Merry Christmas everyone. I realize it's the 27th but hey, better late than never. Hopefully yours was a happy and healthy one. Mine was happy but certainly not healthy. More on that later. Birthday plans were about as good as to be expected, which is great considering the 3 other birthdays and Christmas all within 7 days, the fact that some people don't want to interact with certain other people, and when people come up with the lamest of excuses to get out of it or reschedule. Hence, the busy week that probably led to my downfall Christmas Day. Anyways, thanks to all those who could attend.

I did get an employee bonus this year, which was surprising because of the timing. From what I hear, it usually doesn't come out as late as it did. So this unexpected bonus (much, much higher than last year) goes straight to savings, which means for now, I'm only $300 + whatever Christmas is costing me before paying off the car. After that, that money's going to that Roth IRA and those mutual funds I have.

The driving gods haven't been smiling at me lately ever since I eyed down a CHP officer last Saturday before Christmas. I was going 80 on 280 when I see a CHP cruiser tailing me. Not wanting to attract attention by braking, I simply let my foot off the gas while he passes. Then we stare at each other for what seems like 5 miles until he finally does pass. From then on, weird things have been happening. Veteran riders of my car will attest that these are normal occurrences caused by dangerous driving on my part but I assure you it's not. Two incidents of people cutting me off. Two incidents of people trying to merge when I'm right next to them. The second one is the funny one. The guy is braking at a green light and I'm trying to figure out why. We're the only two cars on the road on this empty street in Hayward. As I'm passing him in the middle of the intersection, he suddenly swerves into my lane, causing me to swerve! Why the hell would he do that? Then there's the guy who couldn't successfully handle a 4-way stop (not my boss, who probably can, but chose not to on the way to my birthday lunch) and today's wind-filled adventure up the peninsula to San Francisco. At least today I was driving the heavy Accord and not the light as a toothpick Mazda.

Probably the only movie to report on is "The Good Shepherd" starring Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie and directed by Robert DeNiro. Coming in, I was expecting something exciting. After all, the commercials did say that it detailed the birth of the CIA in what was the Godfather of CIA movies. Instead, it might be the Godfather III of CIA movies, if that. It hurts even more to think that I sat through 3 hours of that. The technical aspects of the plot are fascinating to watch, such as the deciphering of the video and the execution of certain missions ordered, but the bulk of the story deals mainly with Damon's character, and it's tough to craft an interesting story about him because he's a secretive, uninteresting guy, which is good for the CIA, but not for the screen. It's quite obvious the film was much better when he was dealing with the people (like the scene with Joe Pesci) than with fellow spies. The real waste however is the attractive Jolie, who seems to be stuck as a pouting Stepford wife and nothing more.

And it brings us to today with me sick since Christmas afternoon. The fever has passed but the effects still remain. Go Bears, beat A&M. And if you haven't seen JT in this SNL digital short, you're missing out. It's the best one since Natalie Portman's. See you on the flip side of the year.

It may have been Jon's birthday last week, but he was the one giving out the presents...well, just one present. He proposed to Rosemary and she accepted with a wedding date scheduled for July. Congrats!

Whoever had Jon in the pool for first guy to get married in the group wins.

So long to Bill Amend. He draws the excellent Fox Trot comics in the paper. He's reducing his workload to weekly comics instead of daily. :(

So I was reserving for my birthday dinner and I asked the nice lady if there were any tables for 6-8 pm on any day of the weekend. Imagine my surprise when she said the answer was no. Apparently, the only times available were 5 and 9:30 for all 3 days. She said people have been booking her place since July. July! It's the f---in Macaroni Grill for crying out loud. You would have thought a 3-star chef was cooking there.