This is the Black Friday of Canada, I've learned. Down here, it's the day our store takes thousands and thousands of dollars in returns.
37 thoughts on “December 26, 2012: Boxing Day”
I don't really care for the period between Christmas Day and New Years Eve. I always feel a bit melancholy this week. Also, I find it tough to get into the swing of things at work; especially after a couple of days off, back in the office for 3 days, a weekend (albeit a working one), a Monday in the office, then another holiday (this year's schedule). I can't wait until I can afford to take the week off.
I actually enjoy working between holidays; most everyone is off, so I can roll up my sleeves and make some progress without phone calls or IMs.
my workload doesn't get any less, but I do highly enjoy not having to fight traffic for a week.
I generally enjoy the combination of casualness and productivity in the office this week.
I'm with Beau and Philo. The bus was really running quickly this morning without having to make as many stops or dodge nearly as much traffic. Plus, there's only about three of four people on my floor today rather than the usual fifteen or so, which makes it a lot easier to get things done. Of course, finding out at the last minute Christmas Eve that the buses were on a different schedule (and my express bus wasn't running for the day), was a pain, but oh well...
Working at home, I actually have the opposite "problem" -- instead of the dog and I holding down the fort, Runner daughter is on break from college, doubling the people "on my floor" 😉
so, you are wearing pants at work this week?
pants? never! PJs and robe for me
I always feel a bit melancholy this week.
It is a strange week, a nice quiet lull after all the holiday fuss. I remember that making me sad when I was younger- not as sad as another birthday going by, but similar- but anymore I'm happy that it's over for another year. Usually I have another Christmas party or function to attend still, but that all got done earlier in December for once.
ESPN should have a Boxing Day Spectacular with a double or tripleheader of EPL action
That reminds me, hey Andrew can we have a Boxing Day EPL contest update?
Perhaps a topic for "Father Knows Best"...in the year immediately following high school graduation, does your your kid go to college or the oil fields of North Dakota & Montana? I really appreciated some of the dialogue in the comments section.
With a son who is a senior in High School, the thought has crossed my mind. I have a feeling a lot of mothers would nix this in the bud, however.
It would take a special kind of kid to forego a year or two of college to go to ND and make some $$$ before heading off for college. First you'd probably have to live in a "man camp" because there is no housing. No friends, tough life, tough company. Also idle time and lots of cash usually gets spent on drugs, alcohol, and prostitutes.
If a kid had the moxie to tough it out, it could be quite lucrative but I think for most 18 year olds, especially with no family support structure nearby, it would be very difficult to pull off.
I was at a holiday party a few weeks ago and met someone who had just returned from a year at the oil fields . . . in Siberia!
If a kid had the moxie to tough it out, it could be quite lucrative but I think for most 18 year olds, especially with no family support structure nearby, it would be very difficult to pull off.
This.
Most recent high school graduates, in my experience, struggle with the relatively few demands of adulthood required by starting college. I would imagine that the same is true of joining the military, although (at least initially) there is a command structure telling you what to do and how to do it for most of your day. Heading off to a Wild West boomtown as a wet-behind-the-ears kid sounds...very challenging.
This was my thought too...it took me more than 5 years to get my sh!t in order following high school during which time I did stints in both college and the military.
I don't know what it was like for prior generations, or when it changed, but the transition from childhood to adulthood now seems to include a stretch of "young-adulthood" from 18 to 26 (and later) where it's okay rack up $50k-150,000 in student loan debt "figuring myself out" or "deciding what I want to do when I grow up"...so long as you're in college or recently graduated.* I find it interesting that it's newsworthy that a good paying job which doesn't require a college-level degree, but does require some "moxie", is an option under consideration.
*I realize that this is a bit hyperbolic and unsubstantiated (no one wants their kids to spend that kind of time and/or money getting to their first job) but it seems to me to have become the norm.
It makes me sad when I see people that have been to college for four or six years and still have no idea what they want to do. I realize many jobs today are much easier to get with a college degree, even if that degree isn't really specific to the job.
I had a friend who was figuring himself out, getting in some trouble but also making $45,000 a year while doing that rather than losing it in something he hated.
That said, I would also be hesitant to send off my 18 year-old kid to do something like that unless it was something they were passionate about and I felt they had some skillset for survival in that area.
It makes me sad when I see people that have been to college for four or six years and still have no idea what they want to do.
Well, that doesn't worry me so much as seeing people who haven't come to grips with adulthood during their 4-6 years of college.
