I usually got a seat on the Amtrak, but I was going from DC to NYC or Philly, depending on the year.

Now I can't imagine not driving. LA has made me one of those car dependent people.

Thanksgiving prep has included making red velvet cupcakes (technically for scouts tonight) and two pudding pies. I should cook the breakfast casserole we'll have, but it will be easier to prep and assemble tomorrow AM.

I swam this AM (about 15 minutes longer than usual too), but I can't decide if I should swim tomorrow. It will be clusterfucky-crowded at 7:00, but worth getting a swim in.

I'm taking the bus to the Jersey shore tomorrow.

While there are some places that are open on holidays, in the past there was some negotiation with employees: who wanted to work T-day vs Christmas? Can your shift end early enough or start late enough so you had part of the day? Then too, there are people who prefer to work and don't celebrate T-day, Christmas and other holidays.

I teach students who often are teachers (who get the week off this week) so they requested that I cancel class this week. I was happy to do it. I prefer to travel on Tuesdays anyway.

My college's Thanksgiving week schedule included classes on Monday and Tuesday. But tons of people would take the whole week or, at the very least, skip Tuesday (pretty sure that's what I did).

My Thanksgiving food prep today involves baking a pumpkin pie and taking the green beans out of the freezer to thaw in preparation for being turned into the venerable green bean casserole tomorrow. I've never made it before, so I'm a little nervous. But it doesn't seem like something that can be fucked up too badly. (I wouldn't ordinarily make it, but my aunt gave me 4 or 5 freezer bags full of green beans from her garden earlier this month, so, hey -- green bean casserole!)

We're also bringing wine (which I'm really good at) and rolls (which is Tim's job). Although we decided that starting next year, the 20-something nephews who live on their own can be given the job of bringing rolls.

I'm one of those people that actually like to work on the day after Thanksgiving. No traffic problems, and everything is so quiet that I can get a lot done (or goof off without worrying that anyone will see me). (This year, it's going to be "get a lot done.")

In my division, I think it's going to be just me and the new attorney who has to be careful with the little annual leave that she's accrued.

in the past there was some negotiation with employees: who wanted to work T-day vs Christmas? Can your shift end early enough or start late enough so you had part of the day? Then too, there are people who prefer to work and don't celebrate T-day, Christmas and other holidays.

Right, I think it's the volume that really makes this different. I always enjoyed working T-day AM when I was at Starbucks, but you just needed a few people who felt like that and you were covered. A handful of people, and hours that are conducive to still preserving a bunch of the holiday. Now there's such a volume of shopping that stores are extra staffed up and my perception is that many people do not have a choice.

Our neighborhood Starbucks is advertising that they'll be open 41 straight hours on Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

It's insane.

Now there's such a volume of shopping that stores are extra staffed up and my perception is that many people do not have a choice.

And then the Starbucks have to staff up, because more people will be coming in -- it's a snowball effect, I think.

Along similar lines, I was in a bar last night that was surprised by a very large party, and only had one bartender and one waitress working. It was kind of a cluster fuck.

At the library, nobody has both Wednesday and Friday off, so nobody can travel far for Thanksgiving. The vast majority of the people are from here, so it's not so much an issue for them, but I'll never be able to visit my mother for Thanksgiving while I'm working there, and driving to Cleveland to my in-laws would kind of be a problem, too. So it's not like the problem of working holidays is limited to the actual day, or limited to low-wage workers. (For Christmas, I've been scheduled to work the 27th, although asking for it off. So I'll have the 24th-26th off, and then work one day, and then have the weekend off, which feels like a waste. We can't reasonably travel for Christmas with that schedule.)

Oh, sure -- my new job closes between Christmas and New Year's, but of course all of the people who handle individual donors have to go in -- that's their busiest time!