its the lesson of the Kind Sir

because he succeeded i let him and the young girl dance to the dulcet tones of Ghostland Observatory

they love them almost as much as Super Mario Galaxy on wii

but first this video from my neice

A giant straw goat erected each Christmas in a northern Swedish town has been burned down – yet again.

The 13m-high (43ft) animal in Gavle has been torched 23 times since it was first erected in 1966. It has also been hit by a car and had its legs cut off.

The vandals are rarely caught, though in 2001 a 51-year-old American tourist spent 18 days in jail after being convicted of setting it alight.

In 2007, the goat managed to make it through the festive season unscathed.

Goat committee spokeswoman Anna Ostman said she was saddened to learn that this year’s unlucky creature had been set on fire early on Saturday morning.

But she said: “We have been so happy that he survived through Christmas Eve, which is the toughest period every year.

“So far this year, people from 105 countries have followed the goat via the webcams and many become really sad when they learn that he’s burned down.”

The 7m-long (23ft), three tonne goat was originally designed to attract tourists to Gavle, which is 106 miles (170km) north of the Swedish capital.

is there something wrong with me that makes me happy that this goat keeps getting set on fire?

In 2005, it was torched by two arsonists dressed as Father Christmas and the Gingerbread Man.

Authorities in Gavle have tried to protect the goat using fireproofing chemicals and security guards.

But just 10 of the goats, which are built in the town’s central square, have survived beyond Christmas since 1966.

read the whole thing here which also includes a photo of the doomed beast-replica.

i know youre excited

the kids laid out a cookie and milk for santa, and an apple
and a bowl of water for the reindeer. looked like the jolly elf liked the cookie
more than the apple.

the boy was amazed

the little girl liked some gifts, but loved others

even roby from italy loved her gifts

after the gifts were passed out we had dinner. the little girl wanted a beer.

and santa delivered!

we had fish and pasta for dinner because of a wardrobe malfunction

the boy didnt notice

i said little boy, show me the face the dogs are making outside in the snow

then i said flash me some gang signs

hope you all had a merry christmas!

so i can show you some pics

all of these pics are from my iphone, so dont hate. this is from my moms basement. these are my childhood games

fisher price representing

this cub scout shirt is so small i dont even think
the girls i date could fit into it.

my mom has my old baseball bats down in her basement to protect her wrapping paper.
dont laugh, hardly any of her wrapping paper has been stolen since 9/12/01

no way wouldnt i live in this basement if i still lived in IL

seriously what girl wouldnt wanna make out with me on this sweet couch

check out the easter bunny tracks. you’re early f’er!

my favorite book in grade school

my mom loves mangers. this was ours growing up. hey wait who are those new peeps?
there goes the neighborhood!

as shes gotten older the mangers have taken a more, uh, soulful turn

ok thats it for tonight, happy christmas saturday!

but it’s being worked on as we speak. So here I am blogging from the phone thus lack of photos.

My mom asked me yesterday if I thought I’d ever get married as she flipped thru People which announced one break up after another. Later she told me about the guy in a Santa outfit who shot up his family and inlaws and then burned down the house before blowing his head off.

Yes mom, eternal matrimony is clearly the answer. I think I will take my chances dating girls who adore the busblog.

If I were to get married I’d want someone who either had an endless supply of computers or the ability to repair them in minutes. Can’t say I enjoy this downtime.

Even though she should be focusing on retiring my mom still flips thru the employment listings trying to figure out what jobs out there would be high paying but low stress. And something my mom would be qualified for. Because she has such an amazing green thumb I asked her “if Obama legalized weed, would you turn your basement into Grandma Jo’s Sticky Icky Farms?” She said no. I said what if you only sold to medical facilities? For Aids peeps? She said, new topic please. Who knew my mom had no compassion for the afflicted? Fascinating.

yes there is no photo on this post because I’m forced to write you from my iphone because my new computer ate it after I tried to instal SP2 ontop of XP using moms computer – alls well. Long boring story not fit for Christmas, a day a shepard and his virgin wife gave birth to the son of God in the modest straw of a manger in is-rye-elle.

My mom and I listened to dozens of Christmas songs tonight as I wrapped gifts and she put up the final decorations to her house. I am very fortunate to be here, the town I grew up in with my mom this Christmas. I’m lucky to know a lot of you and be able to communicate with huge portions of the world. I’m lucky to kiss all the pretty girls of north america and parts of europe. And I’m very lucky to have a job I love and can’t wait to return to.

