Franken is ahead by 49 votes. Now some 1,300 absentee ballots have to be opened and counted. But there's still fighting over which ones to count.

According to an article on WCCO.com: "Minnesota's race is on track to go down as the closest Senate election in U.S. history. Franken's current lead is two one-thousandths of a percent. Put another way, that's one vote for every 58,395 cast."

On a related note, Minnesota led the nation in voter turnout in the 2008 Presidential election, with 77.8%. Wisconsin came in second with almost 73%. National average was just under 62%. Pathetic.

Hey, it's the last day of 2008!
I can't figure out what channel MSNBC is on. There are too many damn channels!!!

Remember back on December 31st, 1999 when The T.V. was playing New Year's celebrations all day long from the many time zones around the world? That was enjoyable. Remember the Y2K fear? That makes me laugh. Remember laying on the bathroom floor in Liz's house, puking in the toilet around the time the year 2000 rolled in? No? Oh, because that was me, not you. (apparently I'd had too much sparkling grape juice)

Hey, Joleen--how's 2009? Did you celebrate in style again this year, on a boat in Sydney harbour?

I just watched (15 minutes ago or so) Hong Kong ring in the New Year. I had to laugh, because they counted down in Chinese (obviously), but yelled "Happy New Year" in English. Hehe. Maybe they reserve saying it in Chinese for the Chinese New Year. When exactly is that, anyway? I don't care enough to look it up at the moment. But I'd wager it's around February 1st. Okay, now that I've wagered, I have to look it up. One moment, please...Okay, it's on January 26th. Not too far off. In case you are wondering, it will be the Year of the Ox. Both my parents are oxes.

Places I've celebrated New Year's: Rochester, Bigfork, Madison, South Korea, Puerto Rico, Minneapolis. Uhhh...I think that's it.

You Weigh In: Should I make some New Year's Resolutions, or is that lame/trite/stupid/pointless-because-I-have-no-gumption-and-can-never-get-myself-to-do-things-that-I-don't-really-want-to-do-anyway?

Decree: If you read this post, I command that you tell me one thing (or more, if you're an over-achiever) that you want me to do this next year. Bonus points if they're serious and doable.

Christmas, Christmastime Is Here
Time for joy and time for cheer!

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas this year; providing you celebrate Christmas, that is. As far as I know, everyone who reads this blog does, but whatev.

Christmas greetings from Joleen and Sunny. Bastards. :)
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Not everyone is happy to see Santa.
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Christmas cookies I got to eat, but didn't have to help make.
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This was the one day a year when I go to church. They changed it up this year--I think it's been the same since I can remember, but it was very much more geared to kids this year. Which did make it a bit more interesting, I have to say. No long-ass sermons or speeches or whatever. What exactly is a litany, anyway?

Looking out the window and seeing Rudolph in our backyard. Aka my dad with a flashlight with red tissue paper over it hiding behind our pine trees. This was quite the hit.
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The impossible task of taking Christmas photos with little kids.
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Me and all my nieces.
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Well, they are called stockings. I think she looks like a musketeer.
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All the family came over to our (aka my parents') house on Christmas Eve. Except for Joleen and Sunny and Beck and her husband Joe and their new(ish) baby. As per tradition, our family opens our presents on Christmas Eve. Except for the ones from Santa. They get opened on Christmas morning. Gifts were opened, cheer was had. Food was eaten, potables were consumed. Grandma got a ton of bird items, Grandpa got a ton of word searches. Riley was all keyed up and kept running up to Jenna (cousin of mine) and yelling directly into her face, "Muffin Apple!" We have no idea why she was yelling this. It may not have been "muffin apple," but that's what it sounded like.

All the cousins, sans a few who couldn't make it.
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The adult table.
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The overflow adult table.
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It's present opening time!
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After the extended family left, more presents were opened:

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Christmas morning. Santa came!

I got a PlayStation 2 and Rock Band. It's awesome. My obsessive compulsiveness kicked in and I HAD to keep playing it until I had unlocked all the songs. I think I dried out my eyeballs and they've been bloodshot for a few days now. My mom is really getting into both Rock Band and Sing Star. My dad, surprisingly, is having none of it. Apparently, the lure of watching feel-good movies on Lifetime is stronger than his urge to play fake instruments. Go figure. And look--it's fun for people of all ages!


Note to self/blog readers: After/sometime around New Year's I should do a blog entry that's "A Year in Review." You may have to keep prodding me to do this. If you want it, that is. I'm a very lazy blogger when I'm at my parents' house. And I'd have to set up my computer. Which reminds me that I need to call Dell to fix my near death computer.

3, 2, 1 Days 'Til Christmas!

