In this year of unexpected unemployment, I am immensely grateful for the jobs that I have had in the past (Work and L’office) that allowed me to finally get out of credit card debt, buy a new car, and put some money aside. If I’d been laid off even just a year ago, I would have been in a totally different situation right now. I am grateful for my part-time job. For the fact that L’office wants to hire me back. And for the contract work that has come my way this year to tide me over until that happens.

This year I am grateful for the government. For a new president who seems to be more of a statesman than a politician. (And if you don’t know the difference, a statesman worries about the next generation, a politician worries about the next election.) I am grateful for unemployment, which has allowed me to tread water for the past six months while I wait for the economy to recover. I am grateful for COBRA, which lets me keep my excellent insurance coverage. And I am immensely grateful that Congress is tackling health care again, as I foresee a crisis coming that we desperately need to address while there is still time.

I am grateful for Frogholm. My first worry when I was laid off was that I would lose my home. Or have to sell in a down market. Because I made a down payment when I bought it, I’m not underwater on my mortgage, even though property values have fallen. And not only has my condo fee (which includes my heat) stayed stable this year, but my mortgage payment went down (due to lower property taxes). Unemployment covers my mortgage and condo fees, so I’m stable for the time being.

I’m also grateful that I was able to replace Honda 2.0 with Tripp. For years I was worried about losing my job and having my car crap out on me. I’m so thankful that I was able to get a new car, so I don’t have to worry about being having reliable transportation for job hunting.

I’m grateful for my friends and family and for the Guild. I’m grateful for Live Journal and Facebook that let me keep in touch with all of you. I’m grateful for good health, and the Health Savings Account balance left over from Work that has paid for my health care and meds for the past couple of months. I’m grateful for the stockpile of books and fabric that will keep me occupied and amused during the dark days of winter. I’m grateful for anti-depressants and my light box that will keep me from slipping into a funk during those dark days.

I’m grateful that I have so many things to feel grateful for this year.

Good News – I’m not so Internet- addicted that I can’t take a voluntary 48 hours away from the Web! I haven’t even turned on the computer since Wednesday night. Go me!

And because I’ve got other posts to write, this week you get the GNF equivalent of Thanksgiving leftovers. Not much work, but tasty!

Existing home sales up. Existing home sales surged in October to the highest level in more than 2-1/2 years, according to a real estate industry report issued Monday.

On the kindness of strangers.“With an attitude adjustment, I came to see that a dark world can become floodlit in a heartbeat.”

Going back to school at age 58. The last line is wisdom for the ages.

My mother in law died this afternoon.
My wife could use the support of her friends.

What with the holiday yesterday I completely failed to notice that Tor.com posted my latest blog on Oz, this one about The Patchwork Girl of Oz.

I maintain all of this happened because we started Thanksgiving too early. Thanksgiving should not start unti at least 10 am. It is known. Anyway.

1. Day before: tgregoryt, who should know better by now, warns me of the morning start. Despite this, spend time making the vegetable dish that my mother has insisted on, using my genius for creating unhealthy foods to transform spinach into the single most high calorie, high fat, high cholesterol food at the table. While making dish, discover that the eggs are utterly possessed and refusing to do what eggs are supposed to do. Blame anaisis who had the identical problem earlier this week and has clearly cursed my eggs in revenge. Take comfort in my two types of gleaming, beautiful homemade cranberry sauce which will save my culinary reputation.

2. Wake up at an unholy hour for Thanksgiving and gather things into the car while playing my happy version of Dona Nobis Pacem.

3. My custard is leaking. This cannot bode well.

4. The leaking custards bode quite well for two cats who suddenly decide that they love and adore custard and should absolutely, positively have lots of it and cry when I insist on cleaning the custard from the floor. (I'm weird that way.)

5. Finally get leaky custard, scooter, sweet potatoes, wine, materials for pies, tennis rackets, tennis balls, and board games into car and pick up SD. Notice something missing from that list?

