Has it really been that long since I last posted on my blog? I guess so.

Funny time of year here. A month ago we had temperatures in the eighties (I know, it's Fahrenheit, this is America, I've learn to live with it...) and this morning we had a light covering of snow and all the leaves had been blown from the trees. It gets like that in these here parts. The changing of the clocks, added to the colder weather, has now put a stop to my association football (soccer to those not in the know) antics. Until the spring, that is.

So; Thanksgiving Day is almost upon us and the local radio stations have already started playing Christmas music. Just one of the reasons I've started taking tapes and CDs to work. Another gripe with local radio is the local FM station that was playing shows like Don & Mike and Bob & Tom In The Morning has moved its talk stuff to an AM frequency. One I can't receive at work because our office building is behind a few hills from the necessary transmitter. Damn you, WEOZ-FM, for taking the fun out of my mornings and afternoons at the keyboard.

Back to real life, Beth and I went shopping for something Irish today (someone on this side of the Atlantic has Irish heritage and wanted gifts on that theme) so we went to some little place that deals in that kind of thing. You know; Waterford crystal, Guinness t-shirts, green teddy bears and Celtic crosses. What grabbed me was the price of the stuff. Sure, there's a bit of a mark-up because of import taxes and the like... but I saw a Guinness fleece in the same style (I mean exactly the same style) that I used to have in Britain a couple of years ago. I bought it for £15 in Woolworth's in Letchworth, England (that's around US$25, and that included a 17.5% sales tax). Price over here in the Irish Goods store... $75. There's quite a lot of credence given in the States if your forefathers came from the right country (Italy, anywhere Gaelic, even Poland if you're into the polka) but to charge people that much for a cheap fleece when they can get a proper rugby shirt with the Guinness logo on it from the official Guinness online webstore (click here to access the site, check out the sales rack, and order before the St.Paddy's Day rush gets here) for less than $50 is bordering on criminal. As it goes, we drove to the Viewmont Mall and got a nice vase and four shot glasses from a little Irish knick-knack stall. They're covered in shamrocks, harps and Gaelic crosses too... and for a lot less than we almost got fleeced for.

Heh heh heh. 'Fleeced'. I'm clever with words. Someone get me a needle and thread, I've just split my sides.

Listen: Sublime - Supreme Beings Of Leisure.