Events/Holidays

This & That

/ Ally Bean / 16 Comments

{november  – monday – morning}

√  I’m still trying to get used to my iPad.  I got one about 2 months ago, but have yet to really use it for much of anything.  It seems to be a device on which one consumes, not creates, media.  I didn’t realize that when I got it.  I thought it was like a small laptop computer so I planned on using it to write blog posts and do photo editing.  But so far I haven’t seen any way that I could use it for my intended purposes.

And as I don’t have a smart phone, I’m finding all this app crap to be rather tedious to learn about.  How in the world do I know if an app is something that will be useful to me if I don’t know what the thing does/replaces/adds to my life?  And more importantly, if I put an app on the iPad can I get it off/deleted/made to go away forever– not just hidden somewhere out of my sight, like a portrait of Dorian Gray?

√  I started re-decorating our home office about a month ago.  First, Zen-Den and I re-configured the desks and the file cabinets.  We left the 6′ x 4′ bookcase in the same place, but I decided to take out all the books so that I could re-do the shelves in a way that is more user me friendly.  I re-commissioned an older table lamp that was catching dust in the basement because I thought that it’d provide better ambient light in the room.

When I began this project I was all optimistic that I could do it with what we have sitting around, but so far I haven’t been able to get a groovy vibe happening in that room.  Pretty much all that I’ve managed to do is create a big mess that spills out of the office, across the foyer and into the LR.  So much for flying by the seat of my pants.

√  We’re hosting a Holiday Party in a few weeks.  I decided that we’d do what I’d call bar food.  That is, a menu that is more filling than just munchies, but less bother than a buffet supper.  We’ll have trays of small sandwiches & bowls of chips.  Then hot dips & crunchy snacks.  Plus a table of cookies & candy.  We bought all of our beer & wine over the weekend, so that’s out-of-the-way.

Any suggestions for a great dip of some sort?  I’m making Skyline Dip & Jalapeño Popper Dip already, but would like to add something more to the menu.  Also, if I make some hot mulled cider what kind of alcohol would you want available to put in it?  Rum? Red wine? Bourbon? Something else?  [I’m not a fan of mulled cider so what to add to it is kind of a mystery to me.]

… enough babbling for now.  later.

Parsing The Meaning Of Thanksgiving

/ Ally Bean / 6 Comments

√  To me Thanksgiving means…

  • gratitude
  • sharing
  • bounty
  • kindness
  • celebration
  • family
  • friends
  • joy
  • tradition
  • cooperation

√  We received a Thanksgiving card from a business with the following message in it:

“At this time of thanksgiving we pause to count our blessings. 

The freedom of this great country in which we live.

Its opportunity for achievement.

The friendship and confidence you have shown in us. 

For all of these things we are deeply thankful.”

√  I really don’t what to make of this message.  Putting aside that the third line makes no sense to me, the copy in this card sounds more like a Fourth of July card than in a Thanksgiving card.

√  Then, in a lightbulb moment, I went to the website printed on the back of the card.  There I discovered that this Thanksgiving card had an alternative message available:

“At this time of

Thanksgiving celebration

our thoughts turn gratefully to you

with warm appreciation.”

√ Clearly the alternative message better encapsulates my take on what Thanksgiving is all about.  However, considering the card company offers both messages, some people must find the first message to be meaningful and appropriate.

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All of which leads me to ask:

What does Thanksgiving mean to you? Given the opportunity, which message would you send to your clients?  And why?

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