laga, I don't think the bank thing would be a problem for him or you, unless there's some requirement that he doesn't meet (like the bank requires that he live in a particular city, or he's an illegal immigrant or something.)

Laga, I wonder if he opened an "emergency" account for your roomie. Talk to him first. I think the only conflict would be taxes on interest earned. Unless the father is going thru a divorce or thinking about it and will use the account to hide money, but if its in his name, its likely his SS# is attatched to the account. So I dunno.

ION this being my only day off for the past 7, I was hoping to sleep in. I even turned off all alarms. But no!! Not even 8am & I'm awake. Granted I did pass out before midnight. But still! Not fair I say (like a 5 year old). Plus I had some wicked ass vivid dreams that woke me up during the night. The recurring one was grad school was wanting me to teach a class on set design. And a class on climbing. I'm NOT graphical. AAND I can't climb!!! Ya, brought out a lot of anxiety of "I can't teach this". Did I mention I'm nearly 12 years out of grad school?!?!

Thanks guys I'll stop worrying now.

This is what my darling Kristin just said to Seamus our kitten, "You feet smell like litter box, go sit on Dad."

Gee. Thanks honey.

What? That's a problem?

our goofiest xmas tradition is lox & bagels with mimosas. One year Dad was in Israel over Christmas so we waited to celebrate until he came home. He brought lox & bagels with him and we had them with mimosas for breakfast. The best thing is that you can make yourself a sandwich and get right to the presents.

We were allowed to open one present on xmas eve but it was always our xmas morning outfits- robes & slippers, footie pjs, the year Dad went to Japan we all got kimonos. We stayed up xmas eve watching home movies and in the morning we had to wait for Dad to set up the camera before we were allowed to walk single-file down the hall. We have years of home movie footage that is so very similar. The scene opens on the angel on top of the tree, pans down to a resigned-looking irish wolfhound, then down the hall cue the kids! and you see three or four (depending on how old I am) similarly clad children march oh-so-impatiently towards the tree. Nothing was wrapped, just grouped together according to child.

We were much more focused on Santa than Jesus. My parents never really talked about religion with us aside from telling us it was our decision to make. We ended up as atheists and agnositcs and when my brother discovered that his son was of the idea that christmas was all about baby cheeses he did nothing to disabuse him of that notion.

I also have a good Santa story. One day my brother was playing with the big kids on the big kids playground and they started telling him there's no such thing as Santa. James argued with them but they said if he went home and asked his mother she would tell him the truth. So James went running home and up to Mom crying, "Mom! Is there a Santa Claus?" "Of course there is, sweetie!" Mom replied. So James ran back to big kids playground and announced, "you were wrong!"

I'm the youngest and it dawned on me gradually that Santa wasn't really bringing our toys. As a final test I left a note for Santa on Christmas Eve telling him that I was very sorry but that I forgot to ask for a Barbie Dream House. I knew I had been good so in the morning when the note was gone and there was no Barbie Dream House I felt my theory had been confirmed.

I just asked Jon Voigt to move outta way so I could get to the rest room.

Ha, I was watching him on my television last night (National Treasure).

Annabel on her trike

Dude, I've been in Minearverse too much, I was expecting to see a toddler on a picket line.

Me too.

Is is SO cold out there! My run went ok, except for the very small stretch of the path where it was a little slippery. Why that part of the path was trying to ice over and none of the rest of the path was at all icy I do not know. I was careful on that section. The rain didn't bother me, either, since it was mostly spitting. My rain shell was quite wet however!

Now I am home, frozen. I'm trying to warm up a little, then shower and off for yummy food!

I wasn't as fast today. Started strong, but wavered in the middle. I'm sure race day (next week!) will be way more fun, since I'll have other stuff to entertain me. I didn't run with music today, partly as practice for races and partly because I need a new MP3 player, and I'm sure that kept my motivation waning.

I love hearing about everyone's Christmas traditions!

So last night's Feminist Majority celebration was amazing. I can't believe I got to hear Gloria Steinem and Ellie Smeal speak! My heroes!!! There were a lot of other amazing speakers and celebrities, but Gloria and Ellie were the high points. They were gracious and funny and passionate and brilliant and so very dedicated to continuing to make a difference to the women of the world. I'm still a little breathless think about it. The night ended with a local girls' choir singing "I Am Woman." Wow.

On a Bitchly side note, Margaret Cho did a hysterical bit about her Hitachi Magic Wand. Kathy Najimy made my cry with laughter, too, but Cho did a Magic Wand sound impression and said, "Are you masturbating or sanding the floor?" Too funny.

ETA: Oh, and one of my favorite parts of Gloria's speech was when she described how Ms. magazine has been wanting to do a fold-out clitoral map (to show how much of the clitoris exists below the surface) for years.