Sparkler.

YouTube video game.

This maybe old news for some, but I just discovered this cool game via a post on Bloggasm. It's an interactive, 30-level game of spot the difference based on the 2009 Oscars. I only got to level 17.

Ferris wheel.

Knoebels food stand.

Street lamp.

For whom the bell tolls?

The recent celebrity deaths brought with them a slew of coverage on various television and internet channels. They also resulted in a bunch of tasteless jokes, especially at Michael Jackson's expense.

The day after Michael Jackson died, I received two text messages which contained Michael Jackson jokes from an acquaintance of mine. These were so awful that I replied to them telling this woman, who is fond of tasteless humor, I did not appreciate receiving these and that they were not amusing.

Later I read a Facebook post by another acquaintance degrading Michael Jackson. This man continued in this vein with a post about Billy Mays and another poke at Michael Jackson.

Why do people feel the need to do this?

I know that when a famous person dies their demise will automatically become big news but there are much better ways to address whatever feelings or animosities you have toward that person than bad jokes.

Death is the one thing all of us have in common. Regardless of your socioeconomic status, your education, your political views or your sexual preference, eventually you will meet your manufacturer.

Let's try to remember that next time somebody famous dies and not vilify them or attempt to profit by selling their memorabilia on eBay. Shall we?

Going up.

Inclined plane in Johnstown, PA.

Church sign.

12th and Blair.

Sunset.

One small step.

Hershey Park Carrousel.

Lights.

Sky in a puddle.

Skyward.

Bread and circuses.

My wife got me involved in watching Jon & Kate Plus Eight with her and I have to say until recently it hasn't been worth watching. But this season, which has been surrounded with controversy before it even began, is way better than the previous seasons.

What makes it worth watching is the destruction of a marriage. After all, we are all guilty of slowing down to look at a scene of an accident for the gory details. This trend of deriving entertainment from other people's misery and pain is not new. I believe that it goes all they way back to Ancient Rome.

Back then, you see, the common folk had a famous chant "bread and circuses" which meant they wanted to be fed and entertained. The feeding part wasn't very hard the problem was how do you entertain people whose lives are at the mercy of the Roman Gods and could end at any moment. And so gladiatorial combat was invented.

I can see an Ancient Roman carnival barker now: "Ladies and Gentlemen, step right up and get your tickets to see a marvelous new interactive entertainment! Live human beings will fight one another to the death for no other reason than your enjoyment. Don't worry, these are slaves, Gods know we have a lot of them, and no actual Roman citizens will be hurt. There is still time to get front row seats so you can be close to the action. And did I mention the best part? You control the outcome of these fights. You decide who lives or dies! So what are you waiting for?"

Romans even invented what we now call sports arenas for the purpose of watching these fights. The Coliseum had a retractable roof and elevators which would bring gladiators and animals to the stage. If you don't believe me, go to Rome and look for yourself.

But what does any of this have to do with Jon and Kate Plus Eight?

Well, it seems that even though we have become a bit more "civilized" than the Ancient Romans we still like to watch a good fight now and then. We might not have the Romans' taste for blood, but we continue to crave conflict and other people's pain prominently displayed in our living rooms.

And nothing quenches our thirst for pain and suffering like Reality TV. We want to see real people put in front of a camera lens so we can watch them wriggle and squirm the same way inquisitive children do with bugs. But, of course, this is not true reality.

Just like Roman Gladiators the people we watch were selected for our maximum enjoyment. If this was actual reality, we would be sitting in front of our televisions watching other people sitting in front of their televisions. And who wants that?

Nobody! We all know what we want. We want "bread and circuses!" And we want them delivered to us in a form we have become accustomed to, television.

The invention of television eventually lead to the inventions of TV dinners and Reality TV. And these two combined allow us to have our "bread and circuses" in the comfort of our own domiciles.

Bowls.

In between.

Flag.

Man walking.

Sign.

Intersection.

Parking lot.

Porch.

Bush.

Wet road.

Nap time.

Clouds over Montour Preserve.

Lake at Montour Preserve.

Sun through clouds.

Lili on the swings.

Blue sky, green grass, and an empty road.

This is why I love going for a drive this time of year. In the Summer, and quite often in the Spring, Pennsylvania countryside is absolutely beautiful. You can drive around on small, rural roads surrounded by nothing but nature for hours.

