Thanksgiving Live-Blogging

That's right, folks. I'm currently in the basement of my uncle and aunt's house in Hudson, Wisconsin at the annual Szyman (mom's maiden name) Thanksgiving extravaganza. First off, I am feeling much better, thanks for asking. It turned out my virulent illness lasted from about 9:30 p.m. - 2 a.m. with a one day convalescence while my stomach tried to find meaning in its life again after such a foundation-shaking crisis.

Today was basically all travel, but it was great having people to travel with. Johann (age 8) enlivened the trip with some solid riddles (and he wouldn't just tell you the answers; you had to guess) and a few games. I also reflected how much easier road trips would have been if iPads had been invented by 1992.

I think the highlight of the trip was when my brother started to get all hypoglycemically-crabby and began looking for the other half of his footlong that he had saved for lunch. It was at this point that I realized that the empty, crumpled up subway bag I had thrown away at the gas station was actually a half-empty, crumpled up subway bag with half a sandwich still left. For some reason I found this much funnier than my brother. So, after being compelled basically at knifepoint to stop at Burger King (well, knifepoint for my brother is this kind of sulking crabbiness that is worse than a knife because it's so freaking annoying and reminds you of your relationship circa 2000), we were on our merry way again.

So, we arrived safe and sound and had a nice lasagna dinner at my Uncle Jim's in Stillwater before heading back to Hudson. One thing I apparently must do is go to the used theological bookstore (I know: a. I didn't know such a thing existed; b. this is a dream come true; c. they have a whole section on liturgy) in Stillwater that was recommended to me by three North Park faculty members (granted two of them were married to each other, but they were still separate recommendations!). So, I think I will go on Friday to peruse/buy too many books.

Friday is one of my least favorite days of the U.S. calendar year: Black Friday. The whole concept of waiting in these mob-like lines in the wee hours of the morning for a $25 TV that you have to rip out of some other poor sop's hands gives me the willies. I think this feeling is exacerbated when places like Wal-mart are simultaneously oppressing international and domestic workforces in the process - and also shutting down small businesses in the area, all with one fell swoop of the whistling smiley-face that is lowering prices and killing the middle class. When I heard some stores are actually opening up at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, it made it even worse. Just think of those poor employees who have to go in at 11:30 after Thanksgiving and pretend like they not only want to be near all those crazy people who are about to bust down the door, but that they want to help them find what they are looking for. One of these days those mobs are going to go all Lord-of-the-Flies and end with heads on stakes and some little kid named Piggy getting his glasses broken to start a fire while the other kids yell, "Sucks to your ass-mar!"

So, now that it's officially Thanksgiving, I am going to get some shuteye! Here's a Thanksgiving card from me to you. Later.