Sunday, December 26, 2004

Chinese boxes don't burn very good

Yesterday we went to my wife's cousin's house for dinner and had a wonderful meal. We have been doing this for 20 years and every Christmas she tries to serve something different. This years fare was Prime Rib. Every year something always happens that makes the meal a memorable event. This year the beets exploded? Something to do with the glass cover on the beets or something. I didn't pursue it because I am 61 years old and I know better. The beets were served and they were excellent. Fresh beets they were.

Enough for yesterday. It is the Day After Christmas other wise know as The Big Return Day. None of our vehicles have left the driveway today so that must mean that everyone purchased gifts for everyone else that everyone liked. I don't like The Big Return Day because everyone is always rude at the malls. I rarely go To The Big Return Day because I won't go before Christmas [unless my Wife and/or Daughter trick me] when everyone is in the Christmas Spirit, so I will be darned if I will go when everyone is rude. Yesterday I watched on the news that the stores are going back to being rude about returns. Something about, if they are rude, they can crack down on people returning things for full price when they bought it at a discount or didn't buy it at all but merely stole it. I think the solution to this problem is paying attention to the original receipt. I always thought it was a bad idea that the stores started letting people return items without a receipt. Somehow it seems to me that it merely fosters shop lifting. Maybe I am making a very complex problem way to simple to solve. Maybe not. Home Depot returns anything you give them, with or without a receipt. They don't ask any questions and just load it on the "Junk Cart" which is headed to the dumpster. You know that is directly being charged back to the cost of goods sold which raises our price. Home Depot don't do that! Send them packing if they don't have a receipt. Just don't be rude about it.

Today found me completing two things. One was getting this Blog up and running. I don't care how easy they say it is, it is always a test for me. When I went to college I took a course called "Introduction to Computers" for 1 credit that was required. We had a one hour lecture and a lab course that revolved around a IBM punch card computer. Need I say more. I try real hard and this is my 3 rd web site I have up but it is still a struggle everything. I had a terrible time getting the picture up and the first time I published everything disappeared somewhere. To that big computer in the sky? I am having a real tough time with the word "Blog" let alone with the thought that I am not a "Blogger" whatever that means. I am also seeing this as publishing an email but I don't know who that might be. I am more used to sending out mail that say "Dear Gary" or "Dear Sir or Madam". I kind of like to know who is going to read my mail. This could easily be read by an Alien [re: That Big Computer in The Sky"]. I probably wouldn't write to them if I had a choice and if I did I would probably start out Dear Sir or Madam!

My other project for the day was to burn up the reminants of Christmas Past. I have a shop that is heated with a wood stove and every 'day after Christmas' I burn up all of the paper, cardboard and packing material there is. I try hard to not burn up plastic recyclable materials. I have noticed that, this year almost all of my grandson's toys came in Chinese cardboard that was all plastic coated. You can tell it is Chinese cardboard [1] it says made in China on it and [2] it is white inside. The little structural tubes that are inside the cardboard are real white while USA cardboard is brown. Most of the USA cardboard is recyclable and most of the Chinese cardboard is not because it has a plastic film on it. Brown cardboard burns good but white cardboard doesn't. I don't know for sure if this raises a question about which is a superior cardboard. I don't want to start anything about raising this question and I hope that there are no trade restictions about discussing this item. I would just like to know!

I would like to hear back from some of you out there and if you do I might be able to start my next posting with "Dear Ann or Dear Bob". Thanks for Blogging with me [whatever that might mean?]

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