Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Farewell, 2013

Dear 2013, 

I'm not pulling any punches with you; I'm going to come right out and say I'm kinda glad to see you go. 

You started out great in January by letting me have my best birthday ever with my family and friends gathered to celebrate my 50th birthday.  You continued to treat me well in the spring and summer, but you kinda went bi-polar in the fall; my consulting business had my first paying job and my beloved old Blazer was totaled in the parking lot crash at work.  

I know, I know; things could have been a whole lot worse, and I still owe you thanks.  I'm thankful that Mom and Dad are still going strong, though they've slowed down a bit, but they are still healthy and happy.  And more than anything else, I'm thankful for the life lesson you taught this old in 2013: patience.  I kept plugging away and never gave up and was able to get a paying customer, and by not having a running vehicle for over two months now, I was forced to be patient.  The past two and a half months since the crash haven't been easy; I'm the first to admit that it made me bitter and angry for a while.  I also thank you for humility.  It has been a very humbling experience to be 50 years old and have to ask your parents if you can borrow their car.  

So like I said, I'm kinda glad to see you go.  But thanks for what you taught me.  

 

 

Monday, December 30, 2013

Thank You, God

I just got two reports from dear friends who were both waiting for results on cancer tests from their doctors. Both of them had suspicious spots that their doctors feared could be cancer.  But thanks to the Lord for answering our many prayers, both of the tests came back negative and the spots were not cancer.

I can say that I know how these two felt for the past few days, not knowing.  Both of them are very faithful prayer warriors, and when I talked to them both earlier today, they were confidant and not stressed out. I would have been a nervous wreck.  I think back to my scare ten years ago when I had to go for a CT scan after a chest xray showed some spots on one of my lungs.

Thank you again, God, for answering prayers. 

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Link Of The Week

Even when my old cars haven't been in working condition, or when I've had problems at work and church and elsewhere to deal with, I've tried to think on the bright side; things could always be worse.  

I found a website this week that proves that very point; no matter how bad we think we have it right now, things are a bizillion times worse for a lot of other people. I was searching online for some 2013-in-review websites and found a site that gives historical things that happened in 2013.  The title should be revised, because the majority of the events on this site have to do with people getting killed or injured.  The site is http://www.historyorb.com/events/date/2013 and I give it to you not to make you feel morbid, but to make you feel incredibly blessed that we live in the U.S. and are safe.

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Security Tip Saturday

I know I'm sounding like a broken record, but once again, a friend's home was vandalized and robbed last night, and coincidentally they had posted on Facebook a blurb about enjoying a great dinner at the such-and-such restaurant.  

I can't stress enough to you, faithful readers, to please resist the urge to tell everyone with access to the world wide web that you are eating at the California Pizza Kitchen or are at the U of L ball game or wherever.  Contrary to what we are led to believe, even though we have privacy settings and such, people can and do hack into Facebook accounts to look for this activity and when they see a check-in like the ones mentioned above, they know that those people aren't at home, and it only takes seconds for them to figure out your address.  

Please, please, please be safer in 2014 and be careful what you post on Facebook.  

Friday, December 27, 2013

Flashback Friday

My friend/faithful reader/coworker SH and I were chatting the other day about New Year's Eve, and how it's just not fun anymore. People that don't drink are afraid to be out on the roads because of the drunk drivers, so most people I know just stay home.  My friend mentioned about the New Year's Eve parties that we would have here at The Compound and how much fun they were.  They would probably be lame by most's standards but we had a blast, year after year. 

There was always lots of good food - Rosie next door would always bring a big Crock pot of cheese dip (even before cheese dip was in style), and everybody that came would bring something.  We would always have the little party buns with our leftover Christmas ham, and Mom would always make a few gallons of her famous orange sherbet punch.  Rosie's husband Clarence would drink about a gallon of it by hisself, just saying.  

We would always play cool old school board games before and after the eating, to keep us occupied until midnight.  At most parties, Dad and I and anyone that brought musical instruments would play and everybody would sing.  

A few minutes before midnight, anyone that was brave enough would get bundled up and head outside and we'd get the fireworks ready to set off at midnight.  People would bring their guns and we'd shoot them at the stroke of midnight while someone would be up at the Jones's ringing their big dinner bell.  

