Thanksbloggin...

An interesting thought occurred to me regarding the recently celebrated Thanksgiving holiday. Call it a Thanksgiving epiphany of sorts.

Having moved across the country earlier this year, 2011 was the first time I haven’t spent Thanksgiving with my immediate family. Being fond of turkey dinners with all the trimmings anytime of the year, I wasn’t about to miss the turk of all turkey dinners. Since I had made non-dinner plans for Thursday, I cooked my Thanksgiving masterpiece Wednesday night. It was a pathetic affair really: turkey legs (love the dark meat), stuffing, mashed potatoes, plus something green and healthy.

Then Thursday came along and on an impulse, I got invited to Phoenix restaurateur legend Bill Johnson’s Big Apple for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. It was an all-you-can-eat for $15 affair, but one plate of signature smoked turkey and all the traditional sides was more than enough. Plus there was some of the best pumpkin pie I ever tasted for dessert.

Anyway, this wasn’t meant to be a review of Bill Johnson’s Thanksgiving dinner (although I do highly recommend). Back to that epiphany. Not being surrounded by a smorgasbord of Thanksgiving delicacies made me realize how almost liberating it was to enjoy a small Thanksgiving this year. I never overate. I wasn’t sick to the point of hoarking (this has happened on some Thanksgivings!).

If it’s a day to give thanks for—among many other things—the plentiful food supply we enjoy in this country, then why do we gorge ourselves? Does that really demonstrate appreciativeness for good health?

It’s often stated that Thanksgiving is about spending time with family. We could all afford to spend more time with those that we love. So my thought is, why do we make Thanksgiving a single day?  Why not make the celebration last a week? Write a list ahead of time of everyone’s favorite side dishes. Build several nights’—even a week’s worth—of dinners, preparing different side dishes and desserts every night. That way everyone gets to enjoy their favorites, and there’s no need to stuff oneself sick on the final Thursday of November. Make time to share several meals as a family. I know, I should talk…I didn’t spend this holiday with mine.

Regardless, that is what I learned this year. There is nothing pleasant about being so full that you’re sick. It’s hard to appreciate something when it makes you ill in the end. Here’s to a week—and an entire year—of thankful feasting and gratitude.

No Longer a Buffalo Blogger...



Downtown PHX in the sunset



It’s been over four months. I had all but abandoned this thing. But I’m not without excuse: this past summer my life changed dramatically.

I left Buffalo with all its grey skies, cold weather, and chicken wings behind. It was a leap of faith: I packed my little Subaru Impreza to bursting and drove it across the country. My new home is Phoenix, Arizona. I came out here for an opportunity to advance my career with Phoenix’s hometown airline US Airways (formerly America West Airlines).

That’s right; after nearly three years of selling shoes and putting up with obnoxious customers, I left my job at Kohl’s. My mom and dad met while working for Allegheny Airlines (eventually became USAir and now US Airways). My uncle was a pilot for the same. So I guess a little jet fuel was always in my veins, and that’s why I’m carrying on the family tradition at US Airways.

It’s been a phenomenal opportunity to apply my background in communications in an industry that has always fascinated me. I work at InFlight Services. In any given day it’s kind of like working at a newspaper: I write articles, do graphic design, distribute crew memos, take photos, and answer Dear Abbys (it’s actually called “Ask InFlight” and is an email forum where flight attendants write in to ask questions, or more commonly, gripe about what went wrong on their last flight).

And as for Phoenix? It’s a great place to live. There’s no such thing as a rain date here. A rare day of cloud cover is actually a welcome change of scenery. If you’re an outdoors enthusiast (as I am), Arizona has no shortage of beautiful mountains, parks, and scenery that varies from desert valleys to mountain highland. Compared to Buffalo, the cost of living is a lot lower. Case in point: even with a 2% food tax (something NY doesn’t charge on groceries), groceries are still a lot cheaper here. Gasoline is much cheaper (comparatively speaking; there’s no such thing as cheap gas anymore).

So basically it costs less to live in a far nicer place. Makes sense to me. This was a move that was a matter of when, not if. I’m just glad that US Airways provided me the initial opportunity to begin my westward expansion. In the meantime, if I’m going to keep this little hole in cyberspace up, what should I rename it? Buffalo Bloggins isn’t going to work anymore…