I'm tired.

While the holidays are great, they also exhaust me. There is the mad prep, the juggling of egos, the balancing of which out of town visitors need to see the kids next, the guilt (imagined or otherwise), so it was with a sense of relief that I walked from my mother-in-law's place back to mine on Thursday night. Without prompting, the kids pronounced themselves "happy" and I think my ex and I both exhaled at the same time. I took them out to my folks on Christmas eve to be feted by my folks and siblings. She did likewise Christmas Day for dinner. The five of us got together Christmas morning and I think it was my favorite part. Nobody was on their best behavior and I mean that in a good way. That was fun, getting to see them show off their new wares.

Work on the 26th was surreal by comparison. Everything is open, but a large contingent of my department takes a good chunk of their holiday this week. The commute is a quick one, and downright deserted on Friday. Ten minutes this morning and that's including a stop at Spot to caffeinate.

I'm not complaining, but it is good to be the marketing guy. You get a lot of gifts that, well, swish. Two bottles of Bully Hill's finest from one of the radio groups, two bottles of local stuff from one of the tv stations, a case of guinness from my brother in law, and a case of Sleeman's Dark Ale from my own brother. My mom gave me a couple pounds of coffee. Together that is a metaphor for something. I'm just not sure what.

Order my Secret Santa thingy, what will officially be the last Christmas gift of the season -- Hope it makes it in time for the festivities for Wednesday evening.

The clock across the hall is chiming different christmas carols at the top of the hour with all the style and verve of dentist office muzak. Is it bad that I want to take to the parking lot and run over it a few times with the little bull dozer?

Yeah, probably.

Would have thought for sure that yesterday's winds would have hit my block. They did last year. I seem to remember wrapping the final presents pre-christmas by flashlight. At the height of yesterday's gales, I was searching for a good football game since the Bills were playing and number one son was gaming on my pc. We like our power.

The alarm clock went off this morning and my first thought was toward a nap.

I'm tired. Think I'm long overdue for sammich from the old Pink for dinner.

But I'll rest up for the (e:strip) balldrop (no, not a euphemism)

When you go to Bikram Yoga, they recommend that you do not eat 2 hours before the start of class as the class is pretty demanding on all your systems. When I go, I sneak a little snack in the afternoons most times. Didn't do that today, was running around etc.

So, about 50 minutes into the 90 minute class, during one of the quietest parts of class, my stomach announces in a large voice that it is yiddish

OYOYOYOYOYOYOY!!!!!!!!!!

It's hard to stretch constructively and laugh at the same time.

Four wheel drive makes no difference. It's the driver that gets the car in and out of snow banks. I saw many a jeep marooned over the past day or so and plenty of Minis getting around just fine.

Call the ex and kids to see if all was well, if they needed anything, only to see them zipping past me on their way back from Wegmans.

Netflix resumes with Dr. No, excellent.....

Blew off Yoga tonight as Elmwood is still a mess. I didn't want to come out and guess which drift is mine.

My boss called to say we were closed this morning at 6:15. It was early enough that she didn't remember about caller id and was a little bumfuzzled when I greeted her by name. At that hour, something is closed or somebody died. Worst part, that was just long enough that I was UP, and contemplating the best way to avoid the mess on the "S" curve.

Still wondering what the Park ring road will look like tomorrow. It was an adventure leaving on midday Friday.

Saw an idiot driving down Lexington last night when I was taking number one son back to Mom's. If your pickup truck is fishtailing like that, it might be a sign that you are going too fast. If you continue to drive like that down a street without a lot of room, it might be a sign that you are a moron.

Sudden snow day meant ironing got done, laundry got done, trash got taken out, tree was put up, dishes were washed and the shelved stocked. At this rate, I'm looking forward to work on Tuesday to slow down. Did I wrap anything? Nope.

Got the Sabres game on in the background. I'm pretty sure that the Versus network couldn't cover a ribbon cutting very well. Announcers are talking about everything except well, the game in front of them.

Got to buy one more thing for each daughter and I'm done!

I paid bills today too, on a Monday, oin the daylight!

Unexpected napping opportunities are downright blissful.

Rented the lastest "Guitar Hero" over the weekend and had a blast with number one son. I'm scared of the Primus, but thankful for the Jane's Addiction and Wings. Guess that is another in a series of factors that make me old.

Great time at the holiday dinner last week and I'm looking forward to the annual PMT ball drop next week.

Not sweating Christmas, eager for boxing day!

The season makes people do some strange shit, all in the name of unabashed consumerism. I made my first foray to the Boulevard Mall since the beginning of the madness. I tend to take a laid back approach to these sojourns, but there is enough nonsense occuring to turn you into Michael Douglas' character in Falling Down.

With the snow, the parking lot looked like an angry toddler tossed his toy cars where gravity decided. People basically impaled their cars in snow banks in order to get their desired space. Essentially, cars abandoned everywhere. Inside, it was busy but not overwhelming like I can only imagine that the Galleria must have looked like the shopping apocalypse.

The Boulevard has those obnoxious folks with the carts who "HAVe" to ask you a question. I declined one such samply query with a polite "No, thanks" and kept walking as she just couldn't help but ask "Can I just ask you one more question?" Apparently, there is an air of ambiguity in my delivery of the phrase "no, thanks." I gather the death stare I awarded her foolishness sent her back to annoy somebody else.

After securing some duplo blocks (big legos) and a magna doodle for my 2 year old nephew, I was done and rewarding my efficiency with a quick escape to Ted's for some of their finest. With the snow and the cold yesterday, the ex and I decreed that everybody should stay put. I got a good nap out of the deal as well as not having to share one of my better culinary endeavors.

I had pulled into the Target lot, where a car was signaling left, so I started to cross, but she was still going straight (and looking right). I think the combination of almost christmas and actual snow can reduce some folks' cerebral cortexes into something resembling a jello pudding pop.

Since number one son was headed over tonight, I wanted to swing by Blockbuster on Elmwood for a game or movie where something blows up. With all the unplowed snow and all the people infiltrating the neighborhood for shopping, getting remotely close to Blockbuster was interesting to say the least. The elmwood village Santa was talking to a guy withdrawing money from the bidwell HSBC. From the car, it looked like Santa might have holding him up.

After making off with Indiana Jones #2 & #3 and Edward Norton as the Hulk, as well as Lego Batman for the Xbox for just $25, we had the makings of a decent night.

Stay warm everybody, round #2 is tomorrow.

Annual office christmas lunch was just a little bit ago. It feels a little forced. One of my staffers bought me stuff which was very nice. Our Business Adminstration chief was liked a hopped up four year old on Christmas morning, so it threw me off with my staffer. She bought me Guinness. How can you not love that. I nearly forgot about a card attached to the box (of Guinness!! Briliiant!!) because I had to present a gift to our boss in front of everybody.

It's a nice occasion, but to me it feels a little tempered. When I attended my first one of these last year, it was just our department and we went out to a restaurant. We stayed at the office and it felt a little weird having the shenanigans in front of non-participants from accounting passing us by. They were invited in, but chose not to. This can be such an awkward holiday at times.

That said, nothing like a helping of pizza and wings to get your mojo running for pizza and wings at the 24 this evening. A lunchtime food coma to kick the afternoon off right. Perhaps, the garlic bread could have stayed out of the mix.

Looking forward to it, especially since the winter apocalypse is coming overnight. I know the tv stations find some brown paper bags for their weathermen. They all seem to be hyperventalating at the prospect of some snow. Like we've never gotten it a foot a time before.

Kids are already counting on a snow day.