.: bistan.net :.

Happy New Year to you, my readers, if I have any left that is.  With the exception of Christmas, 2008 was the worst year of my life.  Of course there were other good moments in there too.  Like I’ve said before, if we didn’t have bad years, we wouldn’t appreciate the good ones.

My resolution for 2009 is to not make New Year’s resolutions.  Why make something you are going to just break anyway.  I do have some general goals for this year: lose weight, run (or otherwise exercise) more, learn more, spend less, decrease stress.

One of the analysts on CNBC said that 2008 was worse than a divorce . . . he lost half of his net worth and he still has his wife!  Ha Ha.  My retirement took a huge hit as well, but I don’t need it for 35 more years!

I’m going outside now, to partake in some illegal pyrotechnics.  See you in 2009!

This had to be my favorite Christmas ever: celebrating the best holiday of the year at the happiest place on earth with those I love the most.

When thinking of how to recap the trip in one post, I don’t even know where to begin.  We spent 9 days in the parks.  We went into each park on at least two different days.  We also visited some of the most popular resorts, had breakfast with some of the characters, and we saw everything that Samantha Brown recommended on the Travel Channel.

The Christmas decorations were jaw dropping.  I know that when we return next week, it will be sad to see them gone.  We do have annual passes now, so we plan to return next year early in the holiday season (before the passes expire).

This was Kimberlie’s second trip to WDW, but the first time that she was able to ride the most popular attractions (she had a health condition in 2005 that prevented her from experiencing the best rides).  Tristan and Mackenzie also enjoyed the trip immensely.  We met just about every character possible including the popular ones like Mickey and Donald and even less popular ones like the Power Rangers and Little Einsteins.

Sorry for the lack of pictures in this post.  Trust me, there is NO lack of pictures.  I took well over 1200 . . . so many that I’m still going through them deciding what to print, what to post, and what to trash.  I’ll try to catch up in the next day or so.

December has been a crazy busy month.  Going away for Christmas means you have to somehow catch up with everyone before you go.  Tomorrow I have to drive 10 hours to Orlando.  For you math majors who know that it’s only a 5 hour drive from my house to Walt Disney World, here is why it will take us 10:  We have to drive to Athens, Ga first to “do Christmas” with my sister and her husband first.  I plan to stop on the way to Athens and run an 8K too.  Then its off to Orlando for a little Mickey.

Anyhow, life is too busy to blog right now.  I’m so far behind with my “A Picture A Day” series that I think I’m just going to scrap it for now.  If I have internet at Disney I may post an update, but if not, have a Merry Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate) and I’ll be back on the 29th with tons of pictures, stories, and maybe even New Year’s resolutions.

There is one domestic chore that we don’t do at my house:  Ironing.

We don’t even own an iron.  For some reason, when we were going through the whole engagement – marriage era of our lives, everyone opted to give us toasters instead.  Six of them to be exact.  Most of them went back to the store, but not one was exchanged for an iron.

We do have an ironing board.  We also have a travel ironing board.  They sit in the deep dark corner of our laundry room, gathering dust by the hot water heater.  We even had a third ironing board at one point, which we gave away. When I tell people that we don’t have an iron, they give me the same look as when I tell them that “I’ve never swallowed a pill before” or “I’ve never eated a banana”.

When we stay at a hotel that has an iron in the closet, my five year old asks “Daddy, What’s that?” (He asks about the coffee maker too).  In contrast, my wife was already ironing her family’s clothes when she was five.  I have actually never ironed.  While growing up, I had a laundry genie that would take clothes out of the laundry basket and somehow make them clean, wrinkle-free, and on hangers in my closet.

Fast forward to now — six years into our marriage.  Guess what I need?  An iron.

No, I don’t have wrinkled clothes.  Well, at least not wrinkled enough to warrant actually purchasing an iron.

For my upcoming marathon, I decided to make my fan club (family) shirts to support me.  It seems to be the thing to do for the Disney Marathon.  I looked at creating shirts using zazzle, but I don’t want to spend that much money on a dated shirt that would be worn once.  My frugal self went to Hobby Lobby and bought some $3.00 white t-shirts and a $6.00 inkjet-iron-transfer kit from Wal-Mart.  Somehow I missed the hint that you actually need an iron to make it happen.  Doh!

