Some days it's not worth chewing through the leather straps

Wishing you all a fantastic and overly amazing 2011!

Well sure you do!  We went to see the nice display they have at the Denver Zoo last night.  It gets bigger and better each year, and these pictures from Mr Point-and-shoot don't do it any favors. Wish Skyler would have not blinked. Had to get pictures in front of the 9News sign since Skyler works in an indirect way for them.

Why is it that even when I drop the not-so-subtle hint of leaving a catalog out with things circled, I still never get the stuff I want?  I always do that for my loved ones, but do they reciprocate?  Hell no... Really, these are all I wanted for Christmas: I can't help but think of the Star Trek episode called "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" when I see this suit.

Flannery over at Prone To Whimsy tagged me with a nice Christmas meme, so I thought I would play along.  I don't tag others, but always invite whoever wants to join in to play along. Let's Meme Again, Like We Did Last Summer From a tag By Flannery Alden 1. When do you usually know it's the holidays? When the Christmas music starts showing up, earlier and earlier each year. 2. What do you want for Christmas this year? I got my present I wanted, new boots. 3. Do you go all out with decorations? Not really, strings of lights on the front of the house and a small tree.  I always wanted to do a tacky year and get the giant inflatable Santa driving the Lowes NASCAR, just to see the neighbors reaction! 4. What are you doing Christmas Eve? I finished up a new DVD for Skyler, a lot of the favorite people he likes to watch from the news. 5. What are you doing Christmas Day? Opening presents, and we were going to go to my sisters house but Santa brought us all sick...

My apologies to all of my friends that I intended to send actual paper cards to.  The season really got away from me, and I kind of got swarmed under. I wish you all the best, thank you all for the entertainment, for educating me, and for making me happy to know you all. Clicking on the first an second page should enable the biggy-ness (patent pending on that term).

It has been too long since I posted about our pork-based purveyor of fun, Fernando.  He has kind of been laying low since we got back from Vegas and the airshow.  He didn't ever buy gas, but at least he took his turn pumping... "Hurry up, let's get on the road"!  Bossy little pig, isn't he? He didn't enjoy being stuck behind an 18-wheeler on the two-lane section either. He kind of went wild in "The Entertainment Capital of the World" so to speak: He wanted to go into the Riviera, and see the showgirls. We came back later and he had got himself into a butt-load of trouble! Fernando's plan for the evening was high-priced escorts.  We declined. He did like the Stratosphere. Especially the Guinness and the sports betting.  He is a big pigskin fan (see what I did there?)  And yesterday he was all excited about getting to meet up with another blogger, Kristi Love! Kristi showed off her Ice Monkey blade covers to Fe...

Those are the distances of the 3 disciplines in the Ironman Triathlon.  There are thousands of triathlons around the world, covering a multitude of different distances.  There are a lot more Ironman distances around the world also.  But there is only one world championship, Ironman Hawaii.  From the Ironman site: To get to the starting line in Kona, you must either be very lucky and get yourself a spot through the lottery, or very talented, and win yourself a qualifying spot at one of the qualifying events held around the world. Tens-of-thousands of triathletes try to get one of those coveted Ironman spots every year. Only 1,800 succeeded. That means 1,800 "lucky" people get to test themselves on one of the biggest challenges the sports world has to offer ... 2.4-miles of swimming, 112-miles of biking, and a 26.2-mile marathon run through tough ocean waves, and challenging lava-covered terrain. It all began at an Awards Ceremony for a relay running rac...

So let's start getting into the mood, shall we?  How about we start off with Carol of the Bells, as performed by the Muppets:

Next week will start my companies shutdown period, so I promise that I will have some extra time to try and post something other than my usual drivel. I have a few more Fernando pictures and updates to share, and I have some junk on my mind that I need to vent or get more of a headache thinking about it. So until then, and to get you headed into the weekend on a roll, I present you with some humor! A dog lover, whose dog was a female and "in heat', agreed to look after and house her neighbors male dog while they were away on vacation. She had a large house, however, and believed that she could keep them apart but as she was drifting off to sleep she heard awful howling and moaning sounds, rushed downstairs and found the dogs locked together, in obvious pain and unable to disengage as so frequently happens when they mate. Unable to separate them and perplexed as to what to do next, although it was late, she called the vet, who answered in a very grumpy voice. Having expla...

Hey folks. Sorry this is late (insert standard excuse disclaimer) but I hope you enjoy these while I go back to shoveling 10 pounds of shit into a 5 pound bag... For the Harry Potter fan! I got this to prove I am a true artist. Lilly sent me this one, thanks Lilly!  It means torture, which it must have been to get. OK, not really a tat, but belongs in here with the rest of the messed up stuff. Another one from Lilly, butt-roaches are hard to get rid of. Yeaaaahhh, that is nice.  What's up with neck tats? That's knot very subtle.  (he he he, see what I did right there with the "knot"?)  OK, I'll move on now. Finally, from Chad, comes this wonder piece that screams WTF!  I guess they must have requested not skin be shown.