On her 1000th victory. It is an outstanding accomplishment. However, what I find fascinating is that she also has a 100% graduation rate in her basketball program, and she mentioned it last night during the speech. She’s as proud of that as she is of the win. Even before the days of the WBNA, her “girls” were going to be successful in life as well as basketball.

Coach Summitt was mic’d during the game last night, and the effect of her comments to the players was evident when in the last seconds of the game, with a huge lead, they were still fighting, still shooting, still playing defense, and still scoring.

I think I’ll try to find a picture of Coach Summitt’s famous glare and use it as the wallpaper on my computer screen. Then when the writing feels like it’s too much to handle, I can imagine Coach Summitt has me on the sidelines saying things like , “Get up in their face” and “Don’t back down.”

Have a great weekend, everyone!
Jessie

And so much has happened.  I had a wonderful Christmas - 30+ friends and family at the house on Christmas Eve.  Lots of great food (I gained weight), good times, and lots of presents for the kids.  I received an IPod Touch from my sweetie, and I’m totally addicted to it.  I take it everywhere.

New Year’s Eve was nothing spectacular.  Never celebrate it, but a few neighbors set off some fireworks, and I enjoyed the mini show.

Then, the playoffs.  Ughhhhhh.  None of my teams made it.  So, I’m pulling for the Cardinals.  The Cinderella team.  It seemed like all the favorites imploded at the end of the season, the strange, wacky season.  And UT football?  Looks like Lane Kiffin is doing what needs to be done, but it’s a wait-and-see process.

On a lighter note, I bought a new pair of pants a couple of weekends ago, and the zipper is on the wrong side.  By that, I mean I zip it with my left hand (like men’s pants) instead of the right.  Every time I wear them, it throws me off balance.

On the writing side of life, I’m working on some projects and hope to get them out by spring.  One is a non-fiction book on world building.  The other two are fiction, one sci-fi and the other an alternate dimension romance.

Jessie

Well, I finally got to see a Colts’ game — almost.  The station cut away from it in the 3rd quarter, because the Colts were winning by such a large margin.  I turned the channel and finished watching the Tampa Bay game.  Doesn’t CBS know the Colts fans have been waiting for a game like that?

My disappointment wasn’t long-lived, though, because Sunday night we added a new member to the family.  A 7 month old Rottweiler named Rocky.  We got him through a private rescue agency.  He already comes up past my knees and is all paws.  He’s very sweet tempered and just wants to play and be the center of attention.

I’ll be heading out to the Women’s Expo in Kingsport, Tenn this weekend.  It’s a great line-up this year with Teresa Medeiros, Julia Quinn, Lora Leigh, Beth Williamson, Marie-Nicole Ryan, Trista Ann Michaels, Jennifer Estep, and several others I can’t remember off the top of my head now.  Plus, if you’re a JR Ward fan, there will be an auction for a complete set of the Black Dagger Brotherhood books signed by the author.  There’s a dinner with the authors on Friday night, and the authors will be signing books on Saturday & Sunday.  Please stop by and say hello if you’re in the area.  You can find more information at www.womensexpoauthors.com.

I usually miss the Tennessee/Alabama game while I’m at the Expo, but this year it’s the Vols v. Mississippi State, and it’s only available here on Pay-Per-View.  I hope the Vols win, but I’m not holding my breath.

Jessie

So, I’ve been playing around with my garden on MySpace and tending other gardens.  It’s become addictive.  Especially for someone who could kill a plastic plant.  I don’t know how I ended up with such brown thumbs, Dad could grow anything.  Mom had a house plant once that died.  Oh, she had tried to save it, but in the end the poor thing looked like something out of a wasteland.  Dad found it in the garage and within a few weeks, he had it looking beautiful.  Don’t get me wrong, Mom does well with most plants,  and so does my sister.  Me?  I don’t even look at plants for fear I’ll destroy them.

But I love looking at the gardens on MySpace.  Some of the people there have absolutely beautiful designs and are very imaginative.  I’m trying, and I have an idea for a design.  Something in memory of Dad.

Jessie

Go Vols!

I’m not referring to a certain cheese snack mascot’s underwear.  If you live in the South, you probably immediately knew the title refers to a piece of furniture.  A chest of drawers.  

I’ve seen lots of discussions lately on e-mail loops about this sort of thing, and today while pondering what to write on my blog, I developed a case of the hiccouphs, or hiccups as the case may be.  Of course, you might try to scare them out of me with a ball-ping hammer, or even a ball-peen hammer.  A strong centrifugal force might work, too (if it were real), but a centripetal force would work better.

In minding my p’s and q’s, I quite forgot about the r’s and s’s.  So, I believe I will ponder this with a bowl of my favorite razberry sherbert, while my pernickety (the s is an addition) evil twin delights in her raspberry sherbet.

Jessie

I managed to make it to the Food City Food Show here in Knoxville over the weekend and left with two bags of stuff - both of them bursting.  There were a lot of vendors, and I came home with a few more ideas on dishes for my once-a-month cooking.  So far, most of the dishes I’ve frozen have come out well.  One of the chicken dishes came out a little dry, the spaghetti sauce, the meatloaves, the roast, the chicken salad, and the BBQ chicken all turned out great.  But I’m still looking for healthy dishes that freeze well, so if you have any recipes you think might work, give me a shout.

Now, back to the Food Show:  I also got to meet Dwight Fryer, JT Ellison, CL Wilson, Elizabeth Boyle, and Anna Windsor.  It was also nice seeing JoAnn Ross and Teresa Medeiros again.  SMRW opened a hospitality suite and we were able to spend some time with the authors.  Dwight Fryer is simply an amazing story teller.  I picked up both of his books at the Food Show and can’t wait to start reading.  CL Wilson gave us a wonderful mini workshop on description which was awesome.

