I mean seriously, I know some bars were opening back up Thanksgiving Night and all, but can you imagine being the guy who has to leave dinner to put his stuff on to head off for the 10 pm shift at Target?

There is a reason that people like Thanksgiving more so than Christmas, less constant pressure. This occurred to me, thinking of the poor devil who actually had the misfortune to need an essential, underwear, or whatever at the closest Target.

I mean, I understand, Friday is a day off for most folks and it's the season and all that, Remember when the season started at the civilized hour of, say, 10? There wasn't anything wrong with that. The bulk of the "incredible" deals often resurface during the season and even during the "mystery days" of Christmas, you know, that space between Christmas and New Year's.

I guess this all stems from me seeing the inevitable news piece of some poor slob who had to line up at 2 in the morning for the deal on a flat screen at some big box retailer, only to stumble and get trampled the moment the doors open. Nobody needs a new set so badly that they need to risk safety and regard for other people that way.

And I think that is at the heart of it for me. Christmas and I have had a love hate relationship over the past few years, mostly from my own odd belief that I wasn't able to do all that I wanted for my kids only to find out we were doing fine all along. Yet, the season actually is a "Season" with displays creeping into the Halloween racks at some retailers last month, before Halloween.

It is the one time frame where people generally act the way they should all year long, provided you aren't seeing them in a retail setting.

You want to embrace it, but it can sometimes be too big to get your arms around.

I got the call for ushering duty for the Sabres/Coyotes matchup. One of the cooler things about this duty, other than you really aren't working to hard, is the people watching fest that unfolds in front of you.

Part of the fun of this for me is watching the show get prepped as the Arena, er, Center gets itself ready for the 18,000+ visitors. Those of us in blue meet a little bit before the doors open en mass, get briefed on what might be happening and then it's showtime. I tend to be all over the building, but was dispatched to one of the corridors that faces the front of the place last night, so it was going to be little busier. And that was cool and from down on the main level, the game looks almost life size.

There is typically an hour from when the doors open to when the event starts and it is kind of cool to see people stream in. A couple of times last night, a couple of parents were bringing kids to their first game ever. And to see young eyes go wide as saucers seeing what they had previously only seen on tv was a kick. You can't help but smile watching somebody trying to soak everything in for the first time. The entertainment also comes from the little things, like how fast you make temporary friends (one guy worked for former employer of mine, to which another had some opinions of that employer's now jailed owner), to showing off your photo skills (telling a fan how to pose so we can get the picture of them, the logo on the ice and the scoreboard all in one picture), to explaining the significance of Milt Ellis to those unfamiliar (for reference, head over to www.staffannouncer.com for a primer on Ellis' importance). The topper for me was the beer vendor who recognized me from my days peddling cable from across the hall in the Adelphia Zone. In the intervening five years, I've at least changed places.

One of the folks in my gathering was sporting a jersey from the now-long defunct California Golden Seals, so I regaled him with the story that the Seals were the opponent for my first Sabres game, back when my eyes were wide from things other than the current bags. He told me how he knew of the team as they came with his table top hockey game as a kid. His wife looked at both of us and decided "You guys are old." She's right on that score.

A lot of my blue jacketed breathen have been doing this work since the Aud days so there isn't a huge amount of turn over, but you can see why. At only 30 some events, I'm still a newbie (hope to make the cool kids clique at some point). There is a little common-interest community going on there regardless how well or poorly the home team is playing. And why they stink at home is a bit of mystery. I think the other events are the price paid to talk hockey.

I wish I'd thought to score a ticket for Ray Davies tonight.

A few months ago, the Albright Knox took some less than good natured grief for putting on a small exhibition of Hockey photographs. It was during that Junior Hockey tourney after last christmas. A lot of pissing and moaning about the gallery compromising itself. While I not only enjoyed the exhibit, it was also brilliant as it got people to the gallery.

No small feat that. This occured to me as Number one Son and I plopped into a pair of seats at Kleinhans to hear the Buffalo Philharmonic perform the music of the Who. Always loved the Who, especially the early 70s records. There are a lot of symphonic elements to the recordings so it wasn't much of a stretch for a six piece rockband to join the orchestra. I was always curious how they staged these pop shows, keeping the rock band and the orchestra on the same page. The only guy who really had to work hard was the sound man to insure a decent mix between the two groups of musicians.

While mimicking parts originally done on synthesizers wasn't a whole lot of heavy lifting for the BPO, it was still kind of fun. It was a hits show to be sure. While the lead singer was a little smarmy, he had some good pipes for the music. He wasn't going to make anybody for Roger Daltrey, but he acquitted himself well. It was a kick to hear a guy a few rows behind me shouting out obscure Who tunes. And if they would have played "The Punk versus the Godfather" that would have been something. I remember tales of a BPO conductor some years ago stopping a show to admonish a coughing audience. The rules were lessened for us philistines.

But it was fun and it got some people to Kleinhans to hear some music, maybe even arouse a little curiosity about the orchestra and that is the cool part.

It's great to see the acoustically perfect place host a greater variety of shows, but it was also good to expose some folks to the main tenants too.

Some random notes now that I'm finally in a quiet time workwise.

I heartily agree with (e:Paul) 's assessment of the Connecticut Street Sandwich Company. I snuck over there a couple of days ago and the burger, chips and milkshake hit the spot. My stomach made yummy sounds all the way back to the Zoo.

Missed (e:ladycroft) 's shower because of work. In the midst of what would have been a four day weekend, I got yanked into my moonlighting gig at the Arena downtown. While working a hockey game is fun and my bank account needed it, I'm sorry to miss out on seeing the parents to be and other estrippers that it has been too long between visits.

On the upside, with a new bank pushing the old bank out of the Arena, I was able to turn in my tomato colored, flame retardant blazer for an equally ugly, but more practical fleece pullover thing. It is a different flavor of dorky, but a little more practical as it is cold in that place. The new hockey owner is doing something to make sure the ice is up to snuff, but that has lowered the temperature in the place. So, if you are going to something there, be prepared.

Halloween sort of came and went for me. We had the usual throng of folks at the Zoo so I was sort of spent by the time the revelary actually came. I did notice that now that number one is 13, I can't get away with the "Dad needs to inspect for safety" con. He just gave me a few kit kat bars to make me go away.

Working with aweber software for our electronic newsletter is the epitome of a love hate relationship.

Went out briefly with this woman I really liked in the first part of the fall. We had great times getting out, escaping parenthood but all the sudden messages stopped getting returned. I understand not going anywhere, not ready, not right time, but hell, to say nothing? That is just rude. Over 40 is too old to be that impolite.

Has anybody ever needed a head start to a left turn? Does that extra second make any sense?

New cupcake place has opened on Parkside, along with the new Spot on Hertel, perhaps Paul should snag Hertelstrip.com too.