Late yesterday afternoon we got back from our trip to Michigan! We had a great time, catching up with Carrie's family and seeing the sights.

We spent the first evening of the New Year exchanging gifts and got more than a little spoiled! Among other things, we got one of those portable DVD players and a keychain memory card I can use to take my story backups etc wherever I go. On Friday we went to an antique and computer show (some of those computers were real antiques too), and later on we did some shopping.

I used a Best Buy gift-card and ended up getting Finding Nemo on DVD and one of those Microsoft Internet keyboards. The latter was necessary since we gave Carrie's parents her old computer, sans monitor but with everything else. As far as keyboards go this Microsoft one is pretty decent, although the touch is a little softer than the old one.

Friday night we were up until the wee hours playing the 20th Anniversary edition of Trivial Pursuit, and it was getting quite frustrating (those dice rolls are a bitch!). Even though the questions were from the past 20 years, they still managed to throw in plenty of tough ones.

Saturday was a family event at a function centre by Carrie's aunt's apartment complex, and we ate tonnes of food, including some good old Oz plum pudding. On Sunday we went to the Henry Ford Museum and despite spending all afternoon there, we still didn't have time to see everything! I did manage to see a heck of a lot more than I did during my previous visit, however.

On our drive home we ran into some snowstorms which slowed us down a bit. We didn't have much hope of beating our record time for the drive there (which took a mere 6.5 hours including breaks), but we still made fairly good time considering the conditions.

Winter has well and truly arrived here in the Midwest. Detroit had 3 inches of snow on Sunday, which was a far cry from the predicted 8 - 12. Apparently 9 inches dumped on Chicago and closed O'Hare, so we were glad we weren't flying!

There was a real chill in the air today, with the temperature this morning an ear-numbing -4F! It's times like these when I wish I was back in Australia, basking in the sun and stoking up a barbeque :)

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While in Michigan, I finished reading the July/August issue of Analog. There was a lot packed into this double-issue, most of which I found strangely underwhelming. My favourite stories this issue were The Meeting of Pilgrims by Robert R. Chase (an interesting look at an alien culture), Trinity Bay by Alexis Glynn Latner (high-flying adventure and nanotech), Brownian Motion by Richard A. Lovett (an entertaining futuristic dating-game tale), and Cowzilla by Geoffrey A. Landis (a short-short with giant cows!).

When we got back yesterday, the mail-box contained my long-awaited copy of Argosy! This is a gorgeously presented magazine and from what I've heard, the stories are a real treat. Each issue is packaged with a separate novella (this issue has The Mystery of the Texas Twister by Michael Moorcock) in an illustrated slipcase, which adds extra flair to the whole package. As an added bonus for early orders, I also received a copy of an art magazine by the same company, entitled International Studio. I'm really looking forward to reading this first issue of Argosy, and I may just have to subscribe if I find the content as good as the presentation...

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Since it's a new year, it's time to reset those wonderful stats:

2004 Word count:	0
Stories written:	0
Total submissions:	0
Total acceptances:	0
Total rejections:	0
Waiting for response:	2
Books read:	0
Fiction Mags/Chapbooks read:	0

The slate looks rather clean, so I better get cracking and start those numbers rolling!