No blog recaps or long goodbyes for 2008 here.

This is my 244th blog post of the year, and it was a great year for sure, but I’m ready to move on and have a better year in 2009.

The one thing I will say about the past 12 months is that It’s been fun getting to know you guys a little better. I blogged more than I ever have in 08, and as my readership grew, so too did the interaction with you readers. You guys (and gals) are funny, smart, and fascinating, and it pushes me to keep the content fresh and on the ball.

So even though thanking your blog readers is a bit cliche, I’m doing it anyway. Thanks so much for reading, I really appreciate it!

I’ll be back on Monday, if not sooner…in the meantime, go have yourself a responsible good time tonight.

And however you plan on conquering the world in 2009, I hope you are inspired, motivated, and dedicated enough to get it done!

Erica and I didn’t go crazy on gifts for each other this year, but we did get each other a few little things. My biggest present to her was a wad of cash that she could take to a shopping mall in hopes of exchanging it for articles of clothing. Preferably some she could wear at her new job. On the saturday after Christmas we did just that, heading over to the Providence Place Mall in Providence, Rhode Island for some good ole’ American consumerism.

Though I love doing just about anything with Erica, shopping can be a pretty boring endeavor. To pass the time I pulled out the iPhone and snapped a few pictures.

Here I am at Express…or was it Lucky…or was it Gap…or was it Limited…or was it Ann Taylor…or was it Ann Taylor Loft? You get the point. This was the beginning of the trip, so I was in decent spirits. In fact, right after this picture was taken I went looking for a Dunkin Donuts to grab an ice coffee.

Found the Dunkin! (Yeah, there’s always a line for a DD in New England). Judging from this picture I was shaking violently from caffeiene withdrawal.

$130 for a pair of Lucky Jeans? I don’t think so. I tried them on, but they looked awful. And for the record, they were on sale for half-price. $65 is a bit more respectable, but like I said, they looked ridiculous.

Now this was much better. Got me some black…yes, black…jeans at the GAP on sale for $18.99.I’m a sucker for the clearance rack. (Not sure what face that is I’m making…I was going for “happy” and wound up with “I’m fake-surprised!”)

Erica couldn’t walk past this hideous leopard number at the GUESS store without modeling it for me. Also, did you know that all GUESS employees must wear white leather high-heeled boots at all times? Even when they sleep. May or may not be true.

This is what I look like sitting patiently at the first shoe store we stopped at.

This is what I look like when I lose track of how many shoe stores we’ve been to.

And speaking of making angry faces…this was Erica at an almost all-time high level of annoyance at the end of our shopping trip. She wanted to try on some watches at Macy’s and we stood at the counter for over 15 minutes before we got any service. The lone sales rep was busy gabbing away with a customer, refusing to wait on us. When we finally had a woman come over to assist us, she gave us an attitude. So we just left. The End.

What are your thoughts on the mall? Love it? Hate it? I actually enjoy going, but once I’m ready to leave…get me out of there ASAP.

Hope your next trip to the mall is a successful one, however you define it.

Like it or not, my little boy is growing up.

Happy 6th Birthday Parker!

From my full-stomached, exhausted, but happy family to yours…Merry Christmas!!!

An abbreviated Ramblings for your Christmas Eve enjoyment…

Ever see someone you know in Blockbuster Video? You say “hi”, and then you walk around the store paranoid that they’re keeping an eye on you to see what you’re going to rent. The thing is…they are watching you. And they can’t wait to see what you rent so they can tell all their friends about you and your terrible movie selections.

My favorite aisle in the supermarket? Gotta be the cereal aisle. Brings me back to when I was a kid. Apple Jacks…Fruit Loops…Lucky Charms…BooBerry…Fruity Pebbles…it was like fantasy island. It was literally the aisle of fantasy. Every form and flavor of sugar you could ever want, all small enough to fit on your teaspoon*. If only our parents let us eat sugary cereals every meal like we wanted to. We’d all be twice as big with rotten teeth.

*by the way, cereal MUST be eaten with a teaspoon. If you eat cereal with a tablespoon, speak up so I can mock you publicly.

The only thing annoying about pre-paying for gas is “the crawl”. You pre-pay $20 in gas and when the pump gets to about $19.75, it sllooowwwwsssss dooooowwwwnnnnn. This is especially aggravating in the winter when it’s 20 degrees outside and the wind is whipping through the pump bay so hard that your ears feel like swiss army knives digging into your skull. The good pumps don’t start the crawl until there’s about 15 cents left. The worst of the bunch get into the crawl with 50 cents left to go. I haven’t done it yet, but whenever I hit one of these long-crawling gas pumps I’m tempted to just put the pump back in the cradle and let somebody else crawl out the free pint of gas.

Note To Self: never rent a Mall kiosk during the holidays to set up an author book signing. That author I walked by yesterday looked like the loneliest man in the world.

Please don’t use the expression “Tis the season” unless you can provide me with an a decent explanation of what the word ’tis’ means. I don’t even need an accurate explanation…any explanation will do really. I don’t ask for much.

The second-worst feeling in the world is that second or two right after you bite down hard on your lip or your tongue. You know you’ve been there. The worst feeling in the world? When you bite the same spot again ten minutes later.

I’ve always despised the nickel for not having ridges on its edge like the quarter or the dime. I find it acceptable for the penny to be smooth, but I expect more out of my 5-cent piece.

If I knew I was going to get amnesia tomorrow, here’s what I would do:

+ write myself a note explaining that I had amnesia, which is why I had no memory
+ put together a photo album so I knew who my friends and family were
+ write another note detailing how I don’t like to eat and enjoy working out with free weights, in hopes I can trick myself into having an amazing body.
+ Finally, and most importantly, I would hide a bunch of $20 bills all over my house. Finding them would provide me with countless unexpected happy moments for years and years.

I’ll try to post a few Christmas pics this weekend, and I’ll be back on Monday, ready to bring the fresh.