Groundhog Book

So the Groundhog Book is going quite well. Hit the 10,000 word mark today. It's different for me, writing non-fiction. Still haven't heard back from the agent, though, and I'm liking this project, so I'll keep at it for now. Just wondering if you all could help inform me a bit: how specific do you think I should let this project get? Right now, I'm delving into pretty much every aspect of Groundhog Day you can think of, from the movie to the history of the holiday to the actors to the towns that celebrate it to how to celebrate it yourself--everything. It could be the definitive, comprehensive guide to groundhogdom.

Am I going a tad overboard?

What am I asking? I'm writing a book about how to celebrate a rodent, and I'm wondering if I'm going overboard? Never mind. :-)

In the end, I sort of view this project as a personal one. I might self-publish it and give access to family and friends. Or maybe I'll make a groundhog blog and see if I can get a following?

So tell me--just how crazy do you think I am?

Jindal Comparison

Perhaps no piece has summed up for me my feelings about the Republican Rebuttal like this one. The resemblance is uncanny.

And because I haven't given a Buttersby update in like forever, I had an epiphany yesterday out of the blue for the sequel (if I ever write one). Let's just say take Buttersby and add a good dose of Temple of Doom, with extra mysticism. And maybe Nazis, because they make any plot better, right? Not human Nazis, though. No--we're talking vampire bat Nazis. Who worship the Chupacabra. Oh yeah. :-)

In Which I Wax Political

You have been warned. :-)

DKC and I watched the State of the Whatever They Felt Like Calling It last night, as well as the Republican rebuttal (which ended up emphasizing the "butt" more than the "re" or "al"). I'd have to say that overall, I enjoyed Obama's speech. Yes, it tended toward the "we can do everything we set our minds to" side of the spectrum, just falling short at times of coming out and saying "If you all clap your hands reeeeeeally hard right now . . ." but the message seemed optimistic and generally took an approach I agreed with. (Essentially: our country's in a real pickle, and let's stop worrying how we got here and let's get to fixing it.)

So going from Obama to Jindal was quite a bit of a letdown. Number one, he sounded like he was trying to audition to be the next Mr. Rogers. All that was missing was the cardigan. Number two, it seems to me that my party of choice (yes, I still consider myself to be a Republican--although "independent" is starting its siren song) these days is interested in nothing more than saying "nuh-uh" to anything Obama comes up with. I don't really agree with the political approach of not trying to cooperate on anything, then accusing the other side of not cooperating on anything. Frankly, if Obama's managing to irritate a slew of Democrats, then Republicans ought to take that as a sign that the man's trying to come to the center of the aisle. Some efforts on their part would be appreciated.

In the end, it seems to me that we're in a tight spot right now, and that any fingers that start pointing really deserve to be broken off and jammed through a wood chipper. Politicians should be tucking their heads down and busily working as hard as they can to come together and come up with good ideas and get this fixed.

Any of my fellow Republicans out there care to make a defense of the party? I'm all eyes.

Four Hour Laptop Sale NOW

If any of you are in the market for a laptop, now might be a good time to buy. Dell's having a four hour sale with some pretty darn good prices. (15 inch for $550). Lasts until 7pm EST tonight. Check it out.

Little in the Way of Updates

Had a nice, leisurely day at home yesterday. Pretty much everything I could wish a snow day to be. And because of all that leisure, I have next to nothing to update you on today. My gain, your loss. (Or your gain, I suppose--depending on how you feel about this blog. But if it's your gain, why in the world are you reading this to begin with?)

Snow, Blessed Snow

You know what's way better than any holiday you can have? An unexpected one. We got 24 inches of the white stuff last night, but it ended around 4am, and I was worried that they wouldn't cancel classes at the university--they seem to have been a bit stingier about that this year than they have in the past. So I was really gunning for a two hour delay--something long enough to let me dig myself out. Instead, when I phoned the switchboard at 5:35, I heard that classes were canceled! Sure, I had to spend an hour and a half snow blowing my driveway (you should have seen the snowdrift where the plow had gone by), but still--it's been a much nicer Monday than it could have been. :-)

And it was a very nice weekend, too. I've been on the verge of feeling sick for the whole of it--there's a nasty flu going around that I'm deathly afraid of catching--but I've stayed well despite all of that. Saturday evening DKC and I dropped the kidlets off at some friends, then went skiing at the local hill. It had been three years since I'd been before, so I was quite very on the rusty side. Still, we had a good time--I think next year we'll try to go earlier in the season, and then shoot for once a month or something. The problem I always have is that I go once and finally start to get more comfortable with skiing, then don't go again for the next few seasons, which makes it quite difficult to get any better.