I am ok with a kid who wants to "see the world" or some such b.s. after getting an undergrad degree. A B.A. or a B.S. is a gold star, but not proof of a finished product by any means. And when else are you gonna have an adventure but while you are young?
That doesn't mean that I would be enthusiastic about having one of my kids rack up tens of thousands of dollars in school-loan debt, then spend a few years riding the rails or summat. And I would be very disappointed if my kids came out of college the same clueless, self-absorbed dumbasses that they went in as (I'm speaking generically here -- the Boy is actually pretty responsible and thoughtful, for an 18-year old).
But a lot of successful people haven't found their passion in life until their late 20s or even into their 30s. And at 30, you still have an expected 30-40 years of working ahead of you.
True. And sometimes passions change. So, yeah, everything you just said.
I remember being a little uppity jerk in college, scoffing at those who partied, missed classes, or had trouble paying their bills because they wasted their money on buying stuff. I was also lucky to have a close relationship with my dad and was able to call him whenever I wanted for advice on credit cards, budgeting, managing an apartment, etc.
And sometimes passions change.
True that. Hell, I was an avid bowler for 20 years but gave it all up for curling.
"I gave it all up for curling"
belongs on a headstone someday.
Zombieman, you've inspired all sorts of responses in me...
And when else are you gonna have an adventure but while you are young?
Shouldn't we all be having adventures constantly?
I would be very disappointed if my kids came out of college the same clueless, self-absorbed dumbasses that they went in as
I was such a naive idiot when I went to college, and then again when I went to law school. I think if college had been more demanding I would have been more prepared for law school. Post-law school, I was fairly prepared. I think a more challenging academic experience in college would be good for helping this process.
But a lot of successful people haven't found their passion in life until their late 20s or even into their 30s.
I've only recently decided what I want to be when I grow up. It was not the path I took unfortunately. Now to switch tracks at some point...
And at 30, you still have an expected 30-40 years of working ahead of you.
Whimper.
well, there's "adventures" and there's "an Adventure" (said in a Hobbit-ian voice).
For me, the "Adventure" was stuffing everything I owned into my Honda Civic and moving to DC to look for a job, with zero leads or prospects (but a line on an apartment through alumni connections). The first week I was there, I was almost too scared to go out and sight[site?]-see.
I wonder now what my parents thought. No job, no clue, and juuust enough assets to last a few months without a job. My "plan" was just to find a job and be on my own in a Real City for a year or two before going to grad school. For someone as personally conservative as I am, it was An Adventure.
Shouldn't we all be having Adventures constantly?
Sorry. I was cut from conservative, Midwestern, Protestant, Little Red Hen stock. Adventures are mostly beyond me.
Heh, sounds a bit like my adventure post-graduation, although I had a lead on an apartment and a job (which I got) about a week or two after deciding to move to Madison. Overall, I think its worked out pretty well, although when I visit Stillwater, I realize how much more I would enjoy living there than I did when I was a dumb kid (who couldn't take advantage of the night life.)
One thing that worries me is how fickle HR departments have gotten. It is such a buyer's market that it seems like they just make things up to narrow down candidates.
I could see a lot of young people getting shut out of the job market for simply being immature when they were in their early 20s.
I think it might be a better plan for some people to get jobs out of high school and then go to college when they know what they want to do. The question is, will employers agree?
The question is, will employers agree?
I'd wager "no".
A college degree isn't much evidence that you've learned any marketable skills, but it is evidence that you were minimally competent and mature enough to earn a sheepskin. That's a much, much stronger signal of employability for anything other than unskilled labor than a high school degree.
Do you think a 22 year old recent college graduate is a better job candidate than a 24 year old recent college graduate? Assuming the 24 year old worked full time for 2 years before going to college and both took 4 years to complete his/her degree.
My comment was directed toward your proposal that h.s. grads look for jobs. I was saying that employers would not be eager to hire recent h.s. grads for anything other than dead-end jobs (or more traditional unskilled-semiskilled-skilled job ladders). Your latter scenario is a different kettle of fish.
I don't really see much marginal value to an employer from a job candidate who had two years of dead-end employment prior to going to college over a candidate who went straight from h.s. to college, all else constant.
That is what I was originally suggesting.
I don't think someone that had a couple years on a job is a better candidate than someone that went straight to college after high school. My fear is that they will be looked at as being a worse candidate.
yeah, I saw what you were getting at, and I could see that as a problem (realistic or not). Keep in mind also that you would also potentially be foregoing a couple years of raises (again, realistic or not)
there is nothing like going to the store to pick up some hamburger buns only to walk down the aisle and having to avoid the person who is coughing up something fierce from their lungs and not covering their mouth.
