Christmas Lights

Before it gets too far away from Christmas, I want to go over a few things. I wanted to get this out before Christmas, but things don't always work out as planned. So, without further ado, here is my rant on Christmas Lights. "Yeah-Boo" style.

Like all humans, I prefer symmetry. Whether you know it or not, you are more attracted to symmetrical people than non-symmetrical hideous ogres. It's just more visually appealing. (I don't know the psychology behind that...it's not like I majored in psychology or anything.) Anyway, for me, Christmas lights are the same thing. Heart does not matter to me. You have to put a reasonable amount of effort into it, and simply put, it just has to look good. One string across the top doesn't cut it anymore. This is America...the fattest nation in the world. Go big or go home. So to please my fans, I became an extreme voyeur and went around taking pictures of people's houses - good and bad. Thankfully no one called the police on me.

This might be the lamest one I saw. One string of white lights across the roof top. It's even drooping in some spots. Come on people. This one gets a big fat BOOOO!

This one is not quite as bad because it has some color, but again, one single strand of blue lights. I couldn't get a picture of it, but the single strand also stops part way around the side of the house facing the street. Classy. The weirdest part was that these lights were a strange deep blue. Not festive at all. If anything, they were eerie. This one gets a slightly less enthusiastic BOOO!

Now look at this one. It has a great mix of color, shapes, sizes, and overall it is pretty symmetrical. All the little trees are draped in lights. We have blue and white with a hint of red. Even a little bow at the point of the roof. This one gets a resounding YEAH!

To crush the momentum we were gaining, may I present to you this masterpiece. (Is the sarcasm coming through loud enough?) This person has a good mix of color, but as you can see, decided that, instead of continuing around the side of the house, they would double up the strand for half of the front of the house, until the string of lights ran out. To me, this says, "There the house is decorated, now can I watch my stories." *said with a hick accent* This one, too, gets a lame-ass BOO!

To put us back on track, we have this simple, yet elegant number. Both floors of the house have an even amount of ice sickles on them, and the garage has its own lights as well. Both sides of the walk way are lined with candy canes, and a lovely snowman and Christmas trees greet you as you walk into the house. Although they are all on one side, it is the actual center of the house because the porch itself off-center. I would have liked to see something around the windows, but now they have some room for improvement for next year. This one gets an average YEAH.

Now you might think that this next one will get a whole-hearted YEAH, but that is most definitely not the case. It's true that there is a nice blend of colors, but it looks very sloppy. Look at the pillar. The lights are strung up the pillar at different angles. The blue lights in the planter look like they were dropped there on accident. And the single strand of big glass lights along the roof line droop in a non-uniform way. I will say that they tried to "go all out," if you will, they just needed to be a little more precise with their execution. This one gets somewhat muted Boo.

And finally, last and least, my pick for laziest decorator this holiday season. Look at this mess. One string of red lights, on random parts of the roof. I know it is hard to tell, but there is nothing obstructing the view here. Where the lights stop, the lights actually stop. There is no rhyme or reason to it. Where ever the string of lights happened to end, that was okay for this person. My favorite part is the two inches of lights on the tree in the bottom right corner. I think it's a nice touch. This one gets my biggest, laziest BOOOOO!

Christmas for the OCDer

I love Christmas. I love buying presents for other people, and because I pay such close attention to everything, I feel as though I can really pick out the perfect present for someone. Getting presents, however, is not as easy for me. Since I'm so specific about my likes and dislikes, my family and friends have a difficult time finding "the perfect gift" for me - aside from the things I specifically ask for. But in recent years my family and friends have really keyed into my unique personality and found the perfect gifts.

Last Christmas my brother continued my Dyson obsession with the purchase of the Dyson Handheld DC 16 Root 6 (which I believe has now been discontinued/improved upon). I couldn't have asked for a better present. It's high quality, easy to use, and super convenient. It's perfect.

This year, stumped as always I'm sure, the gang pulled through again. A present that I'm sure most people gave out at their office White Elephant Gift Exchange, thrilled me beyond belief. This Christmas I received an amazing Violight Toothbrush Sanitizer! (If you are not aware of my toothbrush obsession you can read about it here). It is probably the perfect gift for me. I already keep my toothbrush in a protective case, and this way, I can blow-off the ADA's recommendation of not putting your toothbrush in an enclosed space, without guilt.

In addition to my toothbrush obsession, my cleaning obsession got a boost this season as well, with the addition of the Shark Handheld Steam Cleaner. Perfect for cleaning AND disinfecting! One of the things I am most excited to use it for, is steam cleaning the wrinkles out of my clothes. As OCD as I am, I absolutely hate ironing. The Shark will be a great addition to the cleaning arsenal.

Finally, as if a little birdie (or this blog post) told her that I hate to have a dirty car, my mother picked out the life saving California Car Duster. It's essentially just a long mop on a stick, but I will change my world completely. If I can dust my car before the morning dew hits (nature's annoying condensation) the water marks on my car won't be as dirty or visible, saving me a lot of hassle in the mornings. Instead of having to dry off the car in the morning, I can just dust mop it when it dries and save myself some of the headache.

This year I was essentially given the gift of peace of mind a few times over..the best present an OCDer could ask for. Word to the wise, this blog is probably your best bet for finding me the perfect present.

The Time Clock

As mentioned before, I am a wage worker. From 8:00am to 4:30pm I am a prisoner to the time clock. For those of you with a salary, or some other easier way to clock in and out, this is what my boss looks like...

The time clock works in quarters and each employee is given a seven minute window to clock in and start their eight hour day. In the eyes of the clock, anyone that arrives at work anytime between 8:00am and 9:00am is considered "clocked in" at either 8:00am, 8:15am, 8:30am, 8:45am, or 9:00am. For example, if I come into work anytime from 7:53am-8:07am I am considered clocked in at 8:00am and can leave anytime from 4:23pm-4:37pm and it is considered 4:30pm. Or, if I come into work anytime from 8:08am-8:22am I am considered clocked in at 8:15am and can leave anytime from 4:38pm-4:52pm, and it is considered 4:45pm. I hope that is not as confusing as I think it is, but hopefully by the end it will make sense.

Because the clock works the way it does, anyone with any common sense would try to arrive and clock in at 8:07am, and leave at 4:23pm. In the eyes of the clock, you have arrived at 8:00am and have left at 4:30pm. This way, you will get paid for 8 hours (with a half hour unpaid lunch in there somewhere) and you are only "working" for 7 hours and 46 minutes. Because of the seven minute window, the clock can essentially pay you for approximately 25% of your hourly wage that you weren't working for.

That being said, enter my OCD personality. I like to clock in at an exact time (like 8:00am), clock out for lunch exactly four hours later (12:00pm), clock back in from lunch exactly thirty minutes later than that (12:30pm), and leave four hours after that (4:30pm). Honest and stupid. That's my philosophy.

The weird part about the whole thing is that I will keep this staunch time schedule regardless of what time I arrive. If I happen to get to the time clock at 7:53am, I'm not going to wait seven minutes to clock in at 8:00am because I am not patient or dumb enough for that (I will get paid the same amount anyway). Instead I will take lunch at 11:53am, clock back in at 12:23pm, and leave for the day at 4:23pm. It sounds exhausting but it's second nature at this point. If you are wondering how I get to the clock on time, every time, I have my wrist watch synchronized to the time clock and I set my phone alarm to go off one minute prior to the time I have to clock in. This way I can make my way over to the clock and wait a few second for the time to be exact.