Endless crappy toy rant....

We get the child a Bozo punching bag for Christmas. Blow it up today with a nice gentle pump. It seems fine for a little while then I look again and it's losing air. I look it over and it seems there is a tiny hole in the bottom, where they were sealing the seams around the weighted sand and managed to burn through the vinyl just a tiny speck, but enough. Will call and try to exchange this weekend, probably bringing the pump to try it out, but that could be tricky as it's almost 4 ft. tall and would not fit in the car too well...

We get her a rather silly but highly desired Hannah Montana guitar video game thingey. It works fine yesterday and today won't talk to the TV, despite all our trouble-shooting attempts (how many parents
with computer degrees does it take...). Will call their help number tomorrow after trying yet more new batteries. (If it drains 'em in a day, well, we are gonna have issues).

New Barbie clothes from the grandma include tights, which like all current Barbie clothes must be so skin-tight that your average single-digit-aged child has a horrid time putting them on. I feel like an old person, but it's not a doll modesty thing, it's a quality thing. The stupid clothes rip the first time she tries to use them. Come on, why and how do they get away with this? I have had better luck buying old doll clothes off of eBay, that hold up better after 30 years than new ones do.

Haven't even opened half her other gifts to play with yet. Can't wait. Dunno if my liver can handle the fun....

How much they can unknowingly hurt...

I'm desperately trying to finish some work (at home) before heading to the company holiday party. The child comes to bug me again about how soon can we go. She sits on my lap and says how she wants to be a famous artist when she grows up, not slump at some computer. Yeah. So did I. Not making very much progress at it, am I, getting sucked into having a degree in something I never really liked, because I was convinced work was supposed to suck and well, it mostly has.

Am I setting a good impression for her? Hardly. I'm not rich or famous at anything and she no signs of getting there anytime before death. Good thing it's the happy family-filled holiday season so I can be miserable in front of everyone else....not....

I want my life back before it's too late....

Electronic over-inter-action...

I am not sure why, but in the last week I have joined Linkedin.com, Classmates.com and Facebook.com and already connected with various friends, relatives, former roommates and so on.Mmaybe it's the nostalgia-filled holiday season or morbid curiosity or something else, I'm not sure. Maybe I need a contrast to my college newsletter that touts all the under-40 rich and famous alumni, making me feel like a useless slacker.

I should be writing Christmas cards and doing work (at home) but no, I'm obsessively trying to think of names of folks from grade school, just to see if they are virtually out there. Strange. But kind of fun, or there would not be millions of folks doing it, I guess. Still not sure how it's better than email or a blog but I guess it is the coordination and networking they do for you.

Soon to update my woefully ignored houseblog, too.