I don't really care for the period between Christmas Day and New Years Eve. I always feel a bit melancholy this week. Also, I find it tough to get into the swing of things at work; especially after a couple of days off, back in the office for 3 days, a weekend (albeit a working one), a Monday in the office, then another holiday (this year's schedule). I can't wait until I can afford to take the week off.
I actually enjoy working between holidays; most everyone is off, so I can roll up my sleeves and make some progress without phone calls or IMs.
my workload doesn't get any less, but I do highly enjoy not having to fight traffic for a week.
I generally enjoy the combination of casualness and productivity in the office this week.
I'm with Beau and Philo. The bus was really running quickly this morning without having to make as many stops or dodge nearly as much traffic. Plus, there's only about three of four people on my floor today rather than the usual fifteen or so, which makes it a lot easier to get things done. Of course, finding out at the last minute Christmas Eve that the buses were on a different schedule (and my express bus wasn't running for the day), was a pain, but oh well...
Working at home, I actually have the opposite "problem" -- instead of the dog and I holding down the fort, Runner daughter is on break from college, doubling the people "on my floor" 😉
so, you are wearing pants at work this week?
pants? never! PJs and robe for me
It is a strange week, a nice quiet lull after all the holiday fuss. I remember that making me sad when I was younger- not as sad as another birthday going by, but similar- but anymore I'm happy that it's over for another year. Usually I have another Christmas party or function to attend still, but that all got done earlier in December for once.
ESPN should have a Boxing Day Spectacular with a double or tripleheader of EPL action
That reminds me, hey Andrew can we have a Boxing Day EPL contest update?
Perhaps a topic for "Father Knows Best"...in the year immediately following high school graduation, does your your kid go to college or the oil fields of North Dakota & Montana? I really appreciated some of the dialogue in the comments section.
With a son who is a senior in High School, the thought has crossed my mind. I have a feeling a lot of mothers would nix this in the bud, however.
It would take a special kind of kid to forego a year or two of college to go to ND and make some $$$ before heading off for college. First you'd probably have to live in a "man camp" because there is no housing. No friends, tough life, tough company. Also idle time and lots of cash usually gets spent on drugs, alcohol, and prostitutes.
If a kid had the moxie to tough it out, it could be quite lucrative but I think for most 18 year olds, especially with no family support structure nearby, it would be very difficult to pull off.
I was at a holiday party a few weeks ago and met someone who had just returned from a year at the oil fields . . . in Siberia!
This.
Most recent high school graduates, in my experience, struggle with the relatively few demands of adulthood required by starting college. I would imagine that the same is true of joining the military, although (at least initially) there is a command structure telling you what to do and how to do it for most of your day. Heading off to a Wild West boomtown as a wet-behind-the-ears kid sounds...very challenging.
This was my thought too...it took me more than 5 years to get my sh!t in order following high school during which time I did stints in both college and the military.
I don't know what it was like for prior generations, or when it changed, but the transition from childhood to adulthood now seems to include a stretch of "young-adulthood" from 18 to 26 (and later) where it's okay rack up $50k-150,000 in student loan debt "figuring myself out" or "deciding what I want to do when I grow up"...so long as you're in college or recently graduated.* I find it interesting that it's newsworthy that a good paying job which doesn't require a college-level degree, but does require some "moxie", is an option under consideration.
*I realize that this is a bit hyperbolic and unsubstantiated (no one wants their kids to spend that kind of time and/or money getting to their first job) but it seems to me to have become the norm.
It makes me sad when I see people that have been to college for four or six years and still have no idea what they want to do. I realize many jobs today are much easier to get with a college degree, even if that degree isn't really specific to the job.
I had a friend who was figuring himself out, getting in some trouble but also making $45,000 a year while doing that rather than losing it in something he hated.
That said, I would also be hesitant to send off my 18 year-old kid to do something like that unless it was something they were passionate about and I felt they had some skillset for survival in that area.
Well, that doesn't worry me so much as seeing people who haven't come to grips with adulthood during their 4-6 years of college.
I am ok with a kid who wants to "see the world" or some such b.s. after getting an undergrad degree. A B.A. or a B.S. is a gold star, but not proof of a finished product by any means. And when else are you gonna have an adventure but while you are young?