One New Years Eve in particular stands out.  I can't remember the year, but after we shot the guns and rang the bell and shot off the fireworks, my friend SH and I went up the street to the 'hood Catholic church and crashed their New Year's Eve party.  An old family friend and her band was playing at the party and I wanted to say hi so we just crashed it.  We walked right in the door at about 12:30 like we'd been there all night long partying.  While at the party, we spotted a few old friends and some coworkers and we just morphed right into the party.  People were offering us food and drink, but we turned them down because we were full of cheese dip and orange sherbet punch.  



 

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Merry Day After Christmas

Today at work was almost as exciting as Christmas morning -- I got not only a new computer, but a new monitor that is bigger than the TV I have in my bedroom.  I kid you not.  

The day started out sluggish and busy with regular daily work and year-end inventory, but at lunchtime my IT guru Andy came down and hooked up my new computer and new monitor,and tweaked the settings so I now have two monitors on my system.  It was just like getting another Christmas present because I wasn't expecting it.  I had only asked that IT hook up a second monitor to my system; I never dreamed I'd be getting a new computer with Windows 8 and Office 2013 and a jumbo-tron monitor.  This will definitely make work a bit more bearable.

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Merry Christmas

TWIT and I would like to wish you, faithful readers, a very Merry Christmas.  

I'll throw in a Flashback along with my Christmas greetings.  This is yours truly when I was 2 or 3 years old, standing next to my Aunt Dorothy's toy poodle, Jocko.  Please notice the sweater he is sporting, along with the bow I had just put on his head.  

 

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Happy Christmas Eve

I was just getting ready to settle down for a long winter's nap, and wanted to wish every a happy Christmas Eve.  To let you in on a little secret, sleeping in tomorrow morning and not leaving the house are the only things I asked for this Christmas. I hope Santa will give me some of his super powers so both will happen.

Monday, December 23, 2013

Parking Lot Crash of 2013 Update

I have some good news to report, faithful readers.  I walked over to the body shop today during our morning break and saw the old Blazer inside the garage getting ready to be fixed.  On our way home from church yesterday, I looked at the lot when we passed by on and I didn't see the Blazer in the spot where it's been for the past two months.  I thought I was mistaken until I actually saw it in the garage.  The shop manager said that parts were due in this afternoon and they would start the repairs.

I can't wait to get my old Blazer back out on the road.  I've really missed it, but am very, very thankful that the 'Rents have let me use their Odyessy. 

As always, I'll keep you posted. 

Sunday, December 22, 2013

It's Beginning To Look Not Like Christmas

Editor's note:  I accidentally deleted yesterday's post, so here it is again.  

As I type this, it's 10:30 in the morning and it's 63 degrees.  It's supposed to get up to 70 late tonight/early tomorrow as a major storm front moves through.  Yep, a few days before Christmas and it will be 70 degrees.  They weatherazzi is calling for 2-4 inches of rain tonight here in the 'Ville, with a good chance of some severe weather and high winds to go along with flooding.  Sounds like perfect Christmas weather to me. 

In keeping with the pattern of crazy weather here in the Ohio Valley, 70 degrees tonight means that two days from now it will probably be in the teens. 

Stay tuned.  I'll keep you posted.

Happy Anniversary, John and Betty Jean

TWIT would like to wish a very happy anniversary to one of the most awesome couples in the world, my dear friends John and Betty Jean.  Today, they celebrate their 69th anniversary. 

If you ask anyone that knows this couple who they think the sweetest people in the entire world are, they will not hesitate to tell you John and Betty Jean. 

You know that I don't single out friends or post a lot of info on here about them, but today is definitely an exception. 

They were able to come to Sunday School this morning and be with us as we had a combination anniversary/ Christmas breakfast, and let me be the first to tell you what a true blessing it was to get to spend some time with this dear, sweet couple. 

John and Betty Jean, you are truly an inspiration and a blessing to all that have the privilege to call you friends.

