Whenever I wake up and there is snow on the ground, I get happy. I just like snowy weather- it’s so much better than a dingy, leafless, barren landscape without snow.
Reposting from yesterday:
As you know, we are working on a new website, and a crew of longtime members of the blogetariat have been helping me see things through the eyes of the reader and coordinating the redesign. They have put together a comprehensive list of what we want from the “new” site, and are currently in the process of reaching out to web developers for bids. Thus, I have been informed that now is the time for the site fundraiser.
We will let this run for two weeks (and then again in January), with another updated post every day or so. As always, the paypal thing is always to the right, and should you do your Christmas shopping on Amazon, click through the link to the right and the website cuts a minute commission. Should you choose to not want to use paypal, email me and I will send you a snail mail address.
In what I consider the best news of the year, CafePress is once again doing calendars, so the BJ calendar will be available for purchase that way instead of having to go through the sheer hell we went through last year.
In other good news, the Balloon Man is coming back.
If you want to get an idea just how fucking long 2018 has been, Anthony Bourdain died only six months ago.
R-Jud
I shouldn’t complain, because it’s England and I knew what I was getting, but I wish we had snow like that instead of this.
JGabriel
John Cole @ Top:
Jeepers. It feels like that was two years ago.
Which, by that standard, I guess means it should feel like Trump has been occupying the Oval Office for 8 years now. And yet it still somehow feels even longer.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I remember my Canadian father talking about how much lighter the world looked when there was snow on the ground. He was right.
stinger
Ya call that snow? You can still see the grass!
Personally, I envy R-Jud’s spooky misty English winter weather. Better than freezing rain followed by 8 inches of snow.
A Ghost To Most
A fresh coat of powder snow mutes all the bullshit.
How goes the fundraiser? It would be irresponsible not to speculate.
stinger
Good morning, Dorothy! I’m nearly finished with Sickles at Gettysburg — a really good book!
laura
The willow is too close to the North Pole.
JPL
Since I live outside Atlanta, I don’t look forward to the white stuff.
Betty Cracker
For the brief time I lived in a place where it snowed, snowfall made me happy too. It makes everything look so clean — even garbage cans! And it seems to muffle sound too.
MomSense
I’m pretty strapped but I’ll donate something on payday. Thanks for this place, John. We would all be pretty discouraged without it.
MomSense
I’m already sick of snow. Blech
Dorothy A. Winsor
@stinger: Oh good. My niece’s husband turned out to be not only knowledgeable but also an engaging writer.
Baud
I only deal in Bitcoin.
JPL
@MomSense: I’m going to donate after X-mas. I need a new roof so the donation will be small, but like you I do appreciate this place and will give what I can.
I wish I remembered to link to Amazon from the site, but I keep forgetting. Maybe that needs to be my New Year’s resolution
stinger
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Yes indeed! His affection for the lying, self-aggrandizing, adulterous murderer comes across clearly! LOL
Nicole
I like the sound of snow crunching underneath your feet. Possibly in my top ten of favorite sounds.
How did I not realize John’s middle name was Griffin before this, seeing as how I’ve donated to site maintenance before? (I like griffins. I’m wearing a sweater with one on it right now, a sweater someone gave me in 1989. It still looks the same as it did back then, even after 100+ trips through the washer/dryer. I wish life had tread as lightly on me the past 30 years as it has on this sweater).
Dorothy A. Winsor
@stinger: LOL. If you’re writing well, it’s hard not to feel affection for a character you’re writing about over a long time.
Ohio Mom
I like looking at the stuff, don’t mind walking through it if properly dressed and shod, but I am absolutely neurotic about driving through even the slightest amount. Which is what we have here this morning.
However Ohio Son has two can’t-miss appointments today, at noon and at 3:30, so I will just have to deal with all the adrenaline coursing through every corner of my body. I wouldn’t mind as much if the appointments were nearer by but altogether it’s sbout 30 miles from one to the other to back to home.
I look forward to the day we give up these suburban ways and move near a bus-line. That’s the part of me that will always be a New Yorker.
Ruckus
I sort of like living in a place that used to snow about once every 30-40 yrs. Where when it does/has snowed it collects for about 3 minutes and then it’s gone. IOW I’ve seen it snow here in socal twice in my life. And yes, I’ve lived where it snows. North of Chicago for a short time and in OH 11 yrs. Nothing like coming home on a delayed flight in January and having to scrape off 1/4 inch of ice off your car door while it’s snowing so that you can get inside to get the scraper to clean the windows so you drive home. MMMMMMMM snow……
Somebody had to say it.
A Ghost To Most
@Ruckus:
We lasted a year in Sunnyvale. The lack of weather changes figured into our decision to bolt.
zhena gogolia
I just wrote a check and will mail it soon.
A Ghost To Most
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I feel the same affection for the sculptures I do.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@A Ghost To Most: You pour your heart into it.
Amir Khalid
@Nicole:
Griffins are popular. Every Harry Potter fan wants to be a Gryffindor.
Ruckus
@A Ghost To Most:
We have weather changes. For example it’s raining. And I have to use my wipers. How strange is that?
You know, different strokes and all that.
Another Scott
So, is this the thread to gripe about the site?
Please, please, please make sure that whatever CDN/site caching system you go with isn’t broken. Having to refresh the page 2-3 times to get a correct fully-updated page of new content (because of over-aggressive caching) is annoying and wasteful. (This behavior is fairly recent on my machine – 2-3 months?)
(Chrome on Win10 and Chrome on Android and Chrome on macOS.)
Thank you.
Cheers,
Scott.
A Ghost To Most
@Ruckus:
Yep. Enjoy. It’s about 20 degrees here right now, but the sun is up, and it is warming quickly.
A Ghost To Most
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Indeed. Strong times make for strong art.
realbtl
In for $50, thanks John
jeffreyw
We are in the planning stages of a kitchen remodel. Going to gut the space and go back with all new. I hope to be done before the site is up and running – early spring, March sometime, maybe. I can squeeze in a few dollars for the BJ remodel and will do so now, before the quartz counters are ordered.
WaterGirl
@MomSense:Just want to make sure I have your correct email address. I just sent you the jacquie lawson advent calendar through iCloud – let me know if that’s not right or if you’re not interested in the calendar. I don’t think you ever got it set up last year, but I think you might have been between computers.
This runs on computers, tablets, and phones, I believe.
MomSense
@WaterGirl:
Oooh thank you!! Just checked. I’ll put it on my tablet.
WaterGirl
@MomSense: Yay!
Kraux Pas
I don’t know how you’re deciding on who gets to do the site redesign, but I asked my boyfriend who’s a web and graphic designer. He’s interested.
NotMax
@Kraux Pas
I also know folks who have been doing this as a full-time living for more than 20 years and would be happy to put them in contact.
Kraux Pas
@NotMax: That would be good. It takes a village and all.
Haroldo
I done donated.
Sloane Ranger
I have donated and will put in a little more in the New Year if reminded.
Sister Golden Bear
Donated.
And the great thing about California is that I can visit the snow, not shovel it.
Don K
@JGabriel:
And it’s only 7 months since Barbara Bush died. When my husband asked me about that after GHWB died, I said she died a year or two ago.
Miss Bianca
Kicked in a little to the kitty – have to make some more end-of-year donations to worthy causes, so I will likely kick in a little more in January.