That's how I took this picture. Lili fell asleep in the car on the way to a local park so I decided to see where the road may take me. And I ended up in the hills above Catawissa with nothing but clouds for company.

Lisence to what exactly?

Lili and The Swan.

Actually, it's a goose but the title seemed fitting.

People less.

A pizza made out of a pita?

Swine flu 2.0.

With a recent outbreak of swine flu I started thinking about past flu epidemics, this lead me to search Wikipedia, my favorite source of information. There is a Wikipedia entry on swine flu which also tracks the cases around the world using Google Maps. Here is the link.

Central Park West.

George Washington Bridge.

Old bench.

I-80 West.

Cozy mall area.

Playing outside.

Happy Easter!

Strange fruit.

This is something I found at Walmart. These are strawberry-banana flavored peaches. It seems that peaches weren't flavorful enough by themselves and needed help from strawberries and bananas.

FlashChudder music.

You can find several FlashChudder recordings here. Give them a listen.

Have you seen these guitars?

A very talented local musician was recently robbed. His guitars were stolen. He plays with a band called FlashChudder. They play a combination of jazz and fusion. Their sound is simply amazing which makes this robbery even more tragic. Any help you can provide is greatly appreciated. Here is a link to a flier with detailed information.

Pi Day.

Trashy sign.

Since the weather was almost Springlike, we took Lili to a local park. Where I discovered a sign hanging above one of the trashcans. The sign read: "Please take trash to dumpster." I thought that was too much work and threw my trash into the trashcan below the sign.

My car.

This is what my car looks like after the accident. None of us were in it at the time, so we only have to deal with what insurance companies call property damage.

A little bit of everything.

I have been absent from this blog for a while. In fact, this is only my seventh post this month. My excuse for this is work or what I do at work which is sit in front of a computer doing a little bit of editing, instructional design, and writing.

After I get home, I am not particularly inspired to write anything meaningful to post here. So I end up sitting in front of the television watching whatever happens to be on that night or in front of the computer catching up on various sites I frequent.

So my life has been, for the most part, uneventful. That is until yesterday morning when a woman in a white Chrysler van on her way to the gym decided to crash into my parked car. The collision demolished my trunk and almost pushed my car into my neighbor's van.

Now I have to sit at home on Monday waiting for the claims adjuster to tell me that my car is junk. I hope that this will not be the case since it only has 141 thousand miles on it. It's a 1999 Acura and for a ten year-old Japanese car that kind of mileage is nothing.

In the commotion with the car, I almost missed the twentieth anniversary of my departure from the Soviet Union. I did call my Dad to remind him about it, but it was spoiled by telling him that my car, which used to be his, may now be scrap.

It is in times like these that I long to live some place with off street parking and public transportation. Now I have to start thinking about possibly getting a new car. Argh!

Why follow GCal on Twitter?

I have read many blog posts on the topic of using Twitter to increase your productivity. One thing that all these posts had in common was that they directed the reader to follow GCal, or Google Calendar, on Twitter. This would allow you to send direct messages to GCal in order to update your Google Calendar.

This is extremely redundant since most Twitter posts and direct messages are made from cell phones. And GCal already has a mobile option. You can activate it by clicking the Mobile Set-Up tab in the calendar settings.

The number is 48368 which spells GVent. When you send text messages to GVent, a new event is added to your calendar and you receive a verification text message from GVent.

And if you post on Twitter from your computer, there is no need to follow GCal because you can easily open Google Calendar in a separate window or tab. So the answer to the question "why follow GCal on Twitter?" is why would you.

Who's on Twitter?

Twitter has been getting bigger and more popular lately. It seems that anyone who's anyone, which means pretty much everyone, is on Twitter.

This now includes celebrities. There are Wil Wheaton and MC Hammer, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, Shaquille O'Neal and Greg Grunberg.

The only problem with following these people, if they are who their mini bios claim to be, is that they don't follow everybody who follows them. Following somebody who follows you is a matter of politeness.

I guess once you achieve success, politeness becomes an unnecessary concept. This is sad since it is so easy to be polite to people online.

Nirvana day.

