(Insert Cheesy Christmas Title Here)

There has been an increasing void of activity in our blogging world for the last few weeks and none more vast than in my own domain. Sorry guys, homework comes first; that stupid, awful, grisly homework. Don't let me forget to tell all of you that your all pathetic. I left up my last post for what, 3 weeks, and y'all still can't answer one freaking question. Two halfhearted high-fives for the two Jonathan's for actually giving a crap. (The correct answer was Abraham Lincoln)

Other than that, I'll catch you up on the last few weeks, namely the Thanksgiving break. (Sigh... those were the days) We had our cousins down from Tuesday night to Saturday afternoon and as Jonny noted, the week was filled with football. Madden tournaments, (although Jonny hates them, he's actually is eerily very good at them. He had a three game win streak until he opted out of his game with me, might I say that he was very wise in doing so...) 2-Hand Touch games in the front yard, (They were classics by the way) and the endless games from across the nation, including "that" game, the one I'd like to forget. A solid week of fun and family with the thought of school in another galaxy far far away. (Where's that Calculus homework Luke?)

My oldest cousin Matt sadly skedaddled Thursday night so he could participate in that appalling "Black Friday." Why anyone would camp-out at 4 in the morning on the day after Thanksgiving only to wrestle past thousands of other crazed psychos to shop for obscure paraphernalia while you could be relaxing at home and watching football is beyond me. I don't understand it and I never will, although I shouldn't dog on it to much cause it got me my Christmas present to myself. (I'm so selfish)

Besides the fact that they found Call of Duty 2 for like $15, they were gracious enough to snag me an Ipod video, which also came with a FM transmitter. This solved my previous quandary with the Mercury's lack of a CD player. So, in a way my entire wish list was fulfilled and I couldn't be happier. The Ipod is the last reason why I haven't Blogged in an eternity since I spent my spare time stuffing the pod with as many videos as I could find. (can you believe it, I still have like 20 gigs left to fill; that's why I didn't get a PSP Baker...)

But enough with that, it's time for me to give my opinion on that certain upcoming holiday. This post isn't belated, I give my observations precisely when I intend to. I'm not falling into the flow of other's blogs as the Christmas season doesn't begin for me until School is over.

Much like Sean and Jason I am a Christmas Grinch, simply stated. Something about this time of year has always rubbed me the wrong way. And I can never quite understand the personalities of those like say... Jake Box, who seem to fully embrace every facet of the season. Now it seems as if my fellow Grinch's have already voiced my general feelings, but there are some things that I'd like to highlight.

First of all, I'd agree with the blogger (I think it was Faith) who theorised that your experiences with Christmas as a child influences how much of that childlike giddiness you have today. Take for instance how our family prepared for Christmas when I was younger. I was old enough to take on those "big boy jobs," specifically, hanging the lights and although it started out as a "family affair," I soon found myself alone on the slippery rooftop while everyone had migrated back indoors. I'm not a big fan of "traditions" and the root of this discontentment probably stems from a revelation I had years ago.

Like every tiny tot, I loved Christmas because when came down to it, it meant more stuff for me. But after a few years of selfish enthusiasm, something finally clicked, actually something stopped clicking. I'd heard the "Christmas Story" a thousand times and eventually figured out that it was the "reason for the season" So what's with everything else? It seems like a pretty simple story, why do we need all this other stuff? What's with the decorations, the lights, the trees, the stockings, the shopping, the TV specials, the God-awful movies, the cheesy music, and the endless culture of fictitious Christmas characters all telling us the same old, sappy, and overused "true meaning of Christmas." All this holiday pork that piles up more and more, adding to your ever expanding fiscal and emotional debt until you can no longer find the point. I didn't get it and being the young rebellious teenager that I was, I began to hate everything about Christmas. Basically, if you think I'm a Grinch now, you should have seen me about three years ago. I was wound up so tight, with so much animosity towards anything festive that it made the whole season incredibly depressing for me.

Now let me stop here and challenge a complaint that some of my kind have had. Without fully thinking, a few weeks ago I blamed this Christmas pork on the Capitalism and Commercialism of today and I officially retract that statement. Its easy to blame Wal Mart, Target and every metropolitan mall in the tri-state area for the endless flow of watered-down holiday crap, but that's not the problem. (Excuse while I go on a pro-capitalistic rant; I'm very much a capitalist) The central principal of Capitalism is satisfying the consumer and ultimately giving him what he wants. Although it might seem like it sometimes, the titans of retail are not cramming this stuff down your throats, your buying it! The cute Norman Rockwell Christmas scene of old with the tree and Santa masks was the precursor to what we see today. They kept offering more, and you kept buying it and the result is the super-sized materialism-fest, but you still keep buying. The fault isn't the stores or those "conniving higher-ups," of Corporate America, its the consumers, Christians and non-Christians alike. There just giving you what you want.

