Friday, December 10, 2010

Things I Like About Christmas...And Things I Don't

It's that time of the year again. Time for most people to go further into debt just to impress their friends and loved ones with the gifts they give. Time to eat until you look like Santa himself. Time for the hustling and bustling and decorations. Here is my list of favorite and least favorite things about the holidays.

My favorites...

1. Fire - nothing beats a crackling fire, whether inside or out.
2. Live Christmas trees - I love taking the family out to cut down our tree.
3. Gifts - C'mon, who doesn't like to get gifts?
4. Seasonal Beer - The season has it's own set of beers and they are damn good.
5. Food - Like beer, you only get certain foods at this time of year.
6. My kids - I love watching my kids tear into their gifts
7. Friends/Family - OK, sometimes I get annoyed, but I mostly like them around
8. Extra Days Off - For a whole month it seems like you are off every other day
9. Christmas Bonuses - Depending on where you work of course.
10. Generosity - People are generally more giving this time of year.

My not-so-favorites...

1. Yard Decor - People, your blow up penguins look stupid.
2. Lights - Lights are OK but your house should not look like the surface of the sun
3. Slow People - Jesus Christ get what you need and get the hell out of the way!
4. Traffic - I'm glad I don't carry a gun with me or I'd be in jail.
5. Bell Ringers - OK it's for charity, which is good, but those people annoy me.
6. Snow - God I hate snow.
7. Family - I know, they're on my favorite list too.
8. Client Gifts - You give gifts to people that make your life hell all year long?
9. War On Christmas - Celebrate your way, I'll celebrate mine.
10. Christmas music - There have been maybe five good Christmas songs ever.

There you have it. Anyone want to chime in?

Thursday, December 09, 2010

John Lennon - Nobody Told Me



A belated tribute to John Lennon, 1940-1980.

And The Rich Get Richer...

So, the Red Sox signed Carl Crawford to a seven year, uber-million dollar deal. That is after getting Adrian Gonzalez from the Padres in a trade. The Yankees are expected to counter with a seven year deal for Cliff Lee, which is ludicrous to me but whatever.

So there you have the current state of baseball. The teams with the most money reload year after year while the smaller market teams scrounge for the leftovers. Having the highest payroll doesn't always assure you a championship, but it sure as hell doesn't hurt.

I can't fault these guys for spending money if they have it. They could be a team like the Pirates, once with a proud and winning tradition, now reduced to rubble because ownership won't spend money on their product. It has been reported that ownership pockets most, if not all, of the profit sharing revenue that they receive from the big boys instead of reinvesting it. Yet, they sit and complain about being broke and how the fans aren't showing up. Why show up to watch a team that will be drastically different by the time they get to the end of the season? That's the pattern of a lot of small market teams - bring a good player up through the system and as soon as they show some ability, trade them off for scrap. God forbid that they ask for a raise for good performance.

I love baseball. I'm not sure that a salary cap is the answer but something needs to be done to insure the health of the league.