Today is a Buddhist holiday known as Nirvana day. It is the celebration of Buddha achieving Nirvana after the death of his physical body. So here is a little lithium to help you achieve Nirvana.

Plastic ruler?

At first glance it would appear that you are looking at a plastic ruler. But after taking a closer look you discover that there are four of them. And then it dawns on you that actually they are made of wood. At this point words fail you as they did me.

Eagles Mere links.

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about Eagles Mere. And this is the village's own website.

Eagles Mere toboggan slide.

Today we took Lili to Eagles Mere to ride on the Eagles Mere toboggan slide. The worst part of the whole experience was standing in line which took about two and a half hours. That could have been a lot worse if the temperature wasn't above freezing.

To ease the mindless standing around, a local civic organization provided some snacks at a very low price. However, to get these you had to stand in another, much shorter, line. The price of the toboggan rentals wasn't bad either. $15 got you a small toboggan which sits six people. For $20 you can ride with seven of your friends or have some room for your stuff.

I have to admit that I had some trepidation about riding down an ice slide onto a frozen lake. These had more to do with the hill and the speed of the toboggan than the possibility of the ice breaking under us. Some part of my mind figured out that if the unusually high temperature made the ice unsafe to ride on, the people running the slide would have closed it down. But this did not become readily obvious to the rest of my mind which was too busy being gripped by irrational fear.

After the initial ride my fears were replaced with exhilaration which eventually gave way to exhaustion as we dragged the toboggan back up the hill. The whole experience was quite pleasant and despite the long lines was a better use of our time than sitting at home watching the pregame show would have been.

Everybody, including Lili who always denies that she had any fun, enjoyed themselves emmensly. Eagles Mere is a nice little village made up of a large number of summer homes and quaint shops with helpful shopkeepers. If you get a chance to visit Eagles Mere, you won't be disapointed by it.

Integrated testing.

This week at work we have been going through a process called integrated testing. Another, more popular, term for this is shakedown cruise. Various subject matter experts are testing the content they developed trying to see what works and what doesn't.

Testing is always a part of any instructional design process, but this is being done before the instruction has been developed. This is a great idea because with 600 or so individual scripts, which will eventually be turned into training materials by a team of instructional designers that includes me, testing the training and the scripts at the same time would be a nightmare.

My part in all of this is getting the scripts together by business process. As with other parts of the shakedown cruise this also got better as we went along. The initial script pull did not go smoothly. One major reason for that is people do not follow naming conventions.

Even though all the scripts are stored in one place, manually searching through hundreds of them is pretty tedious if the search function does not return any results. It gets even worse if people tell you that the script is there and it turns out that a single misplaced digit kept you from finding it.

Tomorrow we will conclude the first week of integrated testing. The first cycle of testing won't be done for another week or so, but I am very curious to see the results. I especially can't wait to see how the training materials turn out, but that's another post entirely.

My very social networking.

I have been a very slow adapter of social networking. While everybody else was jumping on the MySpace band wagon, I was quite content to remain ignorant of the whole thing. Eventually, when it seemed that I was the one person in the universe who didn't have a MySpace, I joined the fray. At first I was very excited to be able to reconnect with the people I haven't seen for years, but eventually the novelty wore off and I started to long for newer and greener pastures.

This is when I discovered Lined-In. I thought that it was good idea to join Linked-In since I aspired to be a professional. But a professional what? I haven't quite settled on wanted to be, but I figured that it would look better if I had something more to show for cyber life than this blog and MySpace. I threw myself into Linked-In with all the zeal I could muster, but since my accomplishments were few and far between I let it lapse feeling embarrassed.

Then I, while avoiding doing any work around the house, read about Twitter on Wil Wheaton's blog. At first I was afraid, I was patriefied. I thought that I would not have enough exciting things to post. I was struggling with finding interesting and inteligent content for my blog so I was quite sure that Twitter was wasted on me. Eventually, I stuck my toe in the water which was followed by my foot and then the entire body. I even went as far as to live blog the VP debate on Twitter.

But this whole time I resisted charging the remaining fortress of social networking, Facebook. My life was busy enough just keeping up with the three social networking sites I had going. And, like Bill Henderson on the HBO show Big Love, I didn't think I needed a fourth. But then suddenly something changed last night. And I found myself signing up for Facebook and discovering that almost everybody on my email contacts list was on Facebook. Now I am writing on people's walls and looking through their friend lists attempting to find old classmates whom I haven't seen in ten years.

