What’s on your mind? Leave a comment and get some discussion started!

As we go into the final week before Christmas, I regret that I won’t be able to do any blogging or even keep up on the news as much as I would like. It’s crunch time! But I’ll be back after Christmas. In the meantime, please feel free to comment on the news as much as you’d like here.

Ladies and gentlemen, you have the floor. Speak your mind.

The big Christmas program performances start tonight, so as I stated previously, I won’t be doing much blogging. Depending on what the county decides about the museum thing or what the school board decides about the East Bluff school location, I may not be able to keep from commenting a little, but for the most part, blogging will be light.

There may be a guest editorial soon, however, so keep an eye out for that. In the meantime, feel free to use this as an open thread to talk about whatever you’d like.

This is an open thread for everyone to express what they’re thankful for this year. I’ll start by simply quoting the Irving Berlin classic, “I’ve Got Plenty to Be Thankful For,” from the movie “Holiday Inn”:

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Congratulations to my friend and sporadic blogger B. J. Aberle on the birth of his first baby, a daughter: Victoria (Tori) Grace Aberle. She was born November 7. There were some complications with the delivery for B. J.’s wife, but he told me at church today that she’s doing better, which is a relief. Here’s praying that she’ll be back to 100% soon.

You may recall that earlier this year my son fried my old laptop computer by pouring soda pop on the keyboard… while it was on…. Well, he hasn’t destroyed my new laptop (yet, knock on wood), but has instead turned his attention to another electronic device: our VCR/DVD combo unit.

Yes, the little guy (now 2 1/2 years old) stuck a VHS tape in the unit, which wouldn’t have been a big deal except that he put it in sideways. All the way. He basically bypassed the carriage mechanism that loads the tape and crammed the edge of the cassette right past the tape head.

I had to take the cover off the unit to release the tape, at which point I found another surprise: a DVD that had been missing for months! Apparently, the little darling tried loading a DVD into the VHS compartment a while back, and it had been lodged in there ever since — unbeknownst to my wife or me. No soda or peanut butter sandwiches were found inside, thankfully.

At first, the damage didn’t appear to be quite as bad as I was expecting, but upon further inspection, I’ve confirmed that the VCR portion is definitely inoperable. It rejects all VHS tapes now, apparently because the mechanism that threads the tape around the tape head is damaged.

But wait, it gets better. I went to the store to buy a new VCR/DVD combo (this one only cost approx. $90), and guess what? VCRs don’t have tuners in them anymore! That’s right — because of the changeover from NTSC (analog) to ATSC (digital) broadcasts set to take place Feb. 2009, manufacturers have stopped putting NTSC tuners in their VCRs. Oh happy day.

The only reason we use the VCR is to tape programs automatically to watch later. That requires a tuner — and a timer, for that matter. “Sorry,” says Sony. “Tough luck,” says Toshiba. It appears our VCR/DVD combo unit, which isn’t even as old as my son, is an irreplaceable antique.

We joked before that we would take the cost of the laptop out of my son’s college fund. We’ve now decided he will have no college fund. He can put himself through DeVry University and learn how to fix electronic things as penance.

I heard on WCBU this morning that news director and local blogger Jonathan Ahl is a proud papa again. News anchor Denise Molina said the baby’s name is Lilian Ruth, born just before 12:00 last night, weighing in at 6 lbs., 11 oz. Congratulations to Jonathan, Anita, and big brother Tommy on their new family member!

UPDATE: Jonathan has the announcement on his blog now. Also, I corrected the spelling of Lilian’s name.

I’ve been spending dollar coins lately, and I’m pretty certain I’m the only one within a 50-mile radius who is using them. How can I tell? Because every cashier stares at it blankly as if I had just handed her a coonskin cap. They look at me as if to say, “What is this and what am I supposed to do with it?” So, if you’ve never seen a dollar coin before, I encourage you to click on the picture to the left and familiarize yourself with it.

Maybe someday we’ll do away with dollar bills and then everyone will know about dollar coins. After all, when you think about the purchasing power of a dollar these days, it really is nothing but pocket change. Just like it would be silly to have a fifty-cent bill or a ten-cent bill, it’s ridiculous in the 21st century to have dollar bills. Replacing dollar bills with coins would save the government lots of money in printing, and it would make buying things from a vending machine a whole lot easier.