Santa's Coming to Town

Saturday began very painfully. I needed lots of water before I could head to my mom's house. From there I curled up in the passenger seat and let her drive to the hostess' house. Everything got better once we got there and we waited as all the families started showing up.

Once everyone was there I went upstairs and changed into the suit, rang some bells and waited till I heard all the parents saying, "what's that, Santa's here." I had no idea what I was doing, but luckily 90% of the kids were 2 or under and didn't know what was happening either. My favorite moments were with Sienna (11 months old), Olivia (17 months old) and my Godson (27 months old). Sienna was great because she just seemed like the happiest kid in the world at the time. She was swinging her arms and smiling and looking around; she really appearred to love being the center of attention (but who doesn't when they are a kid). Olivia on the other hand ... she wanted nothing to do with me. The moment I said I had a gift for her and her mommy started picking her up she began screaming. She was waving her arms around too, but trying to break free from her mom carrying her over to see me. Her mommy sat on my lap holding her for thier pictures, but the whole time Olivia was leaning out trying to be as far away from me as possible. My Godson was funny because he had his blanket and was clutching it for dear life the entire time. He posed for his pictures (below) holding it, held it when he gave me a high five, and held it when he got off my lap and started to walk away. As he was going I said, "Do you want your present?" Before I even finished that question the blanket was on the floor and the gift was in his hands.

Overall it was a good experience. I was happy to make the kids and their parents smile. Wearing the suit though is a different story, it was not comfortable and the beard and wig made me feel like I was in the desert. I must have smelled pretty bad after because the suit was definately not made of light fabric. Also, this is the same suit that was worn by the Santa when I was a kid ... so it is well over 20 years old. Plus, I think the tallest person wearing it was maybe 6' tall and I am over 6'3'' ... I also probably have about 70 lbs. on any of them. Oh well, got to start working on a better act for next year.

Friday Night Shenanigans

Of course it takes me until Wednesday to get around to posting about Friday. I guess this can be considered a good thing since I have been busy with my job and am happy to have a job (but who wouldn't want to employ me?). A really good friend got laid off Friday and that sucks a lot, as did some people I liked but wouldn't really consider a friend.

Friday night's small holiday party was great ... well, at least the parts I remember were. It was at Boozer's house and it has been determined that she can make party food like no one else. She should have a show on the food network. I have a picture of some of it, but let's just say it was great and I won't miss one of her parties ever again.



The night involved lots of beer pong (indoors to prevent hypothermia), WoW comments toward Ish, and me finishing a whole bottle of Captain's Private Stock. The night came to a conclusion shortly after I was discovered passed out on the floor in one of the room's in the basement and everyone decided they wanted to write on me but couldn't since I was being Santa the next day. After I woke up, the volleyball people that were still there posed for a team shot with the hoodies we won from the Baltimore Beach fall league (Do I look as though I consumed an entire bottle of rum? I think so). I was told we went to the bar shortly after this picture and I ordered water (no ice) had some then told them I needed to go. When I woke up Saturday, all my clothes were nicely folded and my keys and money was organized, why can't I do that every night when I go home sober?

Holiday Parties this Weekend

My friend Boozer from my volleyball team is having a holiday party tonight for the team and a bunch of friends. Several of my friends from work are coming with me and this should provide a perfect distraction from the earlier events of the day. I don't know if we are staying at her house the entire time or if we are going to venture out later on, either way it should be a great time.

As I said earlier, tomorrow is my first performance as Santa. I really don't know what to expect and don't know if I will be into it, but it will be nice to see all the excited kids. I also don't know a lot of the kids' names so I feel like I need to put together an index card and tape it to my sleeve like a quarterback does with their plays. I just hope there are some good pictures. Think it's acceptable if I drink before, it will definitely increase my commitment to acting like Santa?

Not necessarily holiday themed, but Sunday will definitely be a party. The Ravens - Redskins game is at 8:15 and I will be tailgating from 3:30ish on. I'll probably get to Fed Hill before that and watch some of the 1 o'clock games at Cross Street Market. Don't expect any posts until Monday at the earliest, but if there are any they will probably be lies and written after quite a bit of drinking.

Friday Layoffs

So the cuts came today and all I can say right now is that this sucks. The atmosphere here blows and I am going to miss a bunch of people that are gone. I can't really say anything else right now but am glad I have a holiday party tonight to consume my attention

Fail is the Theme for this Half of the Week

So I completely failed at getting into the office at 4 AM yesterday morning and I blame it on this Internet thing these kids today are using to send messages instantly to one another until 1 AM. I did get in sometime during the 7 AM hour though. Got a lot of what I needed to done but still have some to finish up today and tomorrow before starting on the project I was up all Sunday night working on. Today is a different story all together, I didn't get in until after 10. The only upsetting part about that was our cafeteria closes for breakfast at 9:30 and I love their breakfast foods. Oh, that and the fact my company announced layoffs ... which is awesome and really motivates me to complete all this stuff. Those affected will be told tomorrow (I think).

