New Photo Album

Merry Christmas everybody! Here are some photos from Claudita and I's trip back to Estes Park for an old fashioned family christmas. Also we sunck off for a day of skiing and a bit of frolicking in the snow. See Calvin and Hobbes comic strip for more. Check out the album by clicking here.

This dodgy statistic has been hard to locate, but I thought I would finally hunt down the real number. Unfortunately, there is no real number! I was told over my last trip that only 2% of Americans have passport - this appears to be a rumor. According to an Oct 1, 2006 NY Times article:

The State Department estimates that 73 percent of Americans now lack passports.

So that means 27% of Americans have passports today. Considering that on January 8th our borders are 'closed' even to Mexico and Canada - this is still a mind boggling statistic! Especially when compared to the UK; seems that over 90% of the English have passports. Pretty wild, I hope to see this statistic change because I believe it would be a big indicator of an improving 'world view' for your average american...

When four of Santa's elves got sick, the trainee elves did not produce toys as fast as the regular ones, and Santa began to feel the pre-Christmas pressure. Then Mrs. Claus told Santa her Mother was coming to visit, which stressed Santa even more.

When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two others had jumped the fence and were out, Heaven knows where. Then when he began to load the sleigh, one of the floorboards cracked, the toy bag fell to the ground and all the toys were scattered. So, frustrated, Santa went in the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum.

When he went to the cupboard, he discovered the elves had drank all the cider and hidden the liquor. In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider jug, and it broke into hundreds of little glass pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found the mice had eaten all the straw off the end of the broom.

Just then the doorbell rang, and irritated Santa marched to the door, yanked it open, and there stood a little angel with a great big Christmas tree. The angel said very cheerfully, "Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't this a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to put it?"

And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree.

Wow, if you are a broncos fan, you also might think this is a weird sports hero to be putting on video games. Bill "Romo" Romonowski - the linebacker famous for a $50,000 fine for spitting in someone's face after a tackle. The same guy who slept in a barometeric pressure chamber for an hour before each NFL game. The same guy who had a strange 'super stew' that he would ritualistically eat in preparation for gametime. The same guy who got banned from the NFL for substance abuse of steroids/pills/you-name-it. I guess that makes him a good poster child for 'NFL Blitz' the 'bad boy, no rules' NFL video game. sigh...

Check out this stupidly addicting 'game' of sorts called Line Rider. The game is simple, you can draw 'paint style' a crazy line on a blank canvas; but there is this 'play' button on top. When you press play, a little animated sledding dude gets on a sled and rides your line. It seems kinda hard actually.

Once you've gotten the hang of it, try looking at this Line Rider masterpiece that someone took the time to make. More proof that some people just have too much time on their hands and should be spending that time more wisely (i.e. use that time to find geocaches, etc).