Just a very short post today.  I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and thank you for stopping by and reading, both my rants and happy posts.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE.

Architecture

I haven't posted about Friday's tragedy in Connecticut, there's nothing to say really.  All we can do is pray for the families and surviving children from that school.

I'll leave any discussions about guns to the professionals, although I heard on the radio today that Connecticut has an assault weapons ban, but the shooter's mother's gun was grandfathered in since she evidently had the gun before the ban went into effect.

I'll also leave any mental health discussions to the professionals.  My only comment is that there should be more consideration of the safety of society at large and less for the "rights" of mentally disturbed people.

I started thinking this evening about my school, St. Sylvester's in Brooklyn.  Unfortunately, that school has now closed.  That school had thick metal doors, probably brass.  I suspect the doors were kept locked, and could only be opened from the inside.  There were no classrooms on the first floor.  The principal's office, the nurse's office and two 1st grade classrooms were on the second floor and the higher grades on the third and fourth floors.  The classroom doors were wood and I think the top half had glass, but six small panes.  The school was built in the mid '30's. 

It's too bad that so many new schools are not built the same way.  There are too many windows in the doors, it's so easy to break the glass and open the door.  The classrooms for the younger children are right on the first floor, street level.  That makes it so easy for the children to be victimized.

I see now how safe and lucky we were to have been children in such a time.  No one could have broken in.  If they had, there would have been enough noise and warning for the children and staff on the upper floors.  Maybe, in the future, schools will be built like mine was.  By building up and not sprawling, they also take up less room.

Marketing

Last week our community had its annual trip into NYC to see the Christmas lights and have a nice dinner in Little Italy.  It was a wonderful trip.  There's nothing like New York at any time, but particularly at Christmas. 

We drove past the Rockefeller Center tree twice.  We couldn't stop and get off, but we did stop later at Lord & Taylor.  Their windows are always beautiful.  We saw all the stores along Fifth Avenue from the comfort of our bus.  We also stopped at the Time Warner Building to see their colored stars.  The show wasn't as good as previous years, so I did some shopping.

I made the mistake of wandering into the Godiva shop.  Did you know they have a chocolate of the month club?  If you join, you are eligible to receive one free piece of chocolate every month.  That's just what I need.  Of course, not being one to pass up a free piece of chocolate, I joined.  Unfortunately, I couldn't stop with one piece, and I guess that's how they get you.   I had to buy a small box and a salted caramel chocolate bar.  If you've never had salted caramels, you don't know what you're missing.  They are delicious.

I'm bragging now. I haven't had any of the chocolate I bought.  I think that will change tonight.  The one good thing about Godiva chocolate is that it is so good that you take the time to savor each piece.  I usually try to eat only one piece a day.  I once worked for a man who would give me a box of Godiva chocolates each Christmas.  I savored each piece and the box lasted the whole Christmas season.  Now I have to buy my own chocolate.

Toys

The Men's Club in our community along with the Marines are holding the annual Toys for Tots drive.
Today I decided to make a contribution.  I went to the local Target store and started looking around.  I love shopping for toys, I guess it brings back memories of when my boys were children.

What I found is most distressing, but not surprising.  Practically everything I looked at was made in China, even such American icons as Barbie, Fisher Price, Playskool and Disney.  I don't want to support another country, particularly a communist country, when we are in such bad shape.

Finally, I found some jigsaw puzzles that were made in the USA.  There were some Lego sets that are made in Europe.  I also checked out the Matchbox and Hot Wheels.  They're made in Thailand, but at least it's not China.

I know it's not much, but if everyone were more observant and rejected products made in China, maybe we could bring some manufacturing back to our country, that is, if the unions don't demand any unreasonable rules like they did with Hostess Baking.  We all know how that ended.

Procrastination

This morning I reminded myself of a child who keeps putting off doing his homework because there are a million other things he'd rather be doing.

It's time to start decorating for Christmas.  Christmas is my favorite time of year, I love the decorations.  I enjoy it so much that just about every room in the house has some kind of decoration.  It's time to bring the tree in from the garage.  It's not a real tree, it's a real artificial tree and looks great when it's set up.

I'd really love to have a real tree, but with Burnie...He'd probably climb the tree.  I once had a cat who loved to climb the artificial tree.  Thankfully I had an early warning system, a glass bell that jingled everytime the tree moved.

But I digress.  About the procrastination.  First, I had to check my emails, then do some finishing work on our paper, then send emails for additional information,.

Then I had to take the polish off my nails so they could "breathe", then hand cream.  Then I had to put the cans of cat food bought yesterday away.

I had to move the laundry basket so I could drag the tree through the laundry room.  Then I had to stop and write this.

I just had a thought.  The lottery is expected to be 425 million dollars this week.  What would I do with about $200 million after taxes?  I think, one thing would be to hire someone to bring the Christmas tree into the house and set it up.

Well, enough fantasizing, it's time to start work.  The tree won't walk into the house by itself.  But first, maybe I'll have another cup of coffee.

The Books are Done

Now that the election is over and the president has another four years, the chefs in the Labor Department have come out with more accurate first time unemployment numbers.  Isn't it strange that first time claims are now 439,000, up from the rosy figures we were given the past few weeks (before the election).  Last week they were 361,000.

I suspected this would happen, so I'm not surprised.  I wonder if any of those people who voted for the president are.

Late News

Why are we finding out about this only now?

Last week, before the election, the Iranians fired on an unmanned and unarmed drone that was flying over international waters.  As far as I know, there was no damage.

The only damage was to the truth.  This information should have been released to the public immediately.  This is another case of the president covering up what should have been public knowledge in order to help his campaign.

I guess his campaign chant, "Four more years" really means four more years of incompetance and cover-ups.