Last night, it was getting cold. I didn’t mind since I have a roof over my head, though there are thousands or millions that don’t. I plan on doing my part and donating a used coat to the coat drive in New York City. Every little bit helps and I’m doing my bit. So far I’ve given money to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, The Food Bank of New Jersey and donated money so veterans can use calling cards to phone loved ones over the holidays. Still, I’m reluctant to give money to the Salvation Army since they have some anti gay policies in effect. That wouldn’t make sense to give my money to an organization that is against me and my kind. There are other worthwhile charities that do similar work as the salivating army and they would get my money instead.

Last night, Bill came home. He was happy to be home, and we watched Chuck though I wasn’t paying too much attention as Bill was telling me about his day. It didn’t seem like an edge of the seat type of episode last night anyhow. He was mostly silent during Heroes, which was ok. For comic book aficionados, we know that death isn’t the end, merely a twist to be reckoned with at a later date. It was good though and the characters I expected to be killed off, weren’t. The new ones, the girl who cries black tears and winds up killing everyone lived as well as Elle, played by that Veronica Mars girl. I figured that since they weren’t well received by the fans they would be dismissed, but they weren’t. Yet. They guy married to the Dixie Chick, maybe he died, and the 21st Century Schizoid woman blew up real good.

Then we watched Law and Order Criminal Intent which is one of Bill’s favorite shows. Let’s face it, if it said Law and Order: Field and Stream, Bill would record every episode or purchase it on iTunes, or both. Bill just bought himself the iTouch iPod. His iPod crashed and so since this was a shiny new gadget, like a moth to the flame, Bill found himself at the Apple store. It’s nice, it’s shiny and doesn’t hold the 6800 songs that my iPod has, so I’ll hold off on that, though I did have my eye on the 80GB iPod which can hold 20,000 songs on it. I have difficulty with 6800 songs, do I really need 20,000? It would be nice and I’d more than likely give brother Frank my older iPod. I gave him my iPod mini while he was in the hospital this summer and I’m sure he’d really like the 30GB. I wouldn’t even wipe it clean I’d give it to him fully loaded and let him get rid of what he doesn’t want. I’m sure he’d appreciate it.

I’m presently reading Oliver Sacks’ Musicophilia which so far is about people having audio hallucinations, after being deaf, or struck by lightning or having a stroke. According to the book, the music is constantly playing in their heads, and not whole songs, sometimes just notes being repeated from various classical pieces, or songs that elderly people heard while growing up, or in the case of the doctor who was struck by lightning, having an overwhelming compulsion to actually write and play music that they are hearing, decades after having piano lessons when he was a child. It’s a great read and I bought a copy for Annemarie’s husband Rex, and Frank’s wife Elaine. I think Rex would enjoy it more than Elaine, and I’m tempted to get Elaine something else, and keeping the book for myself.

Today I heard For All We Know by the Carpenters and realized that Karen and Richard are also part of my musical DNA, and I don’t mind at all. She had a great voice, no matter what you might think and ultimately her death was quite tragic. Apparently if you watch the Carpenters videos you can see poor Karen waste away with each passing year. Yeah they were goofy, but they had some good pop songs that will undoubtedly go on forever.

On another more hopeful note, Bill’s father was able to sit in his bed and walk a bit with the aid of a walker, making Bill wonder what the hell were they doing in the nursing home, where his father was thisclose to looking like a vegetable. And they found Bill’s mother’s wedding ring. It was under the bed in her hospital room, where Bill will go and collect it tomorrow, to bring it home to his mother at home. Nice to end on an up note, isn’t it?

Late night add on. This song from the Target holiday commercial really grew on me. It’s called My Patch and it’s by Jim Noir. The song used in the commercial is a remix, so this is that.