December | 2008 | Weekndr by Matt Berger

It’s unfortunate that with all the good tidings and cheer during the holiday season, it’s mostly the food and desserts that keep me forging ahead during these winter days. It began with my overeating of the Thanksgiving turkey, and it will not end until the final chocolate truffle gift box is devoured.

Nothing says happy holidays like bingeing on dark chocolate peppermint bark

What is it about the holidays that drives normal people like me to overeat? I tore through a sheet of dark chocolate peppermint bark at work today and I don’t feel good about it. It was uncontrollable. The urge to consume was too much to deny.

More disturbing than eating so much candy I think is the fact that someone brought a plate of chocolate desserts to work for anyone to eat. No one needs a pound of chocolate at nine in the morning.

But no matter how much guilt I endure, or how many inches I add to my waist, I’d do it all again given the chance. Really. Anyone know where to get a box of dark chocolate peppermint bark?

– Mr. Weekndr

You are now reading the blog of proud owners of a pre-owned Subaru Forester. Some have said we became the ultimate Connecticutians. Another continues to recite the joke “Run Forester Run.” And our Subaru-owning friends and family have welcomed us in to their secret club, although we don’t yet know the handshake.

Best of all our new automobile is the ultimate in Green. No, it’s not a hybrid and it’s not fuled by french fry grease. It’s used, which means no car was fabricated to support our consumerism. Some other consumer already took care of that for us. As pointed out in Wired magazine, a new Prius requires 113 million BTUs of energy to produce, which means it has essentially burned 1,000 gallons of gasoline even before it leaves the factory. They call it a carbon debt and it takes about 46,000 miles to pay off. Since we bought used, we’re carbon-debt free. If only we could say the same for our car payment.

To boot, the Subaru replaces the Ford F150 as the second car, which means we’ll be saving on gas and driving much more comfortably. Meanwhile, the truck has been demoted to dump runs and trips to the lumberyard.

Snow covered and ready to tote around the kiddies this winter.

The all-wheel drive came right in time as you can tell from these photos. We had our second snow of the season, and the first that was substantial enough to leave a few inches on the ground to play with. Two rock-eyed snowmen came to life in the driveway as a result.