I know I've missed days, but I'm at my parents house and I don't have my ornament photos on their computer. So. Sorry for all of you who feel that you're missing out on my Christmas tree tour.

In lieu of an ornament picture, I will post a video I made composed of Christopherson Christmas home videos to some holiday classic songs. Feel free to watch it if you like. Or ignore. Your choice.


XmasVideo_agk.avi

Happy Holidays!
(To include Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus, etc)

So, when I was home for Thanksgiving my mom was trying to think of a cute Christmas set-up in which to take pictures of Riley and Nora. She needed me for a stand-in. I decided that adults should be able to create Christmas cards with photos of them doing stupid things, so I used the picture my mom had taken of me and created a card. And now I'm sharing it with you all at the behest of Sarah and Liz. Enjoy, and Merry Christmas!

4 Days 'Til Christmas!

I've always found this ornament to be kind of ugly. I'm off soon for home. Home for the Holidays.

5 Days 'Til Christmas!

Hey, it's the dude on top of the M&Ms tube that we get in our stockings every year!

I went to a Bon Iver concert last night with Sarah and Nikki. It was quite good. Then Liz arrived. Yay!

And Franken takes the lead!!! Woo-hoo!!! Let's hope he can keep it! And to make matters better:

"The ballot that put Franken in the lead came from Rochester, where a voter's mark for Franken filled not just his oval but a good chunk of territory next to it. A challenge from the Coleman campaign was rejected."

Alright, person from Rochester who can't properly fill in a bubble!

6 Days 'Til Christmas!

Hey, I'm an angel and I'm holding a tree potted in a thimble.

As of about 9:30 today, Madison had gotten 9 inches of snow. This is the second day this year that Madison public schools were canceled. Which is a rarity for Madison. Although I think they were canceled two or three times last year, what with the record 100 inches of snow.

I just saw a car get stuck on Schroeder Ct (the street my apt is on). He did manage to get his car unstuck. I hope they plow that street before Liz gets here, or before I have to leave.

Claymation "Giant Teeth" Horeseface now leads Franken by only 2 votes. Yes, TWO votes. Bunch of disputed ballots still to be counted, apparently. Not sure who's supposedly favored in these ballots if they are to be counted.

7 Days 'Til Christmas!

This was another one of my favorite ornaments. It's a little girl made out of an acorn, or some other nut. I always thought of her as an angel, but she doesn't have any wings, so I guess it's just a little girl.

I'm super perversely excited for the snowstorm coming tonight/tomorrow early morning. It helps that I don't have to go anywhere. The weathermen keep saying that there may be thundersnow...aka thunder when it snows. I keep thinking I hear thunder, but then realize that it's my neighbor and his movie/video game/other annoying loud noise. Anyway, I've heard possible totals anywhere from 5-14 inches. Quite the range. 7-11 seems to be the general consensus. 7-11. Hehe.

8 Days 'Til Christmas!

Look, Ma! I made it myself!

I hate listening to Sally Fields say the word "Boniva."

The Capitol Fitness ditty makes me laugh. Because it's so cheesy and horrible.

9 Days 'Til Christmas!

Hey, look--It's an angel made out of noodles!

10 Days 'Til Christmas!

Everyone needs a "Baby's First Christmas" ornament. Sorry for the crappola picture quality.

Ouch.

If you decide to take a hot cookie sheet out of the oven using a wet potholder, YOU WILL REGRET IT.

11 Days 'Til Christmas!
Mmm...pickles...

So we've always had a pickle ornament on our tree, but we've never hidden it and given out prizes to the person who finds it. We just hang it up on our tree like any other ornament. So don't expect me to send you a gift for commenting, "I'm the first to find the pickle!" 'Cause, you know, I'm cheap. What a weird tradition, anyway. Where does it originate?

(goes off to check Wikipedia)

Huh. It's a supposedly German custom that's really an American custom. Wikipedia? Not so helpful on this topic.

Wacky Weather
Tempestuous Temperatures

I just looked at weather.com for Madison, and check out the forecast:

High for Sunday: 50.

High for Monday: 10.

Geez. Quite the drop.

Funny Stuff
To me, anyway

I just laughed a lot watching SNL's Weekend Update. The blind New York governor bit was funny, but I especially loved the "Really?" segment where Seth and Amy ripped on Blagojevich's hair. My favorite joke was when they said something akin to, "It looks like someone put the hair on backwards on one of those Fisher-Price people." Hahaha!!!

And then I went on Yahoo! and saw this headline. It seriously confused me for a long time. Does it seem especially funny to anyone else:

"No taint seen on Prez-elect, but Rahm Emanuel gave a wishlist for Senate"

Really? Really, newspaper headline writer???

