Letters to Holly

Thursday, March 4

Snow Shuffling

We hunkered down at first. The snowfall was apocalyptic, and the subsequent wind and sunlight added ice to the cotton candy/mashed potato drifts. I worked online for a few hours and offered to walk with Your Sis to the town's Italian pizzeria for what's become our snowstorm tradition. She assured me she could walk the three miles plus there and back as long as we took it slow and let her catch her breath on the hills. We did. Our road was a glacier, but the rest of the trip was smooth and bright and windy and brisk.

We got to the shop, wolfed down buffet pizza, and headed back home. She has trouble bending over now, and her attempts to fix her socks just made her mad. I offered to help, and she grudgingly assented. She thinks it's demeaning to both of us if I fix her foot clothing. I say she's being silly. I told her I wished someone would say something. I have a surplus of what-for I need to dish out. But I fixed her socks, and I'm sure I'll be tying her shoes soon. She's starting her third trimester next week. This stuff is gonna happen. And it's temporary, I tell her. She's gonna have a crash diet at the end of June.

I got home and did more online work. About an hour later, the snowplows rumbled by. When they departed, I shoveled the driveway and the road in front of our property. I waited too long however, and the debris froze as soon as I walked to shovel other areas. Even sweeping over it didn't break the ice chunks. The first Wednesday of the month has become a fundraising night at the local Mexican restaurant. The money goes to the high school, and I drove her out to it as a reward for grading papers all day. We swapped snow horror stories with other teacher people and got back in time to watch some TV before collapsing into heaps. OK, she collapsed. I stayed up to ink our comic. I'd like it done by next weekend -- inked, scanned, lettered, and polished. I have to get cracking on my minicomics.

Her school has a three-hour delay today, and a make-up day is scheduled for Saturday morning. We drove to the local Buck of Stars before heading in different directions for work.

Picture of the Day
I predict that women will be throwing their partners by the 2018 Olympics. A number of pairs did this kind of lift (one might argue it's more of a brace than a lift), and each was shocking and well done. I appreciated the athleticism.

Wednesday, March 3

900 Posts

Yep, we hit a milestone.

I'll skip some telecommuting hours today to shovel the snow. We still won't be able to drive until the plows clear the way. It's oddly silent out there; even the nighttime highway noise is gone. This telecommuting isn't bad, per se, but it requires adjustment. If I hadn't gotten a cool pad for the laptop, there's no way I could put in a full day. Well, fullish, anyway.

I'm using what would be my two commute hours to work on the comic before and after working from home. Your Sister is now facing another Saturday of teaching. Cabin fever struck her hard and early, and she swept the driveway last night. I can't stop her. I can only check on her and invite her inside.

Two items of news:

1) We haven't heard from the doctor's office, and we were told earlier that no news is bueno. The assumption then is no gestational diabetes.

2) Your Sister's teaching assistant has bailed, citing family circumstances. This is something of a relief for her. He couldn't get his assignments together, requiring her to prepare to cover his lessons while preparing hers. Even though she has no safety net now, she's back to what she was accustomed, and she's glad the end came this early in the semester.

Lost has turned a corner, and I'm relieved. I think it can focus on the core characters now.

Picture of the Day
The rare female rebel pilot.

Tuesday, March 2

Whiteout

This is the rare late blog post because I spent the day telecommuting. While our tiny village was and continues to be pummeled by fat snow clumps plummeting to the earth, Asheville didn't get enough to slow traffic. My office computer was switched on there, and I connected to it from my workshop. I worked the majority of the day on files that could have waited a few more days.

I don't see us leaving the house until Friday. We've gotten at last six inches of styrofoam snow, and it isn't supposed to stop until tomorrow morning. We went for a short walk today to survey the damage. Before we left the driveway, we spotted a utility truck swamped in the street. Within five minutes of walking, our footprints vanished. Somehow, we still have our satellite service so we're catching Lost tonight.

I have to sign off from the laptop. My eyes are dead.

Picture of the Day
"Roads? Where we're going we don't need ... roads."

Monday, March 1

Plans Are Suggested

Your Sister is averse to belly pictures, and we've only taken a handful since her bulge emerged. Now, I'm not going picture crazy, documenting everything we do and supplanting an experience with the depiction of the experience. I do want to make a record of the most incredible nine months of applied biology we'll encounter. But she has days where she feels huge and unattractive and old, and I scold the camera and send it to its room without camera dinner. Some quick photos were taken and posted on FB where Your Mom practically called her gigantic.

My Mom is feeling better with a new prescription called Pristiq. She's making plans to accompany us to the next appointment in late March, and she again is asking about names. We're no closer to a name and probably won't lock in a top-five list until Your Sister is convinced it's not a girl. Is it possible the doctor was confused by the machine imagery? Yes. It is probable? No.

I started inking our medieval comic. I realized after one panel that using fat-nib pens to delineate art based on slim-lead pencils kills my art. I moved to the thinnest pen I have -- 0.2 mm. -- and I like what I see. The stiff plasticity is diminished, and a more organic contour emerges. This might be my ink style from now on. I'll put up scans as it nears completion.

We bought cooling stands for our laptops, and I drew my journal comic on my new machine as I watched Olympic hokey from the couch. That's so scifi. I'm gobsmacked. If I didn't have a pregnant wife and various comic projects, I'd liveblog TV shows. Your Sister, however, did talk to one of my fellow roller derby fans and demanded he take me to some of the Asheville games this summer.

I picked up my drama award Saturday over a dinner out with theatre buddies. It's nice. It'll look good on the wall. Your Sis reminded me she wants me to do theatre when a show strikes my fancy, even if it's in Asheville. I dunno. I wouldn't get home from rehearsal until after 11 each night, and that might stretch for three months. That knocks me out of watching Roo. I don't see me doing theatre again for years. And that's fine. I have comics and games and a baby to mold into a genius.

Picture of the Day
Marvel Comics is publishing Girl Comics, a new anthology created entirely by women. Nice idea. Horrible name. Here's a page from the first issue. These are all current Marvel superheroines.

The one on the bottom right was played by Halle Berry in the X-Men movies. The upside down hero is Spider-Woman, who had her own ABC Saturday cartoon years and years ago.

Here's her cartoon opening sequence.



Yes, her "spider-like powers" include flying and hand lasers. I don't know.