The War on Christmas

I just left a lengthy comment on a friend's facebook page and was a bit pleased with the result of my efforts, so here it is: My thoughts on "Merry Christmas" vs. "Happy Holidays."

Regardless of our country's founding principles, not everyone celebrates Christmas. If I told a Jew "Merry Christmas," then he or she might easily be offended, just as I'd be a little put off if that same person wished me a Happy Hanukkah. To me, the most galling thing about the whole debate is the assumption by one party that everyone ought to celebrate one holiday and forget about the rest. Such an assumption lacks courtesy and respect. I'm fine with folks who devoutly celebrate Christmas - I used to be one of them. However, when devotion to one faith leads to dismissal and disrespect of the others, that faith has lost its beauty, like a stained glass window lying shattered in the mud.
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So there you have it. Regardless of which tradition you follow, I hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

Just in case you're wondering...

I had a little fun with my facebook profile by changing the picture to an emo look and then posted an emo-like status, referring to this blog. Now, all I have is Strong Sad of homestarrunner.com to imitate for emo-ness, so I don't know how well I did. Really, I'm posting to reassure people I'm not really that depressed.

Otherwise, things are okay - not fantastic, not awful, just okay. Can't wait to see old friends at Wake, and I need to see my favorite mountains soon, but it's been good to be with my family and befriend a new cat.

Gotta go.

Wow.

Six months. What a ride.

I plan on giving those experiences the attention they deserve, but for now, chilling out in the concourse of Denver International, I'd like to focus on something more trivial. Like driving 750 miles or so from Bozeman to Denver because I wanna get home now and not wait another week.

Or the fact that the place to go in Bozeman if you want ethnic/lingual diversity is the bus system: in the last week, I've heard Russian, Farsi/Arabic, and Mandarin. In friggin' Montana! The state tied with Utah for whitest in the union, and Utah's got the excuse of Mormons.

I got on the bus from the rental car return station to the terminal today, and some guy was talking on his phone with a southern accent. I about hugged him. Didn't know I missed that drawl until I heard it again. It's funny, out here, there's a kind of twang that resembles a southern accent, but it's just not the same.

Oh, it took me 540 miles on my trip to see a cop, then another 150 until I got to the Denver area and saw others. Weird.

Last night at 7:30pm, it felt like midnight on the roads; not because I was especially tired, but because it was so dang dark and I was practically alone on the interstate.

Traveling 5mph over the speed limit out here makes you a speed demon (again, until you get to Denver). I was passed by a total of one car, and that was because we were on an on-ramp. I passed him (for good) a few minutes later.

After 600 miles at 80mph, 65mph feels like crawling.

Downtown Denver is a cool place - I toodled around for 30 minutes before heading to the airport, and I wish I could've gotten out of my car and explored on foot. The new Mile High Stadium is pretty impressive, too; looks a lot more imposing than Bank of America Stadium.

It's kinda funny that I've been to Denver's airport five times, but today was my first experience of the city.

I got stereotyped at the CO visitor's center. I told the lady I had a couple of hours to kill before turning in the rental car, and she started rattling off the breweries that were nearby. I was tempted to throw a fit just for kicks: "Just because I'm a 20-something male doesn't mean that I wanna go get buzzed! Besides, I've just told you that I'm driving! And then flying afterward! You want me to become more dangerous on the road and then be dehydrated for my flight back?!?! Hey, you're a lady in your 60s, why don't you find something better to do, like knit a sweater! And when you finish, make one for your dog, too." No, it doesn't upset me. Just something funny.

Okay, gotta pack up and mozy through security. Like I said, I'll be writing more soon.