Tomorrow is Christmas and I expect to be disappointed. But that seems typical for Christmas now. I'm planning to go to mass tonight but it's scheduled an hour earlier than it use to be so I'm trying to decide if I should leave an hour earlier than I have been or just half an hour. Leaving too early means waiting around longer than I need to, but leaving too late means standing for at least an hour and I'm not up to that.

I've been thinking of starting my own company, although I don't want to talk too much about the details until it's going. I studied a lot of business in school and I never realized exactly how much about business I knew. There's a few little things, like sales tax, that I have to work out but it's not that difficult. I also will need to get a vender's permit.

Interestingly, it's possible to find free websites that can be used for a business. I'll start with that first then expand as the budget allows. I'm going to start small and I'm going to sell physical products, that is something material and not digital. I'll start with one item then expand as I get going. But that's something I'll get into in the new year.

I've been spending a fair amount of time working out price and I've worked out what I figure is the lowest possible amount I could charge. Of course that's just prelimary and I'm guessing as to what the labour and materials would cost. Adding to the cost is an allotment for a sales fee since I would like to get others into selling the product. Although it's only a small amount. Labour is the biggest cost. Any excess would then be taken by administrative fees. I've also worked in taxes since I would like to sell it with the tax included, although I'll have to see how that works out.

While I could cut the administrative and sales fees if I sell it myself, I'm leaving them there to allow for future expansion. Otherwise I could run into trouble. And since I expect to make so little to start, the extra will help with other expenses. Once the company is in full swing, in maybe five or ten years, the administrative fees could be my main source of income so they need to be established early. But at least half or more of the cost will be labour and I can't cut that or the business is no longer viable. Even the sales fee is as small as I can get it.

Of course prices are subject to change.

This TV season seems a little different. It seems as if most years around this time almost all the shows would be airing repeats. But this season it seems that networks are trying to run a lot of new programs during the winter. This includes extending many of their regular shows past Thanksgiving and even into January with new shows each week.

I had planned on watching many shows up until the holidays then dropping shows while in repeats. But that doesn't seem to be happening this year. So I have to change my plans.

I've decided to drop Eleventh Hour. While it is a decent show and will likely be back next year, I just haven't been able to get into it. I also find myself being put off by many of the topics like diseases. (Disease stories don't tend to have a lot of staying power, mainly because everyone gets sick.) It's also too close to Fringe and I find that show a little more interesting. The characters on Fringe seem to be better developed. But I can't say if I'm even going to keep watching that show.

I worked out that I normally would have at least sixteen hours of viewing each week, so the loss of a few shows is almost a necessity. However, many shows like Chuck and Heroes are going on hiatus next week and a few like Supernatural and Smallville have already gone into repeats. And at least five of the shows I'm watching will be running out by the end of January. These are shows that would have been cancelled by now under a regular schedule, but the networks seem to want to use them as filler for the holiday lull.

There's still a number of things I've recorded that I'd like to watch or watch again, so I could use the time. As such I don't know if I'll get back into many of the shows I've been watching.

If I had to rank the shows I would put Bones and NCIS in my A-list. These are shows that I look forward to each week and often try to watch the same day. Pushing Daisies was there last year but this year the show hasn't been as strong. The strike probably crippled it's momentum. I will watch the remaining episodes though. Of the new shows this year, The Mentalist has some potential.

Most of what I watch would likely fall into my B-list.  This would be shows like Stargate Atlantis, Chuck, Heroes, Supernatural and Crusoe. These are shows I don't find myself getting excited about but usually enjoy watching, (although Atlantis did start as an A-list show). And I don't feel as if I've wasted an hour watching them. It's only the amount of material to watch that keeps me from enjoying them properly this year.

The C-list would be shows that I tend to watch more because there isn't much else on. I don't feel I'm wasting my time watching them, but if they were cancelled I wouldn't miss them either. In some cases, like Smallville or Knight Rider, it's simply because I want to watch all the episodes and it might bother me if I missed any. Although Smallville, which is suppose to be in it's last year, will likely get dropped down to the D-list if it's extended another year.

And in the case of Knight Rider it's more about being a long-time fan than the quality of the show. It's also unclear if the show will be back in the fall, although it does look to play out the year. And despite being a Sam Raimi fan, I would also put Legend of the Seeker on this list, although it's in danger of falling down to the D-list.