Now, I’m gearing up to speak at SMRW’s Super Saturday event.  I and fellow authors Kate McKeever and Cheryel Hutton are presenting a workshop on Worldbuilding, which will also encompass psychic characters and a “creature feature” for those who love weres, vamps, dragons, and things that bump in the night.  Michael Knight and Shannon Burke will also be giving a presentation on plotting, and several other SMRW members will present basics workshops.  For more details, check out their website at www.smrw.org/events.htm.

Not even talking about football.  The Vols are in a heap of trouble, the Colts didn’t play, TB won, but Dallas lost.  Although, Brett Favre’s six touchdown passes were impressive.

Jessie

I’m still cooking, but I only have a few more dishes to prepare.  Should finish up tomorrow.

Yeah, Tennessee!  The Vols had a better showing this weekend than last weekend.  I didn’t get to see much of the game due to the SMRW meeting, but from what I saw, it looked like they got some things ironed out.  It was worth it to miss the game, though, because we had a fantastic speaker at the meeting.  Dr. Bethany Dumas, an English professor at the Universtiy of Tennessee, spoke on linguistics at the meeting.  Absolutely fascinating.  I hope she will agree to come back and speak again.

From the strange but true file:  I’ve seen drivers doing a lot of things while operating a vehicle - reading the newspaper, shaving with an electric razor, putting on make-up, and even reading a book once.  She had it open over the steering wheel, holding the edges of the book and the steering wheel at the same time.  I was glad to be behind her, because it was a little scary watching her drive and read at the same time.  However, yesterday on my way home from work, I exited the interstate and pulled up behind a guy in an SUV who was brushing his teeth.  Now, I’m all for good oral health, and technically since we were waiting on the light to change he wasn’t driving, (at that moment), but one thing really bothered me about the situation.  He had to rinse and spit somewhere.  And, he did continue brushing after the light turned green.

Have a great weekend & Go, Colts!

Jessie

After my marathon cooking session last night, I don’t think I’d do very well on Iron Chef.  Of course, I don’t have any sous chefs to do the dirty work.  ;)  Even though it didn’t seem very productive at the time, I did manage to cook 15 lbs of chicken in various recipes, 4 1/2 mini meatloaves, a roast in the crock pot, some rice, and the chocolate chip cookies.  The mini meatloaf pans are great for cooking for 2 people.  They’re just enough for 2 servings.  None of the remaining office stuff got done.

The day job has been hectic for the past couple of weeks, which is what prompted the once a month cooking experiment.  All I want to do when I get home at night is plop down somewhere and stay there.  No cooking, no housecleaning, just a little television and a little Civ IV.  (Which I’m still not really any good at, but I do keep trying.)

Jessie

That’s what I feel like as I gear up to do a couple hours of cooking tonight. I envision myself standing over the stove with lots of bubbly pots and smoking pans. Hopefully, the pans won’t smoke.

I have a good variety of chicken, seafood, beef, turkey, and pork to start, and a few new recipes to try. I’ve also got some old standby recipes. Tonight, it’ll be mostly chicken and spaghetti. The easy dishes. Some of the chicken will go to chicken salad, and that’s quick & easy to prepare. I’ll put a roast in the crock pot, and cook the ribs in a pressure cooker.

The office still isn’t totally together, but getting there. Maybe I can get some of the little things done while my concoctions are simmering.

Jessie

Now, if you guys have ever played Civilization IV, you recognize the title of today’s post. And you know the game will consume you. I am a below mid-level player of this game. But it’s addicting, and for a strategy game which should be boring for the first 100 turns or so, it’s downright fun to play for hours (and hours, and hours) at a time.

My favorite civs so far are Russia (Catherine), France (Napoleon), and Rome (Julius Ceasar). I managed to win some time victories, a space victory, a domination victory, and a backdoor domination victory, but none of them above warlord. We also have the BTS expansion game, but DH has dibs on that game most of the time, so I end up playing the *vanilla* version. Which is okay with me, as I’d never played a Civ game until IV came out, and I’d like a little more experience under my belt before tackling BTS.

And, this type of game is great for my writer’s imagination. I love worldbuilding and creating the mythology for my alternate dimensions and universes. Games like Civ IV where you have to build a civilization almost from the primordial slime up make great playgrounds. How do you build a warrior nation without starving everyone to death? How do you build an peaceful, intellilectual nation while still protecting your borders? How do you create culture? Religion? Who are these people and where did they come from?

A fantasy writers wet dream.

Of course, it takes days to actually complete a game, sometimes weeks depending on your level of play.

In that respect, it’s a lot like writing. You build on an idea, protect some aspects. Let others go. Work the theme and each situation to to its fullest advantage, and beat up on the weaker elements until they either go away or build up some viable defenses.

So, in the midst of the crazy tax season, and other non-tax related days of hell, I found escapism in Civ IV. Now, I’m back to my writing. The first draft of Stygian Prophecy is complete, and I’m going through the second draft now. Should be complete by the end of the month.

Here’s a little snippet - the opening paragraph. Let me know if you think it works.

The Paegus Realm
Daegnan knew the price of duty all too well. He paid the toll with every breath, and perhaps with his last breath this day. When he’d joined the Royal Guard, his family had turned away from him, refused to speak his name, and his heritage made him an outcast amongst the warriors. His so-called brothers in arms neither liked nor trusted the dragon soul hidden inside his human shell and spared no sympathy for his plight. He scented the sweat of their malicious anticipation and fought to control the part of him which craved the taste of their fear and savored victory by bloodshed like a sweet wine on the tongue.
Have a Great Weekend!
Jessie