Please Use This Song

We've Wandered Many a Weary Foot...

Aaaaand now January is almost over. That'll happen every now and again. December went by so fast that I never finished writing about it, but it was a busy month and we went lots of places and did lots of stuff. There, that should cover it.

A photographer took pictures at our Christmas Eve service, but never posted anything (so what was the point of that??), but someone did post an iPhone pic of us as we finished practice beforehand:

We spent some of our Saturday and Sunday afternoons sledding. There's one particular slope that works best and we can get some serious speed going down it. We've tried a few different types of sleds and we keep coming back to the classics: the solid molded plastic bright orange sleds that we bought in January 2002 when we were sledding at the Saylorville Dam. Nothing beats 'em. The crap sleds at Target are worthless (too flimsy and bendable and too sloooooow) and unfortunately they don't seem to carry the longer solid sleds at Wally World, either. Luckily, the two that we bought 13 years ago are still rockin' despite their mileage. Those things refuse to even crack.

Emily's eyes froze shut again.

Emily had to have a tooth pulled because it was crowding her other teeth. She did not dig the experience, although getting to stay home from school for a day seemed to make it sorta better.

Rose turned a decade old this month! Her birthday was 3 days long; a celebration on the 17th with her friends over to our house for cake and ice cream, then we all went to the theater and watched Big Hero 6 (good movie!) and then we all had pizza afterwards. On the 18th, the Conrads and Sue came over to help celebrate and we had yet another cake with ice cream and we grilled out in an unseasonably warm day for January: 44º! Then this coming weekend my folks will come over to celebrate Rose's birthday and we will have... yup, more ice cream and cake.

Buying stuff off of craigslist is always an interesting experience. A little over a year ago we set up a workout room in the basement complete with treadmill, weight bench/bar/plates, leg station, squats station, pull-up bar, exercise bike and a set of dumbbells. To give us some motivation to keep using it regularly, we decided to set up a TV and DVD player down there, so I found a decent TV on craigslist. I went to pick it up and wow... not sure if all those people actually live in one house or if it was just an ICP party, but man, that was crazy. Not sure why people dig ICP so much, but whatever makes your world go round. Got a good TV outta the deal!

Legos!

New Lego set today...

Civilized

your civilized people crowd into civilized streets
shouting civilized words to their civilized beats
a liar, a beggar, a cop and a thief
tell their own stories around a funeral wreath

try to change all the rules, but it ends up the same
you're pointing the finger, but it's pointing back again
can't say sorry now, cuz it's not part of the script
the official statement that was officially slipped

your analysts are dissecting each other's lies
while the rent goes up and the dow jones dies
and this year's new model is better than last
but supplies are limited, so buy them up fast

the doomsday seers promise the end is near
but safety is assured if you sell them your fear
as a year marches onward in relentless time

and the bells ring out their ominous chime


listen to the cadence as boots hit the street

marching on digital pavement in digital feet

you can roll with the rest or think for yourself
while they drink their own misery and smoke their own wealth


the propaganda speaks in no uncertain terms

the warranties curl in amongst decaying worms

those shiny new gadgets that will lure you out

gently press hands to your neck and slowly choke you out

a new year, a new era, what will it all bring?
civilization unfolding, our time in full swing
while civilized people crowd into civilized streets
shouting civilized words to their civilized beats

A Frozen Pulse and Heart of Fire

A Cup of Cheer