Solsticial Holiday Greeting

Things will be so much simpler when we all return to the timeless, formless state of unity from whence we came.

Richie! How ya doon?

--Oh, your friend Richard in NJ probably isn't the same one I know.

Joel:

I got that same email. From a very left-leaning political, FBI-monitored peace group. I almost shared it with the kaboodle. Glad I didn't; now you can have a free day where you pretend that you had a kit when all you did was cut and paste. We do notice, you know.

But I'm sure everyone joins me in saying, you deserve a break like anybody else, and here's hoping you and your family have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Plagiarism run amok!

Given that the greeting is "revocable at the sole discretion of the wishor," I would suggest that said greeting is illusory and, as such, is unenforceable. As your attorney, I urge you not to sign or endorse it.

Further, I take umbrage at the lack of any mention of His Noodley Appendage.

Let's just hope His Noodley Appendage doesn't also take umbrage, CowTown, or we could all be in very serious trouble.

I posted moments ago to the end of yesterday's Boodle about Impeachment Talk some final thoughts/last warning about the importance if using Hain oil in the pancake recipe--with a few other tidbits tossed in for good measure.

Linda: Thank you for the pancake recipe. I've got it saved as "Linda Loomis' Famous Pancake Recipe."

From "A Christmas Carol", by Charles Dickens

"A merry Christmas, Bob!" said Scrooge, with an earnestness that could not be mistaken, as he clapped him on the
back. "A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you, for many a year! I'll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob! Make up the fires, and buy another coal-scuttle before you dot another i, Bob Cratchit!"

Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old
world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was
wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him.

He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards; and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!"

There's several easy jokes in here...but I'll stick to the Spirit of it.

bc

Looks like Joel has been in vacation mode all week. A forwarded email today, mo's achenfaq yesterday, a kit filled with boodle comments the day before that, then two re-postings of columns printed in the WaPo.

If he's not careful, the soulless corporation may decide on a word-regeneration program as a replacement.

If they haven't already, that is...

I will be checking out a selection of stores to see if I can find the right oil, Linda. It's often difficult to find the same brand names here though we usually have the same product under a different name. The fine differences in flavour between the various oils can make or break good cooking.

Linda, thanks for the recipe, I plan to try it this weekend, Merry Christmas!

This is a pretty bad day for umbrage mode (feeling much too mellow and anticipatory, and secular winter solstice holiday moodish), but Mike Grunwald and Susan Glasser have a really good piece in WaPo on the FEMA/DHS infighting that led to the Katrina disaster.

Absent from their article (that's not a criticism, because it belongs in the turf of the commentariat) though, is the complete absence of leadership from the White House. Here they had a major, raging (but to the public invisble) turf battle going on between Ridge and Brown, and they did nothing about it. Not the least of the ironies seems to be that on issues, Brown appears to have been significantly more right than wrong--but made himself such a pain in the patoot that he was ineffective and ultimately counter-productive.

But Grunwald and Glasser give a really nice inside view of the goings-on.

Pass the blorph.

Even though it hurt a little to read, I think that was a very good piece. What I thought was most interesting was that Brownie actually had a good idea what was going on, but was so politically inept that he couldn't prevent it.

I'd also like to point out that ADM Loy, USCG, was quoted pretty heavily in the piece as the voice of reason.

No fear, achenfan. WWFSMD? Why, clearly His Noodliness would join us all in wishing Joel and the Boodle a very merry and starchy holiday season!

Life is about meeting the situations that make us uncomfortable in amanner that allows us to grow rather than avoide...

Having the termerity of purpose to approach a situation without a pat response is the ability to become part of the existent stream which is all....that being said what you have agreed to feast on is what you know to be agreeable not what is the truth...truth is knowable in the context of a shared belief system as something that extensds the clompexity of fearsistance to feel shards of darkness lightened, or in other words what has no place makes one....and moves fear aside as a puuting of obviousness....

Ruumi on soap

Ahh, government grants are so straightforward by comparison.

Howie Kurtz's column refers to a Philly Inquirer article on the growth of blogs, that specifically alludes to our own dear Flying Spaghetti Monster. Enjoy: http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13445484.htm

It's the killer rabbit.

solstitium divinus dies diei saluto

or something like that

pastafaria hahaha

Reader, thanks for the nice holiday wishes and ditto to you and yours. I am still in last-minute shopping mode. I'm worried that my wife won't like the Jiffy Lube gift certificate. She'll think: "Again???" I'm not the kind of dumb-bunny husband to buys his wife a Dust-buster for Christmas, but I do think she'd be touched by the jumbo box of Tide. What ya think?

