The Advisor Advises

It's Game Day! Come on over any time after 2 o'clock, bring a game and/or a beverage and/or a snack...
I think we'll start with Carcassonne, but no one knows where it will go from there...Stockticker? Scotland Yard? Puerto Rico? Scene-It? It depends on the crowd...we'll try to be as democratic as possible. See you soon!
(Oh yeah, we don't have plans for supper yet, we'll see what kind of snacks arrive...worse case scenario-we'll order pizza)

Have you ever noticed the phrase on the bottom of your screen when you're on my page? It says, "Double Click on any of the words in the description to get its definition," Go ahead. Try it.

I grabbed this handy line of code from Dictionary Words that allows you to instantly search a free online dictionary, which includes the CIA World Factbook, a Bible Dictionary, a Dictionary of Computing and more...

Well. I mentioned in last night's post that there are two traditions at this time of year, not counting the celebratory and worshipful ones, that I really enjoy: presents & quality snacks. But then I didn't even mention the cool presents that I opened last night...
Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World (book), I've read the foreward, introduction and most of the first chapter...entertaining and informative.
Microsoft Streets & Trips 2005, haven't loaded it on the computer yet, that will be fun for tomorrow.
Brian Wilson's 'new' CD: SMILE!, listened to some of it, cool sounds, as a Beach Boys fan of over 20 years would expect.
Four Minimates Figures (Cyclops, Wolverine, Spiderman and Green Goblin)
And PLENTY of chocolate and edible treats.
Z also opened the new Fisher Price GeoTracks set. I played with that for a while too...

we went to the Christmas Day service at church this morning...there were 42 people there...last night I think there were 15 times that many...it's too bad more people don't feel the need to be edified by the things that go on in that building...or worse yet, that more people don't see beyond the distracting things that take away from the edification that could go on...
regardless of the distractions, the traditions and the insignificant things that we do that are really unimportant in the big picture...thanks God, for sending Jesus to be born here, whichever day it was...

Aside from being the night that Christians the world over recognize and celebrate the birth of the Saviour of mankind, even though we know that it probably occurred in June, for me December 24th has always been a night for two things: presents & high quality snacks.
After we arrived home from a packed Christmas Eve service at church, which was typically overcrowded with people that I'm certain will not be there tomorrow morning for the less popular Christmas Day service...I guess most people figure they've done their good deed by going once this year; we started to break out the food. It took a while to get everything set-up, and we probably could have been a little more organized, but from the moment the first Mushroom Turnover hit my lips, I knew it was going to be a tasty evening. We had some freshly baked Parisian Bread (the bake @ home version from Superstore) whole wheat Ritz crackers and Triscuits, with plenty of topping options: Cognac Pate, Antipasto, Maple Pecan Crusted Camembert (!) and Holiday Camembert (with pesto and sundried tomatoes). There were the previously mentioned (and very traditional with the in-laws) mushroom turnovers, and their newly introduced cousins, the stuffed mushroom caps. The Jalepeno Poppers and Taco Dip were hardly touched, likely due to the shear quantity of choices. Bacon wrapped scallops and a shrimp tray respresented the seafood section, while gherkins, baby dills and a sweet mix represented the obligatory pickle section. A few latecomers, egg rolls and spring rolls, didn't arrive as early as the rest, but were enjoyed none the less... For beverages, we partook of the usual pop selection and some warm Cranberry Apple Spiced Cider. The tastes of Christmas are definitely on the top of my list when it comes to enjoying a winter holiday...tomorrow: Oven Baked French Toast for brunch, and maybe for supper we'll see how the Taco Dip is holding up!

The folks at turn-left.com have hit the nail on the head in a lot of ways. The recent presidential campaign in the US brought a lot of issues to the surface for Christians that disagree with what seems to have become Fundamental Christian Republican Policy, now I'm no expert on Fundamental Christianity, Republicans, or Policy for that matter, but much of the attitude and apparent understanding of reality as portrayed on mainstream American media didn't (and doesn't) sit quite right with me. I'm not about to argue that God is a Democrat (actually I'm pretty sure He's Canadian), but I can guarantee that He's not a Republican.

