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Congrats on the job, glory! That's very exciting news! Getting rid of the cream cheese frosting would get rid of any reason I can see to eat red velvet cake. But then I don't really see the point of it anyway. If I'm going to eat chocolate cake I want it to be rich, and if I'm going to eat cream cheese frosting (which...yes please!) I'd rather it be on a carrot cake (my favorite).

Most of what I know about the actual plot of Fifty Shades comes from reading criticism of it and specifically of how it tries to portray a BDSM relationship but fails to include all of the things that differentiate BSM from actual abuse. However, not having read the book and also not knowing anything about BDSM I'm not actually in a position to judge the validity of the criticism. There's also the standard criticism that "It started out as fanfic!," but since I read and like fanfic and have read several that I'd love to see turned into movies, I consider that a lame reason to judge it negatively. (I mean, if it's badly written then it's badly written, but it's not bad because it was fanfic.) Still, it has no particular appeal for me. I won't be seeing it. I see so few movies anyway. Jamie Dornan, the male star of the movie, plays the serial killer on The Fall and while he certainly successfully creeps me out on the show, I haven't otherwise been impressed with his acting skill. My library definitely separates fiction in some ways. I'm pretty sure mysteries are separate from general fiction, as is YA (there's a special room for YA and I always feel a little weird when I go in there because it's kind of a hang-out for teens, but I like to read YA so whatever). I wasn't sure if romance was separate so I just checked by looking up a romance novel in the catalog and of the 37 libraries in the network that have it, only one listed it as being in the Romance section. All others had it as Fiction. So it looks like the vast majority of libraries in the network don't separate.

When I was 7 my family did a similar month-long trip--started in MA, went as far west as Arizona (the Grand Canyon) via a mostly southern route, then came back via a northern route by way of family in Minnesota. Like you, my sisters and I had atlases that we'd use to trace out our route. However, our car was big (a full-size van) so my sisters and I could spread out, which I think probably helped. And I remember loving it. I always loved camping as far as I can remember and I still do. Not that there weren't discomforts. I remember one night when we were in Colorado and there was a big storm and my sisters and I were worried our tents would blow away so we slept in the van while our parents slept in their tent. And to be honest, having three kids in one tent was a little cramped. Plus, that was the summer of a major drought and heat waves, so it was damn hot. Plus, a good chunk of Yellowstone was on fire while we were there. But that's all part of the adventure, right? Mostly I have incredibly fond memories of that trip and all the places we went. The following summer we went on a shorter (probably only 2-3 weeks, though I don't remember exactly) trip like that up in Nova Scotia and PEI. Currently my best friend and I are talking about when to take her daughter on her first camping trip. She just turned one and we're determined to raise her as a camper (my friend's wife is not into it, so camping is something that we do together while she stays home). We usually just do one or two nights in a campground not too far away, like on the Cape, so it's barely roughing it and not exactly adventurous, but just getting away from the house for a bit feels like an escape.

I think there was at most an inch more snow after I took my picture yesterday and that lines up pretty well with the number here on the National Weather Service site of 23 inches in Needham. Very light snow that did indeed blow all over. Which is nice, since it makes it easier on the snowblower, but it also meant that while I was out snowblowing yesterday I kept getting snow blown in my face. I didn't test to see if it's at all packable, but I think it's probably too light and fluffy.

Yeah, I really don't get what's going on with Wyatt. He said he came back for Callie, which I believe because we've seen no other reason for him to come back. But then she claims he wants to be there for school, too? Why? There aren't schools where his mom lives? Is he so attached to Anchor Beach that he only wants to go to school there? If so, why have we never seen any hint that it's the case? I wonder if the writers want the Wyatt/Callie thing to be over but want to keep him around, so they're inventing another reason for him to stay. Although I'm not even clear on whether he's staying or not. I don't particularly care either way, but I do like that Callie has someone she can confide in and trust who is separate from the Adams-Fosters and also has an outsider's perspective on the whole foster/adoption situation.