Anything on the D-list are shows that I would drop if I haven't already. Only special circumstances, like it being the last season of the show, make me bother to watch. Right now there's a few shows like My Own Worst Enemy, which has only one episode left, and Fringe, which I'm undecided on. It's only the reduction in shows during the holiday hiatus that's likely to keep me watching. Sanctuary also falls on the D-list. It hasn't been as interesting as I would have hoped. But since there's only a few episodes left I will watch it all.

And any show can fall down to the D-list. I once ranked ER on the A-list but no longer watch it, mostly because they changed the cast so much it's a completely different show with a completely different cast. I'm not even interested in this being the last year, although I might watch the final episode (despite not knowing who anyone is). As far as I'm concerned, the show was always about Noah Wiley's character and once he left the show was over. Although I dropped that show the year before.

I'm glad that many shows are going to be in repeats next week since it should give me the time to sort out my viewing. Unfortunately, there's a few new shows coming in January that I would like to check out which threatens to crowd my schedule further.

There's a new Muppet Christmas special coming out this year and I'm looking forward to seeing it. This seems to be the current trend for the Muppets; to release a TV movie every year or two. But many have never seen the first Muppet Christmas special and it's been a long time for those who have.

"John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together" came out back in 1979. I can't recall if it was repeated (I'm assuming it was) but it was never released in any purchasable form, including VHS. The record and now CD, however, are widely and easily available. But the TV special is practically unattainable, at least in it's complete form.

While the complete special cannot currently be found anywhere, most of the it can be found on YouTube in scattered segments. While I don't endorse the illegal posting or downloading of copyrighted material, without any way to legally see special aside from locating someone with an old copy on tape, this may currently be the only way of seeing any of the special. I do encourage buying the CD, which one should be able to find cheap.

I haven't been able to find a site listing the entire outline of the show, but a couple do list the highlights. I'm not sure of the exact order of the show either. But here's what I've been able to put together based upon what I could gather and what I saw in the clips:

John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together

Denver and the Muppets sing "The Twelve Days of Christmas." From the credit at the end of the clip it's obviously the intro. (Length varies on versions.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJV5l6d1Gq4 (Version 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4j1paMC5SM (Version 2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1szT-GOvug (Version 3)

Denver reads his poem Alfie, then Kermit the Frog and Denver reminisce about past Christmases with their friends and families, and sing "The Christmas Wish."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6neT-hK18k (Alfie, then Kermit)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSAK4vrgQMQ (another version)

Denver sings "The Pleasure of Your Company."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5bFnB_ZAn0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue7Jd4qC2ko (bridge - apparently "Pleasure of Your Company" to "Have yourself a merry little Christmas." Not worth watching since it doesn't contain anything complete but shows the transition between segments.)

Denver and Rowlf the Dog sing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWOvHqW3Nsg

Miss Piggy, as a doll named Fifi, sings "I Will Wait for You" to Denver, who plays a wooden soldier trying to stay in step with a line of marching soldiers. (I'm not sure if this is in the right place)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icSfqo__rlAMiss Piggy confronts Denver in her dressing room about their presumably mutual attraction. While there is a clip for a Muppet Show segment with the two, I could not find anything of this particular clip. It appears to be the only highlight missing, but I can't say it's the only missing segment. It would seem to go either before or after the marching soldiers segment.

Denver sings "Peace of Christmas Day"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkwnuD5BoMU (Peace of Christmas Day)

Denver recites the story of Jesus' birth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvyQovzSnFI (Christmas Story)

The program concludes with Denver and the Muppets singing "Stille Nacht," and children in the audience join in for the English version, "Silent Night." Clip also includes a short version of "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" while the end credits roll.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EMsTZKpEn0

I can't guarantee if any of the clips will remain up or for how long. These all seem to have been posted by different people. So watch them while you can.

Edit:I've worked out the runing time to be about 32 minutes, which means that this covers about 65% of the special. I don't know how long the Piggy and Denver bit is, but that could make up about three minutes. That leaves about 15 minutes unaccounted for, although trimming could account for at least a few minutes of missing material. It's probably short bits leading into or out of commercial breaks and some interaction with Denver and/or the Muppets before segments that are missing. Still, most of the special is covered, especially the important parts, and I don't think one would feel they missed much.

There was another special made with John Denver and the Muppets called "A Rocky Mountain Holiday" made in 1983. That one is available on DVD, but at over $200 new and $70 used on Amazon it's only for collectors. (So unless there's a re-release it's likely to become as rare.) It appears to focus more on Denver's songs. About half of it can be found as YouTube clips (which can be found with a simple search), so check those out first before spending the cash.