On the notion that I can "pretend" to have a new kit, not so, I had planned to write a whole new kit about gay cowboys and still might, but it depends on having the time and whether I can keep the bats out of my hair. I spend all day fighting off bats. But perhaps it was a mistake to post this thing. I liked it, but it seems to have raised concern that I'm phoning it in. Here's a new policy: I will never again post something unless it is either original or is mere self-plagiarism.

Silvertongue writes, "Looks like Joel has been in vacation mode all week." It's been a light week on the blog, quite true, though oddly enough the item yesterday took forever to write, because I wrote it and then it suddenly vanished in a moment of Pure TypePad Horror. And I appreciate that people would prefer that I write more. But with all due respect, I would suggest that everyone who wants me to work harder and type faster and be more diligent and be more organized and hurry up and do this and that should hold a big meeting at RFK Stadium (overflow: National Guard Armory) so that I can then fly overhead and leaflet the lot of your with the message "I Do Not Care" because these are my New Year's Resolutions:

1. Write less.
2. Be less conscientious.
3. Relax.
4. Don't worry about it.
5. Fuggedaboutit.
6. Work on golf game.
7. Sleep late.
8. Goof off promiscuously.
9. Ignore meetings of We Hate Joel Club at RFK Stadium.
10. Laugh in the face of death.

I just assumed "silvertongue" was the 'loper. That comment has the 'loper's M.O. (not to be confused with mo) written all over it.

i'm currently wearing a "FSM" tee-shirt - on my way to my aunts in NC...

I have a feeling I sounded defensive.
Seriously I do the best I can, and the last-minute shopping has near 'bout kilt me. I went into a Georgetown shop that sells girly goop last night and discovered that the price of everything is inversely (is that a word?) related to the size of the container. I mean like a big drum of stuff is 10 bucks, but a little capsule is 500. I like manly stores where the relationship is, you know, not inverse. Proportional. Whatever. (Gibberish, but I Do Not Care!)

I plan to postpone my last-minute shopping for my husband's present until tomorrow. I have absolutely no idea what to get him. I'm thinking a rubber chicken probably won't do. However, desperate times . . .

[As I've said before, I haven't ruled out the possibility that I was a man in a previous life.]

Joel, you are not alone. A fellow in our office was caught wrapping a Swiffer for his wife. All he said was "but I got really nice paper to wrap it in". Hopefully this knowledge will assist you. Put that Jiffy Lube certificate in a really nice card and you are good to go.

My own husband, has been in disscussion with his significant other, i.e, me, all morning about appropriate giftage and non appropriate giftage. A consensus has not been reached, but we have voted down a new snow shovel and beer.

You should also know that a rule has been established by males in my family, that it is perfectly ok to read the book one is getting for mom before wrapping it. Perhaps you could apply the same rule to your spouse? Daughters?

The Heineken five-pack is always an appropriate gift

Joel, re. your 12:02 comment-

Right on, brother!

Stop worryin' and start livin'!

Now, if I could only find a way to make the voices stop - er - I mean, assuage my conscience and the 4 people and 4 animals I share a house with...

bc

Ah HA! Joel, that was hilarious--THAT should have been the Kit. Of course, it would never have existed without the original Kit. So, your writing something really funny would never have occured if you hadn't first slacked off. The production of good stuff could never have happened if you first hadn't given us crap. That really has crazy fate-of-the-universe implications there. Not to mention the fact that if the pattern holds true, given your resolutions you'll have the most successful year of your life.

Joel, I thought today's Kit was very good, original or not. At least you told us it wasn't original (although that could have been a writerly device, until Reader reported in). Your comments have me laughing out loud. I especially like
6. Work on golf game.
Ha!
Once again, peace and goodwill to all, boodlers and non-boodlers, even lurkers and lopers. Let's all have a drink to World Peace (blorph).

Such is the nature of the Kaboodle, jw. Such is the nature of life itself.

I would like a new vacuum cleaner - we've always had "previously owned" vacuum cleaners. Maybe it's just that English guy's accent (can't even think of the name of that vacuum cleaner now). But I know better than to ask for it for Christmas...

My only resolution this year is to somehow convince the Wellness Coordinator here at work that having fitness celebrity John Basedow come to give a motivational speech would be a good idea. I was actually wanted to go for a whole series, with him, Jack LaLane, Chuck Norris, and Tony Little, but figured that would be pushing things.

