Random Thought for Thursday 12/13/12

I love this time of year ... because walking down the streets of the 'hood, I suddenly have new appreciation for how much I share of it with others.  And the "others" here are not the drunks in ugly sweaters that are overpopulating the sidewalks of late (how many ugly sweater bar crawls can there be?) -- but they are the birds who leave their nests behind -- now suddenly visible with all of the branches so bare.  It makes me think that there is so much we miss in all  the other months of the year as we bustle about in a hurry staring intently at our phones not making eye contact with anyone ... so much "life" all around us, all unnoticed and unappreciated.

Speaking of unnoticed and unappreciated (and I apologize in advance that that was a forced segue a la the Whoopi-Goldberg-hosts-The-View school of thought), here's my final Amazing Race Aside for the season that just ended with the six things I learned from last week's episode (hey -- it was a double episode, so my usual three things got doubled as well):

1.)  Thing ONE:  How 'bout them Beekman Boys?  I'm such a fan of when the good guys who played the game nicely win the million!
2.)  Thing TWO:  How 'bout them Ja(y)meses?  I know that second place doesn't have a payout, but at least they have fancy cars whose back ends raise with just a swift kick (I don't know why that automotive feature suddenly sounds so corporal-punishment-y).
3.)  Thing THREE:  How 'bout them hounds?  They sure seemed to enjoy that row of meat, but the whole pack feast idea seemed a little barbaric (woe to be the dog with table manners in the midst of that mess)!
4.)  Thing FOUR:  How 'bout them final resting places for guys named Leonardo.  DeCaprio should be so lucky!
5.)  Thing FIVE:  How 'bout them basketball shorts?  And why did they always look like kilts when Texas Trey was wearing them?
6.)  Thing SIX:  How 'bout that karma?  I was afraid I was going to have to boycott all things Sri Lankan -- and then I was afraid that I didn't have anything Sri Lankan to boycott in the first place (second place) and then I was all just fine that they came into last place of the finale four, what with the stealing from teammates and coordinating of u-turn-coups and overall jack-douchey behavior.

Here's to next season Phil!  Can't wait until Feb 17, 2013!

THIS ONE SAYS IT WAS CANCELLED -- BUT THERE SURE WAS A LOT OF UGLINESS:
http://pubcrawls.com/events/ugly-sweater/ugly-sweater-pub-crawl-chicago.php

URBAN WILDLIFE PRESERVATION -- IT'S A REAL THING!:
http://www.lpzoo.org/conservation-science/science-centers/urban-wildlife-institute

APPARENTLY MORE REASON TO BOYCOTT SRI LANKA THAN JUST THE TWINNERS:
http://boycottsrilanka.wordpress.com/