Several people I know "in real life" have told me I should post about my penny plan here. It's changed my life. It's taken me from being a lazy slob to being productive.

The penny plan started out simple. I get 1 penny for every 5 minutes of work, I pay 1 penny for every 5 minutes of television or online time. However, that simple structure was turned into a plan that works for me and has succeeded in keeping me from falling into the eternal distraction abyss. My rules are:

Earning pennies: 6 pennies to begin the day, 12 if purpleglitter is home from work that day. 1 penny for every 5 minutes of cleaning, crafting, or other productive work. 1 penny for every 5 minutes of Telugu practice. 1 penny for every 10 minutes of book reading (magazines, no matter how dry, don't count). 1 penny for every 10 minutes of photography. 2 pennies for every 5 minutes working on a "priority project" assigned by purpleglitter. Using pennies: Every 5 minutes of computer time costs me 1 penny. Every 5 minutes of television time costs me 1 penny. If I'm using the computer to prep photos, I pay half If I'm with purpleglitter, I pay half If I have no pennies, I cannot do any of the activities that require them.

The penny plan, unlike project schedule or project three meals, has proven to be something I can stick to. I've been on it successfully for almost a month at this point and I still going strong. It has truly transformed me.

This has been a wonderful and merry Christmas so far. purpleglitter got me wonderful gifts, including a new birding camera — the same model as the broken one, so that it will work with my telephoto lens.

My parents gave me a brass clock once owned by my great-grandfather. It's an old electric clock and wasn't made with the ability to start up on its own. A knob in the back must be spun just right so that it "catches", then the electric power will take over. The neat thing about the clock is that it will run backwards if the knob is spun backwards. I used to always set it running backward when I was a kid, and it is running backwards in my livingroom now.

Woke up about an hour ago, had a bowl of creamy mushroom soup and went outside to start shoveling. The snow had turned to sleet by the time I got out there. A good 5 inches of the mix, mostly loose snow, was on the ground.

I got some pictures of one of the dark-eyed juncos that have been hanging around yesterday, but the sun had went down too far to get good exposures. I'm going to try again Monday. Without my birding camera, I have to be sneaky to get close enough for a good shot. Sneaky in this case means feeding them on fenceless fenceposts near the window.

My birding camera is still giving me a lot of grief. I'll get it working only to lose power again in less than a minute. I'm more and more convinced the problem is internal, and the prospects of getting it fixed anytime soon are dim. Even so, I was able to get a few shots with it at the Arlington Reservoir today.


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I went down to New England Photo this afternoon and learned that zarthon's assessment of how much my camera will cost to repair was much more accurate than mine, and unfortunately the cost of getting my camera fixed is well over what I can afford to spend. On faith that it will be fixed, I bought the new lens cap I've been needing.

I'm going to see if I can repair the problem myself without taking the camera apart. There is at least a chance that I might be able to get it working and the risk of breaking the camera further is relatively low as long as I don't actually pry it open. Christian suggested swabbing the prongs in the battery case with alcohol. If that doesn't work, I'm going to attempt ti gently but firmly reposition the prongs. I have a few other ideas up my sleeve, but if none of that works I'll have to reassess my options.

I'm back in Boston. I had a great deal of fun with My sister, niece, brother-in-law, and mom. Maddie is a little ball of energy. Well, not little, she's quite big for a 7 year old. Smart and creative, but I just can't keep up with her.

The day I arrived, Thursday, we pretty much stayed around the house and relaxed. My mom had already been there for several days and was already settled in.

Friday, Christian stayed home while Maddie, Bridgette, my mom, and I went down to Georgetown. We hit Lush and Godiva and went to Dean & Deluca for lunch. While I've seen central meter machines in parking lots, I'd never seen a central machine for street parking before. I guess it is more efficient than having a separate parking meter for each spot, I'm just not used to it. The biggest disadvantage I see with the central machine system is that if it breaks down it disrupts the use of a number of parking spots at once.

Saturday we drove into Virginia through wine country and went to Linden Vineyards (nothing to do with Second Live). That was my favorite part of the trip down. Relaxing doesn't even begin to describe the place. Surrounded by rows of grapes and vine watching the clouds shadow-dance on the Blue Ridge Mountains. The cigar Christian gave me to smoke at the vineyard not only went perfectly with the cheese and wine, but also with the surrounding tranquility.

Sunday, I got up later than I had planned, but not so late that it caused any hassle in catching my flight. Upon leaving, Christian gave me some cigars, along with a 15-pack of Rocky Patel vintage 1992s, one of my favorites. My mom gave me a wonderful dragon cane when I arrived at the house and I was a bit worried about getting on the flight with 2 canes, but I didn't have any hassle and the return trip from Reagan National to Logan went smoothly.

I had hoped to get some good bird pictures, but unfortunately my birding camera is not working. I noticed it my first day there. It seems to be a connection problem with the battery prongs, which should be repairable. But, I was glad to see that Maddie loved birds and birdwatching despite her father's hatred of them.

I need to start going for my morning walks again. I went for one a couple weeks ago, but have yet to process the pictures. I need to shake out of these creative doldrums I seem to be caught in. I just don't feel like anything right now.

ravenways came up to visit yesterday. We had planned to take some photographs, but never got around to it. Instead we made candles, chatted, and tooled around Arlington. I've noticed lately that I tend to have plenty of fun with people even when we don't end up doing whatever we planned on as long as we keep a good attitude. Getting together with friends and family shouldn't be about the activity, it should be about the friends and family. The activity happening or not is insignificant compared to the time spent together.

The phone and DSL are back up and the ice is melting a bit. However, we're supposed to get a few more waves of ice later today and early tomorrow. After my voice post this morning, I went outside to take some photos and in the few minutes I was out there I heard a tree collapse in the woods nearby. My brother tells me he could hear several large branches or whole trees falling every this morning near him.

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I ordered my bus tickets online last night, but ended up with the wrong time for my departure from London. The confirmation has me leaving at 3:50AM, but there is no way I can get a ride to London at that hour. I was planning for my departure time to be 8:00PM. Talking to a Greyhound Canada representative on the phone, I was told that I could use the tickets for any departure time as long as they are for the same day and the same person. I should be fine

*knocks on wood*

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