So yes, I don't like the fluff, the pointless traditions, the songs, even the yearly Peanuts Special, and especially the movies. But I don't hate the holiday itself. The story of Christmas is very simple and yet profound and whenever I start to get that feeling of hostility, I take a few breaths and remind myself of why I celebrate Christmas, not what others have made it into and thus regain the true joy of the season. Of all the traditions I hate there are some that I love, time with family, a break from school, showing love to others and sleeping in, even on Christmas day. (my siblings can't stand that last one) So am I really a Grinch? I guess that's up to you to decide.

That Christmas Video I Swore I'd Find- I don't particularly like the Peanuts Christmas special (a tear makes it's way down Jake Box's cheek) but I have to give it it's due for getting Christmas right. There was a great segment on SNL a few years ago that I think illustrated this perfectly and I promised my high school group that I would find it. Now keep in mind that this was made by a secular media outlet and it pokes fun at many Christians today. Some of you may find it offencive, but I think there's a lot of truth in it and the ending is great. I could only find it on a website stream and this site does have some mildly objectionable ads and such. Its nothing serious, I just want to warn you before hand. I've talked enough enjoy>

http://thetravisty.com/Saturday_Night_Live/mov/Real_Audio_-_Jesus_Today.htm

A Few Things I Think I Think-

>I've talked enough today, I'll check back next week.

Sports Center-
Wow, I haven't felt so enthused in quite some time. I can't remember a better Sunday full of games that were more incredible than last weekend. 3 Blockbusters, simply amazing. First of all, I was already to take a break as I had already spent most of the weekend working outside clearing brush and fixing PBC pipe for the pool. The first game was the Titans vs. Texans. I had confidently picked the Tennessee and Vince Young to win a close one and I knew #10 was on a streak, but his performance on Sun. was spectacular and don't forget that stingy Titans defence, they're a big reason why this team is red hot. Next was the Chargers vs. Broncos and the score fest via LT. It was great cause Denver made a serious run at the beginning of the second half and I was thinking it might be a meltdown, but LT is just a force. Its hard for me not to pick them for the AFC champs right now.

Lastly, the Cowbungles declined to show up against America's new team and my prediction finally surfaced. Romo-mania is finally over; bought time, I love how Parcells looks like a grumpy old man who only wants to go to bed when he's loosing. I still don't know what direction the Boys will take next, but at least the hype has died down for awhile.

My pickoff record (22-24) Why is it that once I don't post my picks, they are right on the money?

San Francisco 23 Seattle 20-Resurgence of an old dynasty?

Dallas 31 Atlanta 21-This is just because I think Mike Vick is overrated, that's it!

Houston 10 New England 21-Sigh, why can't the Pats just die and go away?

Jacksonville 19 Tennessee 24-Any more room on the Vince bandwagon?

Cincinnati 28 Indy 24-Great time to hit a slump right Peyton?

Video of the Week-Rudolf's Red Nose, classic holiday humor

The Greatest Problem Ever

In case you haven't noticed, my site is busting at the seems with delightful little goodies for you to toy with. Just don't get lost and play responsibly. Its just like drugs right? I mean what's the harm? Really? (Ohh great, now I'm comparing my site to drugs. Someone please dig me out of this hole. And while your at that, please help my brother, he's crying out for attention and its not his blog either)

Tonight (since I'm writing this at 1 in the morning for some reason that I'll think up latter) I will come to you with probably the greatest problem in the history of man's existence. I have more money than I know what to do with. Please don't line up helping me resolve this quandary; this is a burden I must carry myself. I had been saving up for the last year for a much needed new and snazzy laptop, entirely due to the fact that the device I owned at that time genuinely belonged in a museum. Can you believe it was upgraded to windows 98? (Jee-whizzers Batman that's ancient!)

