Hey. Linette and I are in the process of cleaning house. Weve been at it for about five hours now and the place is starting to look pretty good. Were hosting a party this evening, kind of a reunion of a number of folks that she used to go to college with and their significant others. Those of you who have been reading Crimewave since the inception would no doubt recognize a few of the names, like Elizabeth, the Big n Bossy gal who came to visit back in issue number five, or Walter, the self-proclaimed King of Nerds who was once able to fix a boat engine with a can of corn.

Well, everyone from the old days in Ypsi will be here tonight, all the old hell-raisers, their significant others and their kids. Itll be weird. My guess is that theyll behave more appropriately now that impressionable young minds are about, but you never know. I could have some interesting pictures to share tomorrow.

As for Christmas, it came and went without too much fanfare. Linette and I spent Christmas Eve with her family and then drove to Kentucky on Christmas morning to open presents with my side of the family. It was great to see everyone. We talked a lot, ate a lot, and played a few board games. Linette and I also got caught up on the new Degrassi Junior High series. One of my parents cable stations was running a marathon! For those of you who dont know, the original Degrassi was a Canadian TV show from the early 80s focusing on the lives of over a dozen kids going to school together. I discovered it in 1987, while in college. My roommate, Eric, and I would watch it every Saturday night, while drinking rum and Cokes. It was essentially a childrens soap opera, only it dealt with really shocking issues, like rape, death, drug addiction, abortion, and masturbation. Well, the new series began earlier this year in Canada and I hadnt been able to see one. So, when I saw that it was going to be on the day after Christmas, I set aside three hours to watch it. Then, I just had to explain to my already disappointed parents that Id be unavailable for the afternoon because I was watching a show for pre-teen Canadians.

Speaking of the disappointment of my parents, the subject of my blog, which they had recently discovered, didnt really come up much. They were cool about it and didnt say a word, right up until I was leaving to come back to Michigan. At that point my mom told me that she intended to keep reading it periodically, but that she didnt want for me to change a thing about it. We didnt discuss it any further, but Im sure all of your nice letters of support helped to convince them that I wasnt necessarily just wasting time on-line that I could be channeling into either raising as family or going to graduate school. Thanks.

On Christmas night, after most of my cousins and their kids had left, my parents neighbors and friends began filtering in and opening every bottle of booze that they could sniff out. We drank and did our best to be social. The highlight for me was hearing from one of my moms coworkers that she reads my site. She didnt say whether or not she likes it, but she did say that shes been making her way though it. I kind of got the sense that she found the task somewhat detestable, but that she was doing it in order to support my mother during this traumatic time in her life. I thought that was nice. I like that my mom has friends willing to help her cope with this blog.

All in all, Id say that it would be hard for me to imagine Christmas having gone much better. I kicked ass at pool, beating my uncles and my father, and people seemed to like the gifts that Linette and I handed out, even the bucket of ice-melting chemicals that we gave to my grandmother (along with a nice, embroidered scarf). As for me, I got lots of nice stuff; shirts, ties, a Lou Reed CD, the Beatles Naked remix of Let It Be, and a very nice apron that my sister sewed for me. Oh, and Linette gave me a bunch of stuff too, lots of it having to do with Orson Welles. Hopefully, Ill have the time and energy to tell you more later.

Now, as for the low-point of our stay in Kentucky, it has to do with Freeda, our dog, and the fact that she almost killed my sisters dog, Jersey. Apparently, Im to blame. At least Im partially to blame. I got Freeda all riled up by wrestling around with her and stuff. What happened after that is kind of foggy. By the time that I got to the dogs, Freeda, our lab-pit bull mix, had Jersey, a little white lapdog, in her death grip, shaking her from side to side. We think the whole thing started with a disagreement as to ownership of a little green squeaky frog toy known as Mr. Froggy. Freeda either tried to take Mr. Froggy from Jersey or Jersey tried to take him from Freeda. For whatever reason, Jersey growled and Freeda bit her ear. It was the first time wed ever seen her do anything like this and we were horrified…

OK, people should be here in any minute, so I have to go and clean the toilets now and ready a place in the basement for Freeda. (There will be close to ten kids in the house tonight and we dont want to risk her acting out again, even though shes always been good with kids in the past.) With any luck, Ill be back on-line later on. I may even allow a few of our guests to post entries here on my site

Stay tuned for information about our 2004 campaign: no crimewave reader left behind.