So how’s the first week of Spring treating you? We’ve had about 13" of snow spread over three nights, so I’ve been spending my mornings snow-blowing. What fun! Anybody who trusts a stinkin’ groundhog should have their head examined, lol.

I’ve started critiquing the novel first draft I wrote in November-December, and so far I’m fairly pleased with how it is going. Of course, I haven’t reached the plot complications yet, which is the more intricate portion of the novel, so we’ll see what happens when I reached that part.

Currently reading. Terry Jones’ Barbarians is a discussion of the various peoples who surrounded the Roman Empire, most of whom we only know in the west from the writings of Roman historians. Needless to say, they had considerably more advanced cultures than were widely-known for many centuries, especially the Celts, Goths, and Persian Empire. Interesting reading, although it is marred a bit by the excessive anti-Roman attitude of the writers.

Currently listening. Like most fans of The Boss in the 1970s, I immediately bought his boxed set The Promise when it was released at the end of 2010, and loved every minute of it. While the two-cd set of previously unreleased music is outstanding, the true highlights are the three-hour concert from 1978 (bringing back memories of several Bruce Springsteen shows I saw at that time) and Darkness at the Edge of Town, which was my favorite album of 1978, but ages even better than I expected it to do.