I get shy in front of an audience, but I love talking on the radio. In this case, I was talking for almost an hour! Dwayne and Sarah asked great questions and really kept things moving along, so a huge thank you to them for having me on and for making the show so enjoyable. Also, thanks to the listeners who popped into the chat room to ask questions.

In addition to the website for their radio show, Anomalies has a home at http://anomaliesparanormal.com. Thanks for tuning in!

And then today it started snowing again. Judging by the accumulation on the grill out back, I’d guess we have gotten about four inches. It’s the most snow I’ve seen in the downtown area since I moved here. Here are a few pictures of Snowpocalypse 2, Electric Boogaloo (as opposed to the cheesy 1980s break-dancing movie, Breakin’ 2, Electric Boogaloo):

Blinky in the snow. Yes, our house is named Blinky.

Our punk rock snowman has a snowhawk.

I also hadn’t been ice skating in about 17 years.

Ed and I tagged along with Rusty and his two girls, and despite being a bunch of amateurs,  I think we did pretty well. Most of us avoided collisions with other skaters (I won’t call out the one person who didn’t). We were at the Ice Forum in Duluth, and their open skate sessions are two hours long. Ice skating is a lot more of a workout than I expected!

On the plus side, it was also easier than I’d remembered. I think all the hours I spent on roller blades during college helped me. I even managed to skate backwards a few feet. And, it was fun! I’m definitely ready to give it another shot.

I’ll be sure to post when I go ice skating again, but it might not be for another 17 years or so.

We finally got to Casino Night at Opera, and it was a crowded house. Most of the gaming tables were full, so we made a tour to see where the players were dealing. Ed and I met up with our friends Steve and Brandy, and of course the guys made a beeline for the craps table. They lost their money in short order: thankfully, it was only play money, redeemable at the end of the night for raffle tickets.

Meanwhile, Brandy and I realized the party table was roulette with Jim Slater. He had us clapping, cheering and generally acting up as the rowdiest table at Casino Night. When Ed told Jimmy that I’m “the girl with the Slater banner,” I was rewarded with a high five and a stack of chips. Jimmy even called me “the biggest Slater fan in Philips Arena.” Yay!

I was actually fortunate enough to have a lot more interaction with Jimmy, and he was very gracious. (He also made Ed kiss the roulette ball at one point: priceless!) He seems to get a kick out of having such a big fan (which is better than thinking I’m a crazy stalker). All four of us forgot our cameras, so a big thank you to Virginia for getting a picture of me and Jimmy. She has more great Casino Night pictures on her blog, Getting Pucks Deep.

Me with Jim Slater, my favorite hockey player.

I got my picture taken with a few other players during the night with Ed’s phone. I had an absolute blast the entire time. We’ll definitely be going again next year, and next time, I won’t forget my camera.

Me and Brandy with Zach Bogosian.

With defenseman Christoph Schubert.

The photos all turned out blurry: it was near twilight, and Elyse’s camera doesn’t like low light levels! However, out of all the photos she took of this house, this is the only one that had any sort of anomaly. The close up shows the front porch, and you can see two reddish-pink streaks of light, aligned vertically, on the front porch.

If you have any suggestions as to what this could be-paranormal or otherwise-please comment here. Is this paranormal, or is there another explanation for the anomaly? Thank you!

My first book was published: I finally became a published author in the spring of 2009 with the publication of “Georgia Spirits and Specters.” I still get excited when I go into a bookstore and see my book on the shelf.

DragonCon Thriller: This was my second year at DragonCon, and it was better than the first. I was there all four days, but Sunday was especially memorable because of an attempt to break the Guinness World’s Record for the most people dancing to Thriller. I was an instructor, and after four exhausting hours of rehearsals we had over 900 people dancing. We didn’t get the record, but teaching Stormtroopers, pirates, Aliens and other assorted creatures is a singular experience.

Yes, that's the Flying Spaghetti Monster behind me.

Denmark: The perk of Ed’s often insane travel schedule is that sometimes I get to tag along. At the end of his “tour of Europe” in the fall, I met him in Copenhagen for a quick vacation. I already wrote about the trip, and it was typical of our vacations: good timing, interesting chance encounters and a lot of fun.

A cute camel at the Copenhagen zoo. I swear he was watching me.

Two Girls’ Weekends: One Girls’ Weekend in a calendar year is a perk, but two is even better. In January, we went to California, where we invaded Hollywood and Disneyland. In October, we met up in Savannah for some Halloween fun. Whether I’m meeting Mickey Mouse or dressed up as Manslaughter Munchkin, I always have fun with Mom, Aunt Bonnie and Elyse.

