There's way too much use of Christmas music to jolly people into buying stuff. But I can bear some of the religious stuff that's played less often, like Adeste Fideles -- but only in Latin, so you get the mental exercise of trying to translate it.

I memorized In the Bleak Midwinter for choir about fifteen years ago, and it is still rattling around in my head.

We had Red, Blue, Green & Yellow lights, and my Dad had us maintain them in his particular order throughout. I did outdoor lights until someone took them off the low bushes.

I always got good gifts. When I was in first grade, I got a sled. The radio flyer, wood slats/red metal steering bar kind. But before Christmas I was playing in my mom's room with a friend who looked under the bed and then got me to look as well. Being the honest kid that I was, I told my mom what I'd seen. She then gave me the choice: tell my step-dad or act surprised on Christmas. Even at 7, I knew I wasn't a good liar, so I told him. I didn't get in trouble (because I was honest), but it sort of ruined Christmas morning. I never went looking for gifts again--I love being surprised.

The best morning was Christmas in 5th grade. I wanted a stereo so badly. But none of the boxes under the tree were stereo-sized. I was pretty despondent for the weeks leading up, waiting for that big box to show up. It never did. Then, as we were opening presents on Christmas morning, my mom handed me a medium-sized box. I opened it. It was a toaster oven. I looked perplexed, my parents started cracking up, and my step-dad gets a big box that has my mom's name on it and says, "This one must have been mislabled." Oh, how I loved that stereo.

10 more hours in the day and a big flat screen TV

My own 50 meter indoor pool.

a woman

Write a book

Book here, too. And, as soon as the streets are clear of snow again (probably late April), get the bike out of the basement and explore the dozens of kilometres of bike paths this island is blessed with. I tried the gym route a couple of times but simply lack the willpower.

I think we'll have high(er) unemployment, stagflation and a alternative energy, or cleantech, bubble.

You tip the hairwasher?

My hairdresser is my hairwasher.

I assume that it's the same sort of function that attracts people to crowds. That is to say, if a pigeon sees a bunch of other pigeons on the ground, it's going to fly over to see what's up.

Related: Why do people feed pigeons? Like all wild animals without predators, pigeon populations expand to an area's carrying capacity. So feeding them might make a few pigeons happy, but those pigeons will make baby pigeons, and then there will be too many again, at which point even more pigeons will starve.

It's a collective survival strategy, Deadman. The birds have figured out that some wackos poison pigeons, so they wait to see if the amount of bread crumbs being distributed is worth the risk. If so, they draw lots, and the losers fly down for some taste-testing. If after a couple of minutes those early birds are still alive, the rest join in. Everybody knows that.

But who decided bread crumbs were pigeons' favorite meal? I bet they'd prefer pizza.