Traditional Christmas

The Blood Drive.

Two years ago:

"The GOLM collected 368 pints that first year, and has grown steadily ever since. For three straight years, the GOLM has broken the New England record for a one-day community blood drive. Boston held the record of 772 pints until Rutland collected 856 in 2008 and 1,024 in 2009. In September 2010, Boston collected 1,177 pints to reclaim the New England record, but Rutland took it back in December, with 1,400 pints. Manchester, N.H., broke that record – and the national record – in August 2011, with 1,968 pints – setting the stage for our 2011 goal of topping the nation in blood donation.

Neither 2011 nor 2012 broke the record. This year, however, was the bomb:

Rutland roared into the record books Tuesday with a new national mark for blood collected in a single community in one day — more than 2,300 pints. The previous record was 1,968 pints, held by Manchester, N.H.

The total collected in the Gift of Life Marathon blood drive at five locations in Rutland was finalized at about 10:30 p.m., and the 2,337 pints put Rutland comfortably in the lead for the new national mark.

For a bit of perspective that's in a community of 35,000 in a county with 25,000 more. 2337 out of 60,000 people is an amazingly high percentage when you realize that the Red Cross excludes many people who:

are too young, too lightweight, have iron deficiencies, have medical problems, have been stationed in Irag or Afghanistan (or any number of foreign countries), are gay, have been in prison or done drugs, take medicines legitimately that aren't good for the blood recipient, have had a tattoo in the last 12 months ... page after page of exclusions. 

The list is immense and it narrows down the available pool of donors to the point where Rutland had about 15% of its eligible population donate blood on the same day.

Merry Christmas, indeed.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a Good Night.

Christmas Pear Tree.

Happy Fourth

Fireworks: Vermont Symphony Orchestra in Stowe ... thanks to Bill Jalbert

Merry Christmas

Frustum

To all my friends, I hope you got as much as you wanted for your Groundhog's Day presents. Me, I got a frustum.

Which was cool.

Then I realized that the picnic table on the lawn was equally covered but even more cool, if you can believe it.

An eight-sided pyramidal frustum? I don't even know, but Mrs. Curmudgeon loves it. Math Teachers. What can you say?

Merry Christmas

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

PeggyU asked what I was going to do on my snow day ... Go for a walk!

Pictures below the jump:

More Snow - Yippee !

Six inches on the ground at the beginning of evening class. Four more by the end of it. The differential on the van is dragging a trail. [insert joke of your choice here].
We've already gotten the phone call. Aaahhhhh.

Merry Christmas - my present to you

I hated Secret Santa at school. It's hardly any better at work. I can never seem to get the right balance in the group. Someone always is disappointed, someone invariably gives a too-expensive gift while someone else forgets or just doesn't bother. Tensions run high when it should be a good time. Then, you have the difficulty of getting a present for someone you don't know well. Everyone has trouble with this. The "funny" gift is received with a whince or a stone faced, "Thanks" and winds up in the trash can later.

We've solved that problem up here in the frozen north. Here is my present to everyone who needs a better way to get happy, have fun and give a gift to coworkers. It also works great when you have some folks who are less well off than others. You make a $15 limit. Since you are not buying for a specific person, this is MUCH easier.

Everyone buys a single gift for "themselves". Couples bring two. Surreptitiously, everyone places their wrapped gift in the middle of the circle.  The goal is to disassociate the giver from the gift.

Fortified with an appropriate libation, it's time for ...

A Yankee Swap

Numbered cards are picked from a basket to decide order of play. The players then arrange themselves in order around the circle. The Number cards should be kept visible near the player since they will be part of the game later.  You can use these or make your own.

In order, each chooses a gift from the pile.

Then, in order, each unwraps the gift. This gives everyone a first chance to see them and think about which they want to "play" for.

Three of the playing cards are dealt to each person. (These are seen on the next page.) The remainder are placed in a pile in the center.

In numerical order, players place a card face-up in the middle of the circle and picks up a replacement from the pile of extra tickets. The instructions on the face-up card are followed.