So I wrote all that to say: Help! Please, stop me before I join another social network!

I love my Yahoo email.

I recently opened my Yahoo email account to find the following email in my inbox.

Hello,

My name is Veronica I saw your profile and get interested in you. I will like to have a good relationship with you. I am down to earth, and I like natural things. My way of life is simple and ideal.

I am an outgoing person, and a very romantic woman who loves Romantic Challenges. True love never dies for it is lust that fades away. Love bonds for a lifetime but lust just pushes away. If true love, kindly reply me through my personal email address.

I Cherish You.
Veronica

This brought two questions to mind: 1)where did she find my profile and 2)did she ever read my blog which is riddled with stories about my wife and daughter. After reading this I have to say I prefer to get the Nigerian scam letters. At least then I know it's complete crap.

Dodgy story from Joe Torre.

Joe Torre, former Yankees' manager, wrote a book about his years with the Bronx Bombers. In this book he bashes both third baseman Alex "Most Overpaid Player Ever" Rodriguez and general manager Brian "Show Me The Money" Cashman. Since this is a memoir, it is extremely difficult to determine whether this is the truth or the consequence of Torre being fired two years ago. I haven't read the book yet, but I might have to get a copy next time I visit my favorite bookstore.

Hail to the chief.

We have a new President. This is significant because a new President brings with him a new beginning and a new hope for the future. It is even more significant now when the economy is perched perilously on the edge of a cliff.

And this President brings with him a new chapter in American history. He is not only the first African-American President, he is also the first first generation American to become President.

As an immigrant father of an American born child this fills me with pride in my country and knowledge that I live in an America where my daughter can be anything she wants. Even if, at two years old, she just wants to sit on my lap playing with a spoon as I write this.

There is no guarantee that Barack Obama will solve all the problems that the country faces and it is impossible to say that any one person can. But history has been made and there is no turning back now. We live in a new America.

Make a wish.

I have always wondered if there is a Make-A-Wish Foundation for adults. After all, the terminally ill adults are just as deserving of special treatment as their younger counter parts. I am happy to say that my question has been answered. There is an organization called Dream Foundation that, with the help of corporate donors, helps dying adults fulfill their dreams.

Snow and lights.

The Mets or Domino's?

I always thought of the Mets as the younger, quite often clueless member of the New York baseball family. I know that it is very hard to compete with the Yankees, especially with their 26 World Series titles and the legendary players who have worn pinstripes over the years, but the Mets seem to keep trying to go in the opposite direction.

They seem to be building a history of sheer stupidity. I guess you can say it started in the beginning, ever since the Mets were founded they have been using the NY logo that used to belong to the NY Giants. I am in favor of recycling, but a team, especially a team that plays in NYC, needs its own identity.

Now comes the latest chapter in the long line of Mets' blunders. Since this season is the inaugural season for the new Mets stadium, they, of course, designed a sleeve patch for the players' uniforms. The problem is that this patch looks like a horrible facsimile of the Domino's logo. See for yourself.

Joe the complete idiot.

The guy who became famous as Joe The Plumber during the 2008 presidential campaign, despite not being named Joe or a licensed plumber, and was eventually offered a job as a war correspondent, despite not being a trained journalist, just shot himself in the foot with his mouth.

Blogging Kazakh style.

Karim Masimov, the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, ordered his ministers to start blogging on the government site. He decided that this would be the best way for the people of Kazakhstan to get in touch with the government. His own blog received 152 comments after posting a welcome message. A large number of these were, of course, complaints.

I thought this was worse mentioning because this is a story about a fomer Soviet republic embracing Web 2.0. Considering how few governments have embraced Web 2.0 in the so-called developed world, this is a huge technological leap forward into the 21st Century. And this is a place that was a bit of a backwater in the not-so-good, old Soviet days. Before this, its major technological claim to fame was Baykonur, the Russian space launch facility.

Snow.

It is snowing outside and the world is once again filled with magic. This is the kind of magic that you don't get during any other season.

Even though Spring brings rebirth, Summer brings moments of perfect stillness when you can watch hot air rising from the road, and Fall brings amazing multicolored beauty, none of them can compare to a snowy day.

