This is for you, Bill O'Reilly.

Hi Bill. I don't watch the O'Reilly Factor and now I know why. I happened to catch a snippet of yours during which you took umbrage at two girls at Waukegan High School being voted the "cutest couple". You thought it was a result of kids trying to antagonize adults, and that any relationships other than "the norm" should be kept private.

Guess what, Bill! I'm in a relationship that you consider "not normal". You think that because a certain percentage of the population thinks my relationship is "not normal" that I should keep it a secret and pretend that I am "just friends" with my better half.

Do you know anything about my relationship, Bill? Do you know anything about what it feels like to fall in love, to feel like someone fits into your life perfectly, to feel like you could spend every minute of every day talking to them, to feel like you are a better person when you are around them, to know that you make them feel the exact same way? Do you know what it feels like to love someone so much that to think of living without them would be like cutting out your heart and stomping on it? Do you know what it feels like to feel complete and whole and perfectly content with someone no matter where you are or what you are doing and to think that living in a cardboard box with this person would be lovely just as long as you were together?

I feel for you, Bill. I guess you have never known true love if you think my relationship is "not normal".

Raindrops keep falling on my head

Why does it rain when the temperature is below freezing? It makes no sense. And the result is that I slid down the sidewalk to the bus stop this morning trying to maintain my balance while carrying my bag with my laptop plus my coffee mug plus an umbrella.

Happy Friday

We went Christmas shopping this evening and stopped off at our favorite nonsmoking Irish pub in IC afterwards.

Katherine is making turkey divan right now - apparently a big favorite of hers from her Deerfield days. All I know is that it smells amazing right now.

I am nursing a Cape Codder.

Tomorrow is our lab Christmas party and a get-together with long-time MSTP friends. Happy times.

Katherine is making crab dip for both affairs. If you've never had crab dip, it is AMAZING! Life changing, really.

I am going to finish my Christmas cards tonight. We are also going to watch Love Actually.

As I look over this list, it seems many things involve food/drink. Why is it that many happy memories of mine revolve around food? I can think of most monumental events in my life and relate them to food of some sort.

Maybe this is why I relate quite well to my overweight, overly cuddly kitty, Puck.

People need a hand.

I was watching the Today Show this morning about the mall shooting in Omaha. A criminal profiler came on to give her assessment of the case and described the shooter as "a loser and a psychopath" who was so unlikeable that he was turning away his own family (he had been living with friends after his family kicked him out).

The more that I see in life, the more this attitude towards other people bothers me. This judgment. This lack of empathy or a willingness to try and understand. This lack of love.

If you cannot put yourself in other people's shoes, then maybe you are lucky. Maybe you have lived a remarkably blessed life. But there are so many, many people who do not have such a life. I have heard so many life stories filled with unspeakable tragedy after tragedy that are almost unfathomable. It is no wonder that there are 75 million people living with depression in the US.

Maybe we should be investing more in reaching out with love to others. Trying to prevent the horrors that are so common in many people's lives. Maybe instead of trying to promote peace through war in other nations, we should be promoting peace at home. Maybe we should stop judging other people and start asking what we can do to help.

Deck the halls

What does "trim the tree" mean? I can't wrap my head around it. Our's is trimmed, though.

Sadly, she met me.

Katherine's life ambitions when she was younger:

1. To be a hermit
2. To have a pet goat
3. To be a "regular" (at a diner)

I asked, "Why a goat?". Her answer. "It's practical. It will keep the lawn short, and they eat anything. It will provide milk. They're smart, so will provide intelligent company."

Well, she's practically fulfilled 1/3 of those ambitions by having Ty, our black kitty. Ty eats anything. Felt mice tails. Plastic pumpkin handles. And she licks plastic bags.

My one beef with Iowa City

Learn how to plow the streets.

We got our first "real" snowfall this past Friday and Saturday - along with some rain and sleet. We ended up with some significant accumulation by Saturday afternoon when I was driving home from the Free Clinic.

I did not see a single snowplow the whole time. The roads were horrible. The few patches that were plowed had tons of slush along the sides of the road - the kind that sucks you right in when the tire hits it. Very unsafe.

I think they should send the snowplow people to the UP for a few weeks mid-winter. That will teach them how it should be done.

I have to say - I've lived here for 6 years and I still feel safer driving in the UP during a snowstorm.