My dad with Jersey. Jersey is the furry one.

Yes, yes, I agree--Webrings suck the big wazoo. I don't really want us to turn into one, but I just felt things were approaching the Out Of Control zone, and felt the need to say something. I think Vera has the right idea, though I hate to hurt feelings by eliminating links from my page. Plus I know that I like being linked from other pages. I may just stuff them all onto another page.

I'm doing what I can to not become like many writers I know who never have the chance to read anymore. But at the same time I want to keep time open in my day for writing and other personal stuff. So I have it set now where I read on my breaks at work. I usually get a break every hour, and twenty minutes is usually long enough to read a chapter or a short story. I used to write on my breaks, but that was back when I was allowed access to the computer in my boss's office. Sure, I can write longhand, but my handwriting is pretty execrable, and I always end up trying to write as fast as my thoughts, which leaves me with pages of scribble that even I can't usually read. I make a billion typos when I type (I'm a lousy typist) but it's easier to parse out what I meant in a few typos than to try and figure out what a scrawl that might or might not start with an "e" was supposed to be.

I just finished The Moon and the Sun by Vonda McIntyre, which has been on my to-read list for several months now. I don't know why it took me so long to get to it, but I'm kicking myself now for not picking it up sooner. What a marvelous book! This was one that I read at work, and I had to seriously control myself to not kill an entire day at home to finish it off. I was fascinated the entire way through, and I thoroughly loved the ending, especially because I didn't know how it was going to end until it did. Very deserving of the Nebula, in my oh-so humble opinion.

I have my first house guests in my new house. Clark and Margaret are here for a couple of days, staying in the formerly-junk-room-now-guest-room-complete-with-futon. I've known Clark since about fifth grade, and I stood in his wedding as Best Woman two years ago. Clark brought down a mountain bike for me that he doesn't use anymore, but the really nifty gift that they gave me was a programmable thermostat, so that I can have my house warm itself up before I come home from work. He'd read the bitchings in this journal about my frigid house and came up with the perfect solution. Way cool!

So they came in last night, about an hour after I finally made it back from the grocery store. (I don't know why, but I hate grocery shopping. Maybe it's because I hate throwing down a hundred or so dollars on items that will only remain in my house for two weeks at the most.) They'll be staying through today and will depart Thursday morning.

I had a good workout yesterday, though I should have eaten more beforehand. I was starving and kept trying to talk the cop dudes into going to lunch after working out (I still had no food in my house at that time) but those Rat Bastards had already eaten. So I went home and managed to find a lonely can of soup in the back of my cupboard.

But I'm really getting back into shape quickly, and am thrilled to see my muscle development coming back. I'm getting strong again, which I love. I don't have the genetic makeup to bulk up, so I can go as heavy as I like--and I get super-competitive with myself. I have two weight-goals that I hope to reach by February. The first is to do 8 clean reps squatting the big bar with big plates, i.e. the olympic bar (45lbs) with the big 45lb plates on either side (135 total.) Considering that I managed 115 the other day, with no spotter, I think I'll make that one soon. And my other goal is 8 clean reps benching big bar and quarter plates (95lbs total.) Right now I can do about one rep, with the rest assisted/spotted. That one will probably take longer to get to.

I haven't been doing too much aerobic-type stuff lately, though now I don't have any excuse to not bicycle to the gym. Oh wait, it's too cold to bike there! Yeah, that's it!

And my Alaskan readers roll their eyes and shake their heads.