And of course, last night was the Oscars, which I love to watch. Hugh Jackman did a really good job, and with the exception of the abysmal "the musical is back!" number, the show was pretty good. For a guy who watches three or four movies a week, easy, I don't see many of the most current films, which means I have to catch up on the movies a year later--but it also means that I don't really have any favorites, usually. I prefer it when the awards get peppered around some. Last night Slumdog Millionaire was the big winner, but it sounds like it was deserved.

One gripe, though. I really don't like it when winners take their 45 seconds and decide to tell everyone about their political views. Congratulations--you're a great [insert category here]. That doesn't make me care about what you think, personally. If I ever won an award (not likely to happen), I wouldn't take the time to tell everyone they should convert to Mormonism, or should vote Republican, or stop aborting babies, or give up smoking or whatever. Of course, if I won an award for Best Mormon or something, I suppose that would be an appropriate time to promote my religion. But hey--they won, I didn't, and they had a microphone, and I didn't. So I listened to every word they had to say. (Not really--I fast forwarded through a lot of the acceptance speeches--particularly if politics started to pop up. Thank goodness for DVRs!)

And for those of you following along at home, I only got 9 of my picks right. A terrible year for me. DKC got 11, making her the new reigning champion of the house. Sigh. There's always next year . . .

Have I gone on long enough now? I'll shut up, then. Carry on.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

DKC and I watched a movie last night that I'm not likely to forget: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. The movie's hard for me to discuss, really. Basically, it's the true life account of a man (the editor-in-chief of Elle magazine) who suffered a spontaneous rare form of a stroke that left him paralyzed except for his eyes. (Actually, his right eye couldn't blink, so it had to be sewn shut). He proceeded to write a book about his experience--one blink at a time. An aide would sit by him and recite the letters of the alphabet in order of frequency (RSTLNE, etc.), and he would blink when she got to the next letter in the word he was spelling. 200,000 some odd blinks letter, the book was finished. The movie is an adaptation of the book. It's an incredible film--very thought provoking and well done. The first half of it is shot almost exclusively from his point of view, which gives the film a claustrophobic feel. I can't imagine what it would be like to have that happen to me--well, after this film, I can imagine it, but I don't like to. It just made me grateful for what I'm able to do--grateful for all the troubles I have in my life, because it really truly could be worse. The film's not for the faint of heart. It's French, so expect some nudity beyond your typical PG-13 film--nothing gratuitous, but it IS rated PG-13. I can't recommend it enough. As strong a four star rating as I can give. A movie that might not change your life permanently, but will certainly cause you to look at your life differently.

Television Update

Loved last night's Lost episode. One of my favorites. Anyone who complains that the show moves at a glacial pace should have been watching yesterday. I don't want to spoil it for those of you who haven't been watching, but let me just say that you've really been missing out. As for American Idol, I was glad to see that America agreed with my assessment and put the two contestants I thought were worthwhile through to the next round.

I'm writing from home today, watching DC for DKC so she can go skiing with TRC. I had been planning on coming home early from work sometime in the near future to let them do that, and when I woke up to find nasty weather outside today, I figured today would be a good day to be home. So here I am. Working on some writing, practicing bass--trying to relax some, and doing an okay job of it. See you all tomorrow!

Facebook Tips and Tricks (Plus American Idol Commentary)

First of all, let's get the AI stuff out of the way. Last night: DKC and I watched, but only with the power of DVR. There's no way I'd sit through American Idol live, torturing my ears with some of those performances. Last night, there was really only two worthwhile songs. The last guy and the blond girl with pink highlights. Everybody else: junk. Having four judges instead of three: stupid. How about one judge instead of three. Simon and nobody else. If it weren't for how much this show permeates pop culture, I think I'd have given up a few seasons ago. Any of you out there watching this season?

Now, on to Facebook tips. Today, I have two for you. The first is a link to a post talking about privacy and Facebook. Some straightforward advice about using the site correctly. I recommend it. The second is an observation. Yesterday DKC was wishing she could just get alerted to friends she cares about, instead of the "everybody and their brother" slew that shows up by default. Well, there's a way to do this--it's called Friend Lists. Click on the "friends" button on the Facebook toolbar, and you'll be given the option to create lists for different friends. You can call them whatever you want, and add whoever you want to them. Then, when you're on your home page, select the "more feeds" link (the little downward pointing blue arrow). Select your new Friend List from the dropdown menu, and voila--you'll have updates that just have to do with the friends on that list. I know this is a bit confusing--it's hard to describe. If you're having trouble with it, just ask!

