It’s that time of year again - the plates on the car expire pretty soon. We’re on the monthly plan, where they charge you money every month in addition to the cost of the insurance, supposedly as an interest charge, or some crap like that.

I understand the concept of earning interest on money lent, or credit offered. I went to school for that stuff. I took countless classes in Finance and Economics, because it’s a grouping of topics that I have an interest in. I know the basis for it, and I agree with it.

With that out of the way, I find it offensive that they charge interest when you don’t pay for your year’s insurance all at once. I’m being insured for a year, but I don’t get insured in February until February - why should I have to pay for it in January? I don’t remember getting charged interest on my monthly rent cheques because I didn’t pay a full year’s rent all at once, so why should I get charged interest on my insurance if I decide to pay it when it’s actually being used? Give me a discount if I pay it all at once, by all means - it amounts to the same thing, and is far less distasteful to me. In essence, you’re charging me money to do you the favour of evening out your cash flow. Gimme a break.

Ok, so that was a mild rant.

They can’t touch what the gas company did last year. We’re on “equalized payments” for them too. They take your average yearly consumption, and divide it by 12, to give you supposedly even bills all year long. In theory it works great. What it worked out to be last year was that they charged us more than what our maximum monthly usage ever was each month - for example, say in January (highest usage,) we used $100 in gas (lowest usage,) while in July we used $25 in gas. We got a bill for $120 each month. As our bill got into the credit range higher and higher, it became somewhat of a joke.

So, then, we were a day late paying the bill one month. Say our credit was at $500 at this point, and we were a day late paying the monthly $120 bill. We got charged late charges on it. Seriously. So, then, the end of the equalized payments period was up, and we had several months credit (I think it was something like 4) where we didn’t have to pay any gas bill at all.

You’d think that their estimate might have gone down some between last year and this (to accomodate the obviousness of the fact that we bought a new furnace that’s higher efficiency.) You’d be wrong on that count too. Yes, gas prices went up quite a bit, but from looking at bills, it doesn’t look like they’ve changed our predicted consumption at all, which means that we’ll probably have 6 months of no gas bills at the end of our next equalized period. One of these days, I’ve gotta remember to get them to take us off of that “oh so beneficial” program. Oh, and in case you were wondering - no, they don’t pay interest on your credit amount.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “Oh God, can’t this town go one day without a riot. Gadzooks, where are my bodyguards?” - Mayor Quimby

We don’t have any company anymore. It’s good to see everyone, and get a chance to visit, but now I think we’ll probably spend a couple of days holed up hobbit-like in our house, venturing out only to forage for groceries.

Of course we might have someone stop by for a visit tonight, and that would be good too, since we haven’t seen that particular person in a while.

Erin got me a GAMES magazine for Christmas, and in it was an article about BrettSpielWelt - a German online board game community thing. I’d heard of it before, but kind of got scared off by the German interface. I like the sounds of it though, so I think I’m going to check it out further.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “I don’t want you playing with something with such awful hair. Awful, awful hair.” - Marge

It was a good Christmas. William’s first Christmas was marked by the tree falling over (as previously mentioned) and lots of visiting. Nobody went overboard on buying presents for William, for which Erin and I are both thankful. Overall, William handled all the excitement and late nights quite well. He opened all of his own presents, with very minor help to show him where to tear. As Erin said - I don’t know if it’s a good thing that we cheered every time he ripped the wrapping paper :)

Some pictures can be found at William’s site.

Erin got me an Eye Toy for Christmas, so we had people playing Wishi Washi all the time. It’s a lot harder than it looks, and when you’re out of shape, like me, you wind up a little sore if you play too much. My arms were pretty stiff after the first day of playing, with all the action that happens above your head being the main culprit. It’s every bit as fun as I thought it would be. I highly recommend at least renting it if you’ve got a PS2. My parents, Erin’s parents, Jim and Judy, basically everyone who played it, enjoyed it.

