First Word You See

----- from Facebook

Take note of the first word you see in the image below and share it as a comment.

So as not to influence you, I have included what I saw in the comments for this post.

A Cute Christmas Cat

---- from an email forward

NOTE: This year, Two was caught drinking from Santa's glass of milk. Because of this, and the fact she is evil, I was sure that she was going to get put on the 'naughty list' but Santa left her a little toy anyway.

Seriously Minto?

As aforementioned, Jason and I are in Ottawa for the weekend and tonight we are staying in a hotel. I had assumed that it would have free wifi and there would be no issue doing a quick Sunday post - however internet at the Minto Suites Hotel in Ottawa is not complimentary and we would have to pay to use it. Luckily, Ottawa is on the Mobilicity network so it is free to use my phone. I hope posts from my cell work, because I have had issues in the past...

A Major Milestone

Jason and I are up on Ottawa visiting for the weekend. On the drive we passed a major Milestone in his car - it reached 100,000 kilometers. He has a black Toyota Yaris that he bought new in 2008, so that really only averages out to 25,000 km a year. He is much nicer to his vehicles than I ever was, or my family. He also really loves public transit so never drives within Toronto and his daily commute is only about 60 km both ways. I took a moment to grab a picture just before the pivotal moment and also took the opportunity to talk to him about the value of a CAA membership.

Just Allow It Already

I have discussed the topic of Marriage Equality briefly before, actually it was 4 years ago, just after the last USA presidential election. Some interesting things have happened in the mean time; President Barack Obama announced in May that he supports same-sex marriage. He also supports the full repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).  In 2011, the Obama Administration concluded that DOMA was unconstitutional and directed the U.S. Justice Department to stop defending the law in court. Same-sex couples can legally marry in nine states, however, Marriage Equality is not recognized nationally, at the federal level, in the USA.

I found this flow chart recently and really liked it:

I would like to quietly note that on July 20, 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide with the enactment of the Civil Marriage Act which provided a gender-neutral marriage definition. Be fore the Civil Marriage Act, same-sex marriage was legal in eight provinces and one territory; Ontario was the first in 2003. Most legal benefits commonly associated with marriage had been federally extended to cohabiting same-sex couples starting in 1999.

National? Sleep Day

I heard on the radio this morning that today is National Sleep Day. I looked this up and it appears to be an unofficial holiday - made by who knows. The media (everything from blogs to television news to the radio obviously) will be mentioning this today but I still can't find where is comes from. I feel like someone has to 'make' the holiday, someone with some amount of authority - over an area or a topic. What I have read just keeps saying 'January 3rd has been set aside as National Sleep Day' or 'January 3rd is National Sleep Day' and it is also called The Festival of Sleep. Of note, I can't find mention of this at any level of government in Canada or the USA. Also the American National Sleep Foundation has a National Sleep Foundation Week, but it is in early March. The Canadian Sleep Society doesn't mention anything. I love the idea of a Sleep Day or Festival but I really don't think holidays can just be declared like this. How is it any different than me putting International Day Of The Chris in Steph's Phone Calender? I feel like that might even be better because at least I have some authority over 'The Chris'.

New Years Resolutions - Blogging

This past year I did not blog very much. On the Left Side Bar you can see that only 187 posts were published, which is almost as few as 2006, the very first year I started Always Standing, and I was only blogging starting from June that year. I always say that I try to blog at least every other day and with 366 days this (leap) year - 187 posts is just that. My resolution then is to BLOG EVERY DAY IN 2013 so that the number beside it reads at least 365 by this time next year. Hopefully this will up my readership, mean more comments, improve my writing, and better document this amazing year that I plan to have.

New Years Resolutions - Money

I would like to substantially pay down my debt this year and learn to live well within my means. Kristen noted that she really struggled her first year working full time to make the money stretch to cover everything but the next year, on nearly the same about of pay, it was easier. I am hoping that is true and looking at ways to better watch, save, and budget my money.