SAFD Says Merry Christmas 2006

We finished trimming our first, real, Christmas tree in 4 years tonight, good thing too. Tonight was the annual, unofficial, St. Anthony Village Christmas parade.

Christmas carols waving in and out of earshot as not one, not two, but four (!) St. Anthony Village Fire Department vehicles slowing cruising each block. Of course, the lighted reindeer and Santa on a firetruck is the main attraction. From our place on the corner, the anticipation was nearly unbearable. When they finally pulled around 30th Street, we threw a winter cap on bottle-sucking Little C, and ran out to meet them. As did a handful more Villagers across the street.

In addition, our fine, holiday-spirit-filled firemen were also collecting Toys-for-Tots.

Year after year, one of most entertaining reasons to live here.

Go Aristocrat Yourself

We watched The Aristocrats last night. While I was more entertained than I expected…I was just as uncomfortable as I expected.

Four Highlights:

  • Andy Richter telling the joke to his santa-hat wearing infant. If there’s anyone that completely doesn’t get it…it’s someone that totally lacks language comprehension.
  • Cartman telling the joke on South Park. Making that not funny would be like The Onion telling it and not being funny…wait, The Onion bit wasn’t. Cartman not getting it himself – beautiful.
  • The joke being flipped around, with the tame bit in the middle and the offensive bit at the end. I think the shock/surprise value works better in that order, while still containing the joke’s history and intent.
  • Sarah Silverman taking the joke too personally. “I don’t list The Aristocrats on my resumé anymore….” Ha.

Made me think the joke would make a great podcast…and I smell a satire of Web 2.0 startups in there as well.

When Is Now?

“‘No, no, don’t answer it!’ I yelled. ‘It’s your parents! They’re calling from the future!'” – Jason Kottke

Everytime we catch up to “live” tv with the TiVo, I’m reminded of this exchange from Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs:

Dark Helmet: “What the hell am I looking at? When does this happen in the movie?”

Colonel Sandurz: “Now. You’re looking at now sir. Everything that happens now, is happening now.”

DRM: Doesn’t Really Matter

It’s no secret that folks looking to pick up some new tunes would like to avoid DRM at all costs, but instead of seeing CD sales skyrocket, there’s simply been a general decrease across the board in the whole “music buying scene.” – Darren Murph, Engadget

If I buy CDs these days, it’s directly from the artist. It’s far more likely that I’ll just give my favorite artist a few bucks. Oh, and then there’s this whole DRM-free podcasting-thing.

Minimum Purchases Violate Credit Card Merchant Agreements

“Always honor valid Visa cards, in your acceptance category, regardless of the dollar amount of the purchase. Imposing minimum or maximum purchase amounts is a violation.”

As always, thanks go to Consumerist.com.

The excuse I hear for this behavior is the credit card’s transaction costs (~3-5% of the transaction + a few pennies per transaction + a monthly clearing charge). As Jen reminded me the other day, cash has it’s own transaction costs (employees closing out drawers + transporting cash to bank + making change + slower check outs).

Should I Be Relieved or Concerned?

While undigging from the vacation backlog, I peaked into a BaseCamp account I’m using for a handful of projects and received this message:

Uh. Um. Well. Guess I’ll just toss that To Do list into the trash and head for the beach.

On a related note – while going for my daily walk last Thursday (just happened to be around residential Brussels) I listened to Tim Coyne’s UNKEMPT #12 – Plans.

In it, he digs into a fear I’ve faced head-on more than a couple of times: being responsible for another person’s well-being. Doesn’t matter if this is a partner or a child. The stakes get higher when there’s someone else “riding on your scooter” as Tim puts it.

From my perspective – the good stuff happens on the other side of the fear. There’s something motivating about that obligation.

Hey Tim, metaphorically speaking – maybe it’s time to ditch the scooter. 😉

As always, Tim talks about this fear honestly and openly, if you haven’t given these a listen yet – you should.