Oh, and the other night I was sitting in front of the tv playing on the Gamecube when Mojo walked up and said "I got something for you." He turned his back to me, dropped his pants, and mooned me.

He was very pleased with himself.

I stopped my game and tried to explain to him how that wasn't very nice, but I immediately sensed the futility of swimming so hard against such a powerful genetic tide.

Yes, I do need to drink more.

Friggin' tourists. The city has gone insane for the night -- and the area around Rockefeller Center was jammed. I skimmed the outer perimeter as I made my way to the train station, listening to Lo-Fidelity Allstars on my MP3 player.

Had a nice IM chat with Brandi and Frylock before leaving the office. Brandi made a gratuitous (and thoroughly disingenuous) comment about how much she liked to cook -- Frylock saw right through it. I challenged her to cook us an entire meal of only artichokes, perpared in seven different ways (with extra credit for finding a dessert option).

Right now I'm maxing on the sofa, sipping vermouth and sorting through some paperwork. And despite my enjoyment of wormwood-infused spirits, I don't think I drink nearly as much wine as Cookie thinks.

Or do I?

And if I don't, should I?

I think the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is lit tonight, so I'll need to walk an alternate route back to Grand Central -- lest I have to compete with the crowds of onlookers reaching out to that fat holiday bastard. And I don't mean Santa.

Happy Post Thanksgiving! We have arrived back from the frozen tundra of Cleveland to mild weather here in New York.

A holiday tradition of mine as a youth was to go to Litehouse Pools with my mom--which sold pools in the summer, but became a Christmas tree and decoration store in the fall--and pick out a new ornament for the Christmas tree. Since we were at my folks, I decided to continue the tradition with Cookie and Mojo. Mojo declined the invitation and stayed with my dad and John. Cookie gleefully came along. I told him since Mojo declined attending I would allow him to pick out an ornament for Mojo. Cookie also decided to pick out an ornament for John. I'm always fascinated at what will be chosen (although this was the first time at Lighthouse pools, I've let them pick out ornaments before). Cookie chose for himself this folksy looking quilted heart snowman thing. Not at all what I expected, but he did later see a school bus that he loved and my mom got it for him so he could keep snowman too. For Mojo he got this giant decorated jingle bell that actually made noise. We had just watched Polar Express again so maybe that's why or maybe he knew Mojo would like the amount of noise that could be made with it. My favorite pick of Cookie's was for John. He found a glass ornament in the shape of a bottle of Chianti--explaining to me that Daddy likes to drink wine. I don't think Cookie recognized the Italian flag colors or the Salute written on it. It will be hung proudly on the tree.

When I was at home this Thanksgiving, my mom and I went to the mall the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It didnt seem to horrendous until I went and waited in line to purchase one item. I was fooled into thinking it wouldnt take long because there was only THREE people ahead of me. Little did I know I had descended into Dante's circle of consumer hell. The first woman apparently had purchased the greater part of the department and desired to have it all bagged separately. The woman in front of me started to practically hyper-ventilate because her $ 10.00 coupon was about to expire at 1:00 and she had to get back from her lunch break. Luckily the woman ahead of her allowed her to jump ahead so paramedics werent necessary. Then the final woman in front of me is up and dont you know she has some kind of coupon dilemma that requires the saleswoman to ring up the order six times then have to call a manager because the customer is upset because she is unable to purchase the mechandise for well below cost. The manager says it can't be done so the woman after about 15 minutes buys none of the items and takes it upstairs to a different register. The whole time this is happening these two insane coupon clipping women behind me are holding out fistfuls of coupons and trading them back and forth. The one woman says that she had already gone to the gas station and bought six newspapers to amass the great store of coupons she had and was gonna go back to the gas station and get a few more. It was a surreal experience which reminded me of why I shopped online whenever possible.

Yes, the new phone is quite nice -- much better than the prior model that operated a little funny since its screen got bashed in.

We made the long haul back to New York yesterday. Since my childhood was devoid of long road-trips (not to mention a car), I can only wonder how this works: is it a rule that a child riding the interstate may not announce his need to urinate until that need has reached emergency proportion?

Right now I have to do some office work that I tool home with me -- I find the work goes much faster when I grease the skids with red vermouth. I'm taking business to the next level!

I hope that your new Palm device outperforms the old one. They're too small to be a decent paper weight.

Leftovers is one of the words of the day here. The other word of the day, "Yeah!," is inspired by college football. It is a rare day when the Huskers win, LSU wins, and I get to watch both games.

I was just watching the Greg Giraldo Show and unbelieveably the Kid from Brooklyn was a guest. Now the whole world knows.

Funny you should mention the Macy's parade incident. Did you notice that NBC broadcast video of last year's parade which showed the balloon finishing the parade, which is consistent with their not reporting the incident. I guess the light pole has to fall on the talking heads to make the national broadcast.

Treo-blogging again. This time from the 650, which has a better browser and is thus a little easier to use. We just hit the local Target to take in the Black Friday madness. It wasn't so bad. Now we're back and eating leftover turkey. Tonight we'll watch Polar Express on DVD.

The turkey wasn't stuffed this year; but we certainly are! Our dinner guest has gone home and we are going to lie around here watching White Palace on TV. . .one of my very favorite movies. . . .
Have fun in the snow. . .we have bare ground here and frigid temperatures. . .

Here's something I'm sure they're not having for Thanksgiving down at Spumoni South (can't be so confident that it doesn't look like this in Nebraska).

Driving on I-80 last night was a little treacherous, but we made it through without incident. The snow only got heavier this morning and the boys couldn't wait to get out into it. Alane looked very natural holdiong the snow-shovel (but she apparently forgot to pack her babushka).

Right now the boys are watching Scooby Doo and the football game is on in the other room. I'm considering what I should eat/drink next.

So, who's having snow-cones? Perhaps with a splash of Creme de Cacao?

BTW, the Macy's Thanksgiving parade was already in the local news earlier this week -- with reports that they were using untrained volunteer balloon-handlers, despite the assurances they made after the 1997 fiasco. The last time we went to the parade was back in the early 90s (1994, maybe 1995) and it was very windy, especially where we stood at Columbus Circle. The big balloons did some crazy dances as they came out into the open. Bart Simpson seemed to hump the apartment building on the corner. And Sonic Hedgehog (yes, Sonic) hit a building and deflated a few block beyond us.

I hope the lawyers don't get hold of this situation -- there'll be no more parade.

It's Thanksgiving here, too. . .we have a table full of antipasto to nibble on until our guest arrives, then we haul out the turkey,oyster and sage stuffings, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole and sweet potatoes. . .if we can find room we will have pumpkin pie for dessert. . .if not, there is always the option of pumpkin pie for breakfast. . .

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the Dish. . .