I also feel obliged to mention the Terps victory over Michigan last night and another year of the ACC winning the ACC - Big Ten challenge. Sorry Corey (btw, do you know a contractor for minor brick work, I haven't been able to get in touch with the guy I used for other stuff). The game wasn't pretty (at least the first half), but the Terps won and I like how aggressively they are going after the ball; the rebound differential was huge. It was also pretty cool because Shawne Merriman was there for a coat drive he sponsors annually (I guess that is a plus side of being out for the season since he would be suiting up for a game against the Raiders tonight otherwise) and Clinton Portis was sitting court side for most of the game. He probably didn't appreciate the mix of cheers and boos from the obviously mixed crowd of Ravens and Redskins fans. I also wonder if there would have been more cheers if the Skins weren't playing the Ravens this weekend, or if he didn't play for the U.

On a completely separate topic, this weekend should be fun ... I'm going to be Santa at a party for the kids in my family's huge group of friends. My godson is part of the group and really the only reason I am doing this ... that and I am the closest to Santa's physique out of the group (even though I don't think the Santa of legend was 6'4''). I'll be sure to get pictures and post them. I am doing a bunch of other fun stuff this weekend and will probably mention that stuff later tonight or sometime tomorrow.

Busy, busy work week

This week has been ridiculously crazy at work and it all has to do with the fact I am the quintessential procrastinator. I have a shit-ton of work due this week and had over a week to do it but decided to wait until Sunday night to start (I started previously but didn't make much headway cause I tend to get easily distracted). I'll admit that this stuff would have taken the entire week if I worked on it during regular hours regardless of my procrastination so it is pretty impressive that I'll be able to get it done, and it will be great work ... cause that's how I roll.

I went into work on Sunday night at around 10 PM and didn't leave till 2:30 the next afternoon. This was a long time to be at work and I started to get into a zombie state of mind toward the end. I did end up writing at least 20 pages worth of workflows and procedures and other analyst crap while still having to support everything that was breaking with the applications my team supports. I proceeded to go home and pass the F out until having to go back into work at 7:30 AM today. I got a significant amount done but still have more and will be heading into the office around 4 AM tomorrow (Wednesday) ... I'll end up putting in well over 40 hours for the week by EOD (end of day) tomorrow. Luckily, everything is due tomorrow afternoon so Thursday and Friday will be normal days, even though I have to work late Friday.

Tomorrow, I won't be able to go home and sleep right after work because instead I am going to the Terps basketball game for the ACC/Big Ten challenge against Michigan. My friend from work (haven't given him a nickname yet), my dad and Betty are going. I don't have high expectations for the Terps this season but really want to get a look at freshmen Sean Mosley and Jin So Kim. Its going to be a long day ... and week. Bed time!

Loving me some Louisiana Crabs

Saturday I went to my dad's girlfriend's (remember, Betty?) house for dinner (and watch the Terps fall apart). I met her brother, his partner (both from San Diego), and her mom. I liked them all and her brother was pretty funny and very outspoken. Her son Bamm was there too. While waiting for dinner and trying not to cry from the disaster that is the Terps, we (Me, Bamm, Betty's brother and his partner) played several games of Wii bowling. I have a Wii and haven't played it since my graduation party in the beginning of the summer so this was a good time and makes me think I want to start having people over to play again. After playing Wii, Bamm wanted to play Warhawk (a PS3 war game) online with me. I own this game too, but have only played it twice in my life so it was a fairly new undertaking. We play for about an hour until Betty left to go pick up dinner.

Betty got back with the crabs, but I can't remember where she got them; she lives out in the country so I wouldn't know anything around there anyway. Everyone sat down to eat while my dad and I watched the final pick-6 thrown by Turner this regular season. I haven't had crabs in a while (mainly due to lack of funding) and was pretty happy to get some this late in the year and good ones at that. Since I live very close to the water in Baltimore, I was getting crabs a lot over the summer, there are a lot of good places nearby. I assumed they were Maryland crabs but never knew for sure. These were obviously from Louisiana, they other primary source of this kind of crab. These were very good and had the right amount seasoning on them, nice and spicy. The only problem now is I want to get them again but don't want to spend the money. I know what the title says but I definitely love me some Maryland crabs more.