wobbly Jell-O

I went to the health club yesterday, for the first time in about three weeks. I'm still coughing a bit, but it's not nearly as bad as before. I'm still going to see my own doctor tomorrow (time for my annual physical anyway). Despite not working out, I somehow managed to lose five pounds over the Christmas holidays. Only five more to go and I'll be back to my pre-corporate weight, woohoo!

Sure can tell I haven't been exercising during my illness...my legs and arms and abs felt like wobbly Jell-O (tm) by the end of the workout. Ugh. Maybe I lost five pounds of muscle tissue over the holidays!

Got a nibble on one of the queries I sent out last week, got an expenses cheque I was waiting for from Writer's Digest (from my book), and work on my novel is going well. I'm also still caught up with my finances. Ok, it's only been two weeks into the new year, but this is a record for me. :-) I set up a budget and my books in Quicken last week.

I heard from WritersMarket.com that my Market Watch page is already one of the 20 most-visited pages in the site, which is a nice little egoboo (it's a good start, anyway).

I found out that Andrea's going to Confusion. So now my friends Dave Clement, Mark Osier (whom I haven't seen in several years), Rand Bellavia, AND Andrea Dale are going to be at this convention...and I'm not, argh. I actually did investigate seat sales to Detroit out of morbid curiosity, and found a flight for only CAN$119 through Air Canada. Just the additional TAXES on the flight, however, add up to $152 (!!!)...more than the flight itself.

No wonder Canadians are so leery of air travel these days.

It's a vicious circle, of course. The airlines have to jack up the prices to stay financially afloat. Meanwhile, an already nervous Canadian public is horrified by the absymal exchange rate and cost of flying, so they don't fly. Which makes it financially tougher on the airlines.

I used to love flying.

I used to even get all excited about plane food (I'm so into compartmentalized food) and other in-flight services. My experience with the Philly-Toronto commute and the gradual decline in customer service, however, has soured me on air travel. Jodi and I are thinking about going to Contata this June (Dave Clement and Tom Jeffers are the GoHs!), but we're going to investigate going there by train instead of flying.



News/updates

For Sci-Fi's Sad Geezers: Love the name. Has over 9,300 cult science fiction links.

I've added a Blatherings Cast of Characters page. I've had some people express confusion or curiosity about various friends I mention relatively frequently in my Blatherings, so this list is for them. Please note that it's NOT a special list of friends (i.e. don't get in a huff if you're not on it). The list will constantly evolve over time. You can always get to the list through my About page.

Today's Blatherpics:

- I was waiting inside when Jeff washed the car on Sunday. Though it made an interesting photo.

- Jeff read bedtime stories to Sara and Annie Sunday night.