Go Speed Racer!

I don't have much time for a post today. Which is odd, seeing as how it's break week at school, so I should have more time. But I don't, so there you have it. I will say that I watched Speed Racer last night. I'd heard a lot of bad about the movie, and so my expectations were quite low. You know what? The movie was great. It was a fun ride--silly, unrealistic cartoon action and zany eye candy. Family friendly, even. This is one that I think got a lot of scrutiny because of the Wachowskis--people went in expecting the next Matrix, and what they got was a top dollar animated TV show production. That sounds like it would be lame, but really--what it did for me was take a Saturday morning cartoon to the absolute extreme. What if the budget were so big, you could afford big name actors and top of the line special effects, but the basic plot stayed the same? That's okay with me--I loved Saturday morning cartoons as a kid, and I loved this movie. Just don't go in expecting your life to change, for crying out loud. Three stars. Add a half star if you're watching it on blu-ray with a decent sound system. It's a blast!

Alice and Silent Alarms

DKC and I watched another Woody Allen film last night: Alice, an interesting adaptation of Alice in Wonderland that I enjoyed, despite the fact that it disturbed me. It was a relatively tame Allen movie, and it's a definite three stars for me, but I think part of what disturbed me so much is that it portrayed a woman who fairly calmly, deliberately decides to have an affair. Don't get me wrong--the thought of it disturbs her, but she goes ahead and does it anyway. And yes, her husband is portrayed as a jerk, and yes, we eventually learn that he's been having multiple flings on the side, but still--the fact is that she sees a guy, thinks he's cute, and then decides to ask him out. Yada yada yada . . . her marriage is over. (I'm not spoiling the movie for you too much here--there's also a cool Chinese doctor, magic herbs, ghosts and other fantasy elements--it's really much brighter than I'm painting here.)

In any case, this got me thinking. A lot of the time I think we assume that making REALLY wrong decisions is something difficult to do--almost as if we expect some alarm to off to alert us before we make a bad choice. Not just your typical everyday blunder, but a biggie. Adultery, murder--that sort of thing. But in the end, those choices are just like any other we face in life. No alarms. No SWAT team to step in and stop you. One minute you're a non-adulterer, and the next minute you are. I know there are some choices I've made over the years that I deeply regretted later on, and it would have been nice to have that alarm go off. But it doesn't.

Crazily enough, this then led me to think about villains in books and their motivations. How many people in the world are like this--they made a stupid decision, and then they handled the consequences of that decision poorly. Before you know it, you're a slave to circumstance, finding yourself in a situation you didn't want to be in but don't know how to get out of.

This post is getting too philosophical for me now. I don't have any deep dark secrets I'm brooding about--just a Woody Allen movie that actually made me think. The nerve of the guy . . .

Anyone have any thoughts to share on these ramblings?

One Year Old

Yesterday was DC's first birthday. She had a blast. DKC had made her a small carrot cake, and as soon as we put it in front of her, she dug in with both fists and started chomping away. Very cute. We gave her a duck push toy, which she enjoyed almost as much as the wrapping paper and box it came in. Hard to believe it's only been a year since she joined the family. A lot has happened since then--I certainly don't think I'd have believed you if you'd told me a year ago what everything would be like now. Go figure.

In any case, it's a pleasure to have her with us. She's generally happy, although if she doesn't get what she wants, she has a tendency to grunt. A lot. Enough that I've nicknamed her Frankenbaby. Once she can talk, she'll probably talk as much as I do. Which is saying something.

Thanks for everyone's well wishes, and have a happy Thursday!

Fake It to Make It

Not a lot of time today--I have a second to take a break, so I'll just give two short things to you. The first: a link to an interesting article in Time on how leadership is perceived, not really earned. I've seen this principle "in the wild," and it bugs me. Then again, I'm also an outspoken person, so maybe I've used this principle a time or two. Something to think about.

Second: a film review. The Professional. Fantastic movie directed by Luc Besson and starring Jean Reno and Natalie Portman (in her premier role--at 11!). Strong four stars for me. Reno's an immigrant hitman, and he ends up being saddled with the care of Natalie, a girl whose family was gunned down and now wants revenge. It's super violent and has great action scenes, but somehow it also managed to get some feeling and emotion into all that stuff. An interesting hybrid of a movie, but really well done. I loved it. It's such fun to watch movies you end up enjoying so much.