Oh my goodness, yes, I always cry watching this show, but that was something else. I was a sniffly snotty mess by the end and had to take my glasses off because they were so spattered with tears. I'm excited about Patsy's girlfriend! She's not leaving permanently, is she? That would be very disappointing.

Well, I tried to find a good spot for doing a fair measurement of snow this evening, and this is what I've got:

It seems there haven't been a lot of outages. I looked at the NSTAR outage map and it's pretty empty. Course we haven't heard from possibilities, so she may be without power. Hope she's doing well.

Just got the call: another snow day tomorrow.

I did a little measuring in my driveway at about 9:30 AM as I started my first round of snowblowing. I checked a few different places and the lowest was 16" and highest was 20". With all the wind causing drifting it's hard to know just how many inches had fallen. It's still snowing, though, so when I go out later to clear the driveway once again I'll do another measurement, I guess. I do have photos if evidence is needed.

I was just about to say that we're all operating on the assumption that there will be no school tomorrow but the superintendent hasn't made the call yet, but I literally just two minutes ago got the phone call saying school's canceled tomorrow. Wednesday's unknown, but I'm taking the day of Wednesday anyway for other reasons, so I'm in the annoying position of having to make up sub plans for a day of school that might not happen. And if it does, there might be a delay. Which means I have to make my plans flexible enough to work for a few different possible schedules. That's not so bad, but it's moderately annoying. I do hope I don't lose power. I've lost power a handful of times in my current house, but thankfully never for very long. My parents have lost power for I think three days at the most (maybe four). Refrigeration isn't a big problem in the winter--my parents usually just bring perishables out to the garage rather than load up the fridge or freezer with snow and ice. That's a bigger issue when power is lost due to summer/fall storms. But in winter heat is a definite issue. I have a wood stove that will keep my living room livable, but that's about it. Luckily my parents live 20 minutes away, so as long as one of our houses has power we can camp out there.

I am thrilled to know that Anna Kendrick agrees with me! Clearly we should be best friends and hang out all the time. (Also, Eddie Redmayne's reaction when Bradley Wiggin mentions Cheetara is the greatest part of that all-around-great video.)

BEST MINI TOPIC EVER!!! I saw the title and immediately thought, "Oh, I hope they're actually talking about having sex with cartoons and it's not a misleading joke title." I remember having a whole conversation about sexy cartoon characters with my friends back in college and it was all going fine as we were talking about, like, Li Shang from Mulan, but then once I brought up Robin Hood (the Disney version) my friends were all like, "Um...he's not human. He's a fox." To which I could only reply, "Yeah, a sexy fox." I'm not sure they ever looked at me the same way again.

It's 9 seasons in actuality, but really only 7 that count.

Good luck, Glory! I do, and I forgot to put mine on today and it's annoying the crap out of me that I don't have it. As a teacher I have a very schedule-oriented workday, so not being able to instantly see how much time I have left in class is irritating. There's a clock in the room, but it faces the students (as do I, usually) so it's not convenient to look at and I'm used to looking at my watch. Time to correct that. It's on Netflix!

Yeah, so Tumblr has been just flipping out about this for the last 24-48 hours, but I haven't really jumped on the excited bandwagon for a couple of reasons. One is that the word "reboot" strikes fear in my heart. Because a reboot generally is more of a starting from scratch situation than a continuation. So if that's even on the table--having a new XF with new cast, etc--I'm strongly strongly opposed. But also because the idea of an actual continuation in the form of a series (presumably mini-) still strikes me as unlikely. I think people (not people here, necessarily, but people in general) are possibly taking this news as more definite than it seems to me it is. Yeah, seriously. WTF Gary Newman. For one thing, she's not only doing stuff in the UK given her role in Hannibal, which has been widely praised (the show and her). For another, starring in an acclaimed series like The Fall is kind of a big deal. And for yet another, having a starring, award-winning turn in a West End play is a bit more than "doing something". He just sounds so very ignorant right here. Which is fine. He doesn't have to be as clued in to Gillian's career as I am, as a big fan. But it just makes me think that this is just more of the idle pondering/considering that has been talked about (re:XF3, not a reboot or miniseries) for years rather than something that's been very seriously discussed. They've talked about bringing back XF in some way, but only "hope to" have DD and GA involved. As far as I'm concerned, it shouldn't even be discussed without first confirming that they're be on board and making sure it would work around their schedules, and that's why I'm not responding the news as enthusiastically as I otherwise might. Because it sounds like they'd go ahead with it even without GA and DD. I mean, I would love for a limited TV run of XF starring DD and GA and Mulder and Scully. Even just a one-time TV movie (I know we've talked about this either here or on TWoP in the context of XF3). So I'm totally on board if that happens. But I don't think either David or Gillian would be on board for a full-on series and if they're thinking of bringing it back as an actual series, that would mean reboot with a new cast. And I don't even really have words to describe how opposed to that I am.

