It has been awhile since my last blog, almost a month, not sure if it was because I didn’t have anything to write about or because I just didn’t want to write. In the last couple weeks I have had to say good-bye to good friends at work do to economic cutbacks and I am sure I will see more in the following year according to leading economists, companies have eliminated a net total of 1.9 million jobs this year, and some project the total cuts could reach 3 million by the spring of 2010.  So I needed to take a break from writing my blog. When I think about it I had a lot to be thankful this year at Thanksgiving, I  just got married this fall in October and  I survived the reductions at my place of work,  I still have a job to come to in the morning. 2008 had its ups and downs but for the most part this was a good year for me and for that I am thankful.

Well on to the subject home for the holidays or away, this being my first year actually third month of marriage I now get to experience what many friends and family have experienced over the years having the in-laws over for the holidays or going to visit family. This year my wife and I spent Thanksgiving day with my parents and then the day after Thanksgiving we spent that day along with the  weekend at her family’s home. For Christmas this year we are going to spend Christmas Eve with my family and then Christmas Day we will travel down to Iowa and spend the weekend with her family. We recently saw the movie “Four Christmases”  I have to say safely and greatfully that none of our families are like any of the families that are in this film. I recommend seeing this movie if you have not already.

None the less here are some holiday tips that I have gotten from friends that they have used over the years that they have giving me to try out this year. These 8 simple tips should hopefully make the holiday more peaceful and pleasant.

1.Getting the 411 from your spouse.  Your spouse should let you know where their family falls on the sacred-to-secular and formal-to-casual continuums of holiday observance if they have not told you this already feel free to as them.  As some families have rules that they must attend church at all cost on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day while there are other families who take a more relaxed approach to the holiday such as hanging around the house in their jeans and new Christmas sweater (if this is the case and you are one who prefers attending a church service try attending a service before arriving as a guest).  Also find out if there are any behaviors or conversational topics that must be avoided at all costs (examples: politics and religion, sports teams in some cases, other family members not present at the holiday or work related questions), or  traditions you should be prepared for such as wearing red sweaters or deer antlers or Christmas caroling.

2. Don't shoot yourself in the foot.  Even after getting the lowdown on the family be sure to make sure you attend a few  family Christmases before making fun of traditions you have heard about in other peoples families as you don’t know your spouse might have forgotten about a tradition or your in-laws might have deiced to bring back a past tradition to show you what your spouse did when they were growing up. Besides that your spouse may thing some of the things your family does are strange as well but they didn’t make fun of it in front of you.  When it comes to going to church remember that if you do not like going to church on  Christmas you do not have attend  with the family but at the same time you can turn them down gracefully that you do not want to go.

3. Bring a tradition of your own to share.   If you enjoyed watching “It’s a wonderful Life” every Christmas suggest it to your in-laws that it would be fun to watch. If you have a holiday food that you eat bring the dish with you when you go to visit or have guest over. In small terms you should welcome your spouse’s family into your world and share your traditions with them as traditions develop at some point and part of your traditions can become part of theirs.

4. Don't get involved in intra family disputes.  Like most families they may or may not see each other that often and sometimes for good reasons. If this is the case tensions can arise even in the closest  of families. Smile, stay above the fray, and when urged to pick a side, pretend that you are Switzerland. There is no need for you to get involved in a dispute that might be from a long standing family dispute. If your spouse is involved it is best to try and change the subject or see if maybe your spouse needs a break from their family see tip #5.

5. Get some alone time.  We all like seeing our families over the holidays and spending time with them but our spouses may not necessary enjoy spending the same amount of time as we do with our famlies. Sometimes we can spend too much time with family which can lead to family disputes as old topics are brought up. You should take an after-dinner walk  around the block, or some such or maybe go to a movie together, maybe run to the store. When you have been with the family for more than a couple of hours you should check with your spouse to see that they are doing okay and at the same time reassure that your ok as well. When visiting from out of town know that it is ok for you to stay at a hotel as we all can use a little alone time now and then.