So now I’m stuck with a dilema:  Do I fork out another $5.00 – $10.00 on an iron, or do I ask to borrow one?  I’m very frugal, so I don’t want to spend money on a household appliance that I’ll likely only use this once.  But an iron isn’t one of those things that you borrow from your next-door neighbor, like an extension ladder or a cup of sugar.

This may be one of those times when I purchase something, use it once, and return it.

Here are pictures from the Wesley UMC Preschool Christmas Open House on Thursday.  All of the preschool kids got up on stage and sang a few Christmas Carols.  I also snapped some photos of the kids with their teachers.  And no, the fifth picture doesn’t need to be rotated.

See why I haven’t blogged anything with substance lately?  We’ve been way too busy!

Every two weeks or so, Lowe’s has a Build and Grow session for kids.  ”Officially”, the program is for grades 2 to 5, but Tristan has been going since he was 2.  We have probably completed at least 30 or so projects.  You get an apron, goggles, a patch for each project, and a hammer (which you have to return).  I rarely take a camera to these sessions, but now that I have my pocket Canon, I figured why not?

Here are some shots of Tristan and Mackenzie building their Gingerbread Houses this morning:

If you have kids and you haven’t been, I highly recommend it.  The best part is the price: absolutely free!

Last night, we went to see Disney on Ice at the Macon Centreplex Coliseum.  This is our third Disney on Ice.  We saw the Princess one last year and Beauty and the Beast a few years back.  The performances are phenomenal . . . especially if you have ever tried ice skating.

The plot last night involved The Incredibles visiting Disneyland and then chaos happened and then of course they saved the day.  Many of the rides at Disneyland (which are also at Walt Disney World), were highlighted.  If I wasn’t ready for our Christmas trip before, I certainly am now!

Of course, some pictures:

Just now, I was looking back through my old blog (LiveJournal), which is intentionally not linked here and has been abandoned.  It’s always good to read your old blog entries.  I actually blog more for myself than others.  I always have.  Anyway, were my goals for 2005, as typed almost exactly 4 years ago:

• Lose 15lbs (I’ve gained 25 since I got married. LOL)
  Comment: didn’t reach that goal.  I’ve actually gained 14 more!
• Exercise more
  Comment: didn’t reach that one intially, but I have now.
• Watch less TV
  Comment: same as the exercise one.  There seems to be a parrallel between watching less TV and exercising more.  Who knew?
• Keep the house cleaner
  Comment: Ha Ha.  Having another kid was not the way to do it.
• Spend more time reading
  Comment: Do blogs count?
• Cut down on Coca-cola (I’m down to about 4 a day now)
  Comment: I only have 2 a day now!
• Make more money than in 2004
  Comment: I don’t think I did that in 2005, but I certainly do now.
• Be nicer to people
  Comment: Ha Ha yet again.  Now, I just avoid people who don’t deserve my nice side, and even some that do.
• Get more education/industry certifications
  Comment: Yep, got CCNAed in 2005, but it has since expired.
• Keep up with my LJ more (this has been one before)
  Comment: Actually I took a little break from blogging, until this year.
• Get life insurance (I keep putting it off)
  Comment: I have a job that has life insurance now.
• Not get a haircut, until it starts to affect my income
  Comment: Another one I didn’t accomplish in 2005, but have now.

Now I should come up with some goals/resolutions for 2009 . . .

Hypothetical situation:

If I decided to dress up in all black — ski mask included — and go jogging around my neighborhood for a good workout at night, would that be a crime?  It might be cold so I should be completely insulated. Maybe I should take some free weights or something to help boost the cardio. Oh yeah, I don’t have any free weights though so I’ll have to take some DVD players or something. That wouldn’t be a crime would it?

Maybe not, but I guarantee you some cop would come up and start questioning me. What would give them the right? I’m not committing a crime and I’m sure I don’t have any warrants out for my arrest. Since cops don’t harass normal citizens exercising in their own neighborhoods, maybe he’s really a criminal who has shot the real cop and is impersonating him. I should run. Fast.

Yeah I have worked at a law school too long.  Or maybe it’s just this cold is causing me to have more snot than since.