I googled for some other pictures and I believe it actually has ten boobs. Which is something special indeed.

Yeah, it was so great. Gillian seemed very relaxed and it was a fun chat. I did wish they would've talked about Hannibal and The Fall more. Especially The Fall since I LOVE that show and Stella Gibson is such an amazing character and she didn't really get a chance to talk about her. I used to listen to every episode but for the last year or so I only listen to ones when the person is particularly interesting. Part of the reason I stopped listening to every episode was because of certain things Chris Hardwick does that annoy me, and his talking over his guests--particularly when they're starting to say something and he sort of guesses where they're going with it and jumps in to ask about that rather than let them finish--is one of them. But I didn't think he was bad in this episode. Matt...well, I find Matt really amusing, so I kind of like when he jumps in.

Today's Nerdist podcast features one Gillian Anderson. I haven't listened yet (it will be my commute listening tomorrow) but I can't wait to!

Soooooo excited for both the show and Jeffrey Tambor. But mostly the show because I'm really hoping this extra bit of exposure will get people to watch it. I love this show so much and nobody I talk about it to has ever heard of it! And even after I tell them about it, and even if they already have Amazon Prime, nobody seems that interested. I feel like a crazy person being like, "It's really amazing! Really really!" I think winning a big award like this can only help the show gain an audience. And hopefully lead to people I know watching it so we can gush about it together.

No decorations put up. No decorations to take down. I did notice lots of trees on top of cars at the dump yesterday, though. The yard waste area gets to look pretty weird the first couple weeks of January because really the only thing anyone's disposing of is Christmas trees (and wreaths, I suppose). So they get dropped off, then the front end loader piles them all up, and for whatever reason I find the sight of an enormous pile of Christmas trees really funny.

That's such a fantastic song. I do love me some Christmas music. When it comes to singing I just love many of the traditional carols ("Silent Night", "Adeste Fideles", "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear", etc.). When my family stays home for Christmas instead of going to Minnesota we go to the Christmas Eve service at our church, which is mainly a carol sing and then from there we go across the street to the carol sing accompanied by high school brass ensemble in the center of town. That's easily one of my favorite Christmas traditions. Even when it comes to popular Christmas music, I still often like pop versions of those traditional carols. Like BNL and Sarah McLachlan singing "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and "We Three Kings". Or Sufjan Stevens doing "Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming". Oh, and there's a version of "Do You Hear What I Hear?" from Glee, sung by Alex Newell and Lindsay Pearce (I'm not sure it was ever actually on the show) that I think is fantastic. But for the last few years or so I think my favorite Christmas song, at least as far as expressing my general sentiment about the holiday, is Tim Minchin's .

Ditto! I travel most years for Christmas (to Minnesota) but can't say I have any particular advice. It's always gone smoothly for me.

We call those Mexican Wedding Cakes in my family, stewedsquash, and they are absolutely a Christmas tradition for us. Mexican Wedding Cakes, Spritz, and Gingersnaps. Those are our must-have Christmas cookies. My grandmother also usually makes lace cookies, which are amazing. I find them a pain in the ass to make, though, so I don't know how she has the patience for them.

This is only very tangentially XF-related, but I saw that American Masters is launching their new season in January with an episode about Ricky Jay, who of course guest starred in "The Amazing Maleeni".