Swap cards, do-nothing cards and pass cards are played in turn.
Protection cards and EndGame cards are played at any time, in turn or out-of-turn.

Options:

• We had a couple gifts that were double-wrapped so people played for them "blind." You may want to add a "unwrap any presents" card to the group below.
• Some Yankee swaps say the swapping should happen once and BEFORE the gifts are opened. We felt that this made the whole exercise boring – how do you know if you want it if you don't know what it is?
• Additional tickets available by answering trivia instead of having a pick-up pile in the center. This can be difficult if someone gets too many tickets and others have none.
• All tickets can be dealt out at the beginning. I like it better when you play a card and get a replacement. It feels more like a game.
• The "Swap with a birthday in January" cards were included because we happened to have a bunch of January birthdays in the group.

Fire up your word processor, make a table with cellspacing and borders or use these to the right:

PLAYING CARDS: (x2 indicates the number of copies of this card.)

The Swap Cards:
These cards are person-to-person swaps. Some are specific (person to the right or left) while others allow a choice on the card-holder's part (e.g., swap with an odd number – the choice is in which odd number of course)

• Swap with Birthday not in January
• Swap with Birthday in January
• Swap with anyone wearing sneakers
• Swap with anyone wearing socks without shoes
• Swap with a prime number (x2)
• Swap with a composite number (x2)
• Swap with an odd number(x2)
• Swap with an even number (x2)
• Swap with anyone older than you (x2)
• Swap with anyone younger than you (x2)
• Swap with the person 2 to the right (x2)
• Swap with the person to your right (x2)
• Swap with the person to your left (x2)
• Swap with the person 2 to the left (x2)

The Do-nothing Cards:
These cards keep the status quo ante. Play them to keep everything as it is.

• Keep-sake ! swap with no one (x3)
• This card was intentionally left blank. (x3)

The Passing Cards:
Everyone in the circle passes to the right or left.

• All Pass - everyone pass to the left (x2)
• All Pass - everyone pass to the right (x2)

The Protection Cards:
Unlike the other cards, which are played in turn, Protection cards are played out-of-turn when the holder wishes to undo or alter a swap or pass.

• Safe! use this card to block someone from swapping with you. (x4) "Safe!" is played to block a swap that another player has called on you. The other player loses the swap and cannot choose another swap.
• Skip me! any pass, left or right, skips over you. (x2) "Skip Me!" is played in response to another player's pass card. The pass "skips" to the next person around the circle.
• Chocolate! temporarily leave the game to get chocolate.(x2) The Chocolate card allows the player to withdraw from the game and therefore not be subject to any swaps or passes. Return at any time. This game is supposed to be fun so the time of return is left up to the player.
• Not So Fast ! This card will undo the last swap. Use at any time. (x2) "Not so Fast!" is played at any time to stop any swap or pass, whether it affects the holder personally or not. Typically, this is thrown when the player realizes that someone has become attached to a particular present and is forced to exchange. A player can even play a card in turn and then immediately follow it with "Not So Fast!" to undo it.

EndGame Cards:

• Stop! (x4) These can be played at any time, in-turn or out-of-turn. When the four "Stop!" cards have been played, the game is over. Use these cards to end the game when the presents are "right" and further play would result in hurt feelings. Additionally, the last "Stop!" card can be played in such a way as to block an undesired card. For example, if the card being played is "Pass Left" then the final "Stop!" card can instantly end the game before the pass takes place or it can be held until just afterwards.

Please, enjoy the holidays. Have a Merry Christmas. Have a Happy Hannukah. Have a Happy New Year in 2010, 1432, the Year of the Tiger or a belated Rosh Hashanah 5771.

And now for the Glorious Baa-studs

I am speechless.

Hallelujah Chorus ... Subtitled ??

Just watch:

Bravo!

Anzac Day, April 25th

Lone Pine Hill Memorial

"Anzac Day runs deeper than nationalism or military pride," said The Australian.

Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) forces landed on the western side of the Gallipoli Peninsula (now part of Turkey) in 1915 during World War I. The objective was a quick strike at the Ottoman Empire, capture Constantinople (now Istanbul) and open The Dardanelles. ANZACs fought their way in to the beach, across the sand, and up the hills directly into Turkish small arms and artillery fire (under the command of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk). Both sides took heavy losses and eight months later, the Allies withdrew, giving up the two square kilometers of ground. After the war, over 40 memorials and war cemeteries were built for the 36,000 Commonwealth and over 86,000 Turkish dead.


The Band Played Waltzing Matilda
Eric Bogle

When I was a young man, I carried me pack
and I lived the free life of a rover
from the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over.

Then in 1915, my country said, "Son,
It's time to stop ramblin', there's work to be done.
They gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
and they sent me away to the war.

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
as our ship pulled away from the key.
And amid all the cheers, flag waving, and tears
we sailed off to Gallipoli.

When I remember that terrible day
when our blood stained the sand and the water.
and how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay
we were butchered like lambs at the slaughter

Johnny Turk he was ready, oh he primed himself well
He rained us with bullets and shot us with shells
and in five minutes flat, we were all blown to hell.
Nearly blew us back home to Australia.

But the Band played Waltzing Matilda
as we stopped to bury our slain.
We buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
and we started all over again.

Those who were living just tried to survive
in a mad world of blood, death, and fire
and for ten weary weeks, I kept myself alive
while around me, the corpses piled higher.

Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head
and when I awoke in my hospital bed
I saw what it had done and I wished I were dead
I never knew there were worse things than dying.

For I'll go no more waltzing Matilda
all around the green bush far and near
for to hup tent and pegs, a man needs both legs
no more waltzing Matilda for me

They collected the crippled, the wounded, the maimed
and they shipped us back home to Australia
the armless, the legless, the blind, the insane
those proud wounded heroes of Suvla.

And as our ship pulled into Circular Key
and I looked at the place where my legs used to be
I thanked Christ there was no one waiting for me
to grieve and to mourn or to pity

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
as they carried us down the gangway
but nobody cheered they just stood there and stared
and they turned all their faces away.

So now every April I sit on my porch
and I watch the parade pass before me
I see my old comrades, how proudly they march,
renewing their dreams of past glory.

I see the old men, how tired, stiff and sore
The weary old heroes of a forgotten war
The young people ask "what are they marching for?
and I ask myself the same question.

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
And the old men still answer the call.
But year after year, the numbers grow fewer.
Someday no one will march there at all

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come Waltzing Matilda with me?
And the ghosts may be heard as you pass by the billabong
You'll come Waltzing Matilda with me.

more on Gallipoli - or just Google "Anzac Day."

Happy New Year

Boom, bang ... ooooh, aaaaah.

Don't wear a hat!

It's puzzling, really

Curmudgeon's stepson reminded him of some more administrator silliness that you'll all get a kick out of. His school has a no-hat rule.

"No big deal, Curmudgeon," I can hear you all saying. "No hoodies and no hats is a pretty common rule."

And you would be right, but at his school, the rule was extended for the holidays. Halloween costumes were fine on the 31st, but without a hat. That's right. You could be a witch and dress in a scanty and flimsy sheer thing that wouldn't have passed the dress code if it weren't for the green-and-white-striped tall socks and even then the cleavage on display could be impressive. The hat was forbidden, though.

Camoflage was verboten at first because of the whole guns thing. This changed to ok when kids pointed out that many wore it almost every day and "Yes, Virginia, it is hunting season."

Then came Christmas. Stepson wore his Santa hat and everyone thought it pretty cool except Vice-Principal CSI and Principal Frumpyants. "Take off the hat or get a detention."

You just can't make this stuff up.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all,

and to all a Good Night.

Silent Night, full of Snow

There's only one Christmas song appropriate for this much snow.

Snow Day !

View out the living room sliding glass door, through the "tropical" plants at the nearly 20" of snow and thinking about the next storm of 1"-2" tonight and 5"-8" inches tomorrow and tomorrow night.

It's enough for a snow day. Ayup.

update: more snow.

Oh my goodness. Even the bird feeder is getting into the act.