I just received a free box of golfballs in the mail today. Apparently I qualify as an Ambassador for Maker's Mark Bourbon. It appears you don't have to drink their bourbon to become an Ambassador, because I never have...

I've learned a few things in the last couple of weeks about selling on Ebay. If you read my Dec. 5th entry, this will make more sense. There were a few costs that I either did not anticipate or did not calculate correctly, but overall, it was a decent learning experience. I was aware of the Ebay Insertion Fee and Final Value Fee, I was not, however, aware of the Paypal fee. It also would have been advantageous to have weighed the item after packaging for shipping, as my rough estimation of the weight, relative to liver pate - you may recall, was off a bit. I quite confidently guessed that my package weighed less than 250g, but in reality it weighed 383g after I wrapped it in a Canadian Tire flyer(it's going to New Jersey, I couldn't resist). This led me to believe that the 'Small Packet-Surface' shipping to the US of A would be $3.35. In the end I paid $0.45 for listing the item on Ebay, $0.39 for selling the item on Ebay, $0.86 for accepting a credit card payment through Paypal, $5.00 for the actual item purchase, $0.35 for GST and $5.10 for postage...a total cost of $12.15. I was paid $10.84 by the lucky bidder. Oh well, I've adjusted the details on the listing of my next item - which happens to be the exact same item - and we'll see how it goes this time. The score thus far: Ebay-1, Paypal-1, a buyer in NJ-1, The Advisor-0...but the game's not over yet.

I mentioned 'The Mini-mizer' site about week and a half ago, and promised to post a picture of my LEGO lookalike here. So for all of you who have been so patiently waiting...wait no more! I'm quite sure you will note the uncanny resemblance. To make your own LEGO lookalike check out reasonablyclever.com

Z seemed to be doing OK yesterday. He still has an ugly bruise and scratch on his forehead, but the bump has gone down quite a bit. I no longer grumble about having to step over the gate at the top of the steps, I've actually thought about permanently installing it there. After watching him fall I can sort of understand how some parents become so overprotective of their children. I just don't want to see him get hurt ever again. I know, I know, that kind of stuff happens, and you can't be there all the time, but you just don't want to actually see it happen.
In other news...thanks for the lovely cheeses and pleasant conversation last night, Mr. & Mrs. Ball! My feet have never been so comfortably warm... (the blueberry tea didn't hurt either!)

Z fell down the stairs last night. If I had been about a second earlier I could have caught him. Instead I had to watch helplessly as he fell. He hit his head quite badly, but he didn't seem to be hurt otherwise. I sure hope he's OK. I can't help but replay the sight of him falling over and over again in my head.

This is a close up shot of a board game that I played recently, can you guess what it is? Christmas has always been a time for playing games, along with working less and eating more...at least in my experience. When I was growing up, it was somewhat of a family tradition to get a new family game each year. I don't know how regular the tradition was, as my family is somewhat traditionally irregular, but it seems like it was fairly regular, in retrospect. We played a lot of the traditional games; Monopoly, Sorry, Scrabble, Snakes & Ladders...we also had a few of the licensed games; I especially remember 'Scooby-Doo: The Game". We also played IQ 2000, but that one seemed to get old pretty fast. We played a lot of social games, like Slang Teasers and Balderdash. Those were especially fun when we played with a large group of aunts, uncles and cousins. This year, I'm looking forward to a few rounds of Stockticker, Carcassonne, Acquire, Scotland Yard, and maybe I'll learn The Settlers of Catan, I've been meaning to give that one try for a few months now...

