Blogcritics Rerun: Christmas Dos and Don'ts

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  My first Blogcritics rerun post, How to Become a Web Designer, got a lot of hits.  It's now December, so it's the right time to rerun Christmas Dos and Don'ts, another article I wrote for Blogcritics.  Click on the link to read the original article.  Enjoy!

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   It's getting close to that time of year again! The malls have been full of tinsel and bells for almost an entire month. HR departments are handing out days-off preference forms. Children are begging their parents for certain material things, and so are some adults. Christmastime is getting ever closer!

   My Halloween Dos and Don'ts feature was rather popular. I can be counted on to have strong opinions about everything, so here are my tips for having a successful Christmas.

Christmas gifts are for wants, not needs.

   If you're considering getting anyone on your list white cotton socks, even if that's to accompany something else for the recipient, this tip is for you.

   Christmas gifts should be fun, they should be things that the recipient will find pleasurable. For children and adults alike, make a point of fulfilling their wants, NOT their needs. Video games often make great Christmas gifts, toothpaste seldom does.

   'But Kim, this person on my list is in poverty! They need toilet paper, because they can't afford it themselves!' If that's the case, still make their gift something they want. Giving them something they need is a very nice idea, but don't make that their Christmas gift. Give them the things they need at some other time, discreetly. Don't gift-wrap it and don't give it to them too close to December 25th.

Christmas gifts should be things the person wants to have, not things you think they ought to have.

   That's another mistake that's made way too often. If I like Hello Kitty merchandise, don't give me a plain wallet because you think it's more "adult" or in better taste. Get me a Hello Kitty wallet instead.

   If my fondness for black clothing is too much for you, Christmas isn't your opportunity to get me colorful clothing.

You're not going to change someone's taste with a Christmas gift. Don't even try, they'll resent you for that.

Get to know the recipient's taste as well as you can.

   Making assumptions about someone because 40-year-old Canadian guys ought to love NHL merchandise is an erroneous way to choose a Christmas gift. People often defy stereotypes and generalizations.

   I remember being an elementary school kid, and every June there would be some sort of craft to make for Father's Day. I remember one year, in kindergarten or Grade One (First Grade, to you Americans) we were given cardboard 'ties' to decorate.

   My father hates wearing ties. Even as a six-year-old, I knew that. Other elementary school years, we were given pencil cases to decorate with Father's Day-themed wallpaper or wrapping paper. The football, fishing, and power tool themed designs were all very inappropriate for my father. But he's a man! He's my dad! He's got to be just like Tim Allen!

   On that same note, if you think a subscription to Cosmopolitan magazine is a great idea for me because I'm a young heterosexual woman, I've got news for you.

Avoid Christmas-themed Christmas gifts.

   That's a real pet peeve of mine. I do love Christmas, but only if the Christmas stuff is restricted to December 1st until December 26th. Getting me Santa Claus mugs for Christmas means I'm receiving them close to a time when I want to banish Christmas from my psyche, for the sake of enjoying Christmas next year.

   Christmas gifts should be enjoyable for the days and weeks after receiving them. So, resist the temptation to buy Christmas-themed gifts.

On a similar note, don't put up Christmas decorations too early or take them down too late!

   It's bad enough that retailers think they have to put Christmas displays up as soon as the Halloween stuff is taken down. Don't follow the lead of your local shopping mall.

   My secularized and commercialized experience of Christmas is a sacred thing. It's magical and fun only if it's special for a time-limited occasion.

   If you put your Christmas lights up on November 1st and take them down by the end of March, you have that stuff decorating your house for an entire THIRD of the year. It's not so special anymore, is it?

   My birthday is January 13th. I always tell people, the Christmas gift that the world can give me is to have all Christmas stuff put away no later than my birthday. Ideally, put your decorations and tree up during the first week or two of December, and take them down by December 27th.

With that in mind, be considerate of people who have birthdays close to Christmastime.

   Combined Christmas/birthday gifts are a huge no-no. Even though my birthday is a couple of weeks after Christmas, people are still tempted to do that to me. For people born even closer to Christmas, it's even worse.

   Birthdays, my own and those of others, are a big deal to me because it's the one day you can have made all about you, or all about them. Make sure that people in your life with birthdays close to or on Christmas day receive separate birthday cards and presents, at a separate time. That applies to children AND adults. If the person's birthday is during the week of Christmas, celebrate their birthday during a different week. A lot of Capricorns and late Sagittarians will thank you for that.

Acknowledge the different holidays of others in your life.

   Political correctness shouldn't get in the way of celebrating Christmas, but make sure that other holidays receive similar respect.

   For example, my stepfather is Jewish. Thankfully, Hanukkah is the first week of December this year, instead of being too close to Christmas day.

   I will get him a separate Hanukkah card and gift, and give them to him during one of the eight days. I will NOT get him a generic 'Happy Holidays' card on December 26th, when I visit my mother's side of the family.

