Festivus (Uno's annual holidayish type discussions)

[Unorthodox]

Ah.  The Holidays... 

So, this year I find myself with very little in the way of plans for Turkey day. 

Like many families, we've traditionally done the every other year thing, but it's the in-laws year.  Since they aren't with us anymore, that leaves us on our own.  With hEt working, that makes turkey day more problematic. 

We will make our way to a local buffet that will be open instead.  And honestly, the worst part about that is a lack of leftovers. 

I haven't fully decided if I'll venture into the melee of shopping afterword, or maybe just catch a movie, or go home.  We need a new TV for the bedroom, and I wouldn't mind a better rice cooker.  Tables are always worth looking at for the pumpkin party, but there's not really anything big I need to target. 

We DO have some decorations to put up for the Christmas holidays this year...though chances are decent they are going to upset and/or confuse people. 

In general, I'm really not feeling Christmassy.  I mean even less than normal. 

[Unorthodox]

Nothing but trouble with all the websites today/last night. 

Gamestop was broke for more than an hour, and then had several advertised deals that turned into bait and switch crap.  (might detail later)

Walmart was broke for quite a while as well, I'm not sure how long, I gave up and didn't check back til 8 hours later. 

As such, I went ebay a lot more than planned, and even tossed a bone to best buy that I hadn't planned on, both with equivalent deals while the aforementioned websites were down. 

We only made a passing attendance in store this afternoon after a movie.  It was a half-hearted "I wonder if they still have this thing I kinda want but it's not a great deal and can find it later."  No dice. 

I will be doing a couple stores tomorrow that didn't open today. 

[Rusty Edge]

We achieved a conflict free family dinner, always a win. Granted, my wife's youngest sib couldn't attend from out of state this year, and she is quicker to quarrel with the middle sib, so that improved the odds of peace. Conflict free is not drama free. Somebody overheard some murmured grousing when they walked into the room, and demanded to know what it was about. During the repeat somebody else walked in  who wasn't supposed to hear it. The original problem was an interaction last weekend with walk-in #2's  no-show live-in boyfriend. Texts ensued. Possibly it was a misunderstanding, or so he claims in his defense. I hope so, too.


Anyway the meal was stress free, and the food was good. ( I ate turkey, gravy, and Brussels sprouts, mostly. I had a little cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and ice cream, too.)  The highlight was an apple wood smoked turkey breast, which had been marinated in bourbon and maple syrup, then dry rubbed. I know, it wasn't entirely dry, the rub didn't stick, but it was the finest flavor I've ever tasted on a turkey, whatever it was.


According to the weather forecast, tomorrow is my window for stringing lights. I did try to order some stuff on line, but it looks like the ones I wanted are in store only/ limited supply. I am loathe to go on black Friday, but I may be forced to. I'm pretty sure I'll need more clips to string my lights, and I get them from the same store. Maybe in the afternoon.

[Geo]

I sometimes wonder, were do you guys keep all the stuff you buy?
Storage space is always in an issue in my life.

[Unorthodox]

I honestly think the most storage space required items I bought were the special light bulbs for Halloween, and they'll go in the light bulb container.

Other items include a phone, some ear phones, clothes, and a couple games. 

[Unorthodox]

Reserving my place in the special hell...

I might just have to add a manger next year.

[Rusty Edge]

My basement is pretty big, so there's lots of storage there, but my brother-in law has 3' shelves floor to ceiling full of muscle car parts on two of the walls.
It's cluttered. No sooner do I re-organize and crate more space then some in-law manages to fill it. To be fair, my wife has some stuff in some of their houses, too. I guess if there's a fire they won't lose everything at once.


I went to Fleet Farm to get a door buster Milwaukee Electric cordless 1/2" drill and a worklight ( $ 198 value ) for $89. The crowds had disspated, the parking lot was about 95% full, but all but 15 registers were open, so it wasn't too bad. Got some spare lights and a lot of light clips. My old clips were brittle and seemed to explode when they flexed. Local news says sales far surpassed last year.

[E_T]

Texts ensued.

:lol: Dueling Texters...

[E_T]

Reserving my place in the special hell...

I might just have to add a manger next year.

Inflatable Three Wise T-Rex's... Neet...

[Unorthodox]

I now have hats for them too. Need to find some vinyl glue to add them. 

[Unorthodox]

Gamestop was broke for more than an hour, and then had several advertised deals that turned into bait and switch crap.  (might detail later)

So this amounted to a couple of bundled items.  Where the advertisement was for specific bundles.  On the day, however, those bundles were nowhere to be found, and instead had what amounted to placeholder items on their website.  Stock item with unspecified bundled items, but the bundled items were digital instead of the physical copies promised in the print and online ads.   

I've been doing this black friday thing quite a few years now, and I KNEW this had to be a problem/error.  So, worst case, I figured, we'd get digital copies instead of physical ones of the games listed in the ads, even though the cart items didn't specify. 

Friday night, I got email saying there was an error on the website and we'd be getting stock items ONLY.  This naturally pissed me off, but I had screencapped all shopping carts, and knew damn well I could make enough of a stink if needed as this was illegal. 

Saturday I got an email saying the former one was in error, they are working to correct the problem. 

Sunday morning I got several emails with gift cards enough to purchase the missing items from the bundle however I want.  Physical, digital, or other games entirely different from the ad. 

Basically Gamestop screwed up royally on Black Friday (thursday), and made it worse before making it better. 

[Rusty Edge]

I haven't been trying to accomplish much, but I haven't been able to purchase anything. Every attempt ended with a gateway error, a connection timed out, a site down for maintenance, a please try again later...

[Unorthodox]

My work pants went on sale today.  $20.  Can get rid of the clown pants soon. 

[Unorthodox]

So, one of our neighbors...

This particular neighbor doesn't really join us for Halloween festivities.  Either the party nor the day of.  However, they've generally been supportive of the idea of the party, and always makes sure the church party doesn't overlap with our party (though partially due to the last time that happened didn't go well for the church party). 

Anyhow, our party first sprung up in 2010.  In 2013, this neighbor began their own party for Christmas.  Just a block party in their cul de sac.  Fire pits, cocoa, donuts.  Simple.  Easy.  The hook is they asked that instead of neighbor gifts, everyone just bring money to their donation box and they'd take it down to a local charity/angel tree. 

I'm not sure how widespread neighbor gifts are, or if it's a Utah/LDS thing, but typically junk food or trinkets, sometimes home baked goods no one really wants, and it's more chore than enjoyable, and occasionally just some weird better than you competition.  So, I rather liked this whole arrangement, more than happy to plop cash in the box instead of coming up with some annoying thing people will throw away. 

ANYHOW.  This party typically sees about 25-75 people every year, depending on weather and who's got what going on that day and which kids are home.  So, hEt gets a text over the weekend.  "We're happy to make the fliers and pass them around the neighborhood, but we need help with the party.  Would you mind supplying the donuts and cocoa?" 

Full stop.  We just got done doing pizza/donuts/cocoa to a much wider area, not to mention the walkthrough and candy the night of.  We've NEVER asked for help with the party.  Even the year I was out of work, we'd found a way to make that party happen without asking for help.  I'm absolutely boggled by this. 

I'm sorely tempted to point out the illegality of the donation box.  Any kind of gathering you need a license to collect money, even for a charity.  (it's why I don't for halloween)

[E_T]

Umm, sorry, but our cashflow this year (due to Home and Yard improvements) prevent us from being able to do this.  Thank you for the consideration but we really just can't at this time...