest Disney supporter, but they make great snow globes. They are always incredibly detailed. Anyway, he got me the Figaro and Cleo one, from Pinocchio, mostly because the little cat looks like Mia. I love it!

The next morning, we went over to his parents' house bright and early to open gifts. As usual, it was fun and chaotic with all the little kids around. Jim's brother-in-law made a great breakfast too! We hung out for a bit and then came back home for a few hours. It had snowed quite a bit and Jim went for a walk in Oakwood Cemetery. I was going to go, but I was pretty exhausted and it was really cold out, and I would have just slowed him down. I meant to take a nap instead, but never got around to it. I did call my mom, who was hosting Christmas dinner at her house for her side of the family, and spoke to everyone there. After Jim got home, Eric came over for a bit, then we went back to Jim's parents' house for dinner, which was delicious. We hung out there for a while and (of course) played a hand of hearts. Then Jim, Eric and I came back to our house for a while. Jim and Eric tried out some Playstation games, and we watched Eric's tape of Smackdown! and chitchatted. Eric is thinking of moving back here at some point, and I would love it! I think Jim would love it even more.

Tune in tomorrow to hear all about our visit with Ken, Wing Chun and Glark!

Warning: These links will open a new browser window. Previous days' links are archived.

One man's quest to work for Maxim. I don't know which is more depressing: that he wants to work for Maxim, or that he graduated from my current university. [via Camworld]

Seven Questions has some great interviews with people you may have heard of, who author sites you may have visited, including Jason Kottke and Cam.

Toys R Us was unable to fulfill an undisclosed number of orders from its online site in time for Christmas. Big, bad mistake.

E-retailers made A LOT of money this holiday season, to no one's surprise. I would be interested to see how much Amazon's wish lists increased their business. I know I would have made a wishlist at Borders.com if it were available, but went with Amazon because it wasn't. Also, I bought gifts for other journallers, and I probably wouldn't have otherwise. So my personal holiday spending increased as a result, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. The other interesting stat in this report is that Yahoo's business for five days this year was more than all of last season's business.

Can you tell yet that I am infatuated with annual Top 10 lists? I am in heaven right now with all the reviews of the year, decade, century and millenium. I even love the meta-discussions about why humans see the need to make top whatever lists at the end of the year. Love it! Anyway, here are the Top 10 PR Blunders of 1999.