And then I thought, "Is Jack LaLane dead?" Turns out, he DID die, but refused to walk towards the light unless he was allowed to do it while pulling 100 golden chariots with 100 angels riding in them. God couldn't round up that many on short notice, so he sent Jack back.

Re. Tide. I bought my wife a broom for Xmas a few years back.

She had the unmitigaged gall to complain about it Xmas morning in front of the kids and everything.

I told her that if she wanted to return it, she could take the receipt and ride the damn thing back to the store, but I wasn't going to pick her up and drive her back home 'cause there was no way I was going to miss a single play of A Football Game With Titanically Huge Playoff Implications.

Showed her, didn't I?

bc

This is the silly season and all, but I have a question, that has to do with the beginning of life, the emergence of existence. Come the very early days of January, 2006 the boodle will be one year old. Will there be a 'best of' kit? Perhaps this is a task for the boodle in the time of the boodle going dark.

John Basedow! Ha! (Is he an example of what Jerry Seinfeld would call a "male bimbo"?)

Wasn't there a rumor circulating that John Basedow died in the Asian tsunami last year? Hey, maybe it was here on this blog that I heard about that?

bc, I know you like to live on the edge, but...wow.

bc--how quickly did she find a lawyer to file for divorce?

Joel, I have learned over the years that it is counterproductive to buy my wife girly goop as a present unless I am given a VERY specific and detailed list of which flavors as well as which types of goop (oil versus lotion versus creme versus spray versus whatever else there's a versus of). In general, she doesn't like anything that sounds like it might be good to eat: lime, vanilla, watermelon, etc. (which, of course, I tend to like, being of the always fallible guy persuasion). She tends to like the smell of rare plants that grow in jungles and attract and kill flying insects by using their deadly fragrances; these, of course, I tend to gag on (perhaps it is the flying insect gene in me). Gardenia comes to mind. Have you smelled gardenia? Gardenia should come with an OSHA safety sheet or HAZMAT instructions.

I have also learned that buying jewelry by weight or volume is unsound; smaller and simpler is always better. A teensy-weensie little diamond or opal seems to be preferred over one of those 12-pound multi-gemmed brooches, don't ask me why.

For some strange reason, flowers seem to be pretty safe, no matter what kind I select (usually it is "gimmee some o' them"). I have not yet made a flower choice faux pas (to my knowledge) in 23 years of marriage, which I think is a pretty good record.

The question of buying dainties and unmentionables is just too problematic as well as traumatic; I just don't go there. I figure I have a fairly good track record with visible top clothing and accessories, so why mess it up with a Victoria's Secret frou-frou that can only mean trouble and grief? Christmas is not the time to engage in risk-taking behavior.

Yeah, big internet rumour. John Basedow is still going strong and freaking out insomniatic infomercial watchers everywhere.

dr, that's a great idea. Although the question of a "Best of" Kit should probably be left to Joel, we could definitely start working on a "Best of" Kaboodle. Or at the very least, a "Best of" Kaboodle ENTRY, which would cover the best of the past year's Kaboodles and Kaboodle entries -- for example, the posts that won Boodler of the Week Awards would be listed among the best entries, and all the Tom's Dumb Question 'boodles -- and the Achenbro 'boodles -- would be listed among the best Kaboodles per se).

I'd better get to work . . . I'll TRY to be objective . . .

bc - That's amazing you survived that "encounter" with your spouse. My alter ego in a parallel universe tried a similar thing with his wife and was promptly eaten. So, I bought my wife a nice sweater.

SCC entry:
Stray close paren after "per se"

And how is divorced life treating you, bc?

My steadfast rule of thumb is that anything practical is an inappropriate gift for a female. We bought one of those vacuums named after the 1 AU diameter sphere and the marketing genius of it is that you see all the goop you vacuum up, thus believing it to be more effective than the traditional style.

I am partial to the giving of woolen gift certificates. Buy clothes at her favorite store one size smaller than what she wears, color is immaterial. Just be sure to include the gift receipt.

And I must now leave for my traditional sweep of the dollar stores for stocking stuffers and lst minute gag gifts.

I should add that I once actually DID give my husband a rubber chicken as a gift. It wasn't for Christmas, though. Still, it didn't go down too well. It gave him the creeps. Eventually he threw it away. But I miss it -- I heart rubber chickens.

