SantaCon Chicago

While we were waiting for the limo to pick us up from our hotel in Chicago for the company Christmas party, we were nearly stampeded by a pack of Santas.

Turns out it was the start of SantaCon Chicago. It's an annual pub crawl that requires all participants to dress in full Santa suits.

Club Quarters, Chicago

We got a great deal on a room at Club Quarters through Price Line. The room even came with this incredible view of the Chicago river.

Check-in at the hotel was a bit stressful for me. Bruce went to give our car keys to the valet while I checked in. He was gone for a loooonnnnnngggg time.

When he didn't come back right away, I imagined that someone posing as the valet had knocked him out and stolen our van.

I asked the front-desk clerk to call the valet to ask what he did with my husband. Turns out the valet couldn't park our van because it was too tall for their parking garage. So, Bruce had to self-park at an outdoor parking lot.

Christmas Crunch

I love the Cap'n and was tempted to purchase his Christmas Crunch cereal. After calculating about how long it might take the roof of my mouth to heal after enjoying a bowl of his festive barbed wire, I decided to pass.

Our Christmas Card Photo

Runner up for this year's Christmas Card

I hate chatty flyers

Dear Bose,
You probably remember me, the girl in Elkhart, Indiana who bought your Quite Comfort 3 headphones this summer. Well, I thought I'd write to let you know how they're working out.

I probably didn't tell you when I placed the order on your website, but I chose your headphones because my extensive research showed them to be the best in reducing noise. And, boy did I have some noise that needed reducing this summer.

My across-the-street neighbor (the one who sits in her front yard to keep an eye out on the comings and goings of the neighborhood), got a puppy. She'd sit in her lawn chair, in her front yard, getting that puppy all worked up playing ball and chasing sticks. Now, this woman has a huge back yard and if she'd taken the dog to the back yard, I probably wouldn't have been able to hear the yapping. But, since the barking was happening in the front yard, not only did I hear it as it was happening, but I got bonus echo barking as the sound bounced off of the house behind me and came back. I have a huge problem with repetitive noises and decided my options were:
1) start a neighborhood feud between those who think barking puppies are wonderful and those who can't stand the barking,
2) miss out on the summer by staying inside to avoid the noise,
3) spend $350 on noise reduction headphones.

Long story even longer... I chose option three. I wore the headphones outside quite a bit this summer, got a nice tan, a great garden, and remained on good terms with the neighbor.

Now, I'll get to the point of my letter. I flew to North Carolina Tuesday and took the Bose QC3's with me, along with my MP3 player loaded with a new Jeff Lindsay book. I noticed that the headphones cut out all of the airplane noise. They also allowed me to hear my book without using the volume booster I bought at Radio Shack which nearly popped my eardrums on a flight last year.

But, your darned headphones did absolutely nothing to block out the chatty guys behind me on my flight from Cincinnati to Charlotte. I turned up the volume on my MP3 player as high as it would go, but I still couldn't escape their hour-long conversation about football stadium grass. I so wanted to turn around and scream, "Man I don't care!"

Your QC3 headphones also didn't block out the conversation between the English guy and the American gal behind me on my trip back last night. I heard every detail about his past three weeks of sightseeing as well as all of her suggestions on must-see tourist attractions.

I sure wish you'd add a bullet point about this shortcoming in your product specs so others, with my same hatred of chatty flyers, will know that spending $350 on your headphones won't provide the peaceful salvation they desperately need after one canceled flight, two delayed flights, a crashed hard drive and crappy airport food.

Your pal,

Sharon

Spike is not amused

Yesterday's snowfall was the first to stick and accumulate this season. Clearly, Spike is not amused.

I tried to get him to wear those doggie snow boots one winter. He did the high step for a while and then chewed them off.