6. Don't drink too much.  Rule of thumb when staying with your own family or in-laws is if you do drink you should drink slightly less with family at a  Christmas dinner than you would at your office party. (Office party note you should never have more than one or two at the office party) Following tip #6 can help avoid Tip #4.

7. Don’t eat too little.  The holidays is not the time to be on a diet so feel free to eat it will also make your host happy but at the same time you may not like the food you should but a little bit of everything on your plate even if you don't like it just try it as you could be like Mikey in the old Life adds and like the food.

8. Be yourself.  You need to be the person that you are there is no need to try and put on an act or contort yourself into someone you're not in order to fit in. Be kind and helpful, tolerant and a good sport.  You don't need to feel the need to be the pleaser or put your personality on hold for however many hours or days the celebrations last. And remember that you and your spouse are in this together Christmas only comes once a year so just take it all in as the New Year will be here a week latter anyways and then we can start the countdown over again to the next Christmas get together.

In closing its 64 days until the Semi- Trucks leave Fenway Park for Florida, no deals for free agents have been made by the Red Sox. While the Yankees have already gotten their first Christmas gift in free agent CC Sabathia on a seven-year, $161 million deal yesterday. So now it will be up to the Sox to determine if they get to open their gift next or if it is still the Yankees turn.
 
Until the next blog
 
Paulie

I have looked at my last three blogs covering two are covering political topics and one is on regulating airline pricing fees two heavy topic. So today let’s go with something a little lighter.

 

On to music The Polyphonic Spree some of you may or may not have heard of this group, the  group was founded by Tim DeLaughter of Tripping Daisy. What does this have to do with forming The Polyphonic Spree.  In order to talk about The Polyphonic Spree we need to first talk about Tripping Daisy. Tripping Daisy  was a band  in the early to mid nineties that was played on national college radio stations who also toured college campuses and would be seen in the local bars in the Dallas, Texas area.  I had a chance to meet DeLaughter and the rest of Tripping Daisy while I was working in radio when they were playing a show at First Avenue a bar in Minnesota.  Anyway DeLaughter was quite the artist and performer as he is today; as well as  in 1995 Tripping Daisy was just hitting it big as far as crossing over to commercial radio from college radio with their hit “I got a girl” The sound of Daisy I would say would be considered modern psychedelic rock much the same as main college bands of the 80’s and 90’s where known for groups with a heavy variety of elements; distorted electronic sounds found in alternative rock. In 1999 Wes Berggren a member of Tripping Daisy was found dead in his apartment alone and with his death came the end of Tripping Daisy.

 

When Tim DeLaughter broke up the group over the lost of his frined and bandmember Wes Berggren he also left music for good which would only last a year and by chance formed what is today known as The Polyphonic Spree.  The group is made up of his former remaining bandmates under the new name when they were asked to open for another group in the Dallas area. Rather than go back to being Tripping Daisy which brought back too many memories of the lost of Wes,  DeLaughter came up with a new sound for the band one which was  a experimental rock band having a large choir for background vocals and many members playing variety of instruments often found in Orchestras. The group has its three original members from Tripping Daisy, it has ranged in sizes from 15 to 23 members. The group is a throwback to lighter days of music when bands would tour and people would join in the band and tag along until they didn’t want to stay anymore and someone else would join in to take their place.

 

The Spree at the beginning all wore matching white robs giving them a look of the 1960’s psychedelic era in a time forgotten. For the most part The Polyphonic Spree music is just a chance to let yourself go for one moment and just be happy and have no worries of the world or at home which we all have today. Life is too short you need to live in the now versus dwelling on the past or current situations you may be in.  DeLaughter has proven this as just when he walked away from music in tragedy he  was able to find that music can be fun again if you let it be fun.

