I was sort of hoping to post an entry earlier in the week, but between the plumbing problems and cleaning up after the snowstorm, I didn't have time. I've also been busy writing notes for a new short story I'm working on, which will hopefully see completion by the end of the week.

We had a fairly quiet New Year, puttering around the house and online, and watching NY and Chicago see in 2005. At the stroke of midnight, we cracked open a bottle of champagne and made a toast, then ate some Godiva chocolates from Christmas.

On New Year's day, we headed off to a local fitness store to take advantage of their 20% off sale and buy a treadmill for our basement gym. It was supposed to be delivered earlier in the week, but the original shipment was damaged, so it'll probably arrive later today or early next week. After that we went to see Meet the Fockers which was quite good, and much better than we were expecting. We probably enjoyed it more than the first one, suprisingly enough. We went out to dinner, and spent the remainder of the weekend relaxing, playing The Sims 2, and planting some tree seeds from a bonsai kit.

I was going to try and do some writing on my day off on Monday, but ended up playing The Sims 2 instead. At some point I'd like to get stuck into Half-Life 2 and Doom 3 as well, but I always feel guilty that I'll spend too much time playing games and neglecting everything else. I think I'll stay away and work on stories instead :)

A plumbing problem reared its ugly head sometime early this week and caused many headaches as we rushed back and forth to the hardware store to pick up various pieces of equipment. Thankfully only the kitchen sink, dishwasher and the laundry tub in the basement were affected. We've tried just about everything, short of calling a plumber in. We gave a container of Liquid Plumber a try and that seems to have partially cleared the blockage. Fingers crossed....

Like everywhere else in the Midwest, we got hit by a huge snowstorm from Tuesday night through Thursday, with around 10 inches of snow falling in total. We used the snow-blower for the first time, along with shovelling the deck and cleaning off Carrie's car. She didn't end up going to work on Wednesday (she has a long commute), but I managed to get to work each day without too much trouble.

The kitten went in for his surgery (snip, snip) this week and seems to be his usual self, other than sleeping a good deal more than usual. Whether it has calmed him down remains to be seen.

This weekend is pretty quiet so far. I'm devoting the bulk of it to writing, trying to get back in the habit after far too long of a break. I'm feeling a good deal more motivated now, so let's hope I can keep up the momentum for the rest of the year!

2005 Stats:

2005 Word count:	0
Stories written:	0
Total submissions:	0
Total acceptances:	0
Total rejections:	0
Waiting for response:	1
Books read:	1
Fiction Mags/Chapbooks read:	0

What I'm Reading:
Analog Science Fiction & Fact, October 2003
Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll (audiobook)
Transmetropolitan: Lust for Life, Warren Ellis, Darick Robertson