Oh what a year!

Good-bye 2008!

I'm going to miss this year. While the economy died and my job was and to a certain degree still is in jeopardy and it seems everything's going to hell in the world, things for me have never been better.

While yes the first half of the year I was stuck in a dead-end job with no light at the end of the tunnel... and not much light at all working nights and sleeping days. And while yes I waged an ugly war against pesky little hives that left me often in a miserable daze and kind of crazy most days.

But with the bad comes the good... I did get a new and better job. I did buy a new and better car. And today, the last day of the year, I learned that I will have a new and better place to live.

That's right, it's official, I'm buying a home. After months of searching and sifting through garbage and junk, we found a gem of a place and went for it... and we got it!

This leads us to our next big decision... what's the best way to remove wallpaper?
(Now would be a really good time to check out the all new Duffy's Photos link on the side.)

Hopefully, 2009 will be equally great, but without all the hives.

Christmas with Paul

Christmas is quickly over. It's crazy how fast it happens. I've actually been meaning to write this since Sunday - and probably could have written it Friday night - but it amazes me how long Christmas is built up as it's been extended through Thanksgiving and is quickly encroaching upon Halloween season. Then in one day, it's over. No more Christmas movies, no more Christmas music, no more Christmas spirit.

In fact, I'm guessing you don't want to hear any more about Christmas. So I'm going to use this time to mention some sort of new feature on Shutterfly that makes it easy to share pictures. So for all my stalkers, here's all the pictures of me that are fit to print. It's also over on my links list for easy access. You can also follow the Duffy House Hunt here as it - fingers-crossed - nears its end.

And because I've put on a few music in videos lately, here's another. It's an older song, but it's just great. Like today I had a downer of a morning, and at lunch I listened to this song and it changed my whole day around. I never would have guessed that I'm a McCartney fan, but...

Yeah, it's totally cheesy, but it's the right mix of singability and car dance-ability.

Cookie Christmas

Merry Christmas everybody!

I hope everyone had as great a Christmas as I did. I got lots of cool stuff, including an iPod!, and I had an awesome time all day long. One of the cooler gifts was from my parents. (Thanks Mom and Dad!) It was also the heaviest by a mile, so we opened it on Christmas Eve so that we didn't have to drive it out to Tiff's family just to open it and haul it back.

This is what we got:

A mixer!

Now I know what you're thinking... John bakes?... I would never have guessed. Well, sometimes I surprise myself. Usually not though, but this is a great present for me as Tiff makes the best cookies ever. So for Tiff, it's a great gift, but for me, it's the gift that keeps on giving all year round. Tiff made some chocolate chip cookies right away though.

Oh my god! they look so good. I swear that's the actual picture and I didn't just pull a picture off of Wikipedia or Flickr or somewhere. And added bonus, because the mixer works so fast, she went ahead and baked a few other kinds. That's a chocolate cookie with peanut butter chips... oh man, they're so good. And that one in the back is a soft, moist molasses cookie... it's the best of its kind I've ever had. If Tiff were to open up a cookie shop, first off it would be incredibly successful, secondly they could call these cookies Manassas Molasses cookies. They'd become world-famous and people would flock to her little Shoppe and riots would break-out everyday as people waited in line for hours each day before it opened. Lastly, I would gain like 400 pounds. Here's another picture of them alongside tasty almond, white chocolate cookies.

Oh man! Anyways, we took all these cookies to a big family Christmas party:

Where Tiff was trying to pawn them off to everybody, but there weren't many takers as there are a lot of cooks in Tiff's family. Then Tiff's Grandmother tried one and quickly announced that she take a bunch home and offer them instead of the ones that she baked. Next year, Tiff's in charge of all the cookies.

Christmas Carols

It's finally beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Unfortunately, it's been sounding a lot like Christmas for about two months now.

There's probably a radio station in every city that plays Christmas music 24 hours a day this time of year. Where I am, it's "97.1, WASH-FM"... that has to be sung. At night the DJ is "Delilah"... which also has to be sung. She takes requests from people who have awful stories about how that certain song reminds them about that special someone whose no longer in their life after they had an affair with their cousin... or some equally awful story.

WASH-FM also is the "Listen At Work Station" so I've been overhearing Christmas music at work from the neighboring cubicle since I believe Nov. 17. One particularly painful day was the 25th of July when WASH-FM celebrated Christmas in July.

Anyways, when I leave work, I know I can't escape it. As much as Tiff loves hair bands and guitars, I don't think they hold a candle to Christmas music. So, there's been Christmas music playing at home off and on for, no joke, about 9 months give or take. I've been looking in vain for a Christmas Album by Slash or AC/DC this year as I'm pretty sure that would be the ultimate gift.

I complain, but I do secretly enjoy the music. The great part about Christmas music is that there's a set amount of songs, and you know all the songs. So while Otis Redding may sing it different than Frank Sinatra, you can still sing along. It seems like it's how music should be. Plus, when else can you here Elvis sing and then immediately after hear some good ole fashion choir music.

The best song for me is this one byRay Charles... he's the best.

I tried to find it without the cheesy holiday montage, but I think it might add to the spirit of Christmas.

The Need for Speed

So for my first post: My new car is full of a lot of really cool features. Who new how much I would love the CD player! - My car also has an MP3 player hook-up, but I'm not that advanced yet.

The spedometer is digital which I love because it tells me exactly how fast I'm going. I also love the cruise control. I use it all the time... literally, all the time. I could be going just 100 yards to the next stop light and I'll get it up to like 30 mph and turn it on. Well, to be honest I'd like to use it more than I actually do. You see, it doesn't work under 25 mph, so I've got to use the pedal in my apartment complex. It sucks.

The best feature though is the Need-For-Speed button. So I'm not a fast driver - I'll go about 60 on my way to work. My favorite speed is 63 miles per hour. It's the perfect blend between 5 miles and 10 miles over the speed limit on my way to work. Plus, if I don't feel like that's fast enough, with the touch of a button, I'm suddenly cruising at 100.

Mph, Km/h... what's the difference?

Getting Started... Again

That's a scary title. It forces me to do a bunch of posts in the near future, which is a big commitment for me. We'll see if I hold up to it or not.

I've missed out on some very important times with the election and the economy, and the world changing and all, but that stuff has always been for another blog. For me though, I've started the house hunt, my hives are slowly going away and I had an anniversary, all of which would make good fotter for my thoughts. Plus, my new job includes driving time which for me is good thinking time. My job however involves a lot to do and I can't spend a considerable amount of time at work writing out my posts like I use to do, so my actual postings have all but stopped.

Let's see if we can't turn that around.