6. Two miles later, hear the happy sound of flashing sirens.

7. Pull over. Cop asks for registration, insurance and – in an alarming touch – for both tgregoryt's and SD's drivers licenses.

8. Sit. And sit. And then, for a change, sit.

9. Cop returns. Apparently, the state of Florida suspended tgregoryt's driver's license three days before, naturally, not bothering to inform him of this exciting little detail. Further inquiries show that his license was suspended for failure to pay a ticket in New Mexico, which, as it turns out, according to his credit union, he did, in fact, pay. In Florida, facts are messy things, and he is given a December court date and wished a very happy holiday.

10. Ah, the joy of Thanksgiving.

11. So now we have three people in a stick shift car, only one with a valid license. Naturally, that one would be the one with the least experience with driving stick. Question whether or not the cop would actually check my license and decide that now isn't the time to risk that.

12. SD starts driving the car, with a twist – the last time he drove a stick shift was back in India, where, of course, the steering wheel and the gear shift are on the other side, so he keeps trying to use his left hand to shift a non existent gear shift.

13. Return to the apartment. Move leaky custard, scooter, sweet potatoes, wine, materials for pies, tennis rackets, tennis balls, and board games into SD's car. Still fail to notice something missing from that list.

14. Evveeeeennnntttuuuaaaallllyyyyy arrive at my mother's, where we realize that we have forgotten the two types of cranberry sauce that will restore my culinary reputation. I let other people begin the great cooking while I lie down, lots.

15. My mother, a very, very enthusiastic football fan (she watches high school, college and pro) decides to start teaching SD the intricacies of football rules. I surprise everyone by making not one, but two correct statements regarding pro football. (Do not be alarmed, my readers: this sudden knowledge is, I assure you, an aberration.) I decide to lie down lots more.

16. gargoylerose and chattycatsmeow arrive for dinner. The menu: turkey, Amish stuffing, mashed potatoes with cheese, curried sweet potatoes, spinach strata, roasted potatoes and figs, and cranberry sauce from a jar, not from the two types of cranberry sauce.

17. This is far, far too much food for six people. All of it, however, is excellent.

18. Everyone does, however, decide that we could just possibly make room for dessert. Overall, despite the morning excitement, a most excellent Thanksgiving.

19. Eventually leave to discover that between our arrival and now, winter has arrived. COLD.

20. Collapse in bed. After moment of indecision, two small cats decide that it is too cold to hold grudges over the cruel removal of custard from little cats and the even crueler abandonment and failure to feed them turkey, and crawl beneath the covers. Hello, winter.

This is a lot of cranberry sauce.

Happy Thanksgiving to all - including non-Americans! No reason why you can't have a marvelous day!

And for those of you in feline households, my cats would like to remind you all that this is an Official Feline Appreciation Day, which means that they want some turkey!

Wow.

Any Shakespeare play I walk out of with my ears aching a little from the techno music, a little dent on my forehead from the mask they make all the audience members wear, and my feet a little sore from all the running up and down stairs I did, is a good show.

The short version: 'Sleep No More' is a bizarre mash-up of a 'Macbeth' play, a LARP, and a haunted house designed by Stanley Kubrick, where the actors are in constant motion and the audience (in masks and silent, so it's like a busload of ghosts are following a few real people around) can either trail one, investigate the rooms, or have a nervous breakdown and go drink in the bar. Everyone in the Boston area who hasn't seen it should, and you should take me with you so I can see all the bits I didn't have TIME to see tonight.

The long version will have to wait until tomorrow, for I'm SO totally worn out. Watching Scottish witches drink half a bottle of bourbon and then take piggyback rides on the Devil is just exhausting.

Squirrel versus dog.

Thanks to ysabetwordsmith for the link.