Flowers are a great gift, at least I think so. Real ones, even though they die; houseplants, even though I may kill them; books about flowers; dried or silk flower arrangements. My son has learned that I'm delighted with the $1.99 plant he buys at the grocery store on the way to our house - or with a lovely, inexpensive vase. Way better than a new broom or vacuum cleaner!
(And please to note my use of the despised semi-colon.)

I just wanted to thank you, Joel, and the whole boodle for this space. I don't post often, but I read it whenever possible and greatly enjoy the inate silliness of intelligent conversation.
I am refreshed when I remember that there are others who see the world with humor, through the perspective of varied life-experiences and who post their thoughtful comments. And I must pause to praise the polite level of discourse. Well done!
Happy Holidays from the mostly silent

DoubleVision

yellojkt:
Wouldn't it be more diplomatic to buy the clothes one size LARGER? (Sorry if it's not very SCC of me to point that out.)

[But you know, that's a great idea. I think you've just solved my gift-giving problem! And yes, I'll stick with smaller rather than larger in this case -- one size smaller feeds the male ego ("I'm huge!"), and one size larger the female.]

Achenfan, I think yellojkt has it right - what, you mean you're not a size 0?!?

Let's definitely do Best of the Boodle. That'll be the blank kit I'll leave up later today. I'll nominate some stuff but the boodlers can nominate whatever they want -- if, that is, people have any desire to go back through a year's worth of boodling.

Meanwhile [all-purpose transition], another staff and I were just talking about how brutal the newspaper can be this time of year with all the big projects that have to run before the end of the calendar year. It's all great stuff, by our best reporters, and I worry that it will get lost in the holiday season shuffle. There should be a way for the Post to republish everything in a single coffee-table volume that can be read at one's leisure.

I also want post some links to stories that I think were particularly great this year in the Post or in other publications. I loved Ann Gerhart's Superdome piece, for example, during Katrina. And Woodward's story about how he met Deep Throat was a must-read.

I am going to the 'bucks to write about the Dalai Lama. If I can get this column done by the end of the day, plus a complicated science story for Style, they'll let me take a week off.

The above story from 12:59 ends with her beating me soundly about the head and shoulders with it, as if she were trying to dislodge tenacious bats from my hair.

dr, I think that I suggested something yesterday...yes, here it is:

http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/achenblog/2005/12/mos_achenfaq.html#c12278211

bc

Noooooooo. You're missing the beauty of it. It's not that trying on the gift makes her feel self-conscious of her size. It's that when she opens it up, and it's a small, and she usually wears medium, she thinks, "He's so wonderful, he thinks I'm a small!" One size larger would probably be grounds for divorce: "That a-hole! He thinks I'm a LARGE!?!?" What a jerk!" And getting the correct size is right out, because women never are happy with what size they are anyway.

No need to thank me for explaining how the female mind works, Achenfan.

For Best of the Boodle, I nominate that thing that someone wrote a while back about, you know, I mean I forget the precise topic but it was really funny. Remember???

Just do a ctrl-F and type in "jw". Everything I write is a gem.

D'oh! Of course, jw! (See? I *must* have been a man in a previous life. Or maybe I'm just a nitwit.)

I think it's time for me to sneak out of work early and drive to Connecticut. Ugh.

I fell compelled to add that there will be no divorce for Mrs. c and I.

We've agreed that this one's going 'To The Death!'

bc

[Boodled out of order. But again, "Of course, jw!"]

Sorry, Achenfan, but I think yellojkt's tactic of one-size-too-small is quite correct. If you buy it too large, she'll invariable say (and not too quietly), "What? Do you think I'm a cow? No way I'm a size [X], you moron!"

But if you buy it a size too small, that's interpreted as flattering. "Gee, hon, I just thought you were a size [X], that's all." (Assuming, in fact, she'll even admit to being a size X+1 in the first place).

BTW, Joel, a jumbo box of Tide can always be accompanied by a box of those fabric softener sheets--sort of make a gift-pack out of it with a bow around both.

I, for one, loved the Boodle about the ivory-billed woodpecker. Who knew birders could be so indignant (no to mention humorless)? I loved the comments from Bill, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, who has since disappeared from view (typical! or, oh no!).

Boodled out of order AGAIN. I really am a nitwit.

Tumbleweeds don't know where they'll be blown.
How could they? They've no minds of their own.
Down the lonesome road or across the empty street,
They go where they go, with no visible feet.

Once desert shrub, now rootless, aimless wanderer,
Perpetual rolling drifter with time to squander.
Under rock or outcrop, they're occasionally pinned,
Mostly they just amble, thrust onward by nature's wind.

