No Christmas While I'm Talking

Usually around this time of year, I get all cynical about the holidays, but seeing it all through the eyes of two wide-eyed girls can certainly put a positive spin on things. We picked up our tree yesterday and decorated it today. Just seeing the girls get all excited about the ornaments is pretty cool. In fact, I was inspired to put together a rock-centric holiday song mix on my iTunes. I found that I had about 13 or so songs already, including my all-time favorite Christmas song, "Father Christmas" by the Kinks. So I went to The Hype Machine and tracked down close to 30 other songs; there's a ton more out there, too. I just get sick of hearing all the regular Xmas schlock.

After a week of hype and a guaranteed victory from the Steelers' Anthony Smith, the Patriots laid the smack down today, whipping the Pittsburgh squad 34-13. They're now 13-0 and next week they play the Jets at Foxboro. I'm sure Belichick will be pushing for them to hit triple digits against his former assistant, who ratted him out to the league after game 1 for having a cameraman videotaping the opposition signals.

Ho ho huh?

• The Dallas Marathon was held today, with news reports citing the difficulty runners had with falling temperatures. It was in the 40s. Just about anywhere else, that's called ideal weather for marathon runners. But I'm sure it's a shock to the system for folks in warm-weather climates. I got out for 10 miles today and it was 33 and comfortable.
• What's with all the wacko gunmen taking people out lately? First the shooting in the Omaha mall and then today, some nutjob killed four people at a Colorado church. It could be the season. Something about the holidays really brings out the worst in people, whether it's depression or something much, much uglier.
• A freaky deaky serial killer case wrapped up today in Canada when a jury convicted pig farmer Robert Pickton of six counts of second-degree murder. He's charged in the murders of 20 other women and is believed to have killed several others. The Port Coquitlam, B.C., man would bring women--mainly prostitutes and drug users from Vancouver--to his farm and kill them. The court heard a recording made in prison in which Pickton told an undercover cop posing as a prisoner that he had killed 49 women and wanted to make it "an even 50" but was arrested before he could. Police found the remains of many of the women on the farm; it was believed he may have fed some of the remains to his pigs. Messed up stuff. His sentencing takes place next week.
• On a lighter note, Back to the Future is one of those movies I stop and watch every time I see it on TV (and I haven't even seen more than a few minutes of either sequel). It came out the summer that I graduated from high school and I always get a kick out of it, even with the Huey Lewis theme song. So this clip gave me a chuckle.