The third and final reading from the 2005 Christmas CD is one of my most favorite stories. As a kid, when I first encountered this story—I think as an “after-school special” type thing, it hit some strong emotional chords with me. I’m not entirely sure why, but I remember this story as the first that actually made me cry. (Old Yeller worked it’s magic on me years later…)

The Velveteen Rabbit is a cute little story about a stuffed, toy rabbit who longs to be “real.” Initially of little interest to his owner, or to the other toys with whom he is thrown together, eventually the rabbit becomes the much-loved favorite of the boy. After the boy contracts an illness which requires the purging of those belongings he keeps closest to him, the rabbit is thrown out of the house, to be incinerated. Filled with love for the boy, and sadness at their separation, the rabbit’s single tear summons the “toy fairy,” who completes his transformation and deposits him in the forest among the other real rabbits.

The 2005 CD may’ve been shorter, but that was ok ’cause it had this story on it. Also, I managed to sneak Spidey into the CD jacket, which was fun.

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There are many issues to deal with when designing for the web, and one of the most fundamental—and seemingly hard to understand or remember—is the simple fact that the end user ultimately has control over font size, not the designer. I’ve seen many gorgeous designs that are completely untenable if the fonts are enlarged by even a single point size.

In this post, I’m going to look at a singular expression of this problem, but it should be remembered that this is just one possible example. The possibility of font resizing should be considered when designing any and every piece of a website.

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Since the object of the project is to make a Christmas present, it’s kind of imperative to include at least a few outright Christmas stories in the mix. And what story (well, secular story, anyway) is more a part of Christmas than the long poem, The Night Before Christmas.

This classic story includes references which modern kids will likely never be exposed to elsewhere—like actual shutters, kerchief and caps as sleepwear, and sugarplums. Of course, this story also is one of the primary introductions for children to Santa’s peculiar attributes, and also has an easy to memorize roster of Santa’s pre-Rudolph reindeer.

There are many stories and songs about Santa and his reindeer, but this is one of the absolute fundamental texts of Santology.

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photo © 2005 by Neil Norman

Yesterday was my and my wife’s anniversary. Since she’s on a crappy rotation now, and working the 6p – 4a shift, I took a half day so I could hang out with her for a few hours. We had a great afternoon, not doing anything really special apart from being together.

We went out and had a nice lunch where we had our first date, went to the mall to see if we could reserve our new iPhones, went to the other mall to try our first Orange Julius (just “ok”) and to browse at the furniture store. Wonderfully ordinary “couple” stuff.

The funny thing is, I can’t imagine a better way to celebrate our anniversary. We’re not fancy-big-production type people, so a low key, mundane adventure is just about perfect for us. Just being together is enough.

And I think that’s a perfect testament to our marriage as well. Everyone’s relationships are different, but for us, we’re the most content and most happy when we’re together. Even after four years. Or, I should say, especially after four years.

The most awesome thing is, that as much as I loved my wife the day I married her, I love her a little bit more every day.

The focus of Buddhist teaching, as we’ve discussed, is on suffering—from where it originates, and how it can be overcome.

Suffering

My understanding is that the suffering with which buddhism is concerned is generally of the mental variety rather than the physical. Certainly physical pain isn’t merely some illusion of the mind (though the point is probably open for argument), but results from some specific internal or external cause. Whether you’ve stubbed your toe, broken your collarbone, or have some painfully debilitating condition, physical suffering can be difficult or nearly impossible to escape from or ignore.

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