That doesn't mean that I would be enthusiastic about having one of my kids rack up tens of thousands of dollars in school-loan debt, then spend a few years riding the rails or summat. And I would be very disappointed if my kids came out of college the same clueless, self-absorbed dumbasses that they went in as (I'm speaking generically here -- the Boy is actually pretty responsible and thoughtful, for an 18-year old).
But a lot of successful people haven't found their passion in life until their late 20s or even into their 30s. And at 30, you still have an expected 30-40 years of working ahead of you.
True. And sometimes passions change. So, yeah, everything you just said.
I remember being a little uppity jerk in college, scoffing at those who partied, missed classes, or had trouble paying their bills because they wasted their money on buying stuff. I was also lucky to have a close relationship with my dad and was able to call him whenever I wanted for advice on credit cards, budgeting, managing an apartment, etc.
And sometimes passions change.
True that. Hell, I was an avid bowler for 20 years but gave it all up for curling.
"I gave it all up for curling"
belongs on a headstone someday.
Zombieman, you've inspired all sorts of responses in me...
Shouldn't we all be having adventures constantly?
I was such a naive idiot when I went to college, and then again when I went to law school. I think if college had been more demanding I would have been more prepared for law school. Post-law school, I was fairly prepared. I think a more challenging academic experience in college would be good for helping this process.
I've only recently decided what I want to be when I grow up. It was not the path I took unfortunately. Now to switch tracks at some point...
Whimper.
well, there's "adventures" and there's "an Adventure" (said in a Hobbit-ian voice).
For me, the "Adventure" was stuffing everything I owned into my Honda Civic and moving to DC to look for a job, with zero leads or prospects (but a line on an apartment through alumni connections). The first week I was there, I was almost too scared to go out and sight[site?]-see.
I wonder now what my parents thought. No job, no clue, and juuust enough assets to last a few months without a job. My "plan" was just to find a job and be on my own in a Real City for a year or two before going to grad school. For someone as personally conservative as I am, it was An Adventure.
Shouldn't we all be having Adventures constantly?
Sorry. I was cut from conservative, Midwestern, Protestant, Little Red Hen stock. Adventures are mostly beyond me.
Heh, sounds a bit like my adventure post-graduation, although I had a lead on an apartment and a job (which I got) about a week or two after deciding to move to Madison. Overall, I think its worked out pretty well, although when I visit Stillwater, I realize how much more I would enjoy living there than I did when I was a dumb kid (who couldn't take advantage of the night life.)
One thing that worries me is how fickle HR departments have gotten. It is such a buyer's market that it seems like they just make things up to narrow down candidates.
I could see a lot of young people getting shut out of the job market for simply being immature when they were in their early 20s.
I think it might be a better plan for some people to get jobs out of high school and then go to college when they know what they want to do. The question is, will employers agree?
I'd wager "no".
A college degree isn't much evidence that you've learned any marketable skills, but it is evidence that you were minimally competent and mature enough to earn a sheepskin. That's a much, much stronger signal of employability for anything other than unskilled labor than a high school degree.
Do you think a 22 year old recent college graduate is a better job candidate than a 24 year old recent college graduate? Assuming the 24 year old worked full time for 2 years before going to college and both took 4 years to complete his/her degree.
My comment was directed toward your proposal that h.s. grads look for jobs. I was saying that employers would not be eager to hire recent h.s. grads for anything other than dead-end jobs (or more traditional unskilled-semiskilled-skilled job ladders). Your latter scenario is a different kettle of fish.
I don't really see much marginal value to an employer from a job candidate who had two years of dead-end employment prior to going to college over a candidate who went straight from h.s. to college, all else constant.
That is what I was originally suggesting.
I don't think someone that had a couple years on a job is a better candidate than someone that went straight to college after high school. My fear is that they will be looked at as being a worse candidate.
yeah, I saw what you were getting at, and I could see that as a problem (realistic or not). Keep in mind also that you would also potentially be foregoing a couple years of raises (again, realistic or not)
what is a "raise"??
ok, WTF is an "organic multicooker" other than a more expensive crockpot??
This looks a lot like J's Zojirushi fuzzy logic rice cooker. Her rice cooker does basically everything this thing says it does. It is expensive but it is awesome and makes GREAT rice (along with a ton of other stuff).
It's May Day all over again.
there is nothing like going to the store to pick up some hamburger buns only to walk down the aisle and having to avoid the person who is coughing up something fierce from their lungs and not covering their mouth.
ugggh