Red Ring of Death

WAYNE’S WORDS
Volume 1 Number 19
Red Ring of Death

All Right Already!!! I will blog. Geez a guy can’t even take a Christmas break without getting harassed.

I hope that everyone reading this had a great Christmas (except the ones who don’t celebrate that holiday – I hope you had a great whatever you celebrate or at least a great day).

I had a very nice Christmas. My son, my mom, my girlfriend and I had a wonderful round of opening presents. We all received very nice and thoughtful gifts and we were very blessed to get to share the holiday with each other.

Mom cooked us up a succulent Christmas ham with all the trimmings. MMMMMMMMMBoy was it good. Still lots left for “sammiches” too.

I guess the best gift I received was not something that was wrapped in pretty paper, but something my son did one Christmas morning. The girlfriend and I got him an Xbox 360 for Christmas and strategically made him open his presents in a specific order so that it was almost the last one he opened. When he did tear into it he was actually flabbergasted that I would spend the money on such a thing. I guess he thinks I am cheap or something, but that opinion of me (real or perceived) just added to the surprise.

He had about five boxes to open after the 360. He was sure that they were all clothes, because they were wrapped in shirt boxes and I kept “accidentally” calling them clothes. As he opened the first of these and found that it was a game for his 360, he quickly caught on and tore open the others enthusiastically. He was a happy camper.

You may be saying to yourself, “So your kid was glad he got an expensive electronic device. Big deal! How is that YOUR best gift?”

As we all know the happy glow on a child’s face when they get THE gift they really wanted is a precious thing, but that was not my favorite gift.

He went to take the system into his room to set it up and play and I stopped him. I told him that since it was Christmas, he could hook it up in the living room on the HD big screen. He was stoked. I hooked it up for him and he and I marvel at the HD graphics and awesome game play…for all of 10 minutes. It froze up. Then the dreaded “red ring of death” showed up on the front of the Xbox 360. If you are an Xbox 360 owner you know that this is the end of the unit. It has bricked. It has had a general hardware failure.

My son was crushed. Obviously THAT wasn’t my favorite gift of the season. In fact, as sad as he was I was about 100 times worse, because I hate to see him disappointed.

The broken unit only saddened him for about a half an hour. After that he was over it almost completely. It didn’t ruin his ENTIRE Christmas. It didn’t cause him to be so ticked off that it affected everyone else’s holiday. He took the whole thing in stride.

At one point, he said to me that he obviously knew it wasn’t my fault and that he knew we would get it taken care of as soon as feasible. I told him that I felt bad that it didn’t work and that we would take care of it and that I just want him to be happy.

The best gift came next… my son hugged me and said “Dad, I couldn’t be happier than I am living with you.”

Until Next Time,
Wayne

Gift Swap!

WAYNE’S WORDS
Volume 1 Number 18
Gift Swap!

Tonight is our Company Christmas Party! Sorry…I don’t want us to be slapped with any lawsuits, so let me begin again.

Tonight is our Company Winter Meeting. Boy! That sounds cheerful, warm and snuggly.

Anyway, we are having the age-old, traditional “Secret-White-Santa-Elephant-Gift-Exchange.” (Whatever it is called.)

I don’t know about these things. I mean they are fun and all, but does anyone else feel extreme pressure when shopping for the gift that you will place on the table? I often do.

There is always a spending limit. This year there is a $20 maximum. So, what do you do? What if you see a perfect gift that is $11? I know that $20 is the max, but I often feel like a cheapskate because I haven’t hit the magic number.

On other occasions I have seen something cool for five or ten dollars OVER the limit. What do you do then? You know other people have seen the same things and will know that you spent more than the designated amount. “Oh, he is just showing off!” They’ll say.

The jury comprised of 12 angry men that reside in my head is still out on the whole gift card idea. I mean, sure you can usually get it for exactly the right amount, but I’m not sure if that is any good. For one thing you cannot really disguise it; it’s a little rectangular, flat box that screams, “Gift Card!” Also, if too many people bring them we are all just exchanging money. If that is the case, why not just draw a name and hand them $20? For that matter, why doesn’t everyone just keep their money?

I also often worry that whatever I think is really keen may be scoffed by other people. The horror of seeing your gift passed around because no one else in the company really wants a combination Chia Pet, George Foreman Grill, Lamp. It looked cool in the store!

Do you ever feel bad for wanting your own gift back? Last year I took an awesome dart board (the one with real points on the darts and a cool wooden case that closed the board behind nifty doors) and I sooooooooo wanted it. I was set up to take it back in the perfect trade where no one else could take it and… My conscience got the better of me and said, “You bought that for other people!” I am such a sap. I should have snatched it.

Maybe it is not really the gifts and trying not to get stuck with the $20 worth of incense. Maybe it is the fun and the laughter and the camaraderie. Oh! Wait it must be that, because that is what the holidays are all about.

Here’s to a stress-free holiday season to all of you. Merry Christmas!

Until Next Time,
Wayne

The Force of Christmas?

WAYNE’S WORDS
Volume 1 Number 17
The Force of Christmas?

Welp, here it is December 6^th; just 19 days until Christmas! Are you ready?

I am no where near being done yet. I have been just doing it as I go. Tomorrow I have a small gift exchange…I’ll buy something tonight. I don’t have a BIG chunk of time to devote to Christmas shopping. If you lumped it all together it would probably amount to a decent block of time, but to do it all at once would be impossible. Instead of harvesting the whole crop at once I just kind of cherry-pick.

(By the way, I just checked and I did NOT win the lottery. It drives me bonkers that I cannot beat those astronomical odds.)

So back to the shopping… I have been doing it in snippets. If I have to run into any business in this city I keep my eyes peeled for something that may be perfect for someone. It actually turns out ok, since I am in the store for another reason the item that is bold enough to jump out and bite me is generally perfect for someone on my list.

I have found that when I go in to go shopping FOR Christmas, I get NOTHING accomplished. I just get frustrated and distracted.

I was in a store last night and I was actually hunting for something that would make a good gift for the Secret Santa thing tomorrow and I started to lose it. ARGHHHHHHHHH.

My phone rang and I was drawn into a rather lengthy conversation. As I talked on the phone I meandered around the store aimlessly. While wandering, I noticed something at the bottom of a pile ahead of me. In my head I thought it would be great, but there was a separate component that would be needed to make it actually a good gift and therefore a great find.

Oh well. I shifted to left and what to my wondering eyes did appear? The other separate component! And the Angels sang, “Hallelujah!” I ended up getting the two items together for 25% of the normal price! And I found a dollar in the parking lot to boot! Woo! Hoo!

I guess as I strolled around the store, talking on the phone I let go of the stress of finding the perfect gift. I just talked and walked and took in the holiday sights and sounds. I found the perfect gift when I was NOT stressing about it. I found the perfect gift when I was talking to a good friend. I found it when I was surrounded by the Christmas Spirit.

It is kind of like when Luke was about to bomb the Death Star and he heard Obi-wan tell him, “Let go, Luke.” Maybe it would be best this Christmas to “switch off your targeting computer” and just let yourself go. Listen to the carols in the store, give some change to the bell-ringer, listen to the people laughing (block out the individuals saying gimme, gimme, gimme), watch kids sit on Santa’s lap or even just wander around among the Christmas displays and talk to a friend on the phone.

Trust me, the gift (whatever and for whomever it is) will be perfect, because it is from you.

Until Next Time,
Wayne

PS Leave me a comment and tell me how your shopping and stuff is going.