And because I’m a Christian I believe that most of it is due to todays birthday boy.

I look at most of life as a marvel. The fact that we can do half the things we do is mindboggling. I still don’t see how 757s can take off and land so easilly so maybe I’m the perfect sucker for religeon. But I also don’t know how just a few years ago I was riding the bus to a job that hated me, getting laid off, then being fired, and now having the dreamiest gig ever. I worked just as hard everywhere. How can divine intervention not be a thread in the tapestry of life?

Anyways even if all of this is just beautiful luck, I’m grateful for the good luck in my life, much of it being the virtual conversation revolving around this url. The best Christmas gift I ever got was that boring job at E! And that fateful day at work when I first typed in blogger.com

Tomorrow the little ones will come back from Ohio. We will open presents, eat turkey, and play wii. Just like the baby Jesus would want.

May you all get everything you want, if not under the tree today, in your heart this year.

just like any situation where theres a parent company and you work for one of the “smaller” companies, there is going to be a little drama between your company and the mothership. but because i grew up 45 minutes outside of Chicago, and the Trib was our family paper, it was a huge thrill to see the very top of the tower, to seven stories below.

the main floor has a wall filled with quotes that seem ironic now that we have heard from the outgoing administration that newspapers shouldnt tell the world about prison torture, nor should it question the government. which is why i love this quote from one of the most famous government icons in regards to newspapers.

the chicago tribune newsroom is pretty awesome looking. id say it gives the one at the LA Times a run for its money.

theres even a set right there for tv shots.

this is where Tribune Interactive does their magic. Interactive is a fancy word for web site and web-related reporting and editing and business. ironically this is where the printing presses used to be and now its home of the next step of delivering the news.

its also home of Metromix

as you walk around you get to see some old stuff that mighta been around for a hundred years.

several floors down you can see all these hot water boilers and hidden treasures and amazing things down there that are saved up in case theres another civil war.

the views from the top are breathtaking

the macnelly room was probably my favorite. he was the illustrator behind Shoe and lots of cool editorial cartoons

second best is Col. McCormick’s office, filled with secrets

Brent was also the guy who insisted that we take in the Bears game on Monday night, so for that and the first-rate tour, i tip my hat(s) to him. Merry Christmas!

the ones i like the best are from

meredith “oh mistletoe” cheesborough, who today celebrates her twenty first birthday

although the photography is far above average and the lighting is great, youd sorta expect that from the glorious canadian light reflecting off all the snow and igloos and fallen polar bears who are starving because of global warming.

i gotta say its her choice of outfits that appeals to me the most. the creativity by which she can go from one genre to the next. the clear thinking out of the box is at once breathtaking, giddy, and definitely hot.

ah young redheads in the great white north. where do you come from? where are you going? whats in the water in toronto?

normally i dont write much about meredith because sass would get jealous but today is her birthday and finally she can drink, so the secret can come out. plus how rough must it be that your day of birth is overshadowed by the Lord’s and you have to share an apartment with that attention ho ms zucket and her singing and her videoing and her blogging?

thus the nudes, i suppose. well, i for one love them and i am here to respectfully hope they keep coming like the finest columbia house record club ever imagined.

happy birthday ms mistletoe, long may you reign.

crazy thing, i was just driving recklessly through a snow storm last night air drumming to this song, and lo our pal rex links to a better version of it than my steering wheel endured. ah, synchronicity. or in this case, moving pictures.

had an nice little tour of the chicago tribune building, went to a great dinner with three big wigs at your favorite midwestern paper. then afterwards one of the guys said come on, if we jump in a cab now we can catch the second half!

as many of you know, i have no problems getting tickets to sporting or concert events, and i was feeling sorta warm from the beer and baileys and fine dinner. so i said lets do this!

plus it was only 4 degrees below zero.

most people were bundled up beautifully cuz they Knew they were going to the bears game as they took on longtime rivals the Green Bay Ladies, but me i just had a jacket a scarf and a hat. my sneakers had my toes freezing but beer and hot chocolate flowed in Soldier Field so we were good.

this kid however was cold, so his mommy came and picked him up

ps guess who has a new computer!!!