Seth Meyers, settin' fires

Here's an installment of my secrets revealed: how I take pictures. My tripod is one of those small ones with flexible legs, so  I am always having to create a makeshift stand to set it on. Today, my ingenuity is apparent in the sliding door reflection. A dining room table chair with the tripod legs wrapped around  it. It's a bit hard to see the camera itself, but the chair is glaringly obvious, so I had to address it.

I was happy to get pictures in today before it got dark. The days are so short, I can barely stand it. And I just looked up the solstice and found out it's like December 22, which is WAY TOO FAR AWAY YOU GUYS. I'm pretty sure that within a week or two there's not going to be any real daylight at all. I feel like I'm living in 30 days of night or something here. Which I watched again recently, and that's a pretty decent vampire movie. 

One thing that comes with this time of year is a multitude of Christmas specials and programming, some good and some not so much. I was truly flummoxed when I found out Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda had animated Christmas shows that played on Thanksgiving night. No thank you. Joe and I came across the Charlie Brown one last night, and were all set to watch it when I flipped to NBC on commercial break and discovered holiday Minute to Win It. Have you guys seen this game show? Contestants compete in a bunch of games, each having to be completed successfully in under a minute. The backwards-sunglasses guy from Food Network hosts, and he is requisitely annoying. But for some reason Joe and I really like watching it.

 The contestants were two sisters wearing plaid shirts and Julia Roberts caliber smiles. Guy something, the host, awkwardly flirted with them and they jumped about like teenagers most of the time, though there was a touching exchange where they revealed they would use their winnings to help their mom pay off her house so she could retire. Tears and audience empathy ensued. Meanwhile, every commercial break was ushered in and out by models dressed up in sexy Santa outfits, dancing and waving pom poms. I was very confused and felt that I should perhaps be offended as well. Nevertheless, I will no doubt tune back in next week and see if the sisters do indeed manage to get their hands on the three million dollars up for grabs. That is, if I happen to be watching television, and I happen flip past it. 

This from a person who claims to have high television watching standards. You know what else was a really good show? Shark Tank.