I propose that we combine Independance Day with Thanksgiving.

I say the these holidays are two sides of the same coin. We don’t need them both. We’d get by just fine with only one.

The main argument for combining them is Thanksgiving. It’s a big, heavy-hitter of a holiday. People fly across the country for Thanksgiving. Even if you don’t fly across the county, you still have a ton of cooking (and overeating, wtf.) which means spending a lot of money. Then there’s drinks, wine, folding chairs, and a gargantuan cleanup.

Then, a month later, do it all again, except with presents.

Why? What is Thanksgiving really about? Thanking the native Americans for feeding us by, um, feeding ourselves again and again? Coulda thanked them simply by not murding the hell out of them back in the day, right?

I say forget Thanksgiving completely. Give everybody some extra days off around the 4th of July instead. Let ‘em sleep off the Bud Lite an extra day or something. We’re all ready for a break from work around then anyhow. Besides, fireworks are WAY cooler than a dried out turkey.

In early 2008, a no-name company bought Cannondale, one of the more interesting bicycle companies out there. They were bought by Dorel, a holding company with no soul, from Pegasus Capital Advisors, another holding company with no soul.

The end result is that one of the coolest bikes ever, the Cannondale Rush, is not only no longer being made in the USA, the bike’s only nominally recognizable as its former self.

The Rush is a cool bike: there was an entry level version for around US$1300 (my wife briefly owned one of these; it’s currently being turned into a sewing machine instead; wanna buy it?) and the super amazing carbon version for upwards of US$6000.

I hate holding companies. They never ever know the value of the business they hold.

(iTunes link) It’s an addictive game, which infuriates me, because it’s not even a game. You click a mostly random spot on the screen, and if you’re lucky, a chain reaction will go on long enough to eliminate enough of the little exploding balls. There’s no skill! You just click and watch! It’s so stupid! Yet I paid a buck for it and have already played through it once. My wife and daughter are both gonna love it, too. Stupid, stupid addictive game.

Dear Christy:

You are no longer allowed to send me any kind of electronic correspondence that you didn’t write yourself. Transgressions punishable by public mockery.

Thank you.

Tons of good reviews. The best one says: “The monster is still alive and, by the sounds of it, awake and hungry for more”- 411mania.com

I think it might be their best yet. In the past, when Slayer’s experimented, it hasn’t always been with great results. It’s always Slayer, but not always the best of Slayer.

This new record is… it’s wow. It’s different, but it’s familiar. It’s Slayer not being content to just put out a Slayer album, ho-hum. It sounds fresh, new, sinister, and full of hate! There’s new tricks, and a modern sound, but the songs don’t sound like they’re purposefully sounding new or modern.

What this album proves without even trying is that Slayer is not only relevant, but showing the new crop how it’s done. Every new Slayer-inspired band should feel humbled and slightly embarrassed that the old guys rock them so hard. I’m looking at you, Slipknot, Killswitch Engage, and Lamb of God.

I make no bones about it: my iPhone is an amazing device. Somebody’ll probably smack me if I say once more that it’s like having a Star Trek device in my pocket.

I use it for the following ¹ :

• Phone calls
• Listening to music, podcasts, and audiobooks
• Reading the entire Internet
• Checking and sending email
• The calendar app is invaluable
• Getting directions and phone numbers in the Maps app
• Reading my novel using a Kindle-like app called Stanza
• Playing games

Not on that list is my to-do list. I print that on paper every single day. My list was made in Microsoft Word, and uses standard Office fonts because I often have to put the list together on a school computer, and I wanted it to be the same every time.

Because my list is also the bookmark for my Moleskine notebook, it has to be a particular size. So the list is inside a single-celled table with a dotted line for a border. This way, when I print it out, I know where to cut. I keep scissors in my backpack specifically to cut my list out. They’ve come in handy other times, too.

I do it this way for two reasons. First, I love paper. Page layout and design is a big deal to me, and it was a lot of fun for me, putting my list together and making it look good with the font and size limitations I had. I’m very pleased with the end result.

The second, and more important reason is this: I want to be able to see my progress as I get things done, and if I don’t get it all done, I want to be able to throw the list away. Let me elaborate.

On an iPhone or other device, a ten item list is a big deal. As items get checked off, they generally go away. They aren’t on the list any more. The problem is that nine items on a page looks pretty much the same as ten items on a page, and so even when stuff gets done, there’s no visual feedback. No sense of accomplishment at a glance. With a paper list, where I have to actually use a pen to cross items off the list, the items look crossed off, and it feels good.

The other thing is that sometimes junk happens and I can’t finish my list. And then priorities change, it’s a new day, and that thing I had on my list simply doesn’t have to be done any more. Things like laundry. Things like recycling. On an electronic list, those items tend to stack up for me ² .

I take my to do list pretty seriously, and when I get bogged down with old stuff, I feel guilty about it. All those items up at the top of the list, not done. Looking at me, without lines through them. And pretty soon, I don’t even look at my to do list any more. And nothing gets done. And then I get served with divorce papers.

So anyway, it’s just much easier to have a paper list that makes me feel good to use and makes me feel good to throw away, which leads to me using it again in the future, which makes Things Get Done.

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(iTunes link) The two songs I’ve heard up to this point are very metal and very Halford. They don’t sound very Christmas or holiday at all; maybe it’s something in the lyrics that I haven’t caught onto.

(iTunes link) Slayer’s new album is out today. Check back to the website later on for what’s both the best Slayer story and best 9/11 story I know of.