Friday, December 20, 2013

Flashback Friday

Back in the day when I was in elementary school, we could still have Christmas parties on the last day of school before Christmas break. The room mothers (editor’s note: a topic for a future Flashback Friday) would come in shortly after lunch with cupcakes and cookies and Kool-Aid or soft drinks, the school would always give us a plastic stocking full of hard candy and a very cool candy cane pen, and we would exchange gifts. Shortly after Thanksgiving break, the teacher would put our names in a box and we would all draw a name, and you got that person a present. I distinctly remember back in my days of elementary school, the gift had a $2 limit. Yep, two bucks. Back then, you could get a cool gift for two bucks; today; not so much, unless it’s a winning lottery ticket. But I digress. In second grade, I got a bingo game that I played with until the cards wore out. In fourth grade, I got something that I still have today – a cool multi-colored stocking cap. It’s a bit too small for my big head, but I still kept it.

I asked my accountant (yes, I have an accountant to deal with my consulting company stuff)  to do some research for me to figure out what $2 back in the day would be equal to today in 2013. We used 1970 for the “back in the day” year, because I would have been in the second grade in 1970. So adjusted for inflation, $2 in 1970 would be equal to $12.02 today in 2013. As one of my coworkers in my department would say, that’s twelve McChickens.



Thursday, December 19, 2013

WTG, Big Mama, WTG!

Another very dear coworker/friend/faithful reader is retiring this month - none other than Big Mama.  For the record, Big Mama is not big, and I'm the only one that gets to call her that.  Reason being, her initials are BLG, and her email address is BLGMama.  Depending on which font you are using, the email address looked like Big Mama to me.  So she's let me call her that for the past 5 or 6 years.  But I digress.  Big Mama works at one of our sister companies up close to Evansville, and it's been a pleasure to work with her.  She and I share a love of music, and we also have the same viewpoint when it comes to politics. 

I got to see Big Mama when she came to Louisville to visit our offices last week, and I told her how lucky she is. 

TWIT would like to wish Big Mama a very happy retirement.  

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Elf On The . . . Phone?

The crazy elf at The Compound, Junior English, sent his brother Charlie to work with me today.   I found him in the pocket of my coat as I was hanging it up.  Then later on this morning, Charlie was on the phone.  Literally.

Something You Don't Hear Every Day

As spoken by a four year-old girl, and I quote:

"All I wanted was a biscuit."

That is definitely something that you don't hear every day. 

Monday, December 16, 2013

It's Electrifying

A crazy thing happened on Friday afternoon at work.  I was electrocuted.  Yep.  Electrocuted.  But I wasn't hurt, thank the good Lord.  I was unplugging my iPad from the charger that was plugged into the wall socket and as I was pulling the cord out of the little cube-like apparatus that plugs into the wall and that the cord plugs into, and the little cube-like apparatus exploded.  We had a loud pop, smoke, sparks and even flames.  It happened too quick for me to know what actually happened.  I looked down at my hand and my fingers were black. I immediately thought that they had been burned so badly that I had no feeling. Then I quickly realized that the black was from the smoke.  

I give props to my two younger employees (my third and oldest employee was not at work) for being concerned about their old boss because they both ran over after hearing the small explosion.  They even offered to drive me home if I needed it. 

I was fine, but for an hour or two after the explosion, my hand was a bit tingly.  

Sunday, December 15, 2013

App Of The Week

I love to read.  Fortunately when I read book, I can put a bookmark in it so I know where to start back reading.  When I look at websites and want to go back later and read something, when you make a "bookmark" it doesn't always go back to the spot on the website where you left off.  I found an app that will help you with this, sorta.  It's Instapaper, and it's free!  You can use the app to save web pages as text-only documents so you can go back and read them later.  It's available for iOS and Android systems. 

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Elf On The . . . Egg?

You just never know where you're going to find that crazy elf, Junior English.  Today, we found him sitting on an egg in a nest.  I'm anxious to see what hatches.

Friday, December 13, 2013

Flashback Friday

We were chatting over our Friday night fish about how banking was back in the day.  You always had plenty of cash, and never had to worry about going to an ATM or to the bank to get cash. You weren't "rich" but you just always had cash.  And you never seemed to run out of cash before the next payday - be it a payday for my parents or Social Security check day for my grandparents (and today for my parents.)   Things might have gotten a bit lean, but I never remember my parents or grandparents running out of cash like we do today.  

