Secret Santa 2012
Posted on: Friday 01/04/2013 05:57:19
I received a text.
It was a picture of the package that had been sent from my Secret Santa!
I had used this same addy last year for SS; it belongs to the guy that I have worked for for the last three years. We recently decided to end the company and go on our separate ways. I completed my final job for him last week.
I was off work today, so I took advantage of the opportunity to make one last pilgrimage to Clarksville to pick up the package.
Luckily, when I arrived at dude's house, he was sick in bed, and had placed it on the front porch a few minutes earlier.
I pulled over a couple of streets away, more out of curiosity as to who had been my SS this year than to actually open the gift.
I smiled as I read Newplayer's handwriting on the card.
He had sent me a copy of Dave Matthews Band's new album, Away From This World, which I immediately put in the player for the ride home. Also included was a nice, hardback Complete Guide to SINGLE MALT SCOTCH, which I will reference in the next months. It's a guide to Scotland's finest whiskies. 
I tried to get a picture of both gifts, but only the guide proved photogenic, so I will tell you about my drive home with DMB.
I hadn't heard this new album, so it provided a nice soundtrack for the ride home, my final voyage from Clarksville to Bowling Green along those old two-lane roads that I have travelled for so long. This edition also contains some live material at the end of the album proper, which to me proves how good these people are as a band. It was a much-needed departure from my same-old same-old, and also it put a nice end to a less than nice year.
Thank you, Scott, for the gifts, and for reminding me of why we're all here.
It's all about sharing, innit?
Easy Sleeper Says:
I didn't realize Dave Matthews had a new album. The last new album I have is American Baby, is it newer than that?
Easy Sleeper Says:
oops, sorry I just pulled it up, the Album is actually Stand Up, American Baby is one of the tracks. Apparently they have a few new ones since then. My how time flies.
H3OsMama Says:
I enjoy listening to DMB, but this is one of those bands that I can't seem to keep their CD's. They just disappear. Perhaps Dave Matthew's greatness and Jon's greatness can't be in the same room together, or the universe will implode on itself.
kittenheel Says:
The sports editor I used to work with phone-interviewed DM for Bonnaroo 2010 (or whatever year they were here). Said he was a nice guy.
CaptainMando Says:
Awesome job, NP!
DeletedMember Says:
I won tickets to DMB in the beginning of December but gave them to my friend, Sarah since I don't know very many songs of theirs to care enough to go to the concert. She had asked me if I wanted to go to the concert when it was first announced and I turned her down. I was listening to the radio, heard the call to win and on a whim, called and won. I called her up and made her tell me who the best friend in the world is and when she replied you are?, I told her I just won her tickets. She was stoked. Yep. Best friend ever [that day] right here y'all.
TwoBit Says:
Matt, it really is a good album. I listened all the way through, which is something that rarely happens on the first play.
snow Says:
sooo jealous of the book! I must get one!
intense Says:
I think that is the CD I sent to him for one of his secret santa gifts from me.
Easy Sleeper Says:
awkward...
Fritz The Bootlegger Says:
Well, I suppose if he downloaded the music to his MP3 player or PC and doesn't need the CD anymore, regifting it is preferable to letting it go to a landfill.
snow Says:
Or maybe he liked it so much that he knew TB would too..
Sugarcane Says:
Awesome gifts. I love DMB. I got to see them with Lenny Kravtiz, Blues Traveler, Black Crowes, and more at the HORDE Festival in Oregon. They put on a great show.
intense Says:
well BBA said it was a copy, and that is cool.
The Lioness Says:
Well done.
newplayer Says:
Enjoy. Merry Christmas
newplayer Says:
I love that album, I figured TB would too. And it sounds like he did