December 23, 2014

At the Christmas shopping café...



... you can talk about whatever you want, but I've got a confession: I haven't done any of my shopping yet! If you need to shop on line, by the way, please use The Althouse Amazon Portal. I'm doing some in-the-flesh shopping myself, from my remote outpost in the south, where I've arrived at the end of a 2-day, 1200-mile drive. Did you notice? Meade is guarding the northern outpost.

31 comments:

Laslo Spatula said...

"Did you notice? "

Of course. You can tell by how the posts come in tight clusters.

You can also tell which posts were ghost-written by Meade.

Yes; the Meade ghost-writing of posts is not a secret anymore. I'm sure astute readers can identify the ones.

I am Laslo.




I am Laslo.

traditionalguy said...

Could this announce a grandchild arriving in Texas?

Laslo Spatula said...

For instance:

""Madonna put the songs out shortly after the online leak of more than a dozen songs... she called the leak a 'form of terrorism.'"

No editorial comment, just a quote.

When figured in with Meade's obvious obsession with Madonna (does it even have to be explained at this point?) it becomes clear who wielded the figurative pen.

Perhaps after work I will go into more detail. For now, I will let discerning readers sift the clues.

I am Laslo.


Richard Lawrence Cohen said...

Traditional guy: Would that it did!

David said...

Too late for any Amazon portal. I'm all Amazoned out.

David said...

Look for the star in the east, Richard.

Big Mike said...

There's still time to order an Amazon gift card through the portal. Since it's delivered electronically it's arrive in time for Christmas even if you order tomorrow.

This is a public service announcement.

Big Mike said...

it's going to

Sheesh.

mccullough said...

Is this the the annual pilgrimage to Austin?

Merry Christmas to you and your our family

Hagar said...

Texas is a whole different country.
It is not "the South."

Hagar said...

But if God had wanted Texans to ski, he would have built them a mountain and made bullshit white!

BudBrown said...

1300 m and you'd be in Tampa for the Game.

Rusty said...

My trip was a little longer.About 2000 miles. I went and saw "The Hobbit" in my shirt sleeves last night and picked fresh avacados off the tree this morning.
So. Yeah. Merry effin. Christmas.

Sydney said...

I noticed a difference in tone.

madAsHell said...

Traditional guy: Would that it did!

Wait!!...am I missing something??

Our hostess is adding grandma to her CV??....and nobody notices?

Let me be the first to say congratulations, and Merry Christmas!!

Hagar said...

Exactly what do these people mean by: "Let us take back our communities!"?

Do they want delineated areas for "Blacks," "Latinos," "Native Americans," and other designated voting blocs to live in, and these areas to be separate self-governing units? Within the state they are located in, or as Federal Reservations? Sovereign states?

Do these people even know what they are saying? Or care?

Freeman Hunt said...

The most amusing email subject line of the year came from a local community elist:


"OT: Need a cup mute for a trumpet ASAP"

chickelit said...

Meade is guarding the northern outpost.

Meade and Titus sharing an insalata at Cento's in Madison?

rehajm said...

Austin? A little Christmas BBQ from Franklin or Salt Lick is pure Santa love...

Happy Christmas everyone.

Edmund said...

@Hagar God didn't give Texas mountains, but he did give us the money to buy Colorado!

Enjoy your visit to Austin, Ann.

rhhardin said...

Christmas chair protector.

tim in vermont said...

@Edmund,
I first began to really question my liberalism when I lived in Colorado. We were all supposed to hate Texans, then one day I realized that I had never met a Texan I didn't like. It was the beginning of the end.

Heartless Aztec said...

"Whiplash" is the best music movie I have ever seen. Bar none. It's an you later and the six of us are still talking about every scene. A new genre - music thriller. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 96%. They underscored.

rehajm said...

PS- Noticed it's been one whole day since we heard from the US President. Even money he's forgone the surprise visit to a war zone to greet and serve the troops dinner and instead shows up in N Korea to declare normalized relations?

F said...

Austin and Madison; politically, two peas in a pod. Drive 1500 only to find yourself in the same mental milieu. Hmmm.

kcom said...

But you have to pass through all that icky flyover country.

Jane the Actuary said...

I spent the whole frickin' day Christmas shopping myself, and, even more tiring, taking each kid, in turn, shopping for their siblings and Dad. Exhausting. And now I'm logged on, trying to make up the time by getting work done, as, for the first time in a while, I'm short on vacation time.

Still don't have the requisite number of presents for the oldest, who gets increasingly difficult to buy for. And my attempt to buy a Keurig-style coffeemaker for my husband was a bust because of this new Keurig 2.0 nonsense. If the new machines can only accept "official" Keurig-branded packs, are these packs also manufactured to only be usable with Keurig machines? Are the machines which advertise using either "K-cups" or small amounts of ground coffee destined to be obsolete.

Also, I discovered that there's a game store nearby with massive numbers of "Euro-style" board games for my middle son -- and also discovered that these things are stinkin' expensive.

Anyway, that's about how my day went.

ken in tx said...

I am in Austin now. I guess I will have to keep a look out for our Wisconsin power couple. Maybe at HEB, or the Whole Foods HQ store down town. As a lapsed Methodist, I invite them to the Christmas Eve service at St. John's UMC in Austin. We will have some of our grand-kids there.

james conrad said...

Don't forget to try the bar b q brisket

Robt C said...

AH! The Domain. A very nice, very successful mixed-use development, but is looked down on by lots of ageing hippy / young hipster Austinites, as it's not "wierd." Well screw wierd. I like nice stores(including that Tesla showroom) and nice restaurants.

Unknown said...

Cedar Park (adjacent to North Austin) has a similar lighted tree, quite a bit bigger. Worth a look. Or a photo.