Heaven help you if you're collecting money for a big work department meal or purchase, because nobody has cash these days.  I can probably count on one hand the number of work friends who actually still carry cash.  Everybody else depends on their debit card.  They need to wise up and realize that there will be power outages, and ATMs or store POS machines will not always be available.  

 

Thursday, December 12, 2013

WTG, JTB, WTG!

Today at work, we had a retirement lunch/party for my old boss, JTB.  She is retiring at the end of the year.  First of all, let me say the party was awesome.  There was tons of awesome fried chicken, and all of us brought a dish.  We had hash brown casserole, pineapple casserole, lots of mac and cheese, and two of my personal favorites, cream cheese and olive spread and Texas caviar.  But I digress.  The focus was on my old boss, JTB.  

She was my boss when I started at Zoeller 23 years and 3 weeks ago in the Customer Service department.  At that time, we were in a small two-story building that used to be a furniture store way back in the day.  We've seen a lot of changes over the years.  JTB and I didn't always see eye-to-eye on everything, but through it all, I have to say that she was dedicated.  I honestly don't think I've worked with a person that was more dedicated and committed as JTB was. Looking back now in retrospect, I see where I learned a lot from her on what to do and what not to do as a boss.  

She gave a short speech today at the party, and she summed it all up by saying how no matter how old we are, we can never stop improving. 

I learned a lot from JTB, and I am happy that she is retiring while she's still young enough and healthy enough to enjoy her retirement; she's witnessed other coworkers who were not that lucky.   I'm sure she and her husband will be taking another big trip soon.  She deserves it.  

Rock on, JTB, rock on. 

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Something You Don't See Every Day

My Big Boss was my chauffeur yesterday, and on our way home from work, we had a big ole laugh.  We got about a quarter of a mile from the spot where we usually see one of the big local ground hogs, and with the snow on the ground, I made a comment about us probably not seeing him.  Then we spotted something furry on the side of the road in the area of where we usually see said ground hog.  We both made comments about how we thought that was him on the side of the road until we got close enough to actually see.  It was not the ground hog, but instead, it was a big long reddish brown wig.  Yep.  Someone lost their wig.  A wig on the side of the road is something that you definitely don't see every day.  

Flash forward to today's trip home from work.  I rode with my neighbor today, and we got by the spot where the wig was and as we were looking at the wig [that was still there] and laughing, we noticed another wig that was farther off the side of the road under some snow that had started to melt.  To quote my neighbor, "I don't think I want to know how those two wigs got there."  I agree.

Monday, December 9, 2013

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas, Sorta

We're late in getting started on our Christmas decorations here at The Compound, and this year, we are downsizing and cutting back.  With Thanksgiving coming late in November, we were shorted out of a week.  We had lots of work going on last week at The Compound, so it was just this weekend that we were able to start getting some decorations out.  The Old Man decided it wasn't worth the effort to put the lights up on the house and garage, and we were totally fine with that. 

Today, The Old Man and my Sweet Mother put the tree up, and as I type, they're in there deciding on what scheme/theme to go with the ornaments.  I'm staying out of the decision making and will let them handle that.

As always, I'll keep you posted and will share pictures. 

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Winter Weather Observation

Just an observation. For the past three months, I've seen teen and twenty-something girls wearing their snow boots when it was still what I consider to be warm. This weekend when they need boots they are wearing tennis shoes and Crocs. This is the generation that will be in charge in a decade or two. This scares me.

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Security Tip Saturday

This info really doesn't fall into the "security" category; it's more of a "safety" nature.  But it's my blog and I can make the title whatever I want. 

Yesterday, we had our first snow and ice storm of the winter.  It was bad yesterday afternoon on the trip home from work, as anyone that had to drive home yesterday will agree.  SH normally can get home in 20 minutes, and it took over an hour.  Diva Stacy's trip home from downtown usually takes a half an hour, and it took her 3 hours to get home.  Yep, it was that bad.  Here's some advice from me to you on how to make a trip home in snow and ice more mangeable. 

