2005-01-16 - 8:33 p.m.

Lately I've been feeling as I've been neglecting writing, but the God's honest truth is that I have nothing to talk about.

Well, that's not exactly true. I don't have anyting *important* to talk about.

Well, that's not exactly true either. Mom and I went on 12/30/04 to visit my dad's cousin Heidi who has Stage 4 lung cancer that has spread to other parts of her body, including her brain. The visit went much better than I thought it would - I was expecting a bedridden raisin - but Heidi was great. She was having a little trouble walking so needed to use a walker for long trips, but we had great conversation, punctuated every 10 minutes by her saying, "I'm having trouble with my short-term memory, you know." We visited for 90 minutes and pictures are here if you're interested.

The drive down to NJ (right across from Manhattan) was OK, but the ride back was excruciating torture. Traffic was heavy, I had to turn around several times because I was NOT going to sit in a traffic jam on the Tappan Zee, and then I almost got hit twice and my vision started to blur. I had a snack but not enough, I guess. So I asked Mom to drive and she did, all the way from some rest stop in northern NJ to home. Almost being hit combined with her lousy Connecticut-honed driving made me into just a pile of goo by the time we got to On The Border here for dinner. It also damaged my driving ability. Seriously. I'm driving slower on the highway now since that trip, and the thought of driving in bad weather is terrifying me. And since then we've had nothing but bad weather - freezing rain, snow, and wet roads that freeze over in a flash. Several times I've sought alternate routes than I-91 and 291 to/from work. I wonder if I'm having panic attacks.

The bad weather kept me from going to see Gandalf Murphy at the Iron Horse last weekend, and by all accounts, I missed a fantastic show. :(

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On another note, I successfully adapted Jif's Decadent Peanut Butter Pie to be low-carb (but NOT low-fat or low-calorie). Email me if you want the recipe.