Trial Balloon: December 23, 2008 Archive

On The Road Again

Posted at 5:33 AM on December 23, 2008 by Dale Connelly (31 Comments)

Our little Radio Heartland community has, or is in the process of, dispersing to far flung places, leaving behind empty desks where rootsy, washboard-to-fretboardy streams of eclectic music pour unheard into the office trashcan. Or so I fear.

Where have you gone or where do you intend to land for the holidays?
And how do you plan to get there?
Any interesting travel experiences?

Snow is making our Tuesday morning in the Twin Cities a delightful communal commuting experience. I got a lot of personal enjoyment from my trip to work this morning, both because I had work to make a trip to, and because of the sudden, festive thrill one always gets from the sight of a speeding propane tanker whizzing by on the snow covered road, mere inches away from one's own rear view mirror.
A person who has this week of (with pay) is a happy person indeed, though anyone hoping to leave town today may have a different experience than the one they imagined.
And the children! How horrible to waste a good storm on a day you already have off.
And then to spend so many unhappy hours in the car, struggling to get to a place you're not sure you want to be.

This led me to re-write the lyrics to a well known seasonal ditty about a Good King, just in case there's a teenager slumped in the back seat of the family car this morning, staring out a frosted window, trying not to listen to the cheerful chatter of parents and siblings while nursing a steaming cup of holiday resentment.

Ashley Wenceslas looked out
As the car was leavin'.
"We'll be late, I have no doubt.
If we get there, even."

"There's a snowstorm underway
Hazardous and cruel
Had it come some other day
They'd have cancelled schoooOOOOO-el."

"As it is it matters not.
Gotta go to gramma's.
To get hugged and pinched a lot.
Opening pajamas."

"Gramma's gift for two years straight
Not to say I'm bitter.
She must buy them by the crate
Just like kitty liiiiiiIIIIIIIIter."

Got any other verses? Post them below!

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Eve of Distraction

Posted at 1:03 PM on December 23, 2008 by Dale Connelly (33 Comments)

When things get busy, do you make lists?

A good list can help a person (like, say, a writer) be productive under pressure, keeping the focus on the things that need to be done, rather than a bunch of meaningless distractions.

Another nice thing about a list (as opposed to generating a big heavy block of text) is that a good list carries lots of information surrounded by white space, whereas a block of text requires appropriate grammar and other nuisances.

I'd like to be better with lists, but so far I haven't developed the discipline to:

A) Make the lists, and
B) Follow through to completion.

What I do instead is something like this:

A) Make the list.
B) Lose the list.
C) Spend the afternoon looking for the list.
D) Kill an hour reading the magazine I found during my search.
E) Re-create the list.
F) Dinnertime.
G) Talk about what it will take to do the things on the list.
H) Bedtime.
I) Wake up, look for list.

Today, Christmas Eve, my list is pretty simple.

A) Go to work. (Done!)
B) Get things ready for tomorrow.
C) Go home.
D) Clean stuff. Make it seem like we're always this tidy.
E) Greet Guests. Be sociable.
F) Help in the kitchen. Don't complain.
G) Dishes!
H) Attend candlelight service.
I) Stay Awake!
J) Don't let hot wax drip on fingers.
K) Last minute wrapping. Make it look like you care how it looks.

Actually that looks like a lot, doesn't it? I usually don't make it much past "D" on any list, but today I am ambitious and productive.

Today I've already made it to "E", which is this:

E) Finish Today's Blog.

Lists can make life simple! What's on YOUR list?

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