‘Tis the season for more bullets.

It seems like I don’t have a lot of time to get a post ready whenever I go down to Phoenix, which was the case this past weekend. I had a couple other ideas for things to put up, but none of them were developed enough in time. That means a bulleted list, a Stacy Keibler picture, and the usual shenanigans…

• One of the things we did down in Phoenix was go to a Suns game (and watch them lose their seventh straight). Shaun got Dave and I tickets as a Christmas present, so we sat in the lower level and joined the rest of the half-empty arena in trying in vain to cheer on our team. The game was still fun, even if our team is awful.
• I also picked up a live Christmas tree for the first time in years while I was down there. Even though fake trees are a hell of a lot easier to maintain during the season and deal with after it, there’s something to be said for a live tree — the smell, the feel, the look of it after it’s been decorated. The nine-foot tree I picked up for my folks dominates the room in a good way, and it makes it feel more like the holidays all by itself.
• Time for an advertisement that I’m sure will get us a sponsorship for the show: Amazon Prime has been a tremendous part of my holiday shopping this year. Free two-day shipping? Sold! Being able to get shopping done from the comfort of my own home has given me enough incentive to stop procrastinating for once. Apparently, saving money + ease of browsing + getting purchases delivered to my door = not doing my Christmas shopping on Dec. 23 like most years.
• We talked about this briefly on the show, but it does seem like it’s taking me a little bit more time to get into the Christmas season this year. I tried to play some holiday music at work the weekend after Thanksgiving, and it still felt too early. Even turning on the all-holiday music station in the car this past weekend felt a little bit off, although driving around with a pine tree in the back of the truck helped a bit. I honestly think that there’s two reasons for this: 1) I’m getting older, and my enthusiasm is a little more condensed, and 2) We haven’t had a damn bit of snow in Flagstaff, so it looks like fall right now.
• This is another early reminder that we’ll be taking the week of Christmas off, just like last year. I’m actually really proud of how we’ve delivered on (mostly) daily content for an entire calendar year. This is our chance to regroup before we launch a couple of new ideas in 2013, including a list of our top 25 video games of all-time and a new format for the show. That means there won’t be any new posts and no new episode the week of Dec. 23-29. We’ll keep the place shiny for you while we’re gone, though.