The best Christmas present though, had to be William learning how to walk. It started with a couple of careful steps prompted by either myself or Erin, and now he walks on his own, over fairly large distances. He made quite a bit of progress over the span of a day or so.

Other than that though, and William’s continuing cuteness, nothing much is new with us.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “Nice try Floyd, but you were designed for scrubbing, and scrubbing is what you shall do.” - Professor Frink

In the spirit of the season, I’m going to give each and every one of you a bunch of great links that I’ve found recently.

First off is the story about the free tickets for Santa’s promotion that went slightly awry on Long Island last night.

Next, I’ll send you to a site where the elves toss Santa in a catapult and fling him for distance (Flash game.)

Santa’s not your thing? How about flying? (Flash game)

Ok, so you don’t like flying, or Santa? Maybe you’re looking for a little prescience regarding the End of the World. (Flash animation)

Remember that Traffic Jam game (Flash game)?

I think that’s enough holiday cheer to keep you busy for a while.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “Whoa, it’s Santa all right. And he is kicking ass!” - Bart

Erin’s Dad has been staying with us since Saturday, which means that Erin has an extra set of hands around the house to either occupy William, or do the things she’d like to be doing. The end result was a delicious roast chicken, Italian roast potato supper last night with gravy and stuffing. It was just about as good today for lunch. Mmmmmm.

I think I managed to finish all the Christmas gifts that I planned to make. I hope they work out for people that we give them to. A lot of work went into them, and they work great at our house, but then, I knew they would. Other people might not have as much luck, thought I know that at least one household will have no problems with theirs.

Heh - I love cryptic paragraphs

Anyway, not much new other than that. I’m off to play Globulos, which Dave and Bryan got me interested in.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “Hmm. Look at his eyes. He’s trying to hypnotize me, but not in the good Las Vegas way.” - Homer

We managed to get a Christmas tree up and decorated last night. Then it fell down

Nobody was hurt, and the only ornaments that broke were of the crappy $2/dozen variety, but the tree seemed determined to fall over. Honestly I don’t know how it happened, and I don’t really want to analyze it any further. There was nobody near it, and nobody touched it, it just fell over.

So, now it’s tied to the wall.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “Now the man that puts the ‘you’ in impr-you-vment!” - Troy McClure

See, I’ve managed to stretch out the Christmas letter over the span of a week now…

In two months’ time, William will be one year old. I expect a big kerfluffle will result, at the end of which, he’ll have some new clothes, toys, books, and/or music. At the end of the day, he’ll continue in his ignorant bliss, playing with whatever is at hand, and wearing whatever his parents pull out of his dresser drawer. He’ll continue to giggle, and cry, crawl, and walk. He’ll still be a baby. (Just so you’re not alarmed, he’s not walking yet.)

Sometime around mid-July, we’ll probably take young William camping. He already likes being in a tent quite a bit (though the definition of tent in this case is just a blanket over his head, and not an actual tent) I suspect he’ll enjoy running around - because he’ll probably be running by then.

Next fall, William will not be heading back to school - in fact, he couldn’t even if he wanted to, since he’s never been to school. He’ll still be too young for it. Yup - even though he’ll be talking some, he won’t be at the Readin’ Writin’ and ‘Rithmatic stage just yet.

Sometime around a year from now, William will be having his second Christmas. He’ll probably get scared of Santa still, but he’ll accept it if it means he gets a toy. He’ll probably open some of his presents before Christmas, only to have his parents catch him, and wrap them up again. What a little troublmaker I imagine he’ll be.

Somewhere along the line, Erin, William and I will make trips to Manitoba, Alberta, and maybe somewhere else (though I doubt it) to visit with friends and family. Yup, 2004 looks like it’s going to be a good year. I can wait the 12 days though.

Simpson’s quote of the day: “Happy birthday Freddy, and may all your disgraces be, uh, private.” - Mayor Quimby