Hey there! If there is anyone out in E-Lnd that's missed me I'm sorry. I wish I could tell you that I had a fantastic reason for my disappearance, like having high tea with a yeti or Sarah 'Palin swung by for a snowball fight, but I can't. Plain and simple- I got totally and completely sucked into a different world. I've been playing Skyrim. See, what happened was we had a CRAZY cold snap this weekend. -30 at night, warming up to -8 or 9 during the day. and the boys relocated to sleep in my room. (First rule of brutal cold- small rooms are easier to keep warm than houses are.) And of course, when they relocated, so did the X-box. Oh, I resisted at first, but the game finally sucked me in. See, It's a great imaginary world, just chock full of problems that are EASY to fix. You don't have enough gold? G on an adventure or take out some vicious robbers. You screw up and die? Just reset from your last save. You can even get married in the game and you don't ever have to worry about losing your spouse, because she's as close as the next game reset. The game makes you FEEL like something special. You're the first one in hundreds of years with special powers, put on the planet to save the world, yada yada..It's incredibly seductive and seduced i was. I emerged from that warm room only for biological reasons (Difficulty compounded by a toilet that froze and has to be flushed by pouring water from a bucket down it), to cut firewood, (Still had to ATTEMPT to keep the house above freezing.) or to feed the animals and the kids. Well, I also did a few quick homework assignments, but the lions share of the last few days has been spent curled up in a nice warm room fighting dragons.If you aren't a video game playerI highly recommend you try it, if only just for a little while. The biggest problems in the world case into the back ground for a little while when a dragon's flaming breath is filling your screen. More later!