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Monday, December 24
Confusion
I'm in an awkward situation, and I don't know what to do about it. For some reason, everyone here in Germany thinks Christmas is on the 24th. I've tried to explain it to Conny, as well as anyone else who will listen, but I'm not getting anywhere. I thought Germans were well-known for being punctual, but how can they miss a major holiday by a whole day? What's next? New Year's Eve on the 29th? I think it's part of a clever, and not entirely crazy plot to slowly move Christmas into the late fall. I'm also told Santa Claus doesn't do Christmas present delivery on Christmas. Apparently some affiliate of his, this Sankt Nikolaus, comes by on the sixth of December, but he's got nothing to do with the December Though, the good news is I get to open my loot early. We have to wait until sundown though. As a guy who takes present wrapping to new art forms (No, I'm serious. I'm not being sarcastic for once.) I was shocked to find the dearth of wrapping supplies. Gift boxes? Not available, or ridiculously expensive. Tissue paper? No go. It's nuts. I'm a wrapping artiste, dammit! I simply cannot work under these conditions. I'm an American, after all. Elaborate and wasteful packaging is my birthright. '; } else { if(stristr($filename,"archive")) { $dir=$_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']; $template='_01_archive.html'; $tail=strlen($template); $thisArchive=$filename; //$files=scandir($dir); $dh = opendir($dir); while (false !== ($filename = readdir($dh))) { $files[] = $filename; } sort($files); $earlyarch=""; $laterarch=""; $prevarch=""; $next=0; foreach($files as $file) { if (substr($file,-$tail)==$template) { if ($next==1) { $laterarch=$file; $earlyarch=$prevarch; $next=0; } if ($file==$thisArchive) { $next=1; } else { $prevarch=$file; $earlyarch=$prevarch; } } } $link=''; $divider=''; if(file_exists($earlyarch)) { $link='< Earlier Archive'; $divider=" | "; } if(file_exists($laterarch)) { $link=$link.$divider.'Later Archive >'; } $link=$link.' '; } } echo($link); ?> |