On a snowy day the world seems to slow down to a crawl, not just because the cars move slower, but because the infinite sky becomes smaller and you are no longer insignificant by comparison.

So, as the song says, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. Let the world stand still and the time stand still with it. A perfect Winter stillness, covered in snow.

Timely quote.

In a Time magazine essay titled "Eight Years Later," Michael Kinsley wrote what I think sums up the Bush presidency pretty accurately:

Sept. 11 is the excuse for many of the Bush Administration's failures and disappointments. It is also the basis for the one great claim made on George W. Bush's behalf: At least he has protected us from terrorism. In the seven years since that day, there has not been another foreign-terrorist attack on the American homeland. The trouble is that there were no foreign-terrorist attacks on the American homeland in the seven years before 9/11 either.

If you wish to read the rest of this essay, it was published in the current issue dated January 12th, 2009. I suggest that you check it out before Bush leaves office and joins the ranks of thousands of Americans who no longer have jobs.

Spreading happiness.

I don't know whether to laugh, cry, or applaud. An 18-year old hacker broke into Twitter by chipping away at a popular poster's password. The person whose account he hacked turned out to be a member of the Twitter support staff thus giving this hacker access to the entire Twitterdom. Note to self: come up with harder passwords.

Burris blocked by Senate.

Roland Burris was turned away at the door of the Senate today. This took place in the wake of his predecessor being elected the first Black President of the United States. The problem with Burris isn't Burris himself, the problem is Blagojevich or rather his being investigated for corruption.

A corrupt state governor isn't a new idea in American politics. Seats have been bought and sold since before this country broke away from England. Some times corruption remained hidden from the prying eyes of History, but it has been running, like the Gulf-stream, through the ocean of politics. John F. Kennedy, arguably the greatest 20th Century President, would not have been elected if it were not for the help of his father's friends from the Mafia.

But, like his assassination, this fact is now a part of American history which has many interesting chapters. The Burris situation, however, it is not one of the brighter chapters. He was turned away from the seat that was previously occupied by Barack Obama. He wasn't elected to replace Obama, he was simply appointed to hold the seat until the next election.

The question that lingers in the air is: was he appointed based on merit or based on money. This is something only he and Blagojevich can answer and neither of them is talking. But, despite Blagojevich's corruption investigation, Burris did not deserve to be turned away at the door like an unwanted guest. The Senate should have notified him that they have no intention of letting him into the building to take Obama's old seat.

After all, the only Black member of the Senate being blocked from entering the Senate looks really bad in the wake of Obama's election. It looks like we are taking two steps back after taking a step forward.

New year, new direction.

This post should have been posted before Eric's guest post, but as the saying goes the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. So here is an update on the future plans for the Ignorant Immigrant.

I have been thinking about opening up this blog to other people to post on topics they have had an experience with. This is not because I do not have the desire or the time to write something myself, but because I want to offer my readers, in the word of Monty Python, something completely different.

Currently I am negotiating with a couple of people to write guest posts. I hope that these will prove as interesting and insightful as I think they will. So stay tuned for future developments.

Internet and the printed word.

Eric's guest post got me thinking if there are any publications that are safe in the Internet age. The answer to that question is books and magazines.

Books, despite being available in a digital format, are still an experience. In order to really appreciate a book you have to go to a bookstore, pick it up, and hold it in your hands. There is a feeling you get from holding a new book in your hands.

I am not quite sure how to describe this feeling, but I think it might be akin to first love and borders on the sublime. To me it is one of the reasons I keep going to my local Barnes and Noble, or any other bookstore, over and over.

Centuries ago books belonged to the nobility since they were expensive to reproduce and only the nobility and the clergy knew how to read. Then Gutenberg invented the printing press and the literacy revolution began.

Now there are more books on more topics than you have time to read, but the value of books has not diminished along with their cost. Books are as important today as they were in medieval times when monks painstakingly reproduced them by hand.

Magazines have more in common with newspaper than with books. Their message, however, is less time sensitive. A newspaper that was printed yesterday is old news, but a magazine that came out last week still makes for a good read.

Another reason magazines are superior to newspapers lies in their publication frequency. Since magazines are published less often, the magazine writers have more time to work on their stories. This results in better researched and better written articles.

