Sorry for the long delay.  I have been fighting a stupid cold for about 4 days now and it is not showing any signs of letting up.  In general  I rarely come down with colds, but when I do they tend to be the nastiest strains on the continent.  Since I don’t take any medications unless I absolutely have to, I resort to the bombardment of Vitamin C.  The guess at this point is I sunk it in pretty deep by running 4 miles during the early stages.  This may have weakened my immune system enough for it to take a stranglehold.  Don’t worry, I’ll make it through.

Fortunately, I identified blog material during that run.  Since treadmill running is an immense bore,  I always have the TV or stereo going to keep my mind off the fact I’m at most moving back and forth about 6 inches for 30+ minutes at a time.  This is probably one of the few times I am actually exposed to commercials beyond when I am getting ready for work in the mornings.  Similar to when I was forced to watch 7 minutes of Obama’s infomercial because it came on before completing my mileage for the day, I caught my first Christmas commercial of the season.  Yes, on Friday Nov 7th, Hallmark ran a Christmas add for some kind of talking giftbag.  Thanksgiving is all but irrelevant these days and my guess every year they will push the Christmas season even further ahead.  I already see Christmas decorations start hitting the retail shelves before Halloween is over.  I’ve decided to honor my favorite pumpkin holiday and commit to not purchasing any Christmas themed item before Thanksgiving.  Mind you, this does not apply to purchasing gifts ahead of time.  My wife likes to get that out of the way as soon as possible in contrast to my theory that the best deals are on December 23rd – Chia Pets for everyone!