C Note(s)

It's that time of year again... And invariably, some host / hostess will incorrectly title their intention of their party. In my humble opinion (IMHO) there's a GINORMOUS difference between White Elephant vs Gift Exchange Parties . I was tricked into thinking I was attending a workplace White Elephant Gift Party. Granted, the co-worker that invited me was a troll with #ERBF (Epic Rest B**ch Face) I was horrified to figure out it was a GIFT EXCHANGE PARTY. Basically, I fell into the trap that this troll knew how to host this kind of party when she didn't. Here's what happened... White Elephant vs Gift Exchange Parties: How I Was Tricked! Let's start this conversation with the difference between the two, in my mind! I'm confident there are some in the reading audience that have (and still do) confuse the ideas. The first time I ever heard of White Elephant was in 1995 at Payless Drug Store. A young lady approached me in the aisle I was replenishing with m

Ever since the Digital Age started, many traditional institutions such mailed letters have been in a state of decline. In fact, it's extinct. Well, at least, Christmas Cards Are An Endangered Species with young adults that don't know how to properly address an envelope. There's an app out there available that you can mimic hand written notes, have them digitally created, then the company will complete fulfillment for a small fee. It's called Bond. That's right! Christmas Cards Are An Endangered Species Christmas Cards and the family newsletter included is (was?) a time-honored tradition to divulge details of trails and tribulations and successes, too.  But with the immediacy of social media of announcements, cry for help and everything else, there's few reasons to carry on the tradition of Christmas Cards. Right? Wrong . I want to lead a paradigm shift back to those days of pad and pen. Not as a backlash of technology, or trying to be a #hipster, but

Y'all have it easy nowadays regarding Ugly Sweaters! I've seen them everywhere: Fred Meyer, Target, Wal-Mart, etc. There's all the peripheral items too. Back in my day of parties, if you didn't find a way, you MADE the way. Several years ago, I received a party invite from a friend I hadn't heard from in a minute. The invitation was for an Ugly Sweater Party during the holidays. If my memory serves, I couldn't attend even though I had every intention to do so. Later on, I saw pictures of the party on #Facebook. It sure seemed like it was a blast. Even more glaring ... I needed a new sweater! Ugly Sweater Party Up until this invite, I've never heard of purposely finding an ugly sweater to wear, let alone go to a party with others dressed as badly. So I was on a new adventure: to find the best ugly sweater ever! Six years ago ugly sweaters weren't in high demand therefore extremely difficult to locate. My girl at the time was a ginormous fan of

UPDATE: 1-17-2019 I purchased my own domain of Carlos Bayne, so please follow my blog posts by click on this link here . I was haphazardily introduced to another blog site, Tumblr, because a friend on Facebook moved a thread to an account titled: I Heart Gary. I am able to blog each component of my life instead of having one blog and having to search through it. I realize it's an end of an era, but it must done. You can find my posts now at ... Tumblr, click here .

What Easter Means to Me nowadays is vastly different than when I was a child. I was oblivious to the religious connection to the holiday, as a kid. I thought it was about the Easter Bunny, and hiding eggs in the yard. Literally we would hide real hard boiled eggs in the front and back yard for my sister and I to find. What Easter Means to Me Honestly, it changes from year to year, and from relationship status at the moment. I once dated a mother of two that were young enough to still enjoy chocolate bunnies, and other candies, while searching for plastic eggs and the prizes within. One of the other candies was (still is) the Just Born-marshmallow Peeps. Ugh! I never liked them, but loved the Washington Post's The Peep Show which was a contest on how to create the best art and diorama of the confection. After 10 years though, they have canceled it. Read about it here , but it's true! I would read about the reprint in the Seattle Times when it was still a printed new

Recently, SpaceX founder, #ElonMusk launched a Telsa Roadster into space with the driver named, Spaceman. The words, "Don't Panic" is displayed on the center console. This is an obvious ode to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy . Well, I ALSO paid homage to the "trilogy with 5 parts" weeks ago because my 42nd birthday was this year, so I dressed up as Arthur Dent and I was easily recognized by the knowledgeable fans. If you're familiar with the series, read it, or even watched the 2015 feature film of the same name, you'll know that after millions of years the Deep Thought super-computer concluded that the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything is ... 42! Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy The announcement revitalized my interest in space exploration, which I'm assuming is the same across the globe considering the amount of social media buzz it created. With the launch, the talk of a "space elevator" has been renewed which