   Acknowledge Ramadan for your Muslim friends. Acknowledge Diwali for your Hindu friends. I'd go out of my way to avoid giving anyone any generic anything. It's better to ask questions than make assumptions.

Don't be a perfectionist for Christmas.

   Too many people, women especially, think their Christmas entertaining should live up to Martha Stewart's standards.

   Setting the bar impossibly high will only stress you out. As long as you're able to get friends and family together, give them thoughtful gifts, and have some edible food, you're being a good host.

   You don't have Martha's staff or Martha's budget. As cliched as this might sound, the important thing about Christmas is to spend time with family and try to have fun. You can't have fun if you don't relax!

   If even one person takes my advice this season, I've done what I could to make the world a better place. Thanks for reading!

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You could win autographed prizes!

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   How would you like to win some cool prizes?

   As I mentioned in my earlier blog post (A 'Shout-Out' for my Dad (and Stepmom), I design and maintain a website for my father, stepmother, Felix Baron, and Madeline Moore.  The website just launched last week: Telltale.ca.  They're crime thriller and erotica novelists.

   The contest runs from Monday, November 29th, 2010 until Friday, December 10th, 2010.  See contest rules for details.

   One lucky winner will receive three autographed books- The Women's Club by Michael Crawley and Laurie Clayton,  Sarah's Education by Madeline Moore, and The Persian Girl by Felix Baron.

   Go to Telltale.ca for rules and entry.

   You may also want to check out my interview with Michael Crawley and Laurie Clayton, authors of The Women's Club on Blogcritics.

    Have fun and good luck!

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A 'Shout-Out' for Dragon Blogger

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    Before I get into the meat of this post, I have some news to share.  It's all good stuff!

    First of all, I was offered a position in a tech support call centre yesterday.   I had to pass a number of tests of my IT and networking knowledge, plus a mock call scenario, in order to get the job.  I gladly accepted the job offer.  I'd be working on behalf of a major American ISP.   Well, Americans, at least some of your tech support jobs are being outsourced to Canada instead of India.   My 'Canadian' accent is more similar to an accent from Connecticut than an accent from Arkansas, but I have plenty of practice understanding Southern accents from talking to my dear half-sister Tori, who has spent enough of her life living in Florida and North Carolina  to sound like she's from there.   But yes, my accent is still generally Canadian (still some Londonish inflection exists from being raised by my father and grandmother), I don't really say 'oot and aboot', do I, eh?

     Anyway, my IT know-how and call centre experience got me the job, and it sounds like a pretty good one.  I start training on December 6th.   I will still be working on my freelance web design and blogging, I'm not giving anything up.   And KimCrawley.com will undergo a major overhaul in the next few weeks.  I'm going to change some of the colours to be easier on the eye, and make the site a portal for my blogging, too, not just my web design.  Plus, I'll change the colours of this blog to make it easier to read, as well.

    There's going to be no more Diary of a Lab Rat, I was withdrawn from the study, due to my low blood pressure.  But they paid me very decently for my participation!  I did most of my Christmas shopping in the past couple of days, all with 'lab rat' money.  Thank you, Kendle and Merck!   Oh, talking about Christmas, why don't you check out my Christmas Dos and Don'ts on Blogcritics?

   I'm also working on a website for my dad and stepmom, authors of The Women's Club.  See my Blogcritics interview of them here.  The website should be live in a couple of weeks.

   And, my Blogcritics articles are now being syndicated on the websites of major American newspapers!  Here's a link to my Ladies Who Love Coach Bags rant in the Seattle Post Intelligencer.   I'm also a featured writer in Google News.  Google News keeps an updated list of some of my articles here.

   I'm sorry for my delay of my ever popular 'Brief History of the Web' series, I hope to continue with another part this weekend.

   In the meanwhile, this is the continuation of my 'Shout-Out' series, this time for Dragon Blogger.  The site is run by Justin Germino.  He also runs a few other great blogs and websites, you can check them out here.

   Dragon Blogger is an excellent source for technology and entertainment news.  Justin contributes most of the articles, but I also contribute original articles, and so do several other great bloggers.  

   I recommend that my dear readers bookmark Dragon Blogger, not just for my articles, but also for Justin's and for all the other great content on there.  The site is updated multiple times a day.

   If you'd like to follow my 'Shout-Out' series so far, here are my previous ones:

• A 'Shout-Out' for Feminists For Choice
• A 'Shout-Out' for Transgriot
• A 'Shout-Out' for Tony Moreira
• A 'Shout-Out- for Madeline Moore

   Look forward to more of my 'A Brief History of the Web' series, soon.  Plus, I have more articles planned for Dragon Blogger and Blogcritics.

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Lest We Forget

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  I am among many who have family affected by war.  The First and Second World Wars have had a tremendous impact on both sides of my family.  My family has former soldiers, both survivors and war dead.  My father was a little boy who survived WWII in London, and my grandfather fought, mainly in France.  Those are two family examples, among many.


