Ghost Town

Beagles can smell all kinds of things. One of ours, I am sure, can sniff out ghosts. http://aboutzoos.info/zoos/news-zoos/762-special-trained-beagle-can-sniff-out-polar-bear-pregnancy

Sometimes, the "X" in Xmas stands for Xanax. (This is apropos of nothing this particular year. I just thought it was a good line.)

Contrary to popular belief, the movie A Christmas Story is not thirty hours long. It just feels like it.

Merry Cold War Christmas! http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/12/happy-holidays-from-beyond-apollo-major-kongski/

Every time we eat in Lardo, my wife raves about the "PIG OUT" letters. So guess what she got for Christmas?

This is the eggnog recipe I have used for years. The '90s-tastic design , hosted on 256.com , might serve to demonstrate just how many years.The Internet is ephemeral, it is true, but sometimes the best can linger into our future. http://256.com/gray/recipes/eggnog/

He's compiling your metadata / checking it twice / gonna find out who's naughty and nice.

The hands of the clock move inexorably forward, and the hour of reckoning draws near. Soon, the 'nog must be made.

Will definitely be needing the red nose this Christmas in Portland.

"Then one foggy Christmas Eve..."

Foggy morning: I'm dreaming of a grey Christmas.

Wondering why this sign suddenly showed up in the parking lot behind my building...

'Tis the season

When media outlets write breathless headlines like "Is this the end of 'Duck Dynasty' they give the impression they think it's a real dynasty.

Festivus pole at the PSU farmers market. My grievance is that today is the last market of the season.

These are the holiday ornaments my wife and I bought for our first Christmas together as a married couple, 2007. (Portland cityscape in background.) After six years and half a transcontinental move, they have fallen off the tree a few times and he has lost both of his arms, but they are still happy together. It's a lot like life.

I tried to text my wife to text me when she got to her bus stop and I'd "bring the beasts down" for their walk. Meaning the beagles, who've been particularly beastly of late. My phone corrected my text to read that I planned to "break the beats down". Glad I caught that one. She would have come home expecting a whole different party.

The high school I teach at is right across the street from the Franz Bakery outlet store, so I stopped by after work to pick up some hamburger buns. I ended up saving so much money by buying so many additional items that I was allowed to pick four more items from the free rack. I ended up with two bagsful, and my load was already heavy with grading in my messenger bag that probably won't get graded over Winter Break. The walk to the MAX seemed daunting with that load, so I got out my phone and found a Car2Go a block away-- which sure was convenient, but probably negated any savings I'd earned by shopping at the outlet store. But at least we have hamburger buns for our thoroughly inexplicable holiday tradition of eating hamburgers around the tree after decorating it.

It appears to be bigger "news"-- based on what I'm seeing on the "news" sites-- that one stupid and bigoted guy said something stupid and bigoted than it is that New Mexico's supreme court just dropped marriage equality into the heart of the southwest. Let the duck guy crawl back in his hole. Congratulations, New Mexico.

Watching the raising of the Hawthorne Bridge from Ground Zero.

Beagles causing trouble, as they are wont to do.  Originally shared by Susan Rollins (grandmoo) Penny's all like, "Maymo did it!". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2X3cecTU3w

I really doubt my saying I'll never watch Duck Dynasty again will help the Cause much since I never would have watched it to begin with.

"Let's...be careful out there."

Hanging out at the Trailblazers bar before the Winterhawks game.

Now that the FCC has let the cat out of the bag about cell phones not actually causing some mysterious malfunction in the plane's electronics that causes it to crash, it really doesn't matter if they "approve" their use. Without that vague threat it'll be HI-larious to watch flight attendants try to stop people using their phones on top of everything else they do. I say this as a high school teacher who has fought this battle for years.

See, as a kid I remember thinking that Santa magically changed race and ethnicity as he travelled to different families, regions and countries. Of course, it was the 70s and we were being told that all the civil rights issues had been solved and everyone got along just fine now. Which, in retrospect, was a more outlandish lie than the idea of a Santa Claus of whatever color.

Freezing Fog is creeping up I-5, terrorizing the city of Portland for the second straight night.

Truth. Originally shared by George Takei The case for the Oxford Comma in one screenshot.

"What signifies a poppet, Mr Cheever?" My juniors are reading The Crucible and some find it-- hard to believe-- that people would get so carried away. I think I'll show them this story. http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/10/21849757-tsa-confiscates-sock-monkeys-toy-gun

Last day of class at the university: I arrive in the classroom I've taught in all semester to find that the table with a prominent sticker reading "PLEASE DO NOT MOVE" and featuring a disability symbol has, you guessed it, been moved. What are my obligations? Move it back to its proper location, or obey the sign literally? And what does moving or not moving the table have to do with the ADA, anyway?

Wearing long underwear is so calming-- like a Thundershirt for people.

A card just came up on my phone in Google Now that said " 15 mins until a FOX news announcer says 'So much for Global Warming.'"

Going to the UP/PSU basketball game tonight at the Stott Center. The Stott Center is so close to our building that Google tries to get me to review it when I'm standing in my living room. The only thing I can see from there is the roof over the running track. I reviewed that roof one time for Google. I said it was ugly and obstructed my view of downtown. Anyway, I think I've been to more sporting events since we moved to PDX than in the entire rest of my life. I don't count high school football games, because I was in the band and we probably couldn't have told you the score twenty seconds after the game was over. I do like going to basketball games, though, because it reminds me of going to Wichita Shockers games with my grandpa and grandma, both gone now.

#PDXDeathFreeze

"Back in the winter of '13, it got so cold our Lemongrass Herb Vinegar plum solidified." #PDXDeathFreeze at the #portlandfarmersmarket

#PDXDeathFreeze Originally shared by John Blackwell Praise the lord Jesus Christ.

(Partially) frozen water feature in the South Park Blocks. #PDXDeathFreeze

Today, in the Portland Farmers Market, I tried Herb Vinegar Slushy. Could be a Thing. #PDXDeathFreeze

The water features in the South Park Blocks were partially frozen today. #PDXDeathFreeze  

SHE: We could get him a car bomb. HE: If he had a car. OHinPDX

Line and crowd at the Portland Art Museum members sale. #holidayshopping

Dear The Head and the Heart. Interrogation lights are a cliché in police dramas, and it's not because they are a fun and entertaining experience. Strobe lights and longer bright lights shone directly into the audience have their place, but not in every single song . When I am just beginning to get into the music, and I am suddenly hit with the glare of ten thousand suns-- over and over and over-- my concert experience is somewhat diminished.  #Roseland  #JingleBellJam

Frank Turner at the Roseland

Frank Turner at the Roseland Theater

My 1st-gen Nook finally died.