Oh, come on!

Last night, as those in the area already know, was seriously f*cking cold.

So of course . . .

Jendaby and I decided to relax and watch some Black Books after the kids were finally asleep. On the way down to the basement she clicked on the heater. On the way back up she checked it, because the house felt a bit cool.

No heat.

So, being a wonder-worker, my lovely wife went down and fiddled with the furnace. I’m good at some mechanical things, she’s good at others—we make a good team. She understands the furnace. To me it’s all a mystery except that there’s flames and gas and stuff.

An hour or so later, she called me to come downstairs. No luck with the furnace. The pilot light wouldn’t stay on—it’d light but went out as soon as she let go the starter button.

Great. It’s past midnight. It’s freezing cold. And we have no heat.

Jendaby thought it was the thermocouple, which we had already had replaced once three years ago. She was pretty sure she could replace it herself if we got a new one. Home Depot carries them.

Home Depot closes at eleven. It doesn’t open again until five.

We then spent the next hour and a half or so digging out every blanket we have, piling them on the kids’ beds and our own, dragging the dehumidifier up from the basement and putting it in the kids’ room—it puts off a fair bit of heat—and then bundling up under the covers. We got to bed around two.

I get up a little after six. Dragged on clothes, got in the car, drove to Home Depot, bought a new thermocouple for ten bucks—it’s amazing how quiet that place is at 6:30 in the morning on a weekday!—and drove back home. My lovely wife then got up, went downstairs, and installed it (with a little help from me, just because the plumbers had screwed the old one in really tightly). And Voila! Heat! Yay!

Now I am at work. I was only as few minutes late, amazingly enough. And the short sleep has not yet hit me, though I know it will, probably after lunch. But at least my wife and kids are snug at home, and I will be able to return to a warm house tonight. My wife rocks.

When you put it that way, it looks like I've been busy!

Right, it’s been a bit since the last update. Here’s what’s been happening:

* jendaby and I went out for dinner and a movie for the first time since last October (we’ve been out to dinner since then but not with a movie). We saw Jumper, which was fun—not a brilliant film but entertaining and I liked the effects. Shame about the romantic lead’s apparent heroin habit, though—and about Hayden Christenson’s lack of acting ability. Oh well.

* Saw Cloverfield. I enjoyed it—not overwhelmingly so, but I thought it was fun, and a clever way to approach that particular genre.

* Talking to a few people about a few things, still. Some irons go cold, others get added to the fire, still others get reworked and put back in again. And around we go . . .

* Moved our son into our daughter’s room this weekend. Yes, she’s still in there as well. She’s been complaining about nightmares lately and wanted company, he’s been fussing at night and loves being in her room, we wanted to actually get some sleep—it’s a win all around. So far it’s working fairly well. And it’s actually the first time we’ve had a kid-free room in four years, since by the time our daughter moved into her own room jendaby was heavily pregnant with our son. It’s weird getting used to the quiet in there.

* My guest info went up on the ShoreLeave page, so now that’s official, too.

* Turned in an RPG project for Talisman Studios. Much fun, and just the first of many. Oh yes, and they put up a press release about my joining them—you can read it here.

* Found out that Thrilling Tales Quarterly #1 is now out. It includes my first Gunshade story, “Rapid Fire.” You can find out more about the magazine—and order it— here.

This weekend jendaby is taking a trip for fun, leaving me to take care of the whirling dervishes. I’m happy she gets to go but dreading minding both kids on my own for two-and-a-half days. Oh well. I’ll manage.

That’s all I can think of at the moment. If I forget anything important I’ll either edit the post or put up an addendum. You should now wait with bated breath. :)