But as this school year kicked off "mis podres" bought me the slickest laptop west of Jake Box's swimsuit. (Don't ask me where that came from, I have no idea) Needless to say, I was suddenly stuck with predicament of abundant cash in the upwards of about $400. So I bring this problem and it's possible solutions to you and humbly ask your opinion. (Now I know that everyone will suggest that I just distribute my cabbage to all you needy people, but the only way that's happening is if you have a worthy charity you'd graciously give it to. So get inventive with those obscure charity names!)

Option #1: Video Ipod $250
Up until the last few months, the Ipod has been the essence of the latest pointless whims of our generation, but I have been swayed. I think the Ipod (or mp3 in general, Ipods are just superior) have become less of a fashion trend and more of a generally cool appliance. Besides, I'm sick of lugging around a CD case everywhere and what could be better than a portable video player?

Option #2: Car CD Player $100+installation
One thing about my beloved Mercury (besides the fact that it has no air conditioning) is that it only has a stupid cassette tape deck and unless I want to go completely retro, I can't rock to by tunes. Grrrr... Whats worse is that any use of an adapter produces mostly irritable static. The solution is one of the many sleek new car stereos at Best Buy. The downside is the need for installation and no knowledge of how long the Mercury will be in my possession.

Option #3: Office Chair $75-150
I spend most of my time in my room, diligently working away at my computer and I feel I need more than a moldy rejected dinner table chair to place my posterior. Leather? Plastic? Duct Tape? I don't care; as long as its soft, comfy and can somehow accommodate my 6'4" frame. (I think Roger will agree with me that movie theaters and airplanes are nightmares for us vertical abnormalities)

Option #4: Call of Duty 2 for PC $30
COD 3 for 360 and PS3 looks absolutely amazing,(check it out yourself http://www.callofduty.com/) but it unfortunately doesn't come out for PC. So I must resort to the second edition of my favorite computer game franchise ever. I love how cheap things get when their successors are already out. By the way, does anyone play the original Call of Duty online? I'm on a lot and I sometimes get lonely.

Option #5: PS3 $600
This really isn't an option since, for one, I don't have the cash, and I also have made a point of never buying a console right when it comes out. So this option is really more of a "keep saving up and get this lovely system in the near future" option. I won't hop on the debate wagon and be just another whiny voice in a crowd of nerds at heart. I'll leave that up to someone else. All I know is that this system looks like its worth the price and then some. (But it is like Sony to nickle and dime you everywhere else)

So there it is. What do you think? You have like three ways to let me know so get cracking.

A Few Things I Think I Think-
>I think I'll go ahead and go off on a "foods I don't understand" tirade. I've already gone off on the stupidity of salads so allow me to just let loose. Those Marie Calendar pies aren't that good! (He hath broken the 11th commandment "Thou shalt salivate in the presence of thine holy pies") Sorry Sean, but they aren't that good. The only one I would want to eat is their Key Lime, but I can still get a better one at Sam's. I also can't stand the fact that Turkey is the official meat of the holidays. Its just so... blah! What I'd give for a good Thanksgiving Brisket, or a Christmas Steak. Now I know that the Pilgrims didn't have beef back in their day, but they would have if they could have! Okay, I'm sick of this tirade.

>I think we need to make the official Jake Box Dictionary for all of the Box-isms we know and love. I've got 4 good entries and wood love for y'all to add to it. Think we could get a website going Jason?

"Nekid"-being without clothing or covering. English word-"Naked"
"Wells"-large marine mammals. English word-"Whales"
"Jest"-exactly or precisely. English word-"Just"
"Tail"-to announce or proclaim. English word-"Tell"

Sports Center-
I have now discovered that when I disagree with Ruben Sosa on an upcoming game's outcome, he will always be right. I quite comfortably picked the Colts to slap the Cowboys silly last Sunday and Ruben assured me that the Boys would pull off a big win. What do you know; this is like the third time he's done this to me. Ruben, your undying faith in your team amazes me.

Dallas has a little run going and I'm not very surprised. They, along with the Jaguars are the most unpredictable team in the league. Still doesn't mean I have to like them. (can't you just smell the animosity?) Dallas 27 Tampa Bay 17

There are a few teams that I do like this year and none more than... "da Bears." Their offence is horrible, but that defence is unbelievable. I like this team, I like them a lot. Another team would be the San Diego Chargers, who have come out of nowhere and look like they have all the cylinders firing. And what about those late risers, the Dolphins and 49's? Too late for a playoff run? I don't know; I think my pickoff record shows that.

