The holiday season is upon us once again. I'm actually more than half-done my Christmas shopping this year, which for me, who usually shops on December 24th, is pretty much a miracle. This miracle has a name - eBay. Thanks to eBay I've got super great presents this year that I bought for good prices and so far I haven't had to visit a single store!
I've spent the last couple weeks at work in Chicago, which is going pretty well. We reached a deal with the local Hilton so now I am finally staying at a decent hotel, which has improved my work life by at least 50%. Everybody is starting to drop off as vacation season has already begun, which should hopefully make me more productive at work, because I've got a lot of stuff to do between now and when I go on vacation. The hours at work are much more manageable now, and I even got to go out sightseeing last weekend. I took the subway into downtown and walked around to the see the sights:
We had our team Christmas party last Wednesday at the Sheridan Shore Yacht Club, and it was a blast. It was a really classy place and we had a bus shuttle us to and from the hotel, a perfect combination for a good time. On Friday morning I flew back into town for another team Christmas party, this time with my Regina team. Before the festivities I went into work for my annual review and scored the highest you can possibly get, so it was obviously a good year. We went to the Crooked Cue for drinks and food and pool, before eventually making our way downstairs to McNally's to cap off the night. I had a great time. I drank too much and made a fool out of myself, my modus operandi, but I walked home so nobody died as a result of my shenanigans :)
I actually made it home pretty early on Friday, which made the next morning more pleasant than it otherwise could be. I got lots of stuff done around the house (mostly X-mas related) and even got to watch a movie, Walking Tall. It was a good flick because I enjoy both The Rock and Neal McDonough, but the movie was in need of a serious script doctor to make it longer when it needed to be and tighten plot holes up. It could have been more than average with just a little more work in the script department!
I flew back out to Chicago at noon today, and I'm going to be here until I fly back to Regina on Friday morning. I've got another work Christmas party on Friday night and then on Saturday night I'm going out for supper with Natasha Bood, who is gonna be in Regina for a couple days. She invited a ton of people out so I'd like to do the same - who's up for supper at Earl's on Saturday night?

