That’s our tree to the right. Any more gifts and all you’ll see is a stack of gifts. Geesh, It’s getting out of hand. And we don’t even have any kids! Naw, thanks for the presents that have been sent. I’ll thank you all personally… I’ll be sure to make some phone calls on Christmas Day, I promise.

I did some final Christmas shopping today at the big blue place with the yellow price tag for a logo. At the counter the clerk asked if she could have my telephone number.

Man, I hate this. I hate being put in the position of telling the clerk that their employer can stick this intrusive, time-consuming interrogation in their corporate blowhole, because it’s not the clerk’s fault. And I always feel as if I’m coming off as one of those tiresome paranoid sorts who’s always on the lookout for a chance to take a stand.

“Aw, do I have to?â€� I said. “It’s just 1 DVD.”

The clerk pushed the DECLINE button, and we went on with the transaction. Whew, thank the Lord, I wasn’t making a big uncomfortable scene after all. Almost every retailer I go to, minus the grocery stores and coffee shops, are asking all kinds of personal questions these days. Maybe that’s why the grocery stores and coffee shops are the only places I ever go to anymore.

Caribou Coffee is where I go for my coffee. It’s a local chain that started in Minneapolis but has expanded to several other states. I’ve always been much more impressed with their coffee than Starbucks’ coffee. Starbucks’ coffee, I don’t know quite how to put this, but for me it has side effects. Not the type that caffeine usually gives you, the type of side effects that Ex-Lax usually gives you. Yeah, it’s that bad.

And, Caribou’s stores look great. They’re all modeled after an Alaskan lodge, although it might as well be a Minnesota North Woods cabin, with Mission fixtures, stone floors, fireplaces. They’re lovely little places. I always enjoy when I stop there, you have stuff to look around at and enjoy looking at as you wait for your coffee. They have a trivia contest every day for 10 cents off that either makes you feel brilliant or stupid. The staff is usually cheerful, which I can’t say the same for at Starbucks.

Okay, that’s the end of my plug for the day. That’s twice this month. Once for Apple and now for Caribou Coffee. I really don’t know why I’ve turned into a walkin’ & talkin’ television commercial spokesperson.

So it’s Christmas, and the end of another year has come. I must extend my best wishes to you all, and I wish for happiness and health for all my family and friends. I wish for a prosperous 2005 for everyone.

2004 has certainly been a tough year in many ways for all of us. But you know what? We made it through! I know that doesn’t sound like much of a victory chant but, hey, sometimes survival merits celebration. On a personal, professional, and spiritual front, this has been one roller coaster year for me, and it seems that this has been the case for a large number of people around me.I suppose a lot of that can be attributed to the events of the past few months, but even before then, there was a sense of change in the air — a shifting, a turning of the tide.

But, then again, I turned 21 this summer. What do I know?

2004 has been like a dream come true in many ways, in other ways, of course, it’s been kind of like a nightmare. Speaking of dreams, should I ever question whether or not dreams have meanings, remind me that last night I dreamed I was in a dark room, and a clown walked up and handed me a big yellow balloon. I awoke shortly after with a bladder that felt like an overinflated basketball.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I’ll talk to you again soon.