Wednesday, I had a big sustainability presentation to give to a group at the US Green Building Council. It had been on the books for months, so of course I waited until about the day before to start making updates and upgrades to my presentation and getting prepped up.
This was one where they wanted me to show my face on the Zoom call while I presented, so I decided to take the decided chance of de-grizzling myself and shaving off my now clearly out of control beard. I never really mean to have a beard. It always starts off with not feeling like shaving and then suddenly, boom. I look like Tom Hanks in Castaway, minus the weight loss.
Anyway, I remember writing WAY back in the early days of this blog about an early Zoom presentation I had to give and also shaved that morning, and in that case cut myself up pretty good. I knew i was taking a gamble here, and this time luckily, my razor was true and I didn’t maul myself. I took the rare occasion of being seen to put on a tie I bought a few months ago for some reason. I got set up and ready to go.
I was nervous going in, but the presentation went really well and I got some good questions and feedback afterward, which was great. That was a big load off.
Meanwhile, the kids spent a good chunk of the afternoon playing family, and I overheard them having some pretty hilarious make-believe drama and adventures with Amelia’s baby doll.
Much of the story apparently took place in Hawaii, so kudos on choosing a good setting.
Amelia also learned about shape poetry in school, and she has become a pretty prolific shape poet. She has written poems in squares, in dog shapes, and here in a Christmas tree shape.
We love that she takes her own initiative to be creative and to create, and I hope that’s something she keeps right on doing.
After dinner, we all sat down together and watched the old Claymation Christmas Special, something that had been a childhood favorite of both mine and Erin’s families. I was delighted to see that our kids enjoyed it just as much. It is pretty timeless.
Sure, it does seem a little weird in retrospect that the California Raisins were SUCH a cultural phenomenon back then, but they just have a small piece in this special and frankly deliver a pretty bitchin’ version of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. I’d encourage anyone to check it out, though it doesn’t appear to be really streaming anywhere. I actually have it on DVD, and I think it’s also on YouTube. It’s like the internet is trying to erase the 80s! As long as I still have my memory and my old Burgertime high scores, that will never happen.
