If they didn't have Christmas, they'd invent something else

Performance Bike was having an early bird special so I went to their Raleigh location to see what I needed. After going through their clearance rack and seeing that only larges and xxl sized jerseys and bibs were left, I decided to look elsewhere. I went through the whole store and settled on a bike stand to use with the front tire when you're using a trainer. It cost a whopping $8.60. I brought it up to the cashier who looked disappointed when I put it on the counter, and after spending 2 minutes checking to see if I'd ever shopped at one of their stores, commented, "That's it? I mean, 20% off all purchases..." I replied, "Yeah, but this is all I need." He rang me up and I waited for my dad to finish with his purchase while I watched the other people stand in line with items costing less than $50. I know that if we didn't have Christmas, department stores would create something else to inundate us with some sort of cultural obligation that would require us to spend a small fortune to enjoy the created holiday.

Woodcarvings

So far woodcarving has gone swimmingly. I still need a bunch of tools but I expect to slowly amass enough to complete a wide gamut of projects. Certainly the most valuable lesson I've learned so far is patience. That's patience for becoming proficient at carving, for finishing a piece, and attempting to make do with what you have. Hopefully this December will allow me enough time to create a couple of jigs so I can hold carvings in a variety of places, along with attempting to make furniture solely by hand.