Just received my first Christmas card of the season… from good ol’ Notre Dame. Am I the only one that thinks it’s highly questionable etiquette to send someone a card and then hit them up for a donation? Not to mention the fact that they obviously don’t cross-reference their donation requests with the student loan records. I mean really, I already owe them, like, seven thousand bucks. But that doesn’t stop them from suggesting I pass over another couple grand to get enrolled in the “Sorin Society’s Founder’s Circle”! Sheesh.

[Sidenote: I’m also becoming quite Hemisphere-sensitive. Get this line from the accompanying letter: “Christmas arrives at the darkest time of year, as if to remind us, in the words of St. Luke, ‘that a light was born to shine on those who sit in darkness… to guide our feet in the path of peace.'” Hello? For literally half the globe, Christmas arrives at the brightest time of year! Am I being overly critical here? Does the Northern Hemisphere have some exclusive right to Christmas? Besides, isn’t it sort of accepted that Christ wasn’t born in the winter anyway, but that early Christians moved the celebration in order to capitalize on existing pagan Yule rituals? Why am I getting so worked up over this? It must’ve been the request for money. That always pisses me off.]