Happy birthday to Tony!

At the last minute, we realized that going to Lake Tahoe would be a mistake -- Tony hates the cold. So instead we splurged on VIP tickets to the Varekai show by Cirque de Soleil. We got to go an hour early and meet some performers, munch on appetizers, and saw the show from the fourth row. Naturally, it was awesome. And a lot warmer than Tahoe would have been.

Before that, we went climbing and then spent a considerable part of the afternoon in the emergency room. Don't ask. I'll be fine.

Tony is back in LA today, though not for CSI this time. Next, after his long birthday weekend, he's on his way to Austin. Then back to LA. It's a little glamorous and a little tiring and a little hard on me, not because of the actual traveling but because every time Tony is gone overnight the cat goes a little more berserk. He howls! He steals chicken! He pushes things off the shelves! Yet he's a picture of innocence when Tony is around.

I swear, I'm gonna start making Tony bring a cat carrier to his meetings.

My writing workshop continues today, though the continuing zzzzottt zzzzzaaz zzizzizz of the laptop is an upsetting distraction.

Zzzzzzt. Zzzzzppzz. Zzzzottt. The laptop continues its downward descent. The tech folks at Fujitsu predict certain doom. So we've been researching new laptops, which is particularly painful considering not only the money (arrgh) but also the fact that we LIKE this machine.

Last weekend: imagine me slipping off a strangely-angled climbing route, swinging out-of-control fifteen feet over the floor, spinning all the way over Tony's head, barely missing the staircase railing, then swinging back and smacking into the wall backward. Kind of fun. So of course I try again, slip again, but this time I grab a handhold on the way down to avoid the giant swing. This results in my body being jerked around and the rope burning across my outstretched arm. Not as much fun.

(Are you wondering why these things always happen to me and not Tony? I'm the trailblazer. I'm the one to try the wacky new things while he watches and learns from my numerous mistakes. Then he proceeds to conquer the new thing, inspiring me to blaze more trails. We're a great team, but it's lucky that I'm a fast healer.)

Climbed all morning, and then realized we could augment our workout by walking to lunch afterward instead of driving. So it appears that our walking season has abruptly begun! Came home afterward and vegged out for the rest of the day, playing computer games and experimenting with the DVD recorder. Now eating sushi in bed and watching bad DVD rentals.

Tony is back in LA for the day, voice recording another of the CSI stars for the game. Despite a lot of worrying and logistical problems getting it set up -- trying to coordinate flight times and studio times and limo pickups and all that -- the session went great.

As you can imagine, watching CSI in our home has become a multilayered experience.

I spent the day writing, of course, and hardly showed my face to the world. Tony's travel days are my Writer's Workshop days, even when he's only gone for normal work hours. But I'll soon be forced to take a break and research new laptops instead; our current machine is dying fast. Very inconsiderate of it, really, considering how well it's been cared for and the current state of our credit cards. (Not that the stupid laptop cares about my problems. It's even flickering threateningly as I type this.)

Will my nose ever stop running?

Changed the sheets. Took a bath. Took mega vitamins. Drank hot chocolate. Got exercise. Rested. In other words, have done everything we can think of to fix these stupid colds (we're both afflicted, though mine is a little worse) and nothing is helping. New strategy: ignore it and maybe it will go away. Ha. Anyone out there have any better suggestions?

A Special Note to the Individual Who Has Been Stealing My Art:

So. You've been doing Google searches for my art. Most likely you are taking it for your own use. Without permission. I am flattered that you like the art, but you should know that Internet thieves are scum and if I find my work on your site or on a walkathon t-shirt somewhere I will KICK YOUR ASS.

More climbing. We went in the morning and both climbed our first 65-foot 5.10 routes. (Our usual routes are 50 feet; the difficulty ratings go from 5.0 to 5.13. We're pretty darn proud of our 5.10s, though I hope to get up a 5.11 in the next few months.) Then we went back in the afternoon, this time with our bro-and-sis-in-law so we could teach them the ropes. They loved it, of course, and we loved having them there -- it's a blast to watch new people on their very first climbs -- so yesterday was a great day. Not even any significant bruises or scrapes to report.

