Tin? Really?

Apparently, having survived marriage with me from this day...

...till now entitles Dave to a gift made of tin.

For ten years of supporting my shenanigans, he gets what amounts to a soup can?

No way! When I finally remembered at 4:40pm today that it was our anniversary, I vowed to give Dave something special. So here you go, babe: a roadmap away from this tin crap...

See? We're just a short jaunt from silver. And then just a quick hop to gold. And from there...platinum! Or if you like it more radioactive, mercury! Or some as-yet-unnamed and completely unstable substance!

Yup, that sounds about right.

Love ya, sweets. Happy 10th.

Oh, come on. You knew one of your anniversary cards was gonna be a periodic table. Don't act all surprised now. ;)

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Blizzard Time Lapse

From photographer Michael Black:


December 2010 Blizzard Timelapse from Michael Black on Vimeo.

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Got Dave a Ukulele for Christmas...

...and here he is!

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Christmas Baking Soundtrack

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Not a Follower But Still Following You

As you may notice, I'm streamlining things around daily pie.

For instance, several sidebar items are now parked on a dedicated page (links in upper right sidebar).

I also just cleared the blogs I follow through Blogger. If you use Blogger, you'll no longer see my smiling face among your Followers. But, chances are, I'm still following your shenanigans through my Google Reader. Especially if :

• I know you in real life
• I've "known" you previously in another network
• you post frequently about writing, fitness, or cooking

I'm still deciding what role I want daily pie to have for me in 2011. I've posted here since before we bought our house, when we lived in a 20' x 20' space and our kitchen was also our boss's laundry room. It's been a while.

So I'm tweaking the recipe here. I'll let you know when it's cooled enough to eat. :)

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Yup, Stress Fracture

Haven't run since Halloween. The pain's been weird. Except for the first few days, it wasn't extreme. But since then, there have been several times when I tweaked the tibia and immediately felt queasy. Anyhoo, the pain has receded but still lingered, so I went to see a sports medicine specialist today. Got prodded and x-rays. Diagnosis: stress fracture.

Prognosis: excellent. I'm at week six of a normal 12-week recovery. This sports med practice is used to getting athletes back in the game, so I'm on a regime of stretches and exercises for the lower shin and ankle. Doc was happy to hear I want to switch my running focus to 10K races. He said running more often will help me more than running farther. And cross-training would be good, too.

So, back for a check-up in three weeks.

Ever had one of these? How did your recovery go?

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Subconscious Casting

Been watching a lot of football lately.

Also been reading Bernard Cornwell's Saxon series.

So...been having lots of dreams that I'm fighting in a Danish skjaldborg, next to Uhtred, the series' main character.

Who do I see behind the shield next to mine?

Dave: "What a shocker."

Who would YOU cast as the MC in the book you're reading?

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Discipline (Finally)

It took going on vacation to get a writing routine set. We started every morning with an hour of yoga, then breakfast. Then I went to our room and wrote for two hours. Did that for 7 days straight. Helped that internet was crazy-expensive, so I didn't even try to connect.

When we got home, I changed my work schedule to afternoons so I could keep the morning writing habit going. I've been VERY GOOD about not going online -- have disconnected EVERY MORNING without even looking at email.

This is a big development for me. Discipline is a huge goal for me in 2011, but more on that later.

Now I need to get back into the yoga routine we had going. :)

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Blog Chain: 6 Words into 100

Michelle gives us a fun assignment this round:

In 100 words or less, write a story using the words ride, post, soulless, local, dehydrator, girdle. Your story may take on any form you wish. The only two rules are 1. you can't simply list the 6 words; you must actually craft them into something creative, and 2. you must use ALL six of them.

* * *

In retrospect, we should've brought something that works faster. Like a gun.

But there were no guns in the lab when the portal’s green light finally blinked on. There was the RonCo we use to dry agar.

Parker, his idea of medieval garb now obviously ridiculous, gestures like a game-show host before whipping the cloth from the shape on the post.

“Dehydrator!”

Plugged into its solar source, the thing whirs. The local specimens shuffle in the mud. Even the monk, dirty thumbs hooked into the girdle that rides his waist, stares with dim, soulless eyes.

Grumbling, they advance.

We run.

* * *

You should really start with Michelle's entry and go link by link, but be sure to visit Cole, who posted yesterday, and then Kate, who lays down some prose tomorrow.

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Doing My Own NaNoWriMo

November didn't fit my writing plans, but December-to-January does.

I've been writing a new First 50 Pages for BRIAR-BOUND. The plan is to submit them to Chris, who will submit them early next year to folks familiar with the project. In the meantime, I'm going to hold a personal NaNo to draft the rest of the revised novel. When I know what my time frame will be for the writing, I'll post it.

How about you? Did you participate in NaNoWriMo? How'd you do? Do you like what you wrote?


Not able to do NaNo, but still interested in a challenge? Say so, and we can work out some daily/weekly goals!

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Blog Chain: Books Are...

Kate gives us a great prompt this round:

Books are ________ .

Books are glitches in the space-time continuum. Tesseracts. TARDISes. They're how I experience all those periods and places and events I wasn't (or won't be) around for. Through books I can steep my senses in sounds, smells, sights, flavors, and sensations I can't easily find here and now. No surprise that I lean toward historical, fantasy, and science fiction whether I'm reading or writing. :)

Check out Cole's response from yesterday, then visit Michelle tomorrow for next round's topic.

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