First of all, go to the drug store or dollar store and buy a cheap plastic spray bottle, and fill about 2/3 full with good old rubbing alcohol and fill the rest with water.  Spray it on your windows, windshield, mirrors, and windshield wipers and the ice will come off effortlessly.  That's what saved me yesterday.  Freezing rain was coming down on my trip to work yesterday, and as soon as I parked the car, I sprayed it down with my alcohol. At about 1:30, I went outside to check and ice was on the windows but it came off with minimal scraping.  As soon as I cleared the windows et al, I sprayed it again.  When I left work to go home, once again the ice came off easily.   I'm glad I thought to spray the wiper blades; I heard lots of reports last night from friends whose wipers froze up.  Spray around the door of your car, too. 

Second, keep a broom in your car during the winter; preferably one with a long handle.  Use this to brush snow off of the roof of your car.  Once again, I heard reports last night of windshield wipers that quit working because when the car would stop, mounds of snow that had been on the roof of the car slid down the windshield, bogging down the wipers.  

Third, and this probably should be first, make sure you have a decent, sturdy ice scraper.  I saw a couple of coworkers yesterday afternoon trying (key word) to scrape the ice off of their cars with a credit card.  

 Fourth, and once again, this might need to be first, for goodness sake wear some snow boots in weather like this, or take them with you if it's supposed to snow later in the day.  I saw only a couple of people with proper winter footwear on yesterday.  You don't need to worry about being a fashionista when there's snow and ice in the forecast; you just need to make sure your feet stay warm dry and you don't fall and break a hip.

Friday, December 6, 2013

Winter Weather Update

The freezing rain started a few hours after midnight last night, and continued all morning.  The freezing rain changed over to sleet at about lunchtime, and then it changed over to snow at about 3:00.  It was a mess today.  Well, not "was", it still is.  My normal 15 minute trip home took about an hour, so that was actually quicker than I was expecting.

Our Hoosier friends across the Big River got it worse. I feel sorry for all of the commuters stuck on the bridges.  

They're calling for no precipitation tomorrow, thank goodness, but the highs tomorrow are supposed to be in the low 20's, so none of this is going to melt.  And they're calling for more ice on Sunday.  In preparation, we will keep all of the cell phones and other gadgets charged at all times.

As always, I'll keep you posted.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Winter Weather Update

The weatherazzi has us all worked into a frenzy over the upcoming double-shot of winter weather.  They're expecting the current rain to change over to a combination of snow and ice later tonight and continue through tomorrow, with 1-4 inches of precipitation expected.  They're calling for snow and ice.  Blech.  Saturday is supposed to be precipitationless, and then late Saturday we're supposed to get up to a half an inch of ice through Sunday morning.  

That having been said, I will take a few feet of snow any day over a smidgen of ice, much less a half an inch.  The ice storm of 2009 is still fresh in our minds.

We're prepared here at The Compound.  We have bread, milk, eggs, meat, lots of various soft drinks and potato ships, and a big bag of Totinos Pizza Rolls.  We have two full cans of gas for the snow blower and/or generator.  All need is some Bud Light and a fifth of Makers Mark and we'll be set.  I will be venturing out into the rain shortly for those last two provisions.

As always, I'll keep you posted. 

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Wednesday Weather

As I type this post, it's 70 degrees.  Yep. 70 degrees at 5:00 in the afternoon on December 4, three weeks from Christmas Day.  It's warmer here than in Las Vegas.  But that will be changing.  The Weatherazzi has already started working us all into a frenzy over what they are forecasting as our first winter storm of the season.  They're calling for heavy rain tomorrow, and later tomorrow night the temperatures are supposed to plummet and the rain will change over to freezing rain and snow.  Friday morning should be Mr. Toad's Wild Ride to work.  Then Saturday night, the second wave will come through with more ice.  This could get ugly, with a quarter to a half an inch of ice expected.  Who knows what we'll wake up to on Sunday morning.  

The 'Rents took advantage of the warm weather today and put up a few outside Christmas decorations.  

As always, I'll keep you posted.  In the meanwhile, I'm going to the store tonight for the obligatory bread, milk, soft drinks and beer. 

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Happy Giving Day

I wasn't aware until today that this is Giving Day - a day when you give to someone or an organization.  I received over a dozen emails reminding me about Giving Day.

Please take a few minutes like we did here at The Compound and think of how you can give to somone else -- be it tangible or intangible.  Tis the season for charitable oraganizations to receive money or coats or food or whatever to help those in need.  So take a few minutes tonight and think of how you can help someone on Giving Day.

