Dweller on the threshold

Well, today we finally took down the Christmas tree. I never could remember what the “allowed” time-frame is for keeping it up after the holiday. I find it fascinating that such a thing exists. We just loved it up, maybe me more than the wife. Even though the red, green and blue lights were not quite the color they claimed, they were happy and nice. This was such a wonderful holiday. We had such a good time from finding our little sleepy city embracing it this year to picking up a tree to a most wonderful trip to Amman for what proved to be such an eventful couple of weeks.

Christmas has always been my favorite time of the year. Our family had made a near tradition of going out and picking out a tree and cutting it down from a nearby Christmas tree farm. There were many wonderful trees. But I’ll always remember getting too close to a fire barrel (where they put wood inside a big oil drum and light it so folks can get around and warm up) and melting my Sears coat and glove. I was so embarrassed and sad. Plus I had to wear that sucker for another four months or so. It wasn’t a total loss, but it definitely didn’t look as new as it was.

There are many gifts I remember as well: Racetracks from Santa, my first bedroom stereo, etc. And we always had such wonderful stockings, my brother and I, each filled with sweets and other nick knacks.

As I got older somehow I got further from the joy of the holiday. It may have been my time in retail, always working right up to the last moment of the holiday, I’m not sure. Somewhere in there it became less special. Certainly our time in Doha last year was a topper. I remember feeling it was different when first in Amman, although I did enjoy this big drum and bagpipe explosion that happened at midnight Christmas Eve up the street from me at a local Catholic school.

Doha last year was stripped of any holiday cheer. We found a tree that year to pose with at a local “American” hotel, but there was hardly a decoration to be had in any store and nothing to note the season on the street. This year, I’m thankful, it was so different. It’s funny but I found that little fake Chinese tree made all the difference, connecting me with home and the holiday I so loved as a boy. It was a bit sad to take it down but hell, it’s practically February. I can’t keep it up forever can I?

Well after a huge long wait during which the company was bought up by Google, Picassa has finally released a new version and it’s still free.

For those who follow my doings, I’m a shutterbug, constantly on the lookout for new tools to post and manipulate images. I’m a huge fan of Picassa. I use it as the program to import my images from the digital cameras I’ve used over the years. It’s simple red-eye reduction tool is the best around in my opinion. It’s quick, simple and does a pretty decent job, even on prints but particularly for web stuff. Now they’ve got a whole new raft of photo manipulation tools, including ones to fix color temps and levels.

They’ve added legions of other features as well, making it a really great upgrade and, I’ll mention it again, it’s free. I’m not sure what Google has up it’s sleeve with all the free email and now software, but for the moment, it’s nice. I’ll sound off later with my take on all things new and improved.

Here’s the link to go get your free copy. Enjoy.