So this is Christmas.

And what have you done? Another year's over and a new one just begun. These words from John Lennon's "Happy Christmas (War Is Over)" have always made me think about the year that has almost passed, about the choices that I made, and about everything that was going to happen the following year. This year has been full of new developments. I started this blog and graduate school. My wife and I moved out of the apartment we have lived in since before we graduated from college and before we were married. And now we are about to have our first child. Also a good friend of mine decided to follow in his brother's footsteps and move back to Pennsylvania. In short, this has been a good year. These are the things I am focusing on this Christmas since I have been robbed of "a white Christmas just like the ones I used to know" by the Heat Miser.

Person of the Year.

It was inevitable. It was bound to happen eventually. I dreamed that one day my humble contribution to the World Wide Web will be recognized. But I never imagined it would happen so soon. After all, this blog has only been around for less than a year. I, The Ignorant Immigrant, have been named the Person of the Year by Time magazine. I was so flabbergasted by this news that I nearly fell out of my nice, new computer chair. I am still in shock, but once I recover I plan to hold a press conference.

Commercials.

When I am in front of my computer the television behind me is usually tuned to the History Channel. Over the years I have gotten really good at drowning out commercials, but once in a while I come across a commercial I can not ignore. One such example is a commercial for a local law firm. It shows a kid on a tricycle and then a narrator proceeds to inform you that some wheels are safe and some are not. Next it shows a busy highway with tractor trailers on it. Then the voice over says: "every year thousands of people are killed or injured in truck related accidents, if this ever happens to you call the law firm of Munley, Munley, and Cartwright." So if you die in a truck accident you can get a lawyer to represent your ghost in a lawsuit against the trucking company. If you get killed by a car, on the other hand, you are on your own.

It's official!

The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons are no more. From now on they will be known as the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees. Despite being a Yankees' fan, I am not sure I like the change because Minor League teams named after their Major League counterparts seem to me to lack an identity of their own. I would prefer the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Bombers as the team's new name. But at least the uniforms will be better than the old ones.

Jack the sequel?

It seems that London is once again being plagued by a killer who targets prostitutes. This is the third such case in English history.

Iran.

This is too ridiculous to believe. Iran is holding a conference to debate the Holocaust. It happened, six million people died. Stop debating it already.

Double talk.

Thursday morning, as I was getting ready to go to work, a local radio station announced that a train derailed causing a chemical spill right outside of town. The report also said that a bridge, under which the tracks ran, would have to be closed during clean up. I was a little worried, since the place I work is near that bridge, but went to work anyway. Here is the part that I find bizarre. Both the radio report I heard at home and the TV report I saw at work repeated the same phrase: "the spilled toxic chemicals pose no danger to the general public." Last time I checked, which has been a while so things might have changed, chemicals can not be both "toxic" and "harmless". To reinforce the idea that the spilled chemicals "posed no danger to the general public" a local paper printed a story about the derailment with a picture of firefighters from a nearby town dressed in white hazmat suits being hosed off by the local firefighters in yellow protective suits. 30,000 gallons were spilled, but I guess they are only dangerous to those who come into immediate contact with the spill.