A modest proposal

Who decided that Christmas and New Year's should come so close together?

In the past I never noticed that this was a problem. As an academic, I had a month off from classes at this time of year to hunker down at home and do my own work without being bothered. As a zookeeper I had no holidays off at all.

But now it's a huge inconvenience. Sure, I can write on whatever days I want. But as a nonfiction writer, I need to be able to get in touch with other people to do my work, and they're not answering their email or phones on those days. And as a freelancer it's still a lot like being a zookeeper: I have no time off - I have to meet all the same deadlines I would have otherwise. So the only thing these "holidays" accomplish is that I have to somehow pack two weeks of work into eight weekdays instead of ten.

I am sure the same is true in many other professions. What's more, I think we can all agree that we don't need another day off next week nearly as much as we need it at other times. There are entire months when Americans have no holidays.

I propose that we move New Years Day. How about March, when it's so depressing that we need a holiday? Or June, when the weather is nice and we could make better use of a day off?

The barbecue grill dreams of better days

How much is that puggy on the counter?

Buy one get one free!

Lilly has always wished that I would open a store where she could hang out all day. Now we are working part-time at her favorite local dog boutique, so she has at least partly gotten her wish. She hates to leave at the end of the day, no matter how long we have been there.

Why pugs hate Christmas

Why pugs hate Christmas
Originally uploaded by wombatarama

Bah Humpug!

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays
Originally uploaded by wombatarama

No more stuffed pugs for Christmas

I think...

(I found four more that I neglected to put in the picture. Just small ones, really.)

Oops

One of the things I hated about being a college professor was when people asked me what I did for a living. Along with it being impossible to explain what linguistics is, it just seemed like such a pretentious thing to be.

So then I went to the other extreme and worked at a job where I had to haul bales and sweat and get sore and have poop all over my clothes.

Now, when people ask what I do, I have to say I am a writer. Which combines all the pretentiousness of being a professor with the low pay of being a zookeeper.

I guess I am going to have to keep trying till I get this right.