To Whomever Was Stealing My Internet

I'm not an angry person, as a rule. I try to "get along," and I try to assume the best out of people. But let me give you a bit of history. I've had slow internet speeds at night for the past two weeks. At first, I thought it was my internet provider's problem. They said they were working on speeding up the connection. But the weeks passed, and nothing changed. It was odd, though: in the morning, I'd have no problem with fast speeds. At night, it was a different story. 3800 mbps in the morning, 300 mbps at night. Not cool. So last night I'd finally had it. I had already tried testing it with and without my wireless router before to no avail, but I thought I'd give it another go. 300 mbps with wireless router. 3800 mbps with out it. I tried it again. Same deal.

Was one of my computers draining all my speed somehow? I have a PS3, Wii, three laptops, a PC, DS and a DVR all on the internet connection, after all. They're not all on at the same time, but still--it was possible. So I reset the wireless security. Bing! 3800 mbps wireless speed.

I could be wrong, but it's looking to me like someone was leaching off my internet connection. And not just a little, either. To make things even more suspicious, my wireless router's password had been changed . . . highly suspicious. That's what I get for assuming I'm in rural Maine, so WEP is all I need. I'm on WPA now, and I might upgrade to WPA2 if the problem comes back. Grrr . . .

Anyone know of anything it could have been other than an internet connection thief? I want to restore my faith in my fellowman.

Anyway.

In other good news, I'm going to Disney World! In April. But still, that's soon enough to be able to look forward to it and be a bit cheerier every day. Especially when it's 5 degrees outside. I found tickets for $148 a person (well, I found some for $118, but the dates didn't work)--direct, non-stop, Bangor to Orlando. Beautiful. So we're gearing up for a great trip. It's been more than four years since I last went, but when I was a kid, I went all the time. Tons. It'll be great to be going back. You may now be jealous. Carry on. :-)

Book Review

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed this book, although the ending sort of fell apart for me. I know that seems odd to say about a nonfiction book--it's the truth, right? How can you make it different? But you can still give a feeling of closure to a narrative, and that's what this book lacked for me. Still, fascinating to read about Paul Farmer's efforts. It makes me feel more than a little inadequate. There are dying people in the world, and I'm here writing a review on Goodreads . . .


View all my reviews.

The Return of the Me

Back today. My apologies for missing last Friday--I was off in Bangor discussing cataloging standards with like-minded librarians. And if that doesn't sound like the most fascinating thing in the world, then . . . you're probably not that into cataloging. :-)

My Trip to Bangor was an eventful one, though. I actually went to a mall that felt pretty much like a mall ought to--there aren't that many of them here in Maine. It's not that I miss malls, but it does help one feel like one is in the Civilized World. I also dropped by LL Bean's outlet while I was there, which was also exciting. Bangor's about an hour and a half drive there, and so I had plenty of time to listen to my iPod, too--which is more fun than you'd think it would be. The weather was great, the traffic non-existent . . . it was a good day.

Which is good, since I went back to Bangor Sunday for a church meeting. Seriously--is anyone out there interested in becoming Mormon, just so I can boost our church numbers enough that we can make a big meeting house closer to home here? For those of you now "in the know," Mormon churches (wards) are organized into clusters (stakes), and you have to periodically go to meetings at the stake-level. This is all fine and dandy when you live in Utah and your stake is a block away. When it's an hour and a half away, it becomes a tad less cool. Not that I really mind--the truthfulness of a church's doctrine doesn't really have much to do with its geographical location, as far as I'm concerned--but I wouldn't mind a bit of a reduction in commuting times, now and then.

In other news, I'm working on a Groundhog Day book more intensely now (as a bridge to get me from here to whenever the agent gets back to me on ParkerBoy--I've gotta do something to keep busy). Progress on that is going very well, although I kind of doubt it would ever be marketable. Just how many groundhog fanatics are there, anyway?

And because I haven't updated ya'll regularly, I wanted to make sure you were aware that I'm still watching teh moveeze. Just haven't had the time to tell you which ones. I shall now rectify that situation:

The Love Bug--Watched this with the Fam on Saturday, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. A possessed VW Beetle takes a liking to a failed race car driver, and crazy hijinks ensue. Of course, I'd seen it before, but I'd forgotten just how good it is. Any time you can sit and watch Buddy Hackett make a slew of funny expressions, you know you're in for a treat. Maybe I'm just a sucker for nostalgia, but I'm giving this puppy a strong three stars.

