A Simple Celebration

Happy Singles' Awareness Day! Okay, yes, I'm being a bit facetious with the exclamation and all. Have a good one, everybody... Real posts below.

Breaking News

Due to its import, this post will remain the top post until noon Central time on Monday. Well, news is one way of looking at it, anyway. The fact of the matter is, this has nothing to do with a world event, nor a local-interest story, nor even the football game that's going to be played tonight. (I've got a Japanese word for that, but we'll get to that later.)

While I haven't had the opportunity to meet him in person, I do have a good deal of respect for Third Wave Dave, a fellow listener to Constitutional Public Radio, and general good and knowledgeable guy. With that said, happy birthday, Dave. Here's hoping that the day goes your way.

One For The Good News Files

The obligatory link: Afghan civilians stop terror attack at U.S. base

Honestly, I was rather surprised to happen across this while perusing news sources this morning. Pleasantly surprised, of course. After all, hardly a day goes by that there isn't a headline from some news agency of a suicide bombing killing or injuring people somewhere... So nice to see one averted, and in a spectacular manner at that.

Christmas Recap

Don't worry, it's not about gifts.

The Merry Christmas Watch:
The only people I couldn't convince to say "Merry Christmas" were the folks at Borders. The rest of the sample was rather limited, of course, but it ended up about the way I expected... though, getting one out of the guys at GameStop was slightly surprising.

Christmas Programs:
Of course, it's difficult not to be most impressed by the St. Louis Bach Society's presentation. A 70-some member choir, plus a (relatively) small orchestra. Still, the two candlelight church services were nice, for a more close-knit atmosphere.

The Rush:
There really wasn't one, at least in my family. Sure, there were plenty of people out on the roads for the weekend lead-up, but not enough to really jam things up for people who just needed to get around normally.

Family:
Naturally, it's always nice to see people you don't often get to see, and Christmas is about the only time that happens anymore, since most of the extended family has long since moved out of state. And, since my mother calls him her third son, it was nice to see my "brother" who went off and joined the Navy three years ago.

Lightening Up (If Only For A Moment)

It's the time of year for heart-warming stories, so in return for the previous offering, which was of a much more serious bent, I thought I'd offer up a story I ran across in my perusing of news today, about a man whose wedding ring became a needle in a haystack, and was found. Just a nice, sweet story, in keeping with the season.