Christmas Past (no Ghosts)

I was reflecting on my "post college" Christmas that I have experienced (since 2000) and I realize that I have had anything but a Traditional Christmas. So this morning, I'll take you through the years. I graduated from Iowa State in 2000, so this is only a summary from that point till now:

2000 - My first year with IBM. The product I was working on was released to the world and I was asked if I wanted to fly to Ireland to support the manufacturing effort for this product. So of course I jumped on the opportunity and flew to Dublin in early December for the month. I spent Christmas Day working with two others from Rochester that were there to keep me company:) We left the plant around 5pm to go back to our hotels and I made spaghetti for my Christmas Dinner. Nothing is open on Christmas Day in Ireland so pre-arrangements to have spaghetti were made. I did get a free shirt from work that year for working Christmas Day. You take the free stuff when you can!

2001 - Most likely my worst Christmas ever. This was the year I spent a lot of time in Austin, TX and Poughkeepsie, NY for work. Again, the project I was working on was released worldwide in December. I was working in NY for 2 weeks with plans of coming back to Iowa on the 24th to celebrate Christmas, then return to NY on the 26th. Instead I was "asked" to go to Montpelier, France for that final week. So I ended up flying from NY to Paris (via Philadelphia) on Christmas Day. I spent 3.5 hours in the Philadelphia airport talking to family on my cell phone before boarding an overbooked plane to Paris (I was sitting in coach). I had a Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich as my Christmas dinner. NOTE: The only good thing on this day was flying parallel to Manhattan on Christmas Morning and seeing NYC so peaceful for once.

2002 - After my refusal to return to France ever again, I was this time asked to return to Dublin for support. I jumped all over the opportunity to return to my motherland (I think I'm maybe 5% Irish but that place sure feels like home to me!!). We had a successful week leading up to Christmas that we were actually given the day off! A Rochester friend and coworker was there with his family on assignment and had the 3 of us whom were visiting from Rochester over for a Christmas Dinner! A much more pleasant feast than spaghetti or Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich.

2003 - No international travel this year. But this was the crap year for work. I drove home on the 24th, then back to work on the 26th. This was also the year that I worked till about 6pm on New Year's Eve, drove to Ames to celebrate New Years with my college friends for the first time, had way too much of that cheap strawberry wine (THANKS JILL!!!), woke up at 6am and drove back to Rochester. I was back at work by 10am - worked till midnight that night. I don't like working on a hangover.

2004 - My first "Traditional" Christmas. My folks and I drove to see my brother and his family in Kentucky. Through the snow in Indiana!!! It was a white Christmas, with pleasant smiles and cheers Christmas Morning from my nephews once they saw that Santa had visited us. This was also the time I realized that little ones like boxes and $4 storage totes almost as much as they do the fancy toys that come with those boxes and totes. I made a huge Christmas Dinner for everyone - we ate, drank, and were very merry! A very memorable Christmas for sure!!

2005 - Last year I returned to my traveling ways and went to Shenzhen, China.... the armpit of the world! My travel experiences and postings are on the right for those who missed them last year. I spent Christmas Day NOT going to Hong Kong as was originally planned - but rather hanging out with my friend Tony. We had gone out on Christmas Eve for a wonderful (and rather expensive) meal by the river with music and singing... then to the "V" - club in Shenzhen where it was $20 to get in. We celebrated midnight with singing, party hats, noisemakers, streamers, and of course a countdown!!! It felt more like a New Year's Eve celebration, but was fun none the less. Christmas Day had another great meal and movie watching. Unfortunately Christmas was also when I left my camera in the back seat of a cab at 2am. It has since been replaced.

2006 - I will now be 3 for 7 with staying in the US for Christmas Day. But my family and I are meeting at the Wisconsin Dells for a few days of water park adventures. I am in charge yet again for Christmas Dinner. Full menu planned of course!

Song of the Day - For some reason I have Bel Biv DeVoe's Poisonrunning through my head. I don't remember the last time I heard that song, but yes - I did own the tape! One of maybe 20 tapes I did own. That was so 1980s!!!

Video of the Day - I watched Winter Passing which was one of the stranger movies I have seen lately, but still pretty good. Zooey SomethingSomething (the girl from Elf) is the daughter for two writers and returns home to see her dad (Ed Harris) after her mother dies. She finds Will Ferrell (the reason I rented it) and some other lady living with her dad in the house that she grew up in. Zooey has issues (has to in order to make it a movie) since both of her parents cared more about their writing than the family so the movie is about her reconnecting with her dad. What's more important? Selling her dad out to make easy money for drugs, or reconnecting with her pops??? Say no to drugs!!

Webpage of the Day - Another addictive game for the mouse.... You kick Santa to try to collect things... there are mushroom pads to bounce off of, but also wells to fall in, and snowmen to slow you down. The hint I recently discovered is after you send Santa a flyin' (use the mouse to determine angle and the power level), you can "fart" up to two times per turn to send you upwards at any time during flight. This helps if you're fast enough to click before landing in a well. 1940 was my highest score last night.