Big Mexican Dinner

I was going to write a long drawn out review of this year, but I decided that I’d just be lazy instead.

If you want to know how my year went you can go back into the archive and read January 31st, anything in February, March or April, June 19th, all of August, and September 11th. The rest of the year either sucked or was pretty much uneventful.

That being said, here’s to hoping 2010 is a good year.

I remember tomorrow like it was yesterday.

That is all.

I posted this last year for Christmas. Now, I’m not crazy about the idea of being uncreative and doing the same thing over and over again, but since Christmas happens for the same reason every year, I am willing to make this exception.

Happy Birthday, Jesus.

Oh, and now that I have the formalities out of the way, here’s a bonus…

Today is the Winter Solstice (technically, it occurred at 1747 UTC, but let’s not be picky). Simply put, today supposedly had the shortest number of daylight hours out of any day during the year. I’m not so sure about that, since I’ve spent the past three days indoors due to the freakin’ blizzard and haven’t seen much of the sun anyway. Anyway, the days begin getting longer from this point forward, so that’s always a good thing.

Today is also the traditional first day of winter here in the northern hemisphere. Though, a quick search of Wikipedia taught me that many cultures consider today to be midwinter because they judge their seasons strictly on the length of the days. Honestly, I don’t give a shit. All it means to me is that it’s way too cold outside and Christmas and New Year’s Eve are almost upon us.

That being said, I heard Elvis singing “Blue Christmas” the other day. I couldn’t help but be reminded of the best (and most annoying) version of this song ever recorded. You’ve most likely heard it so many times that you want to stab yourself in the eye, but in case you haven’t, here it is just in time to get into the holiday spirit.

“Th-th-th-th-that’s all folks!”

Dear Santa,

All I want for Christmas is Global Warming…or a snow shovel…or a super nova. Anything to get rid of this shit.

I’ve been a good boy this year…all things considering.

Thanks.

I feel like I’ve been slacking and letting my readers (both of you) down by not posting anything since the middle of September. Part of that is due to the fact that nothing that occurs this year could come close to matching the births of Owen Dickens and, more recently, Ruby Rumrill (Baby Roo). After Owen was born, I could still look forward to Baby Roo. However, after Ruby joined us in the here and now, the rest of the year is pretty much going to be a let down in comparison.

Still, I like blogging, in spite of the futility of it all. So, to kick-start my blogging again, I’m going to take the easy road and just try to infect you with the same ear worm that has been bothering me for the past week (My Facebook Friends may have already seen this). I was recently listening to the Bluegrass channel on XM Satellite radio and heard the following song:

I grew up in Tennessee, but it wasn’t until my move to the DC area that I became more than vaguely aware of the Caney Fork River. I had just left the Army and was headed to Tysons Corner, Virginia for my first job as a free man. My really good friend, Greg, was traveling with me to help me move all of my belongings. Somewhere between Nashville and Knoxville, Greg pointed at a sign as we were crossing a small river. “Caney Fork River. That’s the first one,” he said. “See if you can count how many times we cross this river before we’re done.”

“Five,” I said as we crossed the final bridge several miles down the road.

Every time I drive that stretch of Interstate 40, I find myself counting every Caney Fork River sign. The number hasn’t changed. It’s still five. It occurred to me as this song was playing that most people who hear this song won’t understand exactly what the lyrics mean. So, I’m cluing you, the reader, in on a little inside knowledge about East Tennessee. If you’re ever a fugitive driving I-40 heading to North Carolina, you’ll need to cross the Caney Fork River (and still drive for a while) five times before you’re home free.

Now, many of you may be wondering why I called this entry “Ear Worm.” You should be able to figure it out by reading the entry posted HERE.

Last year on this day, I wrote this blog post. (CLICK THE LINK, DOGGONIT!)

In that post, I wished my friends Kelly, Lee and Doug happy birthdays. Kelly’s is today, Lee’s was on the 9th, and Doug’s is tomorrow. The things I wrote last year about these friends is still true today. These three people are some of the best friends I’ve ever had. There’s just something about Battle Buddies that you can’t explain to people who’ve never been in the military.

Happy Birthday. I love you guys.