  And as I write, my half-brother, Captain Winston Crawley is serving in Kabul, Afghanistan.  We hope he and his fellow troops arrive home in one piece.  Many Canadian men and women have died there already, or have become severally injured.


  War is hell!  We must honour our soldiers, no matter how we feel about the wars they're in.


   I hope you've given generously to war vets who have been distributing poppies.


   Far too many younger people, baby boomers included, take peace time for granted.  We must not, not ever.  We must be vigilant to make sure that history doesn't repeat itself.


   I also have Jews in my family.  The Holocaust was absolutely horrific.  Millions of Jews were murdered.   Gays, and disabled people were also murdered.  I have many gay friends, and I'm a person with a disability.


   We must be vigilant and never forget!







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Diary of a Lab Rat: Not enough cheese in this maze!

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  I wasn't able to communicate as clearly yesterday as I wanted to.  I felt like utter CRAP yesterday.  So, now I can think more clearly.

   So, a new insomnia drug is being tested on us.  Kendle wants to find out for Merck what the addictive potential of the new drug is.  It has yet to be approved by Health Canada.

    Yesterday morning, a man entered the ladies' communal bedroom at 5:30am to wake up anyone who wants their morning smoke.

    Those of us who are addicted to cigarettes, like I am, only have two opportunities to smoke, once before 6:30am (two hours before earliest dosing time!) and once at twelve hours after dosing (for me, that's 9:30pm).   So, I've had to go two FIFTEEN HOUR AWAKE periods smoke free. 

   "Oh, it must be so good for Kim to go without smoking for so long!" you're thinking.  You're wrong!

   Toward the end of yesterday, I was insane and driving others crazy.  Kim+tobacco= peace, okay?!

    Each morning, we spend 5-6 hours in the dosing room.  (No, Mom, not doZing room, there's no opportunity for sleep there!)  Yesterday and today, I entered at about 7:30am.   Each of us is dosed and tested at a time unique to each of us.

   I was dosed at 9:30am yesterday and today.  We weren't told whether we would be getting a drug or placebo.  We are dosed double blind, and they mix up who gets what on which day.

   I'm pretty sure that yesterday I got a placebo and today I got the drug!

   I actually got very nauseous.  I was drifting in and out of awareness while in the chair.  (We have to stay in our chairs for the entire 5-6 hours.)

   Before we're given our 'dose', our vital signs are taken, and we have to take tests on a little laptop, one is given to each of us.  The tests include questions about our mental states ("How high do you feel?"), memory tests, and reflex tests.  The memory tests present us with sequences of numbers we should remember.  We're given a joystick to test our reflexes.  We must 'fly a plane' over a squiggly road, and push the button when we see an X on the screen.

   These tests are taken several times a day, at set times, a couple of times pre-dose, and several times post-dose.

   When I haven't been stuck in the dosing room, I've been working hard in the communal ladies' bedroom on my netbook.

   To the people I love, I miss you!

   For this session, I'll be checking out tomorrow morning...

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Diary of a Lab Rat: Stay still, get pellet

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   Well, my first 'Diary of a Lab Rat' post is finally here.

    I checked in at 5pm yesterday evening, or at least I was supposed to.   I lugged my HEAVY suitcase into the building, near King and Bathurst.   I would have been five minutes early, if it weren't for the elevators.

    The elevator came, but it wouldn't stop on the floor of the lab!  I had never had that problem before.  I was pissed!  I can't be late...

    I waited at the 10th floor for quite a while.  The delay was really bothering me.

    I tried going up with the other elevator- the exact same thing happened.

    Finally, back in the lobby, a guy in a white lab coat was waiting.  He didn't identify himself as being an employee of Kendle.  I had to ask him questions to find out what the heck was going on.   People who don't engage in clear, direct communication drive me nuts!   See my rant on Blogcritics about it, I Say What I Mean, and I Mean What I Say!

   Anyway, he was waiting there, with a keycard to let test subjects have access to the correct floor, as this particular floor is locked at 5pm.  It would've been nice if he helped me in the first place, before I wasted all of my time!   Arrrggggh!

As I may not take photos in the lab, here's a real photo of something, courtesy of kilroysdelaware.wordpress.com

   It took until about 6:30pm until I was properly registered.  Good grief!  But they didn't consider me late.

   After having my bags searched, this netbook was registered in their laptop directory, with the webcam taped over.   Then my cigarettes were registered and put away, only to be given to me during designated smoke breaks.  I have access to this netbook whenever I'm not in the dosing room, however.  After changing into their scrubs, they took my vital signs, and another urine sample.

   Two of the women had too high of a THC level in their urine test.  They were also testing us for pregnancy, among other things..   All of the men passed (no, they were only tested for drugs!), but those two women I mentioned were asked to leave the study.  It was a bummer for me, too, I was just getting to know them!

   We had Chinese food for supper, washed down with 7up.  It wasn't bad!

   I had to wait until about 10:45pm for my supervised smoke break, it was brutal!

   Lights out time was 11pm.   Stay tuned for the next part, hopefully by tomorrow, when I start again from this morning.

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