Merry Christmas. And bah, humbug.
I get to say both, because I work in retail. Or more accurately, I’m supposed to say “Happy Holidays,” so I can neither offend nor please anyone. Working in retail means I have to be like the Switzerland of conversationalists, being neutral on any topic and never really taking a stand on anything.
There’s a lot of competition for your attention these days, and the pitchmen are getting a lot more aggressive.
Forget about simply window shopping at the mall; the kiosk dwellers have now been instructed to hustle you for sales, and you’ll find yourself saying “no thanks” a dozen times before you even reach the Cinnabon. If you’re like me, you don’t like being hustled on an empty stomach.
It is easier and quicker to buy someone a gift card at a bookstore than shopping for a book. But what makes shopping worthwhile is taking the time to think for a moment about the kind of book that your friend or relative would enjoy or benefit from reading.
There may be some sanity in politics after all. A provision by Sen. Patty Murray may let UW, Mariners and Seahawks fans once again get a reasonably priced bus ride to the games.
Ask anyone who moved to the Seattle area from elsewhere and they will all tell you the same thing: “I really like living here, but man, you people are the worst drivers in the country.”
It’s true. I am sorry to say it, but it’s absolutely true. Even Jersey drivers point their fingers and shake their heads at Seattle drivers.
“You can really tell a lot about a person by the kind of….”
Nearly everybody I know has an answer for this, such as the kind of shoes they’re wearing, the kind of car they drive, or their e-mail address. The last one is especially true; you don’t want to let your daughter date a guy whose email is sxxxy@hotmail.com (please don’t spam me).
Once upon a time, you could tell when Christmas was coming because of the holiday-themed ads on TV. But since they’re now appearing between Holloween and Thanksgiving, it’s the holiday movies and specials that signal the arrival of the Christmas season. Herewith, some of the best and worst movies of the holiday season.
The professional schmoozers are in disarray at the moment. President Obama has dropped registered lobbyists from their government advisory committees, in an effort to have advisers that are more “reflective of America” not just Washington D.C. It’s started a strange letter-writing war that’s had lobbyists lobbying for their own lobbyist powers.
It’s not unusual to walk into a Starbucks and see several cops sitting at tables chatting while on break or getting ready to go on shift. Nor is it unusual to see a squad car pulled over by the side of the road, with an officer talking to his partner or jotting down notes. These are the moments in an officer’s workday where he or she can feel safe.
A friend told me the other day that he enjoyed Thanksgiving even more than Christmas. “There’s less emphasis on shopping and gifts and more on just being thankful for what you have,” he said.
It’s budget time for local governments, and you can tell by the nervous look in the eyes of city staffers. Much like a herd of antelope anxiously watching the circling lions, they know that it’s hunting season for budget cuts, and that usually means city staff jobs. In Maple Valley, the two antelope on the edge of the herd this year are the city attorney and one of the three building inspectors.
I don’t envy the job of the lions, though. The Great Recession has left a lot of city coffers somewhat emptier than they are used to, and that leaves Council members wondering whether to increase taxes, cut services, cut staff or some combination of all three.
They just don’t make them like they used to.
That’s a phrase I hear fairly often from old-timers and old-timer-wannabes (like me), usually just after something breaks. My version of that phrase also includes a blistering, profanity-laced criticism of manufacturers who reduce the quality of their items to hit the retail pricing “sweet spot” of $19.99. Don’t get me started.
Jack Fagan, Mike Fagan, and I co-sponsored Initiative 1033 and worked hard for the past year advocating for it because we firmly believe in its policies and thought a lot of citizens supported it too.
That was proven true: More than 315,000 citizens signed petitions and, at last count, 673,000 voted for it. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough.
Last year at this time I was in Philadelphia celebrating a World Series championship with 2 million of my closest friends.
I had high hopes (high, apple pie-in-the-sky hopes) of doing it again this year, but, unfortunately, the New York Yankees were working from a different script.
Now that the 2009 election postmortems have been completed, the People In Charge are already looking ahead to February’s election, which promises to be full of bonds and levies designed to relieve you of your excess cash.
Within days of last November’s election, stories throughout the media began comparing Barack Obama to Franklin D. Roosevelt. The FDR era transformed people’s relationship to the federal government by greatly expanding its role in their lives. Would President Obama, his party armed with big majorities in both houses of Congress, do the same?
The last votes are still being counted. However, the real voting hasn’t even started yet in Maple Valley.
Before we address the question of “Who lost Boeing?” (the governor’s claim that “no one is to blame” is silly), let’s focus on a hint that went unheeded.
As I write this, I have 13 days until my due date, and right now editor Dennis Box is freaking out. Oh, and he’s not hiding it well.
“I keep telling people it’s not her they need to be worried about,” Dennis tells people when they ask me how I’m doing, “it’s ME! They need to worry about me!”
In the spirit of Halloween I have come up with a solution to the No. 1 problem in the world, how to find a girlfriend.
Every pathetic male on earth has faced this riddle, and a good answer has never been discovered.
