twilight

Yesterday was Xmas for my father's side of the family...very nice, lots of fun, ate too much, the usual.  Rah.  I also realized that I have spent more than I budgeted for Xmas this year -- so next year I am really cutting back, like I say every year -- and that I should not have bombed the library for book requests, assuming I get some volumes this Xmas.  Oops.

You know, I don't the NYPD is totally correct in blaming the mayor for recent events, but to me, they should be blaming Sharpton and everyone else, as well; I don't think anyone is a fan of people getting killed over cigarettes, but the reaction has become more anti-police, and not everyone can be surprised that someone finally snapped (also, the idea of using Al Sharpton as the flogging Molly for all the world's ills can be supported by the facts).  One hopes this is the end of this, but we all suspect it is not

Am reading Twilight of the Belle Epoque.  Very interesting (it was reviewed in the WSJ) even if it just a year-by-year combination of biography/listing of important cultural and other events in Paris and its surroundings at the time. It is a slow go as it is in 8-pt font, but I prolly just take more than 15 minutes of reading at a sitting, too.