I'll get to the Lone Star Showdown real quick and its no surprise that I'll pick the Horns over those lovable Aggies. I have officially given up on that Texas Secondary, but luckily for us, the A&M playbook comes right out of the 1960's. They'll stay in the game with some trick plays, but Colt leads his team to victory and on to Kansas City. Texas 31 Texas A&M 22

My pickoff record (17-19) This is getting ridiculous, Sean your Hawks are killing me! I'm gonna start picking those completely obscure games cause I get those right.

Houston 17 New York 24-Proof once again that the Texans have no defence.

Chicago 13 New England 6-One boring game here.

Philadelphia 14 Indy 38-Go back to your precious RCA Dome Indy and stop making me look like an idiot.

Green Bay 17 Seattle 16-This is what happens when you kill my picks Seattle.

LSU 21 Arkansas 16-I love a team with a head coach named Nutt

Florida 24 Florida State 27-There's no justification for this, I just want to see a shakeup

Oklahoma 20 Oklahoma St. 34-Bedlam in OK, fun, fun, fun...

Notre Dame 31 USC 35-That's a quandary, I loathe them both.

Video of the Week-Real Men of Genius: Really Bad Toupee Wearer


Have a great Thanksgiving with Friends and Family; I know I will. Ohh and before you go, let me give y'all a one question Thanksgiving quiz since I'm such a big trivia guy. The first to give me the answer to this question gets a high five the next time I see them. (Isn't that a great prize?) Please don't Wikipedia this, I'd like it to be straight from your head or a complete guess. There's no way to enforce this so I must rely on the honor system. Good luck.

Which President officially instated Thanksgiving as a holiday?

Later guys

Why Am I Telling This Story? I Don't Know

I know, I know everyone voted for a post on what I want for Christmas. But there are still so many days till Christmas so I'll get to that later. (thus, further diminishing any trust you had in the poll) Instead, just for irony's sake, I'm going to tell you a story. A story that has no point in being told since a certain story competition passed it up weeks ago. Dare I say, this story rivals any before it and I would challenge the current winner to seriously consider delivering the prize to me... Colin, the ball is in your court. This story is an instant classic mostly because its incredibly embarrassing for me. I know Box has about 100 of these, but luckily for you, this will be my story's world premier. So, with out further to do, I give you...

My First Fill-Up

It was the first weekend of October and the weekend of the Junior High retreat. Something about faith; don't know, don't care. My parents were off for a getaway weekend and had left me and my newly acquired drivers licence to run the household; what fun. Jonathan needed a ride that Friday afternoon and I saw it as the best time to fill up the Mercury. The needle was suspended at the 1/8th mark and, to say the least, I was not going to live out Box's little gas gauge escapade. But that's another story, isn't it Jake? As I assisted Jonny with his things, which included the largest sleeping bag in existence, Jonny suddenly insisted that his things go in the trunk. I informed him that there was more than enough space in the back seat, but he didn't care and I didn't either. I was more than ready to get rid of him for the weekend. So his possessions were placed in the trunk and even with the abnormally large sleeping bag, his stuff filled up maybe a sixth of my awe-inspiring trunk.

As we swung into the parking lot, me and Box met eyes and we greeted each other with a nonchalant nod. "Yes," I said to myself, "I am the definition of cool." Jonny sprang out of the car and made his way to the back, where he waited attentively for the trunk door to magically open while I searched the interior of the vehicle for said magical lever. As I pulled what I thought was the correct switch, Jonny quickly informed that the magic wasn't happening. "It's an old car" I thought, "I told him he should have put it in the backseat." No matter, I swiftly opened the trunk and struck up a quick conversation with Gordan as Jonny ran his things into the church in true Junior High fashion.

But I was ready to split and soon cruised out of the parking lot to complete my last objective. The traffic on westbound 290 was worse than usual so I quickly compensated and rolled into the Citgo across the highway and thus sealed my fate. Now you ladies might not no this, but us guys have a certain code of conduct when we are alone and that's to act "cool." You may say that not every guy acts this way, but, believe me, all the cool ones do. This behavior includes keeping conversation with strangers at a minimum, a relaxed and laid back composer and most likely, a heightened sense of infallibility. Up to this point in my life, I had only witnessed the payment method at stations and the vast majority was with those lovely little credit cards. To bad all I had was cash and although the idea of paying before pumping was not completely foreign to me, I had never made the connection that it was pretty much universal.

