Hope there is some merriment to be found this weekend for everybody. In recent years, Christmas and I haven't always gotten along. From the nonsense of Black Friday, to the seas of people spending money they don't have, to being afraid of coming up short for my own lovely trio, to fractured family dynamics, it ain't always easy. But my amazing eldest daughter put things into some nice perspective. "You know, Dad, the best part is just the hanging out."

Little twerp is right. Hope everybody finds a little light, in spite of those who have gone off the deep end. In the meantime, this isn't the greatest video but the song is one of the few holiday songs that doesn't get overplayed.



Hope to see some (e:peeps) at for the NYE bash - I'll be a late arrival, moonlighting at the arena for the hockey tournament.

Ah, what the hell, got to have a fun one in there too



Merry Christmas, folks

Came out of work and waded through the snow up to my car and had to snap this pic of my car. If ever the power of this little community is doubted, check it out, together we can melt

done really cool can be found here. This is out on Strickler Road in Clarence, but it is a sight. The picture doesn't do it justice, but the homeowner did some serious programming, lights of all types are set to music, broadcast on his own radio station.

It is really well done, go, now....

As I am already tired of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" and "Santa, Baby", I would like present EStrip with a seasonal palate cleanser

Deja Vu of the Nocturnal Animal Kind. This happened once before but apparently I didn't learn anything.

A close encounter of the nocturnal animal kind.

A bat got into my apartment last night. It was a stormy night with all the wind and whatnot. I wasn’t suspecting a thing until about 2:00 am, I heard the unmistakeable sound of something bumping up against the Venetian blind in my bed room.

Ironic, considering I had watched the Dark Knight with my kids earlier. I pretty much vibrated out of bed and into the living room where I retrieved my excalibur! (the kitchen broom). I turned on the lights and sure enough, this was a bat who took a wrong turn and was just looking for the exit.

He (I’m assuming it was a he as he didn’t stop to ask directions) flew in ovals in my living room so I opened my apartment door and the door to the porch across the hall. Ever mindful of my professional station, I just wanted him to find the door without my turning into Jim Lorentz (think about it aging Sabres fans).

Finally, after about four tries, he bounced off my broom and headed for the dark outside. I quickly closed the doors in a less than dignified manner for a man of my years and tried to not hyperventilate.

Given that it was raining, there is a slight leak in my living room ceiling and one of the building’s drains goes past my window, all those sounds seem to magnify immediately afterwards, rendering quality sleep an elusive thing after that.

“What if there is a second one???” “How the hell did the first one get in?” The mind races.

Of course, the rain outside the window, the leaky tub in my bathroom, and the leak the landlord is fixing this morning are all making greater impressions on mind at this point. Did the bat have a wingman?

Poking my broom stick into my closets (as I put every light in the place on) repeatedly reveal no other intruders.

Kept the broom by the bedside, just in case…