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Big kudos to persephoneplace for offering to mail a package for me when she crosses the border into Michigan tomorrow. This means the second half of my Christmas present to dan's father (the homemade half) will arrive on or around New Year's Day, just as his parents return home from a trip to Florida, rather than the following week. To make things easier so she doesn't have to stand in a post-office line, I worked out the USPS online postage-printing tool and printed off a Priority Mail label. If I lived in the US I'd probably use it for all my shipping; it was easier to use than the program I downloaded for the same function last week.

The USPS require the zip-code from where it's being shipped, and a credit-card with a US address, neither of which I had, but I fudged both.

Also kudos to my wonderful sweetie for pointing out that since my package is more than one pound, I can't just ask persephoneplace to drop it in any old mailbox. As he pointed out, I've not lived in the US since 9/11/01, and he has. I sort of wonder what happens to >1lb. packages that get dropped in a mailbox; do they bury them at sea, or return them to sender, or subject them to a fine in delayed delivery and further inspection?

Anyhow, I'm happy to be done with this.

Boxing Day wrapup

Can we switch Christmas to July, or perhaps abolish it altogether?

I much prefer giving gifts on the occasion of finding something someone would like, and giving it then. All throughout the year. Having a gift mean you were actually thinking of them, not the date.

Rather than this Mutual Assured Distributation, this "sir, we detect incoming presents." "Arm the credit-cards! Head for the malls!"

Today d. and I walked uptown with roverthedog to see what was open on Boxing Day. Answer: only Starbucks. No Boxing Day sales for us; which is really OK for me.

Lunch today was the yummy crab-cakes d. made for dinner on Christmas Eve; dinner was a stir-fry based on the duck he made for Christmas dinner. Oh, and breakfast was the blueberry muffins he made on Friday. Damn, but I'm a lucky guy...

Today was a gym day for me, and I expect tomorrow morning will be, also. I enjoy the exercise, and I like the idea of seeing what happens after a few months of gym. Maybe, by spring, I'll weigh less instead of 5 pounds more?

In January, I'm going to start taking advantage of a University perk and try 6 weeks of a (semi-)personal trainer; in the Lab/Gym just down the hall from my office in Health Sciences.

Tomorrow, we're off for a few days in an Inn down in Cambridge; we'll be away until Thursday evening. On Saturday, we have lee_ellen as a house-guest through Monday morning. Yay!