Fun Fact #30: Christmas, Larry the Cable Guy, and a drug addict were all aspects of my day

Today has proven to be totally random for me. I saw/heard so many things that I felt were totally worthy of becoming a "fun fact"...

1) I to meeting with a guy about fixing the furnaces at a bunch of properties and his phone went off about 8 times during our hour long meeting. That in itself wouldn't be noteworthy, but his ring tone certainly was. His ring tone was freakin' Larry the Cable Guy chanting "Git 'r done" and other super cool catchphrases at a progressively louder level. And he kept giggling like a child anytime it rung because I guess he just thought it was that funny and cool. Also, he had an iPhone. An iPhone with a Larry the Cable Guy ring tone. The whole thing makes no sense to me.

2) I had to do a walk through of a government subsidized housing unit and the tenant I meant was unlike anyone I've ever talked to. I'm sure this lady was a drug addict, either active or recovering, and she couldn't follow one thought to the next. She'd talk about everything from Winnie-the-Pooh to roof leaks to asshole cops to her lunch plans in a thirty second time span. I had no idea what to say or how to interact with her, so most of my visit was spent in stunned silence. And on top of all that, her apartment was barely furnished and she lived off food stamps, but she had a massive LCD TV and amazing surround sound to go with it.

3)It is now Feburary. Christmas has been done for well over a month and even the laziest people have removed their Christmas decorations. Except for this individual, whom I'll refer to as Ultimate Christmas Fan (UCF), whose car was still fully decked out for the season.

Click on the picture to see it larger and in all its full glory...

Please take notice of all the festive details UCF has been so careful to include. There are Christmas light stickers to go along with the giant "Joy" sticker. There's also the terrifying Santa creature who seems to chocking on the license plate. There's a Steelers Christmas flag, which is hard to see, butPittsburgh never forgets about their Steelers. My personal favorite touch is the reindeer antlers that grace the roof of the car!!! I was never able to see the front of the car, but I wouldn't be surprised if UCF had a giant reindeer face painted on the grill or something.

Fun Fact #21: Today was a day of firsts

It was snowing hardcore today in Pittsburgh, therefore I had a variety of new experiences:

1) I drove in the snow, intense snow, for the first time ever. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but that may be because I was being freakishly cautious. I don't think I've ever driven as slowly as I drove today.

2) I woke up to snow covered streets. It was a really beautiful sight, but it wasn't as beautiful after I trudged my way to the gym. The wind was so strong that I opened the door of my building and was almost blown back inside.

3) I bought an ice scraper and scraped ice and snow off my car. I also learned that driving through the snow can make a clean car absolutely filthy.

4) I was able to make a snow angel on my porch. It was pretty cool.

5) I was finally able to make the snow and maple syrup concotion that I had read about in the Little House books. And sadly, it wasn't as good as I had always imagined it would be. I think I may have put too much syrup on the snow because it was sickeningly sweet. I totally would have loved it when I was five.

6) I listened to Christmas music and it actually described what I was seeing outside. Listening to "Winter Wonderland" or "White Christmas" is way cooler driving through snowy Pittsburgh than sunny San Diego.

Fun Fact #13: Isaac Newton and Christmas music go together!

So I'm listening to Christmas music via my cable because they have a special Christmas music channel, the discovery of which has totally made my day. It's obviously the little things that do it for me.

But anyways, it lists "fun" trivia facts while the music plays(the channel is totally made for me!) and one of them was that Sir Isaac Newton was born on Christmas day. But they felt the need to identify him as a "mathamatician and scientiest". Do the majority of American's watching this channel really not know who Newton is? I feel the fact that he originated the concepts of gravity and the three laws of motion has been drilled into my head since elementy school. Everybody knows who Newton is, right? At the very least I'd hope that people hear of Newton and think of little apple falling onto his head. But maybe that's not the case...

So basically, my joy of discovering a channel devoted entirely to Christmas music has been hampered by the channel's viewers supposed ignorance.

Fun Fact #12: Today is November 1st

November 1st may just seem like the day after Halloween to many, especially those nursing killer hangovers. But today is actually a special day because it signifies the time when I allow myself to start listening to Christmas music!

People may think it's weird that I, an individual who definitely identifies as Jewish, would get so excited over Christmas music. But I love Christmas, especially all those aspects of it which are deemed "too commercial" by some Christian groups. Jesus is NOT the "reason for the season" for me, but the overproduced music and manufactured nostalgia totally are the "reasons for the season".

I love how festive everything seems, and I'm totally excited to actually be in a city where it snows around Christmas time this year. But I'm sure I'll be changing my tune when it comes time for me to stand outside in the bitter cold and slowly chip away at the ice that coats my windshield.