The Counterfeiters--This was the film to win Best Foreign Picture at the Oscars last year. Austrian, and absolutely fantastic. Four stars. It's based on the true story of a group of Jews in the Holocaust who were forced to try to counterfeit the Pound and the Dollar for the Germans. I'm not one for Holocaust movies, as a rule--too depressing. And this one didn't exactly make me start whistling for joy, but it was very well done, and presented the Holocaust in a way that connected with me more than some other films had done in the past--even better than Schindler's List for me, in some ways. I think it's because it was so horrific that my mind shut off--it was just terrible enough that I could actually comprehend what the characters were going through. Does that make sense? I recommend this movie as strongly as possible, but do be aware that it's fairly brutal at times. Definitely earned its R rating.

The Man with Two Brains--Watched this one in an effort to round out my Steve Martin oeuvre. A brain surgeon falls in love with a disembodied telepathic brain and has to find a body for the brain to inhabit before it's too late. Disappointing, really. There were some good laughs here and there, but it wasn't nearly the masterpiece of The Jerk. Oh well. Still probably two stars. Maybe one and a half, if I'm being honest.

Grindhouse--Tarantino and Rodriguez's double feature (consisting of Planet Terror and Death Proof). Also a bit disappointing. In general, I'm a Tarantino fan, but he let me down a tad with Death Proof. A little bit too much "real" dialogue, and not quite enough real plot. Still worth seeing--three stars--but really only if you're into grindhouse movies or Tarantino films. Which I'm betting the majority of my readers aren't. Oh well.

That's all I can think of for now that I've seen. And that's all the time I have for today to blog. So until tomorrow, faithful readers, au revoir.

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award

Just in case any of you aspiring writers out there are interested, now is the time to enter your 50,000-150,000 word novel into Amazon's contest. I put Vodnik in the running for this last year, and I got a Publisher's Weekly review out of it, which was kind of fun. You keep the rights to your work, and if you win, you get a 25,000 dollar contract with Penguin. Good luck with that. :-) I entered Ichabod this year, just because it's batty enough to give it a shot. I'll keep you up to date on how it goes this time around. It looks like they've increased the entry pool, so it might be more challenging this go round. If anyone else enters, I'd love to hear about it and root for you, too. You've got until the 8th, or until they get 10,000 entries--whichever comes first. The first round cuts it down to 2,000 based solely on your "pitch." From there, they trim based on your excerpt, then based on your manuscript. If you've got a novel kicking around somewhere, why not give it a shot? Doesn't seem like you've got much to lose . . .

Scamming on Facebook

So yesterday I had a unique experience (so far). I was logged into Facebook, when suddenly an old acquaintance from high school IMed me. Never really knew the person that well, but we went to high school together, and hey--what's another friend or two on Facebook?

Anywho.

She starts going on and on about how she'd been mugged at gunpoint in London, and how she'd canceled her credit cards and was now short on cash and unable to pay for her hotel room, and could I wire her some money. Now, this isn't my first rodeo. I know a thing or two about the Intarnetz, and I'd heard something along the lines of this scam going down over the telephone, with little old grannies as the targets, but this was the first I'd seen it at work online--let alone Facebook. Plus, I've traveled abroad, and I know how desperate things can get at times. I certainly didn't want to mock an old acquaintance if she really was in dire trouble. So I said I'd heard of a scam like this, could she please tell me how she knew me so that I knew she was who she said she was.

She said she knew me through DKC.

I promptly informed "her" that that was a wrong answer, and started asking "her" what she was trying to pull. She logged out of Facebook soon after. I posted a message on the person's account, and she logged in later and found all this crap that had gone on--somehow her account had been hacked into.

Not cool.

Anyway--just thought I'd share that with all y'all. That's all I have for you today. Carry on.

And Because the Third Post's the Charm

How about some early Groundhog Day script action? Pretty cool, if'n you ask me. Interesting to see what was changed and what stayed the same.

And in the Realm of Wouldn't It Be Awesome

I just learned that Stephen Sondheim has been considering adapting Groundhog Day into a musical since 2003. Before you get your hopes up, latest word on the street is that he's give up on the effort. Sigh. I can still dream, though . . .