Unlike newspapers, magazines have built-in content for their websites. Magazines can put their past issues online, providing their readers with a centralized archive which might not be available otherwise.

Books and magazines can exist in both printed and digital format. This, however, does not diminish them in any way. The experience of opening a book or of getting the new issue of a magazine in the mail can not be duplicated in the digital world.

So, books and magazines are safe in the Internet age because they offer something that can not be easily replaced by online publications.

Internet: Newspaper's nemesis and hero.

This is a guest post on the topic of newspapers and the Internet. This is a topic that the author, Eric Pehowic, and I have discussed in the past. Since Eric is a professional journalist, I thought that his take on this will be interesting. Enjoy.

When Stan Yann asked me to write about the Internet and the newspaper business, I jumped at the chance. But to explore the topic fully would take far more words than anyone wants to read in one sitting, so I'll try to paint with a broad stroke.

The Internet is the ultimate enigma for newspapers: At the same time its enemy and its savior.

Daily newspapers struggle to keep readers who are logged on all day and get a constant news feed, if they want it. A recent study found that the only demographic that still relies on newspapers for most of their news are 50-years old or older. A Pew report, released on Dec. 23, 2008, says that for the first time, "Internet has surpassed all other media except television for national and international news."

And while newsmen and newswomen should hate the Internet for taking away the readers, the online realm is our only future. The most frustrating aspect, and the one that shook me to the core when I realized it a few months ago, is how untimely the printed medium is.

Even more startling, reporters and editors seem completely comfortable continuing to work in this way.

Let's talk untimely:

• Half of the stories run in newspapers are not news anymore: A big story at 8 a.m. on a Tuesday is played out by the time readers get it Wednesday morning.
• Newspapers are not for breaking news. TV, Internet and radio are much better at getting the latest news out first. Even if there was a publication hourly, the paper is still potentially 58 minutes behind any breaking story. Despite using recycled newsprint and ink, the gas, ink and paper wasted daily already makes newspapers very ungreen, let alone what it would take for multiple publications per day.

Now, this is not to say newspapers, news sources, have no place in this world. Newspapers will always be here in some way. Hopefully there is an evolution into a newsmachine that uses the Internet for up-to-the-second news, and the paper for more in-depth and investigative local stories.

There are many questions that need to be answered and tough decisions that need to be made before any of this takes place. But it can work, and newspapers cannot be afraid to try.

Eric Pehowic is the assistant managing editor of The Danville News. A news and sports journalist since 1997, he writes about fantasy football online at www.chinstrapninjas.com and about video games and other wastes of time at blogs.sloppypotatoes.com.

New Year's Day.

This is a great song by one of my favorite bands. The title just begged to be posted.

Auld Lang Syne.

Happy New Year! May you have everything you wish and more. And don't forget a leap second was added to the clocks tonight at midnight UTC.

Berwick sunset.

Eternal youth.

Everybody wants to look better and younger than they actually are. This is very easy to accomplish through the use of technology. The right photo angle, slight use of PhotoShop and you can transform your ordinary, everyday self into a Greek god or goddess. Then you upload your improved self to your computer and send it into cyberspace.

After all, as a New Yorker cartoon once proclaimed, on the Internet nobody can tell you're a dog. However, this becomes a problem when cyber pals decide to meet in real life. Unlike one of my favorite movies, You've Got Mail, these meeting don't always go well. This story from Jim Connolly's blog is about one such encounter.

White Christmas.

I'll Be Home for Christmas.

I am the first one to admit that I don't like country music, but occasionally a songs comes along and changes my mind. This Rascal Flatts version of I'll Be Home for Christmas is one of those songs. I heard it on the radio the other day and was blown away.

Santa's journey.

As the sun sets over North America millions of children prepare for Santa's arrival. For years NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, has been tracking his progress around the world. This year they created a mashup which combines their tracking data with Google Maps. So sit back and watch Santa as he circumnavigates the globe. Merry Christmas!

Run, run, Rudolph.

This is Brian Setzer's version of Chuck Berry's contribution to Christmas music.

Hanukkah song.

I missed the first day of Hanukkah, but since it's a holiday that lasts a week I can still post this video. Enjoy.

Broken ladder.

First snow.

