Twaz the Season

January 2, 2001

Looking back on my diary I have noticed that my pen was silent for long stretches of time this last year. I aim to make up for that especially since many of my slides have been rescanned and reposted to the galleries. I have actually been scanning some that will be used for writing, as opposed to just spending hour after hour on the galleries themselves.

So twaz the season for slide work, this last month or so, and soon I hope I will find more time for the pen.

Last year was the season for chewing up some of my "15 minutes of fame," should I be allocated even the 15. I was quoted in the local press once, almost got one of my photographs used in a news story, and appeared twice on television in December.

Must be the charming smile....

Or, more like, right place, right time. Take Christmas Eve day for example. There we were, daughter, spouse and I, out on an expedition to find some "must haves" so that my daughter could meet a ski group and head out to ski camp for the week between Christmas and New Years. Downhill racers need helmets, and we were standing at the cash register when the cameras started to roll.

"Do you always do your Christmas Shopping at the last minute?"

"Yep, You betcha," I said with a smile. After all, I had just been on Canadian TV the week before. Hey, I was getting used to this.

The Canadians you see, were also wandering the mall the same time that I was. Spotting the camera and Anchor in an electronics store, I stopped to watch and overheard them talking about the missing in action "PlayStation2." The toy you just had to have for Christmas 2000. I walked up to the anchor and asked if she wanted to buy one, and she asked me... "You mean you have one to sell?"

Story was, that when I was in the store buying my new computer monitor, they made an announcement that they had 5 PS2 machines left, and by the time I wandered over to the counter, I got the last one. Son and I had a discussion, and he agreed to put the unit up for sale, and I told him that if the price wasn't right, he'd get the Playstation for Christmas and his Jan 3 birthday.

By the time I had purchased the stand, memory and a couple of games, I had about $450 sunk into the game, and was hoping to double my money on either Yahoo or E-Bay.

I was asked if I would do an interview. Well, I said, since you asked....

The Canadian Anchorlady gasped when I said I wanted $900 U.S. for the game. She asked me, "Don't you feel bad ripping off people asking that much?"

The news at 6 and 11 cut to my answer - with a big smile "No way! It's called Capitalism. I've got it, you want it, you pay for it. Hey, It's not like I am taking milk out of the mouths of starving babies or anything."

I'm sure the Canadians loved it, as another arrogant greedy capitalist American was out for the big buck.

There it was, news at 6 and 11, twice. I was the only one who saw the Canadian episode, the rest of the troops didn't want to go back to the hotel room and watch Dad on TV. At least I had an audience for the Christmas Eve 6:00 showing. Too bad they didn't get a picture of my daughter and her new Candy Apple Red helmet.

It turns out that the Playstation prices never really got up there where they were when the game was first introduced. I was wondering about that after my son opened his present, and started to play. Was it because it was a "boy" toy, that the parents decided that it was not such a "must have?" Or was it the price?

Who knows. The boy is happy playing NHL Hockey and NFL football, and for his birthday tomorrow we head out to Gameworks for a gamefest.

Meanwhile, work has progressed on the igloo - or ice cave or whatever you want to call it. Son and I have dug out the inside so that one of can lay down without our feet sticking out of the entrance. I figure about 3 more feet of headroom, and someone just might venture out there to spend a night in the fridge.

Now why would anyone want to do that?

Why not?