5 more work days until Christmas holidays, and I'm pretty pumped. Office lunch at Boston Pizza today was cool. I ate too much, as usual. I heard someone refer to it as 'sport eating' once, and I've kind of latched on to that phrase. Sadly, it describes my subconscious philosophy toward free food. It's not the hunger so much much as it is the joy of the physical part of eating; the chewing, the tasting, the saliva flowing, the swallowing. The digesting...not so much. I was full 6 bites before dessert. That didn't stop me, the Chocolate Explosion was awesome. We did the office gift exchange between lunch and dessert...thanks for the Mr. Incredible mug, Barilee. The afternoon could have been more productive, but there was so much digesting to do...

Every year there are really cool things in the Lee Valley Tools Gift Catalog that I want but don't really need. Here's a link to the things that I found so far that will be on my Christmas list: Lee Valley Tools Wish List
And here are a bunch of other cool items that I wouldn't mind finding under the tree...
Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World (book)
Governance Matters (book) Consulting in Governance for Christian Organizations
SUPER SIZE ME: A FILM OF EPIC PORTIONS (on DVD)
The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (book)
Microsoft Streets & Trips 2005
Binary People T-shirt
Obey gravity, It's the law! T-shirt
Brian Wilson's 'new' CD: SMILE!
Jamie's Dinners (Cookbook)
Socks. No solid colours, preferably striped or argyle, not wool.
A "Mr. Incredible" Leaning Coffee Mug (I saw it at the Disney Store in Kingsway)
Programmable Thermostat
The Sweater (DVD)
Cuckoo, Mr. Edgar! and Other Wee Beasties (DVD)
Any Lord Of The Rings Mini Mates Action Figures (I saw some cool 3-packs @ Toys R Us)
13W or 15W compact flourescent lightbulbs (up to 5)
Almost any book by Douglas Coupland (especially Eleanor Rigby, All Families Are Psychotic, or Girlfriend in a Coma)
Planet Simpson (Book)
"The Corporation : The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power" (another book)

More Christmas Wish List Coming Soon!

I had some fun with this site today. When I have some time I'll try to remember to post my LEGO lookalike here. Now go ahead, check out this site and I bet you'll say, "that's reasonably clever". Well, at least you'll read that phrase...

So, I entered the world of ebay over 2-1/2 years ago, but I was only in to buying things. Tonight, I entered the realm of ebay sales. I started by choosing an item that I wouldn't have a difficult time parting with (I have 6 of them), took a few pictures, kind of decided on price, and sat down at the computer. I thought it would be quick; I already had an ebay account and a Paypal account, it would just be a matter of selecting a few options, uploading a good picture, and voila, wait 7 days, and collect some cash. Well...it took me two hours to submit a listing. Yeah sure, you're laughing with me. I spent the first few minutes writing a description, then another few minutes analyzing it. It cost 35 cents to list this, so I was pretty stressed about not missing any details...and I get annoyed when I see a listing where the seller had to go back in and edit the description 5 minutes later 'cause he/she forgot something. Then I had to decide which picture to use, this didn't take too long. Then...when I had to confirm my contact info, I realized that I hadn't used ebay since I bought this house, and all my contact info was wrong. When I tried to update everything, something wonky happened with the ebay site, and I wasn't sure if the update worked. I tried again. And again. And again. Finally, I decided that it must have worked. I'll probably get an email from the ebay folks tomorrow, politely informing me that I need only click the 'submit' button once. After an hour of painstakingly setting up the description and payment info, I get to the page where I'm supposed to knowingly select shipping information. I should have bought that postal scale Costco was selling last year. Everybody would have laughed, I know. "Why do we need a postal scale?!" my wife would ask I'm sure...but it would have saved me an hour of stress tonight. The moment I asked her if the toy that I was listing weighed more or less than the 250g piece of liver pate that I handed her, she unknowingly gained new appreciation for the postal scale that I wished I had...So, I finally decided on some random pricing for the shipping costs, and I hope it doesn't turn off any potential buyers. I guess I'll find out in 6 days, 23 hours, and 35 minutes. I'll quit rambling now but not until I put in link to my item on ebay.