12 Days 'Til Christmas!

Here's an ornament given out at Brian and Shannon's wedding, which took place in December, in case you couldn't guess.

Did you know that the word "pixel" is derived from "picture element?" I didn't. But I do now. You do learn interesting things in class! If you're a geek, anyway.

I need to vacuum.

Question of the Day: What's your favorite Christmas song?

March of the Librarians

While going through and clearing out my class notebooks (Huzzah! Semester is over!), I came across a note I made at the top of one of my pages: March of the Librarians. I couldn't remember what this referred to, but I had the feeling it might be a video. So I googled it, and it is! And it's pretty funny, too. So here it is for you to watch, if you like:

13 Days 'Til Christmas!

As a counter to yesterday's decidedly un-Christmas-themed ornament(s), my choice today gets to the very heart of the meaning of Christmas. What could be more Christmas than the Virgin Mary holding Baby Jesus, our Lord and Savior?

My thoughts and prayers go out to Sarah, who threw up in her classroom today. Get better soon, and go with God.

14 Days 'Til Christmas!

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Max Rebo Band!

Not an oldie, but a goodie nonetheless. If you don't know who these dudes are, think Star Wars. If you still can't place them, then you need to watch the movies again. Interesting side-note: Apparently, the style of music they play is called jizz. I don't make this stuff up.

15 Days 'Til Christmas!

We used to have two nutcracker ornaments--the one pictured above, and another one dressed in blue. Joleen and I used to fight over who put which one up...we both liked the red guy best. 90%+ of the time, I'm sure Joleen won. But somehow I've ended up with the ornament, so while she may have won the individual battles, I won the war! Ha! Take that! We also used to fight over this awesome nativity scene ornament, which Joleen also always won. Bu tI think she ended up keeping that ornament. Drat.

I went to the mall today. I went in Steve and Barry's because they were going out of business and had big sales. I was really disturbed while in there, however, because I could never tell if I was in the girls' or women's area. And really, shouldn't this be obvious? Well, it wasn't. Sarah Jessica Parker's clothing line (which is in Steve and Barry's) got all kinds of raves for having clothing up to size twenty-something, but when your size twenty-something is akin to a normal size 12, then you kind of need sizes that big. Seriously, the small sized tee-shirts look like they're made for emaciated 4 year olds. Needless to say, I left without making a purchase.

Adult Only Peanut Butter Lovers Fan Club Reunion
Ew.

I was looking at some archival files at the Wisconsin Historical Society today. They were Silver Anvil Award files. The Silver Anvil Award, symbolizing the forging of public opinion, is awarded annually by the Public Relations Society of America to organizations which have successfully addressed a contemporary issue with exemplary professional skill, creativity and resourcefulness. Basically, a PR award. Anyway, I was looking through the 1989 awards (may have been 1988) and came across the "Adult Only Peanut Butter Lovers Fan Club Reunion" file. Huh?? It sounds so dirty. Adult only? What exactly is being done with this peanut butter? Turns out nothing weird. They just had a convention (hosted by Soupy Sales) exalting the virtues and taste of peanut butter. And they won an award. There were photos of the event, and they were all wearing buttons that said, "Adult Peanut Butter Lover." But how they designed the button, from afar it looked like it just said, "Adult Lover." The whole thing was just weird and humorous.

16 Days 'Til Christmas!

The snow outside is falling like rocks. It's actually very pretty. My bus was 15 minutes late (Monday nights is incompetent inclement weather bus driver), and coupled with the fact that my class got out 15 minutes early, I had to wait a half an hour for the bus. Ugh. At least my bus stop had a shelter.

Beary Christmas! This was another one of my favorite ornaments. At one point the bear fell off, but that was an easy fix. I loved the honey, aka glue.

17 Days 'Til Christmas!

(I'm bad a stuff like counting, so pay no mind to the fact that as of yesterday there were 19 days until Christmas. Feel free to correct my count. Me stoopid.)

This was always one of my favorites--Mrs. Claus in a sleigh. My sister has one just like it, and my brother has one with Santa. I should probably know who gave them to us, but I don't...

Ornament Advent

Until Christmas, I'll be giving you a virtual tour of my mini Christmas tree via the ornaments on it. Each day, you'll get a new ornament. Some of my faves aren't on my tree because they're on my parents', but what can you do?

19 Days Until Christmas!

Name That Tune!

I snurched this from Liz. Shuffle your iTunes and and write the first line from the songs that come up. Then people guess the songs. Have at it!!!