They are ghosts of my memory, of dry, arid spaces,
Of places I sometimes miss, those open, high-plains places.
Like me in my youth, untethered--I speak reluctantly of this.
I, now anchored by a home--my tumbleweed cousin still seeking his.

Um, do you think Hal could retrofit all the boodles with permalinks? It would really facilitate this "Best of the Boodle" business. I bet he could get it done before he goes home today. Merry Christmas, Hal.

Yeah, I'll take the BOO at 1:26. My bad.

I still think that the Best of the Boodle should be called "Quantum Foam".

Hmm.

"Quantum Foam: Rovestorm and Other Natural Disasters - the Best of the Boodle 2005."

If the panel of judges deems anything I wrote as worthy, feel free to put them in a section called "What's that on my Shoe?"

bc

mostlylurking:
It looks like he already *has* retrofitted them. He is all-powerful.

It should read: "sexual orientation" not "sexual preference". I will not tolerate the ignorance and obvious intolerance of the writer, and therefore, will not accept his/her/its expressed wishes.

harrummmppff!

SCC: "Quantum Foam: Rovestorm and Other Natural Disasters - the Best of the Kit and Kaboodle 2005."

Ech.

bc

Posting links to great articles in this year's Post is a wonderful idea. I wish that Mary McGrory's old columns were collected somewhere (maybe they are, but I can't find them).

Well...by "sexual preference" they could just be VERY tolerant, acknowledging a spectrum of affinities. Like the girl I know who likes guys, but she also likes girls, just not as much. She's fun at parties.

You are having fun today and I am missing it! Working, working, working--for a change. I am scrolling rapidly through today's Boodle to get a flavor of it--and laughing all the way!

There was an article on the front page of our paper's Business section today, with the headline "Men are from Mars, so are their gifts." It is a hilarious read by reporter Christine Van Dusen. I don't have time to look for it via Google or rekey it. Drat! The piece mentions men's cluelessness about gift-giving, a Zogby poll about the "measurable disconnect between the sexes," and this great line...

Dave Howard knows what it means to strike out. He remembers Christmases past, when a gift he gave inspired a "Gee, you shouldn't have" that sounded like she really meant it.

Sigh, must return to putting my little pug nose to the grindstone...

Wow, Hal *is* good! Or maybe it was Joel - no wonder he's tired!

Speaking of old 'boodles, I remember the days when 87 comments was considered a lot -- e.g., under the "Class Differences in America" Kit, which was a warm-up to the Rovestorm. And I remember when it was common for Joel to post comments such as, "Who ARE these people?"

[And yes, it is *was* considered a lot, not *were* considered a lot -- but that was another 'boodle . . .]

For the record, I am not 'loper, and a bit miffed at being confused as such. Perhaps my tongue is more acid than silver. But I'm just me, and after months of lurking starting boodling a week or two ago. You people are very clever, I've enjoyed trying to play along.

Your resolutions sound fabulous Joel, and best wishes for carrying them off (though hopefully you don't ever need to test out #10). Personally, I'm better at slacking off when it's unplanned. Perhaps Dreamer can explain.

Curmudgeon, your gift post was hilarious, best of the day in my estimation.

Still not going to eat my tinfoil hat.

bc's was very funny too, and dr's! (I imagine this will show up in an inappropriate place, so a thousand apologies for boodling out of order.)

dr,

Not to be a nit-picker, but in fact although the Achenblog (long may it wave) will celebrate its first birthday in January, the Kaboodle wasn't inaugurated until April 15, 2005.

Joel,

In re memorable Post articles, I generally only read the Sunday Magazine, but thinking back over the year the first article I remembered was the one Gene W did about that little town in Alaska. That was good stuff.

My sexual preference is flightless waterfowl.
Or is that my sexual orientation?

April 15! Tax day! Ack!

Opus: ROTFLMAO

Pretty far off topic, but related to Christmas and newspapers:

Apparently, the need for revenue has driven the Miami Herald to auction its front page space to the highest bidder (guess it got in the habit after running all the paid-for-by-your-tax-dollars canned news). Here is today's front page, above the fold banner:

"Gift cards popular for last-minute shoppers"
With less than two shopping days left, gift cards offer a convenient and increasingly popular option.

