A few weekend thoughts on a dreary December weekend, all while knowing that today – 12/13/14 – is the last sequential date we’ll know in our lives.

I’m wondering how on earth things have gotten so politically wacky in that, like not a few others on the conservative side of things (including my own awesome congressman Matt Salmon), I find myself agreeing with both Nancy Pelosi and Elizabeth Warren against the “CRomnibus” budget bill that passed both houses of Congress. And not just because of the size, scope, and process behind the bill – I agree with them on substance. The incestuous relationship between Washington and Wall Street needs to end, and if it means aligning myself with Nanc, Liz, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee and my own awesome congressman Matt Salmon against the likes of Barack Obama, Harry Reid, John Boehner, and Mitch McConnell, well then so be it.

The other day I wrote favorably about James Taylor’s version of “In The Bleak Midwinter”, but I forgot about Shawn Colvin’s version, which tops that in every way.

Reason #112 why I never go ball-hawking.

I’ve never been to or bought anything from an IKEA, but I love Hemingway’s style of writing. This is brilliant.

Now that baseball’s winter meetings are over I’m fairly pleased with what the Red Sox accomplished. Sure, they let Jon Lester walk, but there was no way he was worth the stratospheric dollars the Cubs ended up paying him. Not sure Pablo “Kung Fu Panda” Sandoval will hold up over the term they signed him for, but he and Hanley Ramirez will give their lineup some much-needed pop. And with the acquisitions of pitchers Wade Miley, Rich Porcello, and Justin Masterson (who I hated to see leave the first time) along with Joe Kelly and Clay Buchholz, they’ve got a young starting rotation without trading off the cream of their minor-league system. Meaning, if they’re in the hunt come the July trading deadline they still have chips to land a big-name starting pitcher if needed.