1. When a man loves a woman, can't keep his mind on nothing else.
2. When I look into your eyes, I can see a love restrained.
3. Touch my skin and tell me what you're thinking.
4. I'm giving you everything, all that joy can bring.
5. No, no, no, no, don't phunk with my heart.
6. Look into my eyes, you will see what you mean to me.
7. All the leaves are brown and the sky is grey.
8. Don't look now, things just got worse.
9. Easily, let's get carried away.
10. I've got a hunger twisting my stomach into knots.
11. Wait a minute man, you mispronounced my name.
12. I just left her standing there, tangled thoughts and tangled hair.
13. Welcome to the jungle; we've got fun and games.
14. All of my love, all of my kissing, you don't know what you've been missing.
15. Daniel is traveling tonight on a plane.
16. That's all I wanted; something special, something sacred in your eyes.
17. Drink up baby doll; are you in or are you out?
18. She walks in the room and checks out the faces.
19. There she stood in the street, smiling from her head to her feet.
20. And so she woke up, woke up from where she was lying still.


Answers:


1. When a Man Loves a Woman - Percy Sledge. (Wow, that was hard) :)
2. November Rain - Guns 'N' Roses. (It only took 1:15 and a piccolo to get to this line)
3. Take My Hand - Dido
4. Say You'll Be There - Spice Girls
5. Don't Phunk With My Heart - Black-Eyed Peas (Can this get any easier?)
6. (Everything I Do) I Do It For You - Bryan Adams
7. California Dreamin' - Mama's and the Papa's
8. Everything Falls Apart - Dog's Eye View
9. Easily - Red Hot Chili Peppers
10. The Sound of Settling - Death Cab For Cutie
11. Right Through You - Alanis Morissette
12. I-90 - Chris and Johnny (Storyhill)
13. Seriously. If you don't know this, then I don't know what to tell you.
14. Oh Boy - Buddy Holly
15. Daniel - Elton John
16. Father Figure - George Michael
17. Let Go - Frou Frou
18. Bell Jar - Bangles
19. All Right Now - Free
20. Running to Stand Still - U2

I did hit next on a few, since I had an inordinate number of songs that had the title as their first lyric. Which seemed lame-o to me. I always laugh at myself when I do things like this, because I get embarrassed about a good number of my songs. One song that didn't make the cut (due to the first lyric being the title) was Meatloaf's I Would Do Anything For Love. Hahahaha!!! The other day while walking to the bus stop, Vanilla Ice came on. Wtf?? I had no idea I even had that! That said, I embarassingly enjoyed it.

Man. I just made the mistake of checking the weather before heading out to catch the bus. It's 12 degrees, feels like 4. 4!! Ugh. I suppose I should just be happy it's not below zero, eh?

And I couldn't sleep last night due to excessive coughing. So I'm really tired.

What else can I complain about? I'll get back to you on that one...

But to make this post less boring (to some of you), here's an interesting tidbit I recently learned about: During Stalin's reign, after he killed people who pissed him off, he'd try to erase them from history, including editing them out of photos. So here's an early example of Photoshopping:

Thanksgiving
And Christmas trees

My great-great-great-etc grandfather, George Soule, came over on the Mayflower and was present for the first Thanksgiving. (OK, so technically there were Thanksgivings prior to this one, but this is the one with the "Indians" that everyone thinks of as the first Thanksgiving) I wonder which of these dudes is good ol' George? My bet is on the dude in the back left with the rifle slung over his shoulder:


Fast forward three hundred plus years, and here are a few of his descendants:

For the first time since I can remember, we got a real Christmas tree! We went to a Christmas tree farm (that sounds so depressing), walked amongst them all, picked one out, cut it down, then brought it home. Yay! Which tree did we get? Did it look like one of these:

I tried to convince my parents to get a pink aluminum tree, but it was a no-go. I contemplated getting a sad little Charlie Brown tree for my apartment, but ultimately didn't. I didn't have the right blue blanket for it. :)

Here is the tree we decided upon. It looks so much bigger in the house... (it was 7.5 ft, btw)

Here we are, dragging the carcass to the car:


Then I got to drive back to Madison. It was snowy. I got to call 911 when the car in front of me spun out on the interstate. It's always fun when the car in front of you starts spinning around on the road. Thankfully, it flew into the ditch before I got to it. More to be thankful for. Huzzah! It ended up taking an hour longer than usual to get home (more due to traffic than weather conditions).

Oh, and fwiw, I finally decided upon the Playstation 2. Because it was hella more cheaper than everything else. In a perfect world I would have gotten the Wii, but we do not live in a perfect world. I ended up getting the Playstation 2 with Sing Star for $129, so I was happy. And the Rock Band 1 bundle for $99. I'll only have one guitar, but I'm only one person, so I don't mind. Thanks to everyone who gave me advice!