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Yesterday the weather was a bit nippy at cloudy and 40 degrees, but we played ultimate anyway. The ground was rock-hard– literally frozen– and still had patches of snow which made for interesting hazards. Making sharp cuts was almost impossible; most of us ended up doing careful buttonhooks to get open for a pass.

Late in the game I was guarding my friend Cory when he wound up for a deep backhand pass. He swung his arm with all his might… and clobbered me in the face. The back of his hand got my nose and right eye pretty much like he was boxing me and trying to turn out the lights.

The blood started gushing (all over my white shirt, no less) and I had to step off. It had stopped by the time I got back to the office, but I was quite a sight. I told Brian and Rob there had been a brawl on the field and punches were thrown, and for a second they believed it because I sure looked like I’d been in a fight.

Luckily everything cleaned up okay and despite blowing a few blood clots out of my nose for the rest of the day, no permanent damage was done.

Sadly it doesn’t look like we’re going to be able to play tomorrow– we’ve got about eight inches of snow on the ground from last night and today, and tomorrow’s high is going to be in the teens. But at least it’ll be a white Christmas!

With today’s mail delivery we’ve officially gone floor-to-ceiling on our Christmas card display.

Laralee always wonders why I insist on sending 200+ cards every year, and I tell her that it’s because if I don’t, then no one will send us cards. And that would mean the card wall is really bare and boring. We can’t have that.

I was poking around a client web site and found their blog entry entitled “People You Can’t Stand on Facebook”. I guess it’s adapted from a recent GQ article, but it was one of those classic funny-because-it’s-true lists.

Here’s a funny spam message.

Wow, Best of Longmont 2009! In the Internet Host Services category! Who knew that my little company was even in the running for such a prestigious award?

Hmm, maybe I should put this little image on my corporate web site to impress visitors…

Phase one of the Christmas odyssey is complete. Today we wrapped, packaged, and addressed all of the gifts we’re mailing to friends and family. Laralee will brave the post office tomorrow, and they’ll be on the way.

Next is phase two: the Christmas cards. I’m putting together my list and checking it twice, and printing out hundreds of address labels. On Tuesday my professionally-printed custom cards (!) are due to arrive, and we’ll spend the evening stuffing envelopes. The post office loves that we spend a hundred dollars a year on stamps alone. And I’ve grown to love the pre-sticky envelopes, which may cost five times more than old-school lick envelopes but sure make up for it in ease.

Finally, phase three: gifts for the kids. For some reason we don’t get everything picked out, bought, and wrapped for our own kids until sometime in the evening of the 24th every year. But we’ve got some good ideas this year, and now all that remains is putting the plan in motion.

Ho ho ho!

Today Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, said this:

To which Bruce Schneier, renowned security expert and relentless crusader against government intrusion into our private lives, responded:

It’s interesting to note that Bruce said this back in 2006. It was true then, and it’s still true now.

‘Tis a wee bit chilly this morning.

(That’s a minus sign on the left.)

I just read a great article by Seth Godin about why those who use trademarks, copyrights, and patents to intimidate and litigate themselves into positions of power are, in the end, doomed. In the Digital Age it’s increasingly difficult to truly protect your ideas, and the costs of doing so are mounting ever higher.

Amen, brother. Now hand me my scissors.

Two months ago, Laralee asked me if I could grow a beard… more to see what it would look like than because she finds it irresistably sexy or anything. I figured I’d never really had a beard, so why not. Plus it was an excuse to be lazy and not shave as much.

Two months later:

Sadly, I just don’t get much along my jawline except a bit of scruff. I feel like a sixteen-year-old hoping to get some facial hair to prove to the girls that I’m a real man.

So I decided it wasn’t really making me look like a rugged mountain man, and figured I’d shave it off and go back to the ol’ goatee that I’ve had for about fourteen years now.

Maybe when I’m older I’ll get a distinguished-looking salt-and-pepper beard going, and women will swoon. Until then, it’ll be the goatee.

Thus spoke James Madison two hundred years ago. Too bad Obama is walking the same path as Bush, dragging us deeper into the quagmire that is Afghanistan, ignoring the lessons of the past decade and the wisdom of men long dead.