East St. Louis can be a scary place. I've been through there a time or two. My brother in-law refers to it as "Super Rape Town."

I bet you peed yourself when you saw that guy approached you!

Up, hours early because I was to help someone get to work at an early shift - only to find out once I was up, dressed, and checking on email that he wasn't needed for this shift - I'm burning time in a way that lets me know I'm not fully awake. There's so much to do today, but I'm torn between jumping into it early or trying to get 90 minutes or so more sleep beforehand.

The worse thing would be to not make up my mind, burning the time in indifference such that by 7am I've neither gotten more sleep nor any of the important stuff done.

So, one way or another -- I'm off again!

Have as fine a day as you can get away with, Ogres!

Good luck with all of that, Mike. I myself am going to QUIETLY head upstairs and climb in bed with the Mrs. She's got to get up early for work in the morning...Feels great to say that!

Actually, I feel safer in East Sat. Louis then Saint Louis. That's not to say that East St. Louis can't be a rough place. It's just probably not as bad as the bigger city can be.

And no, believe it or not, I wasn't really worried. But I was unphased when a mack truck barely missed us and didn't really even get scared when I had an Exorcist brand experience with my answering machine years ago that I told people about on a very old thread that I'll have to hunt down and link sometime rather then try to repeat myself. I guess I don't scare that easily.

I was only a block away from the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia in '96 and that didn't scare me.

Losing my job and bill collectors scare me more then any of that did.

On a different note, my grandaughter doesn't want to sleep and I'm stuck watching her which means herding away from this laptop and the Christmas tree constantly.

You know, it's not rape if you yell "SUPRIZE"!!!

Was that a tad too distasteful?

Dana, how goes the Skylanders hunt?

On Saturday I found the Zap/Hex/DinoRang and Wrecking Ball/Stealth Elf/Sonic Boom three packs. Considering Isabelle really wanted 5 of those 6 figures, I was very happy. And you save a decent amount of money buying them in the 3 packs.

And so it did --- and I'll credit your good wish for coming true and making it so!

With that...done for the week (maybe)! And Egad, I never thought I'd live to say that on a Monday morning.

And on the matter of jobs and work (or non-work) schedules...
Heh. I've just imagined my saying that out loud one moment and then, next thing I know, I'm awaking to find that I'm having dinner in bed --- as the tray with hospital meatloaf is delivered to my room.

I've learned that some things can be thought, but better left unsaid, my friend.

Thus spake the underemployed man who is married to the hard-working woman otherwise known as Mrs. Soxolas, Wielder of the Enchanted Frying Pan.

It just occurred to me that you all are trying to use real names instead of screen names. While I can't guarantee I'll be able to remember real names for awhile (I know I a few of yours right off the bat), I'll try to do that. I don't know if I've even given my name to any of you with the exception of PM's, so in case you don't have my name for usage in here, I'm Jason. I suppose it might be easier than trying to remember the screen name is pronounced Row-B-Destroyer.

I have 20 things I want to do with my life at the moment. I need to narrow it down or get rich quick so I can afford it all.

I'm baking Christmas cookies this week!

Are you going to make Christmas Wreaths? The ones with corn flakes, melted marshmallows, and green dye?

For some reason, I'm reminded of the time when I didn't have a car and instead of taking a bus, I was walking after midnight on a quiet tree-lined block in a middle-class neighborhood. Then I noticed a young couple walking my way.

How nice, I thought, they're out for a romantic stroll.

Next thing I knew, I was up against a garage and he was holding a sawed-off rifle against my ribs while she was going through my pockets.

Just one of those nights when a fella learns about life...and hopes to live long enough to benefit from the knowledge.

And what did I learn? Mostly, that for better or worse, when it comes to sudden encounters with strangers, ya just never know...

Good morning, Jason.

Thanks to our various PM exchanges, I've known your name for a while and am glad to have the green light to use it here!

Regards,
Bill

Kenny, I think it was the late actress Rosalind Russell who titled her autobiography Life Is a Banquet.

Personally, I've always thought of it as a buffet....with LOTS of choices!

Wow. Now I'm REALLY impressed!

I'm terrible with remembering people's names because I so seldom use them when speaking to people.

So, what I did a few weeks back is to open a Word file where I listed such casual info as I have on the people I've had any conversations with here. At first it started out as a spot to put any birthday info in place (just using such info as people have put in their member profiles) and then I started to add names.

One man's continuing effort to catch up...
Well, Dana, just don't forget that the baton is going to be a flaming torch when it's passed, so keep those flame-resistant gloves handy!
Well...I was at work, but I see some folks were involved in fun things...
Holy Crow, Jeremiah, somebody is going to be a very lucky Secret Santa recipient!
Now THAT sounds like a lot of fun indeed, Rob. Hope all is well with TPchid!

Of course, at this time of year, there's much to be done, especially when there are little ones...
Here's hoping you're better at staining a table than I am, Jon, based on my last experience, which convinced me I should have it done by a pro.

I am, however, quite accomplished when it comes to staining ties...