What I Learned this Groundhog Day, and Writing Progress

The party was a big success, and everything went well. That said, I still need to work some on the Interactive Movie Experience. Singing along with Sonny and Cher was great, but do you have any idea how many times they say the name "Phil" in that movie? A lot. I lost count, and I ran out of animal crackers. I'm thinking that's going to have to be tweaked next year. :-)

In other news, I have now finished the revision of ParkerBoy (now titled Pawn of the Dead) and already submitted the complete manuscript to an agent. It feels very nice to have this one done, and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. Of course, that'll probably last until I get said agent's comments back on it, at which point I'll feel like a hack again. Such is my curse. In the meantime, I'll have to mull over what to work on with my writing time. It'll likely be a month or two at least before I hear anything.

Happy Groundhog Day to All!

It's here! It's here! Groundhog Day at last! I'm sitting here from the comfort of my home, typing this to all of you. (Yes, I took the day off. Didn't you?) I just wanted to take this moment to wish all of you a heartfelt Groundhog Day. May your winters be short, your mistakes few (and non-repeatable) and your friendships big. Today I'll be celebrating yet again. Groundhog Games of Skill. A Woodchuck Feast. And--for its inaugural year (drum roll please)--Groundhog Day: The Interactive Movie Experience. How does one have an interactive movie experience? Well, simply follow these five rules as you watch the movie:

Groundhog Day:
The Interactive Movie Experience

1. Every time the name "Phil" is said, shout out "Phil!" and eat an animal cracker.
2. Every time "I Got You Babe" starts to play, sing along. (Lyrics: Then put your little hand in mine. There ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb. I got you babe. I got you babe. I got you babe. Repeated ad nauseum.)
3. Every time the groundhog is on the screen, clap and cheer.
4. Every time Ned Ryerson appears on screen, shout "Bing!"
5. Every time the words "six more weeks of winter" are said, boo.

I imagine this will work much better with a large group than it would if there were only one or two of you watching. Depending on how it goes, I might add some more layers to this in the future.

And for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about--or why in the world I'd celebrate Groundhog Day like this, here's a basic overview:

I've been celebrating Groundhog Day now for well over a decade. And when I say "celebrate", I mean really get into it. Banners, balloons, parties--I probably do more for Groundhog Day than I do for any other day other than Christmas. Inevitably, when someone finds out the actual extend of my Groundhogocity, they ask me something along the lines of, "Are you taking your medication?"

So why Groundhog Day? I have a number of reasons.

First and foremost, Groundhog Day--to me--is all about fun. So many of the holidays we celebrate these days have Themes and Real Meanings. Sometimes it can be hard to really get in a festive mood when you know that you're supposed to be thinking about how thankful you are, or how religious, or how patriotic. With Groundhog Day, there's none of that pressure, and no traditions to get in the way. You don't have to worry about your grandmother wondering why you didn't come to her house for the holiday, or about scheduling conflicts with in-laws. It's a day that you can celebrate how you want to. No questions asked.

But there's another reason closely tied to this one: Valentine's Day. I have never been a firm believer in V-Day. To me, it's a holiday cooked up by retailers in a blatant ploy to sell more crap. There's so much pressure if you're in a relationship to "prove" how much you love your significant other. Ridiculous. For the first while, I would do anti-Valentine's Day activities. I got my girlfriend a teddy bear, then made a noose for it and hung it from her closet, complete with a fake suicide note. I got another girl a copy of The Taming of the Shrew. But in the end, it wasn't enough to me to be simply against something. I wanted to be for something, instead. Enter Groundhog Day. It's just a little less than two weeks before V-Day, and you can celebrate it instead. Show your love to everyone throughout the year, and leave Valentine's Day alone.

Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't give a lot of credit to one of the best films of all time. Groundhog Day the movie is one of those rare gems that gets better the more you watch it. For me, no Groundhog Day celebration is complete without a viewing of the film, because in a way, by watching the movie again and again, you end up getting a taste of Phil Connor's experience. Add to that the messages of the film of redemption and optimism--plus a killer sense of humor--and what's not to like?

In the end, I love Groundhog Day. I love having friends over and having a good time. Up here in Maine, it's cold and dark in the winter--and when February rolls around, you start to feel like it's at its coldest and darkest sometimes. The trifecta of holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's) are passed, and summer's a long ways off. So why not have something else to look forward to? Something to tide you over until spring? My ultimate goal is to get Groundhog Day to the point that it's a national holiday. I know that realistically that's not going to happen, but still--if I can get as many people as possible so hooked on celebrating Groundhog Day that they feel compelled to continue the tradition . . . why not?

Happy Groundhog Day!