 

I saw the Spree about two years ago and had a chance to talk to DeLaughter after the show I saw that he is in a better place now then he was ten years ago or for that matter when I first interviewed him in 1995 when Tripping Daisy was about to break into the mainstream of music, gone are the issues of the past that he and the group were dealing with.  Some people have said that all that happiness and joy that the Spree shows on stage cannot be real but I can say having interviewed DeLaughter back in 1995 and seeing him now that it is real.

 

Songs to listen to as you get to know the Spree if you have not heard them before I suggest would be “Light & Day / Reach for the sun” , “Running Away” and “Hold me now” Give The Polyphonic Spree a listen  as I think you’ll like them.

 

In closing its 87 days until the Semi- Trucks leave Fenway Park for Florida and day 5 of Free Agent signing period with no big deals having been made by the Red Sox.

 

 

Until the next blog

 

Paulie

Well it's day 3 post election and we are all still alive and the world did not come to an end. The one thing that the world has always admired about the United States is how smoothly that it has always seemed to be able to transfer power from one party to another without a fight. I’m pretty sure that the world will not come to an end on Jan 20, 2009 at noon when President-Elect Barack Obama becomes President Obama.

On this topic you will have one group who will say the new President is going to bring the country to the end with new taxes, have a weak military and job loses all over; while on the other side you have people praising the success of change in power and what the unlimited possibilities will be, what can be.

We have a chance now to have America loved again not just for the people who come from the United States but also for our government in the eye of other nations, some may agreewith this while others disagree with President-Elect Obama but in the big picture it was a change that the country and the world needed for their veiw of America. A friend of mine is over in Europe right now in Germany and then going to France and they have ran into many people on the streets already who might not necessary speak much English but will have said to him and his wife ” America #1 yeah Obama!”. Was a change neeed in this country a change was needed indeed.

Over history our country has recycled its political parties through the White House and the legislation branches. Now it is time for the Democrats to try to make a difference and if in two years they don’t succeed in pleasing the people, then in the lower house will change again. In this upcoming Congress our 111 congress the Democrats will hold 57 Senate and 258 House seats we shall see what that number is two years from now.

So where have all the good politicians gone? Where are the upstanding political figures like our founding fathers John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. But then again our ancestors may have thought the same thing about their political leaders of their time. For example when President John Quincy Adams was elected people who opposed Adams being President maybe thought “Man that Adams he’s no John Adams only reason he’s President is because of his father the former President what were people who voted for him thinking!” Kind of reminds me of H.W. Bush and W. Bush.

If we had cable and the internet would people have made issues about the cousins Roosevelt's. Theodore Roosevelt the Republican and Franklin Roosevelt the Democrat. In the late 1930 would people have blogged and made an issue of why didn't Franklin Roosevelt join the Republicans like his former Presidential cousin Theodore would people have talked about it maybe being because his family was ousted from the Republicans or could it be related to former President Roosevelt’s “Bull Moose Party”. Would Franklin been able to be elected four times had people known about his medical condition and would there have points made at sometime that Franklin was from a well off family and was nothing more than a career Politian who severed as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, under President Willson and then served as Governor of New York could his job under Willson been used against Roosevelt for how he handled World War I as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. I’m sure if CNN and or Fox News was around then they would have had a great time covering this.

So back to the main question where have all the good politicians gone I would say they never left a good politician is only good up until the point you disagree with them. With all the internet blogs and 24 hour news stations with all the sound bytes with point and counter point making issues of anything you do from who you dated in college to what you did as a young adult growing up. To my last point in today’s economy and state of the worlds security and peace who in their right mind would want the job? And then we wonder where have all the good politicians gone.

Gophers have Michigan this weekend at home the last time they will be playing for the “Little Brown Jug” for the last time at the dome. The Gophers have never won the jug inside the Metrodome and last won the jug in 2005 before that 1986. With the Gophers leaving the dome hopefully it’s time for a change.

And of course it’s only 99 days until the Semi-Trucks leave Fenway Park for Spring Training down in Florida.

Till the next time,

Paulie