WhimsyLand

My little company is usually a bit slow in November and December, as clients slack off and startups delay new projects until after the New Year.  Not so this year, apparently, as we are slowly getting buried in work.  That's a good thing, of course.  With Junie leaving tomorrow, I'll have another 2-3 weeks to get caught up:  no lovely lunches while we work on an old Atlantic Puzzler, no Brewing Market latte runs at 3.30, no movies cum dinner rituals.  I can get pretty easily obsessed in work, so I'm sure the time will fly. 

Meanwhile, I've got Xmas present duties to consider.  I've already ordered Dean & Deluca baskets for clients.  That's the easy part.  My family's Christmas arrangements have become complicated, however.  I've received a couple of emails from my siblings, had two discussions with my parents, and called other family members and I think I might finally understand The New Plan for who buys what for whom, what charities are the preferred alternatives for the Rawlings clan, and which family members still want presents, dammit.  Not that I will follow the rules in any event, an outcome that will come as no surprise to my family, as I have always been something of the maverick (they're all in California, for example, and here I am in Colorado).  I was thinking of switching my charitable gifts to World Vision, as that is one of Junie's long-time favorites.  They have a Christian bent (not that that is a problem for me), but are a well-run organization with a 4-star rating by the major charity monitoring services.  They also will send a goat to a goat-needy individual for $75, which is cheaper than Oxfam and Heifer International, I think.  My sister Lin has accumulated 3 granddaughters in a brief span, and I have to find some gifts for the 1 to 4-year old set (any ideas?).  My nephews and nieces are all in that awkward 18 to 25-year old range, but iTunes cards will suffice for most of them.  Heck, there's always Borders' gift cards.  If I know my brother, he will cook up some crazy new theme for presents.  A couple of years ago, it was Russian paraphernalia:  Cossack coats, flasks with the imperial crest on them, clocks used in Russian submarines.   Speaking of which, I have this Atomic Clock that Dima and I use to figure out if it's time for lunch.  It is supposed to update itself by tuning into the national time service which, by odd coincidence, is actually in nearby Boulder.  It seems however that the clock has recently decided we live somewhere in Ohio.  Or one of those odd states that have regions that measure their time in half-time-zone intervals.  It may always be sunny in Philadelphia, but it's never the right time in Longmont.  I suppose I will have to do something about it.  At least my big Belgian grandfather clock bongs at the right time.  If I remember to wind it, of course, which I occasionally don't.

More mañana.