In defense of the real tree

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So I went over to Stacy’s page today and answered the poll question. I’m kind of surprised at the results so far.

I mean, I know that I just went and bought an artificial tree myself, and I claimed that it was the “perfect tree”, but it’s only as good as an artificial one can be. There’s just something about a real tree; there’s its texture, and of course the way the whole house smells like pine (or fir, whatever your preference). Sure, it’s a little more upkeep, but there are some handy tips to help out with that. For example, a small rake works wonders for getting up all the needles…

Real Christmas trees aren’t perfect. They’re usually shaped well, but there’s always a spot that isn’t quite as full as they should be. In my opinion, this is actually a good thing. I’ve discussed this before with respect to the ornaments on the tree, but it’s just as true for the tree itself when it’s real.

And it’s not just about the actual tree itself; it’s also about the background behind the tree. For about five or six years, in my middle and high school years, our family got real trees. We always had a great time going around to the various farms and finding the right tree. Of course, being the one to find the tree was a badge of honor worn throughout the season.

With an artificial tree, you open a box and assemble it. Admittedly, the process is faster than a real tree, but should something like decorating a Christmas tree be about speed?

I know that some people can’t have real trees for various reasons. And I know that some people can’t afford to get a real tree year after year. But if you can do it one year, I’d say try it.

Random minutiae

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The ComFrame interview went okay, I guess. We’ll just have to see.

A new edition of UA Football Facts is out.

Mozilla users (read: me, probably) will see a little pressing on… icon where their bookmark formerly was. IE users would get the same thing, but I don’t have a program that can make icon files on my computer. I did have one when I had Visual C++ installed on my computer, but I don’t anymore. You’re not missing that much, anyway.

Show that’s rapidly becoming my answer to Ricky and Tammy’s watching Buffy and Angel: Smallville. Problem is, I keep forgetting that it comes on Tuesday nights at 8! I usually run into it about 15 minutes in. And besides it being a pretty good show, come on! Clark’s dad once drove the General Lee! What more could you possibly want? 🙂

Wish me luck!

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I interview with ComFrame today at 2:30.

A couple of other things that I plan on doing today: I need to go to the closest Hallmark. Why? Because I need a Yankee Candle for the holidays. I’m also planning on making a Bama Fever run, because I want to get another Alabama ornament. One of these days I’m just going to have an entire Bama tree. 🙂

Decoration

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What’s that under the options section? Could it be a new Christmas theme?

Actually, if this is your first time to pressing on (hi, by the way!), I’ve made this theme the default for this time of year only. It needs to be tweaked a little more (maybe a bit too much red and green, I think), but I wanted to get my decorations up as soon as possible. 🙂 I like the different font style, though…a little change of pace from the rest of the themes.

Speaking of decorations, I spent the better part of the afternoon looking for the perfect Christmas tree. I finally found it: it’s a 7½’ Manhattan Pine. It’s one of those nice prelit ones that comes apart in three sections that fold up pretty nicely. I like it. It’s pretty plain right now, because all of my decorations are in my storage area. But I got some glass balls for it, and my grandparents believe that they’ve found some of my grandmother’s old ornaments. So it will be ready to go soon. Pictures to come, I’m sure.

Hm. An on-the-fly thought: that has the makings of a good project, doesn’t it? How about sending me pictures of your Christmas tree, with perhaps some history behind it and how it’s decorated? I’ll put up a special section if I get enough stuff.

I give up

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Sigh.

As you surely well know by now, I’ve had a lot of difficulty in the past getting stuff to work in Netscape 4, bless its little heart.

I’ve wanted the site to look decent while moving it forward. I’ve added some relatively advanced CSS stuff (no tables involved in the layout), user-input style sheet and image choices, and I’d really like to add the collapsing menus. And in the meantime, Netscape 4 begs for attention by crashing every time I try to check how the site looks.

So no more.

The content will be there for you guys, but I’m afraid the site will look just about as plain as it can until you get off of the front page. Then it will look decent, but not as good as it could. It’s the only way I can have the page display at all in Netscape 4 consistently. To users of Netscape 6, Mozilla, and IE 5+, the site will look exactly the same.

Things I’m thankful for

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  • Getting my paycheck earlier than I thought.
  • Suit pants that can be taken out a couple of inches.
  • Being able to help my grandparents with Thanksgiving preparations.
  • Knowing that I’ll see my sister and brother-in-law tonight.
  • Holding the upper hand on my pro-Tiger family members this year. 🙂
  • My Christmas CDs, just ready to be played.
  • Not having to worry about going to bed at a “reasonable” hour tonight.
  • Friends who help me with my job quest (thanks, Mary Lisa and Thomas!)
  • Revelations from God.

What are you thankful for?

Not your ordinary Joe

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It seems that Joe Burns will be quitting his web site as of the end of this year. Well, big deal, one might say.

It’s just that Joe Burns is the founder of HTML Goodies, which is probably one of the most well-known HTML starter sites on the web. It also has tutorials on many other Web topics. His web site was my second stop in learning how to code HTML (the first was the NCSA HTML Primer at the University of Illinois, which was the guide back in 1996, when I first started). He’s been working on HTML Goodies for eight years, which is pretty much an eternity in Web time. (Actually, it almost spans web time.) Oh, during that time, Dr. Burns has been a professor of communication at two universities.

His site isn’t going anywhere; it will still be there for anyone who’s new to the web, or anyone who forgets what that tag is that sets off a long quote from the rest of the text.

Today’s itinerary

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Today I’m going to interview with the company that I’ve been temping with for the past week. This, of course, is a very good thing. I also turn in my invoice today, which means I shall be paid in a week. This, of course, is also a very good thing. Excelsior!

It runs on both sides

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Somewhere there is an Auburn fan like Bill Keith. Super-superstitious, and always on the refs’ backs. Not afraid to give anyone his real opinion on the “other team”.

Somewhere there is an Auburn fan like Eric Sexton. Fired up enough to destroy furniture just thinking about the upcoming game.

Somewhere there is an Auburn fan like Chris DePew. Probably has the entire history of the Iron Bowl on file in his mind. Not to mention the other thousand or so games his favorite team has played…

Somewhere there is an Auburn fan like Stephanie Bain. Wouldn’t necessarily know it to look at her outside the stadium, but inside she’s one of the biggest fans at the games, and runs through as much the gamut of emotion as any man. Always on the DB’s backs. 🙂

Somewhere there is an Auburn fan like Ricky Eanes. Normally pretty quiet while watching the game, but taking it all in. Always ready to dissect the performance afterwards.

Somewhere there is an Auburn fan like Curt Martin. Always shows his school colors and has a car horn that plays his fight song. Has serious reservations about stepping into the enemy’s territory, even when his team’s playing there.

Somewhere there is an Auburn fan like me. Knows the stats and the facts and loves all the tradition behind the game. But he’s just as ready for the game to be played on the field as anyone else. More so than most, he’d probably say.

Yes, it runs on both sides. That’s what makes it so great. And come this Saturday, all sorts of fans will stop a state for three and a half hours for a game that most other people don’t understand. Not fully, anyway.