Having spent five years working retail, I absolutely refuse to go out shopping on Black Friday. So today was spent doing some pre-emptive shopping. I bought stamps for my Christmas cards. Went to Bed and Bath and picked up a few things for the kitchen. Hit the grocery store to re-stock the fridge and the pantry. Went to Barnes and Nobles and bought a Sherlock Holmes collection because after I saw the trailer for the new movie I realized that I probably have never read any of the books. I think I'm ready for the four day weekend.

I'm also ready for flu season. I've got a stockpile of the following: Kleenex, Nyquil, Advil, cough drops, Pepto, chicken soup, frozen orange juice, and ginger ale. It sucks being sick when you're single and have to take care of yourself. If you need something from the store, you have to drag your own sorry carcass there. Now if some germ manages to catch up with me, I at least ought to be able to take care of myself until I feel halfway human again.

BTW - Check the expiration date on the stuff in your medicine cabinet. My old bottle of Advil was well past the expiration date.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/23/recession.jobs/index.html

"...the U.S. Gross Domestic Product, a broad indicator of the economy's strength, grew during the third quarter."

"There is also concern that the GDP growth is largely the result of the economic stimulus implemented by the federal government and other government initiatives like the "Cash for Clunkers" program for automobiles."

Um, wasn't that the entier point of the economic stimulus money? To make the economy grow?!?!

If they had said that there was concern that the economy wouldn't keep growing without government funding, that would be a different thing. But that isn't what they wrote.

Amusing little phrase from:

http://jamesdelingpole.com/

Discussing the recently publicized Climategate emails.

Muppets sing Bohemian Rapsody!

http://lebowitz.net/muppets-singing-queens-bohemian-rhapsody-via

So awesome!

I'd explain but that would take away all the fun.

You're expecting a song, aren't you?

But no. I'm breaking a long standing habit and superstition by announcing that yes, I have sold a story to Jetse de Vries' Shine Anthology, forthcoming from Solaris Books in 2010.

(The superstition stems from four children's books, a French fry vending machine, fbhjr and malterre's wedding, a certain publisher in the greater Atlanta area, a duck, and the Miami Herald. It has, you see, deep meaning. And history. Not to mention the duck. It's a tragic and terrible saga, really.)

But I have two reasons for breaking this rule now: one, as of now, the book is available for preorder from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk, and two, Jetse de Vries is planning a competition. Keep an eye on his blog for more details. And I'll have more about this anthology and my story as we edge closer to the publication date.

(Now let's just hope I haven't doomed the book with this announcement!)

From technomensch and matociquala:

Whoa, I just recieved a wedding invitation to an honest to god, traditional, four day Indian wedding. From the product manager I know from Work, who apparently has found himself a bride in the past year. And it looks like a very traditional wedding, possibly an arranged marriage. Thrown by his grandfather.

I'd really love to see an Indian wedding first hand. But there's no way I can afford the plane tickets to New Delhi and the hotel stay. But still, would have been very very cool.

I've had trouble working up enough interest in sparkly vampires to stir myself to read or view anything to do with Twilight.

Now I'm glad I didn't bother spending any of my hard earned money on that crap. According to this journal entry Twilight is training young women that abusive relationships are sexy and romantic.

I just makes me angry when messages like this become popular. Where are our strong female role models?

I miss Xena.

My wife came to rescue me tonight and we tried the jumper cables one more time.
It started!
Go figure.
We took it to the garage and left it off there. Hopefully it is not an expensive fix. But, as my wife pointed out, the tow cost would have been 10 hours of diagnostic charges, so it's good it started.

P.S. Checked the battery voltage at lunch. 12.8 Volts. But, even with that, the little LCD clock in the dash wouldn't even show the time. So, I don't think it is the battery.

the e-challenge loss seems to have been a delayed action camelstraw.

man I am hurting at the moment

why is this wrecking me so comprehensively ?

there's no joy in personal freedom when its so fucking pyrrhic

my stoicism is at an end my friends

I seriously dont know what to do from this point.