Mom, Aunt Bonnie, Mickey, Me, Elyse

I met my favorite hockey player: In April, we went to practice for the Atlanta Thrashers for the first time. I took my great big Slater banner with me, and had Jim Slater sign it. Ed and our friend Rusty had to practically (okay, literally) push me over to him when the players came off the ice. What a terrible time for shyness to strike! Fortunately, I got the autograph on my banner, and Jimmy was super nice. He took the time to ask how I’d made the banner, and told me he expected to see it waving at the games. Between the last few games of the 08-09 season and this year, he’s definitely seen it waving.

Slater (#23) at warm-ups for the Thrashers season opener

How could you NOT see this waving?

My sewing skills improved: I started sewing a little over a year ago, so improvement was inevitable. I gravitate toward costumes, even though I don’t get much chance to wear them. I’m very pleased with the fairy and princess costumes I made for Rusty’s daughters to wear to the Georgia Renaissance Festival, and I can’t wait to debut my Italian Renaissance dress at the 2010 Ren Fest.

My Italian Renaissance dress in progress.

So what will 2010 bring? More DragonCon, more traveling, more Girls’ Weekends, more hockey and more costumes, to be sure. Happy New Year, and here’s to a fun and adventurous 2010!

Fortunately, I’m not prone to sea-sickness. The real downside is that our second off-shore day, scheduled to be held on the private island CocoCay, was cancelled. Ships anchor off-shore there, and passengers are ferried to the island in smaller boats. Big waves meant no ferrying, so we had to sit at sea for a day.

All that rocking back and forth on the ship was no problem. Once you get your “sea legs” it’s pretty easy to move with the rocking motions of the ship. The trouble for me started when we got off the ship. I was fine in the car, but every time we stopped, I could still feel that rocking. By last night, it was rocking and dizziness. Apparently, this is a common condition. Sometimes, your body leaves the cruise, but the cruise doesn’t leave your body. I’ve been told this shouldn’t last more than a few days. In the meantime, I’m working from bed.

On an up note, our first full day was in Nassau, where Ed and I took an off-road Segway tour. They put big knobby tires on the Segways and a guide leads you along trails. There were only five of us on our tour, and the Segways tackled the ruts, rocks and sand with no trouble. Our route followed the coast for part of the distance, and thanks to the beach’s location we were blocked from the wind. We sat on an entirely empty beach for a while, just enjoying the sunshine and the calm water (and air). It was a side of Nassau most tourists don’t ever see, and being out in the wild with no loud crowds or crazy traffic made the Segway tour a perfect vacation activity.

The first shows Atlanta Thrasher Eric Boulton, who tries to slide down the bench and misses by a few inches. The funniest part is the reaction from him and teammate Chris Thorburn. At least Boults can laugh at himself!

Click here to view the embedded video.

This next one is an interview William Shatner gave for Star Trek, only remixed and set to music. It is absolute genius. I first saw it at DragonCon, and it kept popping up all weekend like some sort of Sci-Fi Rickrolling. I finally downloaded the song to my iPod because it’s a great pick-me-up. I’ll warn you, the song WILL get stuck in your head. It played over and over in my head for two weeks after DragonCon. Considering I danced to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” for four hours at DCon, that’s a pretty impressive feat!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Now let’s get back to work, and don’t blame me if you find yourself asking, “Why is he climbing a mountain?”

After a lazy morning of watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and Star Trek (“Captain Kirk is climbing a mountain…”), we were both feeling a little stir-crazy. Ed suggested a drive up to the mountains of North Georgia, so we set out in the late afternoon. Helen was our goal, but we were in no hurry. We took the scenic route and enjoyed the lovely late-afternoon views.

There were actually a few shops open in Helen, and after a bit of wandering we popped into the Old Bavaria Inn and Restaurant. I can’t go to Helen without craving schnitzel, and a heaping plate of Jager schnitzel and spaetzle hit the spot. To top it off, I had a Kolsch-quite possibly my favorite beer-to wash it all down. As I told Ed, at that moment I was very thankful for his ancestors’ culinary genius.

It was cold and dark when we left, and as we started our drive I pulled up Twitter on my phone. I had a notification that the International Space Station would be flying over our area at 6:39 p.m.: just 15 minutes away! We continued to drive until we found a stretch of road with no lights and a relatively clear view of the northwest (it’s tough to find a wide-open spot up in the hills). Finally, when I was about to give up, we saw the bright light of the space station whizzing by overhead. I got so excited I actually waved to the astronauts. Then, not far behind, there was another bright light speeding through the sky. The space shuttle Atlantis had been at the space station, but they undocked the day before Thanksgiving. They are already home as of this writing, so I’m glad we stopped for the rare opportunity of seeing both spacecraft at the same time. The whole experience only reinforced my desire to be an astronaut. Perhaps NASA will start a “Writers in Space” program?

In all, it was a most untraditional Thanksgiving, but a great one. And I must end with the words of Obi-Wan Kenobi: “That’s no moon. It’s a space station.”