It’s funny because there are both lemon blossoms and lemons on the tree at the same time. I didn’t know they worked like that.

Warning: Nerd entry.

I finally did away with Movable Type. I never fully recovered from the upgrade to MT4, which forced me to rewrite my comment templates.  I had previously been using Movable Type’s own <$MTCommentFields$> tag to create my comment form, and they ruthlessly abandoned the tag in version 4, so I had to recreate my comment form after upgrading.

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Now I can tell just how infrequently I post blog entries, because I’ve already received and spent my next $3 coupon from Staples. This time I bought some paper for my printer, because I need paper, and because it was on sale for only $4.99 a ream. So $1.99 later, I’ve got myself a nice ream of paper. Woo-hoo!

I guess it was actually $4.99 plus tax, minus $3, so that’s about $2.38. Good thing I bought it before April 1st, otherwise it might have been $2.43! (The sales tax in California goes up 1 percentage point on April 1st, so about $.05 on a $5.00 purchase.)

When you bring your used ink cartridges into Staples, they reward you with a $3 coupon. You used to get the coupon immediately; now you get it in the mail a month later. Still, $3 is $3, and I was able to get a 4-pack of these awesome little gel pens for only $0.49 after my coupon (they were on sale for $3.49)! Hooray for almost-free stuff!

Thank you, Mom and Lisa! Ilse loves my birthday present, and I think it looks very nice in our room.

I’m a happy birthday boy when I get my free bag of fresh tortillas from Disney’s California Adventure. This year I had a very happy birthday. I got my tortillas, and Disney bought me some t-shirts.

See, if you’re a normal person, Disneyland gives you a free ticket on your birthday. But if you’re an annual passholder like me, you already get in free on your birthday… so instead they give you a $69 Birthday Fun Card, which is just like a gift card but with TONS of terms and conditions (like, “no food” and “no discounts”). I used my Birthday Fun Card to buy a cool 80’s Mickey Mouse t-shirt and a Monorail t-shirt.

If you’re planning to get me a present for the big 2-9 on 2/9, here are some suggestions!

You can look at my whole wishlist on Amazon.com.

It’s tax time again. I yearn for the day when it’ll be simple… a year when we don’t move, for instance. This past year, we moved, we bought a house, we had a home office, Ash had more than one job… lots of things that make our taxes complicated.

I don’t know if you’re familiar with Liberty Tax Service, but they hire people to dress up like the Statue of Liberty to promote the company’s services around this time of the year. Anyway, I was at the supermarket getting tortillas and envelopes (like ya’ do), and I witnessed the Statue of Liberty buying a lottery ticket. What an uncomfortable statement about the welfare of our country.

My mother has been begging me to post pictures of the house all decorated for the holidays, so here it is! Amusingly, I took all the decorations down today.