Having lived in many different areas during my life and called my soft drinks by many different names, it was fun to come across this map.  I grew up calling it soda because my parents are from SoCal.  I lived in Texas as a kid and got accustomed to calling my soda a Coke...doesn't matter what you are drinking in Texas, everything is a coke.  My favorite coke is Dr. Pepper.

Later in life I moved to Utah, and everyone here calls it a "pop".  The 1st time I asked a friend to get me a coke, he returned with an actual Coca-Cola.  Fair enough I will change my vernacular...but I don't like the sound of the word "pop", so I switched back to soda.

What do you call you soft drink?

Giving gifts to others isn't easy.  In fact, I think one of the reasons for the propagation of gift cards is because it is just so tough to know what another person wants for their special occasion.

My sister and her husband have combated this by keeping a running list of items that they desire.  Everyone in my family has admired them over the years for doing so, but to my knowledge none of us have made the attempt to adopt the idea. 

While searching Google's endless apps/tools, I found Wishlistr -- a site that lets you setup your wish list and share it with others easily.  Pretty cool, eh?

I took on a seasonal job this year to help pay for Christmas.  Three nights a week from 10pm-6am I have been doing a janitorial/security shift...all while working my day job.  It has been brutal on my body.  My sleeping patterns, my appetite and worst of all, my mood swings have all changed...and not necessarily for the better.  Which is why I had no difficulty identifying with this article that says the graveyard shift has been links to cancer.

When Amie and I moved back to Utah from San Diego we were naive enough to think that winter would not be a big deal.  That first winter was the worst ever in my memory.  We had become acclimatized to the non-existent winter in Southern California, and the colder temperatures in Utah made even our bones shiver and ache.

Our recent move to St. George (not so recent anymore, it has been almost a year now) brought similar feelings, although this time we could only think of how great wintertime would be.  Nice, mild temperatures and the occasional need for a light jacket.

On Monday it snowed in St. George.  And this snow was legit....Not like the icy sleet we had in February that melted in a few hours. This was real, stick to the ground, snow. It snowed, and it snowed, and it snowed.  Finally, on Tuesday morning it let up.

Here is a snowman that the kitchen staff at work built with the snowy goodness.  Yes, it is only about 6 inches high.