So as I coolly removed the nozzle, pressed pay with cash, and began to wait I had no idea that I was messing with the system. As the little screen continued to flash "processing," I began to sense that something was wrong, but hey, above all else, keep your "cool." However, as the fellow customers finished their business and left be standing there awkwardly with nozzle in hand, I got that little voice in my head telling me to ask for help. Now again ladies, this voice is much more prominent in your minds than in us men and for the sake of keeping "cool," we continue to try to suppress it for as long as possible. And that's just what I did, God knows being clueless is far better than drawing any kind of attention.

Unfortunately for me, both occurred that day as one of the "Apu's" from inside the station ran outside, arms flailing and screaming at me in a very heavy Pakistani accent that "You need to pay inside sir!" (I hate to use stereotypes, but why is that one so true?) Needless to say, I was soon at the desk handing the cashier some green and mumbling "20 on #5 please." It didn't help that the cashier then told me "Now you can pump you gas." Now my only objective was to fill up and get out ASAP while still somehow keeping my "cool." Of course, at that time I finally noticed that my hood was gawkily detached and at a 15 degree angle no less. (So that's what I opened back in the church parking lot) Yes, the loud thud produced from my closing of of the hood, ended any hope of my slipping away unnoticed.

This time the process was smoother up until I attempted to loosen the gas cap. I must have stood there for 2 minutes trying to finagle that thing open, when I once again got that inkling to look for directions. This time however, I just wanted to leave and all I needed to do was, God forbid, actually look at the gas cap for those little arrows. I was indeed turning the right direction and all it needed was a swift twist. But I slipped back into my car thoroughly defeated and pondering on how idiotic I had looked for the duration of what I'd call a train wreck. Yes, what was supposed to be a 2 min. pit stop mutated its way into 20 min. shame fest.

It was at this time that the state of cool shows it's better side as I shrugged it off, cranked up the radio and cruised on down the road never to return. (I hate Citgo)

A Few Things I Think I Think-

>I don't think I understand salads. I was at Texas Land and Cattle last week and passed, as I always have, on the salad and pondered to myself why people eat them. I honestly can't stand them and its not that I hate vegetables. I love me some tomatoes, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, green peas, black olives, black eyed peas, and buttered carrots, but I hate salads. Mostly because its almost all lettuce, which is really just glorified green paper, and although most others like to choke them down with a bottle full of ranch dressing, I'd rather do without. (Would you like some salad to go with that ranch?) And its worse because most every restaurant caters only salads and when I pass, I get that snobby look like "Ohh, you don't eat salads, your such a pig." Nope, sorry. You can go on thinking that stuff is the highest beacon of health foods while I eat something good and has a texture that doesn't resemble flimsy plastic. Pass that steak please.

>I think Box hates my comments on his blog. I wrote an elongated comment on his latest post and as of now, it has yet to make it onto the site. This isn't the first time. I don't believe he ever posted my retort to his criticism of my sports picks. Hmmm...

Sports Center-

I've defended and given the benefit of the doubt to the Texas defence for this entire season and I'm done with it. Coming into this year, I assumed their secondary would be their strong point as they would be returning 3 seasoned veterans including probably one of the best CB's in the country in Aaron Ross along with 2 of the most highly touted CB recruits. But no, they suck and although our offence was less than efficient without Colt McCoy, they are solely to blame for the loss to a team that was killed by Baylor. (BTW, I don't like to make excuses for my picks, but when your starting QB is knocked out in the first quarter and your backup actually acts like a Freshman, all bets are off) The streak had to end sometime, too bad it had to happen last week. Looking forward to your visit A&M. Ohh and stop messing with our campus and get a job.

My pickoff record (14-12)

Dallas 24 Indy 42-Peyton rips the Boys to shreds.

Houston 22 Buffalo 20-Gritty to the end, Carr leads the comeback.

Maryland 31 Boston College 27-Basically I like Maryland's unies better.

V Tech 26 Wake Forrest 20-Say goodbye to this Cinderella story.

Rutgers 13 Cincinnati 17-Aren't I a stinker.

Cal 35 USC 34-No BCS for you USC!

Ohio State 34 Michigan 19-I really hate Michigan, that's why I always want Loyd Carr there.

Cincinnati 24 New Orleans 27-N.O. staying alive.

Seattle 31 San Francisco 13-Sean, these are boring games to pick, better start commenting or I'm dumping your team.

San Diego 30 Denver 32-Since when are the Chargers 7-2?

Video of the Week-Asian Trix, probably my favorite Family Guy clip I didn't repeat to my GA team. This is for you Jonny, you whining brat.