Not so ambitious today. Will lie around, play with the cat and the new machines, maybe go to a movie if we're feeling energetic enough to get in the car.

As part of Tony's upcoming b-day celebration, we got a new TiVo to replace our older model. We love TiVo madly but setup took forever. Its modem had to make long, boring phone calls to the TiVo office. Then I had to make long, boring phone calls to the TiVo office. And when it was finally set up, the account transferred, the downloads indexed, the software updated... I finally noticed that we had bought the wrong model.

So I did it all over again today.

(But it will be worth it. The other part of his present is a DVD recorder, so he's going to be a DVD-burnin' madman once everything is hooked up.)

"Hello, is this Missus Tony? This is Eddie from Chevrolet. You brought your car in?"
"Uh, yes, this is Rhonda. Did you figure out why the warning light was on?"
"Well, remember how all the oil poured out all over the street? Like you told us?"
"Yeah?"
"And the alarm started beeping and you had to have the car towed?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, it wasn't that."
"Oh."
"It was the engine vacuum hose. It's all corroded and there's a hole in it and it's spraying air all over the engine."
"Is that bad?"
"Well, it's spraying AIR everywhere."

Amazing, the things that can go wrong with cars.

I spent some time updating the UBi Soft area and our Store section... check it out! It has some info on all the games I have been working on, including some interviews I have given on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation!

Click here to get to the Ubi Soft part of my Games Page. Scroll towards the bottom to see the latest stuff.

Also, Brodie Lockard, the creator of Shanghai, sent me my missing back cover scan. Since this was the first game I ever produced, it was important to me to have it up on the site. You can check it out in all its glory here.

When you spend so much time climbing, you start to recognize other 'regulars' on the routes. Spider Man. Angry Nose Ring Man. Ignore Us Men. Smile Couple. Looks Like Owner. Ice Pack Man.

Today, three of them walked up and introduced themselves. We were thrilled. All of a sudden we had three new people who loved climbing, who had seen us climbing (I wonder what names they thought of us by?) and wanted to talk to us about climbing. They are great. One of them is even a route-setter and convinced me to try a new route he put up this morning -- I flailed around near the top, so he climbed right back up there and put in an extra hold ("Rhonda's Hold") just for me, because I'm only 5'2" and couldn't reach the official one.

That's cool.

We've had a quiet week. Tony caught my germs and stayed home one day; I've gone from better to worse to better again, sort of, and now I'm just hoping it holds steady. The weather has been the same way -- drizzling one moment, clear the next. Not dry enough to go out for a walk, not wet enough to justify cuddling up by the fireplace. (Add a migraine, a vile sushi dinner and a lot of work stress, and there's just not a lot worth posting at the moment.)

Flu. I woke up this morning feeling like roadkill; I told Tony I was a squashed toad. Matters did not improve over the course of the day. I tormented him with emails describing endless sweating, aching, dozing, and complaining. He pretty much ignored the emails (he had more pressing matters to deal with -- imagine that) but brought home McNuggets and McPie, so we are even.

Tony is exec producing Monster Jam, so we got free tickets to watch the monster trucks today. They mostly drive in circles. It's a little like watching a horse show, actually; lots of going around a little track and hopping over things. (One flipped onto its side at the end, but we suspect that part was prearranged.)

I took some pictures with the new cellphone, so maybe we'll post them later.

They started the show by attempting to shoot a human cannonball through a ring of fire. Instead, he got shot into the fire, got lit on fire himself, fell down, was sprayed by emergency workers and carted off to the hospital. Not kidding. Naturally, we hope he's okay and soon finds a better job.

Tony is back in LA for the day, voice-recording another of the CSI actors for the game.

I am less jealous than usual, mostly because I have a raw throat and a rotten stomach and I wouldn't have gotten on that plane for anything. All I want is oatmeal, TV, the cat and my graphics pad. But when I turned on the TV just now, there was Tony! He's in some of the episodes of Filter on the G4 cable channel.

...So maybe I'm still a little jealous after all.