One sign that the holidays are upon us is the fact that we have something scheduled for almost every day. Friday night was the annual work Christmas party and infamous gift exchange. Saturday we went and brought home our Christmas tree. Tonight was a night of rest, thankfully. But this week is shaping up to be chock full of activities once again.

The Christmas party was actually fun this year - or at least it felt like I had more fun this year than in years previous. Perhaps the fact that Jen ended up going home with a chair massager and I went home with a Best Buy giftcard that made it so enjoyable. But it went pretty much as expected - a rowdy bunch with joking all night long. But great food. Mmm. The food was especially delectable this year.

As has been our tradition of the past two years, we ended up getting our tree at a Christmas tree farm this year. That way we could walk among the living trees and cut down the exact one we wanted. It was fairly chilly and cold on Saturday, so we didn't dally too long. Frankly, I was happy with whatever tree we got as long as Jen & the kiddos were happy. The highlight of the outing was riding back to the parking lot on a flatbed trailer that was towed behind a tractor.

We also stopped by the AT&T wireless store on Saturday because they were running a promotion for adding an extra line for $9.99/month. Seeing as how I have my own truck now and Jen having our solo phone with her all the time, we thought it might be time for me to have a phone as well. After talking to the sales rep, we signed up for their local plan which gave us a free phone, 1000 mobile-to-mobile minutes, 600 anytime minutes, and unlimited nights & weekends. All for $50/month. Not too shabby I don't think.

The other 'excitement' of the weekend was that two individuals in Little Rock came out to audition my new Ascend speakers. For you non-audiophiles, that basically means they came out to listen to them to decide whether to buy them. As the speakers are only sold online, you can't find them at any retail store, so you're only bet is to find a rare individual that owns them and hope that they'll let you listen, or to order them directly. Ascend Acoustics stands behind their speakers so much that they'll even give you a free 30-day trial if you want. Both guys were suitably impressed and said these speakers easily compare to speakers that cost twice as much that you find at Best Buy or Circuit City. It was exciting for me to demo them as well - I got to hear some new music and play my music/movies at high volume levels. And I think I may have made a couple of new friends. I'm probably crazy for inviting a couple of complete strangers into my house, but I highly doubt internet stalkers are lurking on a specialized home theater forum dedicated to one specific brand of speakers. It was definitely a pleasure having them over and talking 'shop'.

I can imagine it would be similar listening to a discussion about computers if you knew nothing about computers. We talked about crossovers, speaker brand names, driver materials, reference calibration volume, infinite baffles (which was new to me), just for example. I don't really consider myself a hardcore audiophile, but it felt empowering to be able to discuss those things and sound like I knew what I was talking about.

Only one more workday until the Event of the Millennium. And if you don't know what I'm referring to...well...where the hell have you been in my life??? Hehee.

Almost a year ago today: Getting My Feet Wet