Operation Christmas

I saw this in Wired Magazine the other day when I was waiting to get my haircut and think it's FABULOUS! It's this high-tech idea of how Christmas is done.

You can get the centerfold download at http://www.wired.com/images/press/pdf/opxmax.pdf. (Oh jeesh, you know it's bad when that's the centerfold you are looking at. ARGH!)

Here are a few of my favorite things about the parody.

• On the time line, the January "Naughty/Nice Monitoring Begins" Logistics include the spy satellites that monitor bullying and vandalism and cross checks against chat systems.
• February includes, "Meetings with Hollywood." and explains the funding for his $27 billion plus budget.
• The logistics include eight massive ships named "Dasher, Dancer..." and so forth.
• The reason Santa keeps the north pole as headquarters is not just because of the old manufacturing facilities for emergencies, but keeping eight servers cool is not such a hard task.
• Santa's toys are stored in Sparks, Nevada so there are few questions asked before they are moved to distribution centers.
• Naughty/nice lists are downloaded to the PDA's of special trained officers who may distract children that catch them with a mild hypnopgenic agent in a cookie so that children may think it was a dream and in special situations iTunes gift cards they can fling out if accidentally discovered.

If you get a second, or can make a second, it's pretty entertaining and highly interesting.

Christmas Kick-Off

Last Christmas one of my friends gave me this gift. I have kept it in place all year so that I can listen to it this year. I didn't open it, and I knew exactly where it was all year as I looked at in anticipation.
Today, the anticipation ended. I opened it and popped it in the CD Player.
My mom would not be happy, I think she said the "rule" was that it had to be Thanksgiving to listen to Christmas music. You can't imagine that I would break any rule, but this time I did. I listened to it. I figured that I just watched 4 Christmas commercials on TV in a row, so I turned the TV off and listened to it and LOVED it. I say, "If it's on TV, it must be okay." so I am in the Christmas mood now too.
I also figure, why not get as much of it as I can. (We will see if I say the same at the end of the season.) It lasts such a short time each year, I am starting it NOW!
Of course, it made me miss New Orleans. Especially around Christmas time. *sniff, sniff*

There is one other song that I listened to that makes me cry when I hear it. NewSong sings a song called, "The Christmas Shoes". It tears me up. You can read the words here. It makes me want to go adopt a small country of underprivileged children. I am embeding the video for that song. You can find the lyrics HERE. I am warning you though, it's a heart-wrencher.

So after last night at The Grove and this evening's Christmas music before the pornography webmasters party tonight, I have officially kicked off Christmas in my own head.