Monday, December 2, 2013

2013 Christmas Price Index

A steadily improving economy helped prompt a 7.7 percent boost in the 2013 PNC Christmas Price Index(R) , the 30(th) annual tongue-in-cheek economic analysis by PNC Wealth Management.

Based on the array of gifts in the holiday classic, "The Twelve Days of Christmas," the price tag for the PNC CPI is $27,393.17 in 2013, $1,192 more than last year and the largest increase since 2010 when the index jumped 9.2 percent.

Launched in 1984 by the chief economist at a PNC predecessor bank in Philadelphia, the PNC CPI is 116 percent higher this year than when it all began, while inflation is up 122 percent over the same period. But an even more intriguing fact emerged, according to Jim Dunigan, managing executive, Investments of PNC Wealth Management.

"While there are exceptions in given years, what's most interesting about the index's history is that since the beginning, year-over-year increases have averaged 2.9 percent, which is exactly the same number as the U.S. inflation index," he said.

This year, the PNC CPI's increase outpaced the government's Consumer Price Index, which stands at 1.0 percent for the past 12 months through September. The core index, removing volatile food and energy prices, is uncharacteristically higher at 1.7 percent.

"We were surprised to see such a large increase from a year ago, given the overall benign inflation rate in the U.S., but the dancers in the index took a huge leap this year to play catch up from paltry increases the previous few years," Dunigan said.

Nine Ladies Dancing vaulted with a 20 percent this year, while Lords-a-Leaping jumped 10 percent, combining for a $1,736 increase from 2012.

As part of its annual tradition, PNC Wealth Management also tabulates the "True Cost of Christmas," which is the total cost of items gifted by a True Love who repeats all of the song's verses. Very thoughtful True Loves must fork over $114,651.18 for all 364 gifts, a slightly more "reasonable" increase of 6.9 percent increase compared to last year.

Much like the government's CPI, the PNC CPI also measures a Core Index -- up an even more dramatic 10.6 percent this year - that excludes the Swans, which tend to be the most volatile in the index. This year, however the swans remained steady from 2012 at $7,000, which is also the same price they cost in 1984, the first year of the index.

Other Key Components Include:
  -- Seven items: the Partridge, Two Turtle Doves, Three French Hens, Five
      Gold Rings, Six Geese-a-Laying, Seven Swans-a-Swimming and Eight
      Maids-A-Milking, remained the same price as last year.

   -- Muffled Increase: The prices for 11 Pipers Piping ($2,635.20) and 12
      Drummers Drumming ($2,854.80) advanced minimally this year, both up just
      2.9 percent.

   -- Pear Tree: While housing prices in the general economy have been on the
      upswing, the PNC CPI splintered that trend as the Pear Tree dropped in
      price by 3.2 percent, down to $184.00. This is the only item in the index
      to drop in price this year.

   -- Maids-a-Milking: As the only unskilled laborers in the PNC CPI, the price
      for the eight Maids-a-Milking is represented by the minimum wage.  With
      the Federal minimum wage flat at $7.25 per hour, hiring the maids this
      year will not increase labor costs.

For those True Loves who prefer the convenience of shopping online, PNC Wealth Management calculates the cost of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" gifts purchased on the Internet.

This year, the trends identified in the traditional index are not repeated in the Internet version. However, True Loves will pay a grand total of $39,762.61 to buy the items online, a drop of 1.7 percent from last year, yet still $12,300 more than buying in person.

"In general, Internet prices are higher than their non-Internet counterparts because of premium shipping costs for birds and the convenience factor of shopping online," Dunigan said.

As in years past, my paycheck sure didn't increase 6.9% this year.  



Sunday, December 1, 2013

Link Of The Week

Although I'm the first to say I am totally against all of the commercialism and buying frenzy associated with Christmas, I do love watching the old school Christmas shows.  It wasn't even December and they showed Rudolph last week.  If you love the Christmas shows and want to know when your favorite is coming on, check out http://www.tvguide.com/special/holiday-guide/ and look for your show. 

And while you're at it, don't forge the channels that are obscure - you can find Christmas episodes of Andy Griffith and the Beverly Hillbillies almost daily on a lot of channels. 

Merry early Christmas.