holidays |

Awake from the tryptophan coma

Posted by Justin at 11:02 Plain 'ol Cantankerous, principles

Feb 232015

Well folks it is now Wednesday and most of the turkey should be flushed from your system and allowing you to get back to work. It has been a weekend. Now, the fun begins. Holiday shopping. Black Friday was last week. My wife said it was a good day, there were only 2 stabbings during the rush to get the deals.

Let’s look now at what the rest of the season holds. Twinkly lights, fat guys in red suits, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding as you try to enter every store. All of this and money. Your hard earned money draining from your wallet and into other people’s coffers. And yes, credit cards count in this, unless, you are planning on charging everything and then running off to another part of the country with a new name and letting Visa figure it out. If that is you, morepow er to you, I hope the electric chair is comfortable.

For the rest of us, it gets trickier. You see I don’t have any credit cards. I don’t want them, I don’t need them. I can’t handle them responsibly in my opinion so I don’t use them. Which gets sticky at this time of year when almost all of our income is used for things like rent, power, gas (oh yes we are running on fumes close to payday). How to buy Christmas presents for 4 little kids? Extra work.

For me, it should be any work at all. I could make more money tomorrow, if I got a piece of cardboard and a marker and hung out by WalMart. So please shop at amazon through our affiliate link over there in the sidebar. It will pay for the hosting to keep this site up and running and give me that much more from my wife’s paycheck to spend for Christmas. But I digress.

Is it the things we get for Christmas that make us happy? Sometimes. Is it truly the thought that counts? Maybe. Is there a giant wad of cash that is going to be dropped from my bank account in the next 3 weeks? Yes. Should we just give each other cash and forget about it? Should we just give up the gift thing altogether? Probably. A couple of years ago we decided that we were not going to buy presents for the family, at least kid to kid. They would have to make or otherwise modify something for a gift. That has been fun to actually make the gifts for each other.

This year we are trying to follow the same formula but it really seem slike most of the good ideas are gone and what is the point anymore? Icarved some stone charms and made necklaces for the kids last year as good luck charms. I have all of them in a cup on my desk now, picked up from the floors and various other places in the house. Nowhere near their necks as good luck charms. I am thinking that this year I will give them a stick and let them figure out what it is for. Then, after we get back from getting stitches and a concussion taken care of, I will be smiling on the inside.

So, this Christmas season is fast approaching. Gifts are expected. Gifts will be given and received. What are you planning on doing about all of this nonsense? Me, I would just like a nap.

talk later.

-Justin

Justin

Justin is the young Coot with a Cantankerous Soul who continues to be educated by older, more cootish Ralph and Bob. His Cantankerosity is his own.

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Down with April Fool’s Day.

Posted by Ralph at 16:39 Down with

Mar 042014

I labored through the weekend crafting another insightful post intended for today. Then I realized today is April Fool’s Day and that I would indeed be an April Fool posting anything with serious intent. I have to confess that April Fool’s Day is not my holiday of choice. I have never been the sort of person who takes pleasure from seeing people fall on their faces in public. I am a person who expects life today to be pretty much like it was yesterday- no surprises and no ‘gotcha’ moments. In short I am the perfect victim. In fact my prime directive has been to make sure that the kind of people who love to set up April Fool’s Day pranks are somebody else’s friends- not mine. It’s a lonely life but my dignity stays intact.

English: A ticket to the washing of the lion, a traditional April fool’s prank (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It seems that Justin shares my antipathy for April Fools Day and perhaps my desire to seek protection from pranksters. Unfortunately, love is blind and Justin’s wife loves pranks. Ideally this would provide ample experience for a post. Not from Justin. His lips are sealed. What we do have is a rant from the past expressing his frustration with what he calls the stupidest holiday ever. Instead of sharing the cleverness of his wife and kids in setting up their hapless Dad, Justin remains quiet, silently licking his wounds. Even the kettlebells are silent.

Into this April Fool’s Day vacuum, I really don’t have much to add. Bob is AWOL, as usual. The best I can offer is a mindless movie selection or two. One way to stay out of the way of pranksters is to stay home, lock the doors and seek mindless diversion.

Ralph

Ralph is the inspiration for Cantankerous Old Coots and is our Grand Duke of Cantankerousness

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Lethal Christmas Cheer

Posted by Justin at 06:21 Down with, Headline News, principles, rants

Dec 222010

: Image via Wikipedia

Have you heard this one? Wait, here is a disclaimer before I even start. If you want to keep up some delusion of the greatness of the country and faith in humanity at Christmas time, don’t read further. This story makes me cringe.

Let’s start at the beginning. It was a lovely morning in Prince William County, Virginia near Christmas. At one public high school a group of 10 boys gets together wearing hideous Christmas sweaters and singing carols to their fellow students. They call themselves the Christmas Sweater Club and I think it sounds like a very nice thing to do.

If that is not enough Christmas Cheer, the boys began to hand out those small candy canes wrapped in plastic. This is where it goes downhill on a greased rocket sled. The boys get detention and disciplinary action for their kind and fun loving actions.

They were accused of trying to maim and injure fellow students, with the mini candy canes! I was unaware of the lethality of the Candy Cane besides getting it stuck in your throat. Apparently, you can sharpen the candy cane with your mouth and use it to inflict harm. I was not aware of this but there it is. Don’t stare too closely at the picture over there, you could poke your eye out.

These kids are also getting nailed for littering and creating a disturbance. It seems the principal had told them that not everyone wants Christmas cheer and they should keep it to themselves. What a crock of reindeer poop. I know of one principal that should be on Santa’s Naughty list and probably deserves a swift kick in the pants from the rest of the country.

I hope that this doesn’t discourage these fine young men from continuing to spread the Christmas cheer to their fellow man. We need Christmas and things to belive in without so much hate as this principal seems to have. Screw her, good luck to these kids.

Here is a link to the video of the story from the local news. Watch it and try not to be outraged, then tell me what you are thinking in the comments below. Especially you, sitting there reading this who hasn’t commented before. Yes you in the blue shirt. Please comment already!

Also, share on the social networks if you would be so kind…Thank you and Merry Christmas. If you don’t celebrate Christmas, Happy Holidays. If you don’t celebrate holidays, we could probably use a guest post because you are more cantankerous than I am.

-Justin

Don’t Throw Canes & Don’t Sing Christmas Songs (gadabout-blogalot.com)

Justin

Justin is the young Coot with a Cantankerous Soul who continues to be educated by older, more cootish Ralph and Bob. His Cantankerosity is his own.

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