Now, if this were an article about what a rip-off these gift cards are, how they are a no-lose proposition for the store and a dubious gift at best for most people--less convenient than cash, less thoughtful than an actual gift--then I might forgive the headline. But the article is boosterism the whole way through, just a tiny box at the end about the gift cards' "fine print" that doesn't address the central issue at all. This is not news.

***End of Rant***

I feel better now.

Reader, I need some consumer educatin' (being a guy and all). I'll buy the boosterism complaint, but why are gift cards a rip-off, etc.? What's in the fine print?

Reader, good rant. I have given a gift card or two to my son, in addition to cold, hard cash (talk about someone who is hard to buy for!). He gave me one last Christmas from Borders (in addition to other gifts). I forgot about it till my husband came across it in my pile of books, newspapers, seed catalogs. I used it to buy Jack Bruce's latest CD and Cream Gold - a Christmas present in July! So, in general I agree with you, but in moderation, gift cards are ok sometimes. I agree that the article is not news, especially front page news!

I think the disadvantage to gift cards is that they expire and then are no good - so if you forget about it, the store has made money for selling you nothing.

Joel, I am always amazed at how brave anyone who puts his work out into the world must be. I have done it only a very few times, and each time I did the slightest amount of criticism made me curl into a little ball until my wife got tired of stepping around it. It is easy for us in the Boodle 'cause we don't get called to the mat on it. Plus, nobody knows where we work. Anyway, for each person who thinks you are incompetent there are several who think you are a divine being. Both are scary, but at least they kinda balance each other out. Anyway, have a great Holiday and New Year.

Curmudgeon:

If the card will give you cash for change, then it's possible to break even with the deal. But many won't. So in the end, you will have to spend your own money or else leave money on the card, which is easy profit for the store. The store needs traffic. They get the person when they go in to buy the gift card and then they get the recipient when he goes to redeem the card. When you have a gift card you will be less selective about your purchases. It's like a coupon, but it's fully subsidized, so it doesn't cost the store anything. In order to be "fair," gift cards should be discounted. Maybe some are--anybody seen that anywhere?

Here's the fine print, courtesy of the Miami Herald:

KNOW YOUR GIFT-CARD FINE PRINT

Whether you are giver or receiver, check the details of your gift card. Fees and limitations may be included in the fine print on the card or packaging, such as:

• Expiration dates. Some are as short as a year.

• Dormancy fees. These may kick in if the card isn't used within a set time -- usually between six months and a year. The fee can be as high as $2 a month.

• Balance/maintenance fees. A low percentage of your remaining balance may be deducted every month after the card isn't used within a set period.

• Limits on cash back. If you redeem your gift certificate for merchandise valued at less than the gift certificate's value, you may be able to get cash back for the remainder. But some certificates don't offer cash back.

Bc, I was fairly certain that I could not have come up with a best of the boodle idea. I know the limitiations of my brain, and it is, sigh, small. I do remember almost everything I read, so I will now SCC and waaaay out of order note that I was channeling bc when I noted that. But it bore repeating!

Homage to bc.

Also to reader and Tomfan. I bow to superior intelligence and wit, and precision, and would like to say that I just feel good when I spell correctly!

Merry Christmas to the Kit, the Kaboodle and what they hey, Hal the Schememr, and all the WaPo staff on both sides of the river.

Also I want to wish a Merry Christmas, in that Irving Berlin non-denominational way, to everyone. Because I am forbidden from Boodling at work, I always feel like a guest at a party who arrives way too late. Nevertheless, it is always fun to read the intelligent (usually) banter between the regulars. It's kinda like Cheers. Except nobody really knows your name.....

dr, don't beat yourself up! Well, maybe you're just showing a little Canadian modesty.

Merry Christmas to you, too! And to all Kitters, Kaboodlers, Schemers, Lurkers, Lopers, and, last but not least, Achens and Toms.

Heading to the bus in a few minutes, so Merry Christmas, everyone.

RD Padouk, we always enjoy having you here, whatever time you arrive. Just think of yourself as being fashionably late. Merry non-denominational Christmas to you, too.

Cheers!

OK you guys. I'll miss everyone during the dread Week of Darkness, but that will make our reunion that much sweeter. Stay safe, be happy, enjoy your families. Merry Christmas.

yeah yeah, what he (and she) said--happy [select holiday] to the achenbach and the boodlists (boodlites?)
Whatever, you're boodylicious.

"boodylicious" Hah!

Boodle go to sleep now. Good night, Boodle.

Merry Whoseits and Happy Whatnot to everyone!

May peace and joy be with all the Boodle during the entire season!