TheBanyanTree: Monopolized Thanksgiving

[trebro at att.net]

For the first time in a long while, I'd like to be one of the first to wish all American tree-dwellers a Happy Thanksgiving, and a special thank you to them and to all of you here for being around year after year to tell stories and give the rest of us pieces of your life.  It's a very special bond for me, one of my few pre-and-post college activities that remains, 5+ years after school ended.

I am wired for this Thanksgiving because, due to the weather, we opted not to try and make the cross-state trip to see Grandma Sarah.  While it might have been doable, the roads were not good, and we took the safer option of staying at home.  It makes us both sad, but the most snow that fell, and the icier the roads looked on the news, it seems like we did the right thing.

Since today was not the travel day I was expecting, I spent a goodly portion of it playing Civilization III, winning 2 games and losing 1.  It's taken me awhile to get a good strategy going for this new version (III is still newish to me, and I know there's IV on the way), but I'm starting to win more.  I have no idea while Civ facinates me so, but no matter how many other games I play, I always come back to it.

Speaking of games you always come back to, Liz and I played our first game of Monopoly in ages, playing for the first time on my Muppets edition.  The game works the same, it just has different labels and activities.  I had an early lead, playing my patented grab everything strategy.  Sadly, I tried "build up the ghetto" while Liz took on the higher rent districts and my nimble antics to try and stay in jail were to no avail---I busted out after mortgaging everything I had.  I thin Statler and Waldorf were laughing at me towards the end!

It's going to be a weird 4 days--no large distant family around, no trip to the outlets on Black Friday, no being cooped up in the van for the long turnpike ride.    While I've only been doing it the last 2 years, it felt like such a big tradition to me.

I guess it's time to make a new tradition, if only for a year.  Now if you'll excuse me, I need to make another attempt as the Mayans....

-Rob