I went out on the porch, to retrieve the Christmas tree my wife and I were finally going to put up before Santa arrives, and was greeted by my favorite form of precipitation - snow. Since most people think of me as Russian, I like to tell them that my fellow countrymen invented Winter. This may not be true, but it sure felt that way when I was a kid.

When I was a kid, I would go to bed on November 3oth in anticipation of the wonderful sight that would be outside when I woke up the next morning. Back then you could count on the snow because the snow would not disappoint. This was before the so-called global warming sent the climate into a tail spin resulting in cold Winters completely devoid of snow. Winters that remind you of the inside of a walk-in freezer.

I am not sure how accurate these thirty-year-old memories are, but I know that back then snow made me happy. And now remembering that happiness and childlike wonder at the sight of first snow on the ground makes me proud that my ancestors invented Winter.

Santa Baby.

This is a song that celebrates the consumerism of Christmas. It has been covered by a lot of different singers. This is the Kylie Minogue version.

Do they know it's Christmas?

This is the original Band Aid which spawned several other songs for charitable causes including "We Are The World." Enjoy.

Blue Christmas.

This another one of my favorite Christmas songs. There have been many versions, but it's very hard to top Elvis. Enjoy.

Little Drummer Boy.

This is another great Christmas song. After thirty years, it should be considered a classic. David Bowie and Bing Crosby is a very odd paring, but it worked really well.

I am Santa Claus.

This is a holiday classic, or at least it should be.

Season's greetings.

I have been busy lately because I have started a new job. After being mostly unemployed for most of the year, it feels really good to go somewhere and do something. This is only a contract position, but it's work and it's work in my chosen field. This is going to be a great experience for me, so please forgive me if I don't post as much as I used to. There are topics I still want to write about and hopefully I will get to them before I forget what they are.

Holiday reflection.

How to use Twitter.

This video made by Sam Harrelson demonstrates how to use Twitter. Enjoy.

Setting up a Twitter account.

This video by Jack Bastide guides you through setting up an account on Twitter. Enjoy.

Holiday love.

It's officially Christmas season. This time of year you start making lists of people to whom you're going to send a Christmas card. Sometimes, if you won't see the person for the holidays, you might even get them a small, insignificant present. The amount you might spend on this gift could be as small as $5. After all, in today's economy who can afford more than that?

But there is a better way to spend that $5. You can put it to a good use and sponsor a 1lbs. package to send to our troops in Iraq of Afghanistan. Or you can even put a box at your work place an collect Christmas cards for the troops. Every little bit helps. Especially this time of year, when the troops stationed overseas need a pick-me-up more than ever.

This card and package drive is called Holiday Love Campaign and is the brain child of eMail Our Military (eMOM), a Miami based non-profit organization. Check out their blog, for more information about Holiday Love Campaign.

Black Friday tragedy.

After the turkey has been consumed and the football games watched, people all around the country prepare for a tradition almost as sacred as the Thanksgiving festivities. This tradition is the early Friday morning shopping for special bargains that retailers only offer on this day.

This kick off of the Christmas shopping season is called Black Friday. And today it lived up to its name. A crowed at a Long Island Wal-mart trampled a 34-year-old store employee along with a 28-year-old pregnant woman. The store employee later died and the woman is in the hospital for observation.

What happened was a tragedy, but not an unexpected one. Several years in a row reports of somebody being trampled nearly to death at a Wal-mart store would appear on Black Friday. One cause for this is the low quantities of the Black Friday merchandise the retailers have in stores. This creates a sense of urgency which then causes otherwise rational human beings to stampede like cattle killing people in the process.

This is consumerism at its worst. And that makes me sad because it cheapens Christmas. Maybe it's time people started to think about the gifts they are going to give instead of just buying things because they are on sale at 5 AM.

Macy's Rick Roll.

In case you weren't watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade, you missed getting Rick Roll'd by Macy's. But here is a video of it for your after dinner viewing pleasure. Enjoy.

Helpful hints.

While making the stuffing my wife discovered that we do not have any sage. Sage is an herb that was mentioned in the Simon and Garfunkel song "Scarborough Fair" and therefore must be important. Luckily for us, I was able to find this herb substitute chart and save the day, or at least the feast. I thought you might find it useful as well.