I'm not the only one

Last year about this time I wrote that Santa was bad for children. His growing obesity was a cause for concern and that it sat a bad example for our youth. Evidently, I'm not the only one that feels that way. Recently a Australian scientist wrote a satirical piece about Santa's bad image. However, this scientist was much better at writing his piece and therefore has gotten a lot of press. I find two things rather interesting about this. 1. He thought up some things that I didn't. I really like some of his add ins (such as drunk driving Santa). 2. I like how the media has latched on to this and some are questioning our use of Santa as a "hero" to our children.

Recently Target has been running a series of commercials that deal with Santa. My favorite has got to be this one that bad mouths Santa's Elves.

It's no secret that I'm anti Santa (It is so hard gaining the trust of children that it bothers me that I have to lie to children daily this time of the year. I'd rather be honest with kids than lie to them over trivial things like Santa). It is nice to have company who are now getting their digs in on santa as well.

From the last few weeks

"Uncle Sean, She's a medium teacher." - My niece after I asked her if her new Kindergarden teacher was short or tall.

"You guys really jumped the gun. I'm not sure what I'm doing for the rest of the week, let alone for Thanksgiving." - my father in response to his girlfriend and I hammering out the plans for Thanksgiving.

"I used to live in Oakland, so I know what it sounded like." A student at Deer Valley explaining why she was a good witness to the high school shooting. Evidently being a former resident of Oakland is all the training you need.

"Duh Uncle Sean. I'm wearing an A's shirt right now." - My niece in response to my question if she still liked the Oakland A's. This conversation occured while talking on the phone - me in CA her in Wisconsin.

"As we crossed this time I still was curious but I didn't ask outloud." - John after returning from a trip to Utah from CA. Several years ago John and I crossed and as we were between Winnemucca and Battle Mountain John saw a trailer park/farm community. He asked me how they survived without a grocery store. I tried to explain that the farm was the grocery store.

"Do you think you can play with Barbies and fill out your time sheet at the same time?" - my boss. She walked into the therapy unit to me making the voice of one Barbie to the Barbie of one of our clients.

"Hey Pitcher - we're talking about beer here." One of the people in the stands at the ball game on Saturday. Each game there is a "beer batter" on the opposing team. If that batter strikes out - beer is half price for the next 15 minutes. The fan was trying to convince the pitcher to stop throwing balls. Evidently the pitcher heard. The stands were practically empty for the next 20 minutes.

Making me smile

There is a blog I used to read where once a week she would recap the things that brought a smile to her face. I would like to start something similar. In the past 5 days, these are four written things that have caught my eye and made me smile.

"The Vest inflates around me and vibrates at varying frequencies, which helps stimulate the cilia in my lungs to release the mucus and "shake" it out. Then I get to cough it up and spit it into tissues. It's awesome." - a friend describing life with cystic fibrosis.

"Day 1 with the kids and we've already got an ER visit under our belts."- a friend who is taking over the custody of her sister's kids.

"I am getting ready to help my wife get ready to help our daughter get ready for her first day of kindergarten." - my brother.

"I just finished getting ready for school dry run. Not going to cry, okay maybe a little, by myself, locked in the bathroom." My sister in law regarding the same situation.