Best winter wishes from Kim Husband

is for blog. “Blog” is short for “web log,” an online log or diary. I turned my daily Band Name of the Day broadcasts into a blog, which is just a website where I post each new essay as it gets written. I still keep the BND archives on my personal website, too, but I wanted to also post them in a public place away from family photos and news. My blog is that place. Not many people read it, but it keeps me amused. For a writer, cranking out a story a day is a lot like a musician playing scales: It’s something to do to keep in shape. Eventually I hope to grow up to be a big, strong author.

is for conventions. In March I attended the MarsCon science fiction/fantasy convention, and in July I went to the CONvergence convention. A lifelong Star Trek devotee, I couldn't resist the opportunity to geek out with hordes of like-minded fans. Don’t know if I’ll be attending any in the coming year, though.

is for Dad, whom I still miss each and every day. It’s been almost two years since he passed away. I still find myself saving jokes and cartoons and silly stories I know he’d enjoy. I think — I hope — I always will. As long as I remember how to find fun in life, I’ll know that his spirit is with me.

is for exercise. I’ve been doing more of this lately, and apparently it shows. Many people have asked whether I’ve lost weight recently. I haven’t lost much, but I have toned up what I’ve got and converted some flab to muscle. Thanks for noticing!

is for fifteen minutes of fame. In October, I needed some repairs done at my humble abode, Sensational Acres. I called a service named Mr. Handyman to do the work. A local TV news crew also approached Mr. Handyman wanting to do a piece on home repair services in the area. They needed a place to shoot some footage and a client to talk to, so Mr. Handyman asked if I’d be willing. I was.

So we shot the interview and the footage, and then nothing happened for nearly two months. The clip was scheduled to air several times but was always bumped in favor of more timely news. Finally, however, it ran just before Thanksgiving.

If you want to view the spot online, go to www.kstp.com. In the little search window (upper left, beneath picture of anchor people), type "handyman." One of the results lets you read a brief transcript of the segment and one lets you watch the actual video. It took a couple minutes to load on my machine at the office, but it worked. Cool, huh?

Note: The news clip is preceded by a commercial for ethanol fuel, so don't worry that you clicked on the wrong thing. Just wait it out. I'm next.

is for Green Tomato Pie. My memory of Mom’s attempt to feed our family green tomato pie set off a chain reaction of food-related memories. A couple people sent me recipes for mock apple pie, a Depression-era dessert that you make by substituting Ritz crackers for the apples.

is for hair. I’ve been letting mine grow all year, and you’ll be happy to learn that the crew-cut look is a thing of the past. I kept having dreams about having hair long enough to put in a ponytail, so I figured I’d better heed the messages from my inner stylist. I hope to soon have dreams of romancing Pierce Brosnan (James Bond/007), too.

is for icons. You know you've been spending too much time at the computer when you see underlined text on a printed page and tap it with your finger to active the link. I do this all the time. Anyone else?

is for judo and jujutsu. Toward the beginning of the year, I was looking for a throwing-style martial art to supplement my T’ai Chi practice. In February I started taking a judo class, which I continued through mid-June. I liked the throwing and grappling, but I found the rules of tournament judo too restrictive.

When I complained about this to a friend of mine, he introduced me to jujutsu. Jujutsu is the style from which both judo and aikido sprang; it involves the throwing and grappling techniques you see in judo as well as the joint locks you find in aikido. It took only one class to get me hooked, and I’m still with the club. In fact, I passed my blue belt test just before Thanksgiving, which means I’m now one step up from the bottom of the ranks.

is for Katelyn Marie Oberg, infant daughter of my cousin Carolyn and her husband Harold. She was born April 6, 2002 and died on August 28 of SIDS. I'm very, very sorry I never got to meet her in person. I've kept links to her newborn pictures active on my personal website , where we can remember her as the perfect innocent she was.

is for love life. I don’t have one. My habits seldom take me into the company of eligible bachelors, unfortunately. So until men start introducing themselves to me on the street, which is about as likely as the president taking up break dancing, it's likely to stay that way.

However, my friends have decided to remedy the situation. They have taken up a collection to get me out of the house and have enrolled me in a speed-dating service. My big evening of meeting numerous desperate single men is scheduled for early January. Wish me luck, and keep the contributions coming.

is for Mom, world traveler, community organizer and all-around cool chick. In the past year she’s worked in an accounting office during tax season, hosted summertime guests with a broken refrigerator, begun teaching computer skills to the technologically challenged, visited Missouri and Minnesota and the southeast coast and all points in between, arranged concerts and club meetings, graduated from eyelid surgery with flying colors and still managed to keep my sister and me in line. I get tired just talking to her on the phone. If I grow up to be half the woman my mother is, I’ll be twice what I am today.

is for Neighbor Nadene and the Cleaning Machine. I had the rare pleasure of being visited by a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesperson this fall. Everyone should experience this at least once. I got a free box of hamburger patties just for letting her come in and deliver her spiel.

is for ovation. I've gone to a lot of performances this year, including the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Noises Off, Tony & Tina's Wedding, Wimme and Hedningarna, the Gaither Homecoming and Michael Moschen. It’s great to live in an area so rich in the arts. I only wish I had the time and ambition to get out more. Maybe that can be one of my goals for the new year.

is for publishing projects. In addition to maintaining my Band Name of the Day blog and working as an editor, I’m currently involved in editing a book for my T’ai Chi studio’s 10th anniversary and researching an article for the jujutsu newsletter. I also spent some time this summer helping a mathematician friend through the writing portion of his college coursework. It’s what I love to do, so if you have any more, send them my way.

is for quotation. One of my current favorites is one from Mohandas Gandhi, who said, “I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.” My other favorite is from Eleanor Roosevelt: “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” These great thinkers are telling us that we must each take responsibility for our own thoughts, as well as for our actions. In other words, we can choose to be happy. Happiness is a great (and cheap) gift to give yourself, so have some on me.

is for The Ragged Sword. Master T.T. Liang, the teacher of my T’ai Chi teachers, died this year at the age of 102. Master Liang was a key player in making T’ai Chi available and accessible to American students, including me. Click here to read an essay I wrote about his legacy that will appear in the book our studio is publishing in early 2003.

is for sushi. This year I learned more about sushi than I ever thought possible — including the fact that some varieties are made with Spam. Coworkers convinced me to go to a sushi restaurant with them for lunch. I am not a seafood lover, or even liker, at heart, so I had some misgivings. Still, friends assured me that I could find several nonfish items on the menu, so I should be fine.

I soon learned that by “nonfish” they meant “eel.” Eel?! Well, and a few veggie-only selections, too. I placed a cautious order for some cucumber rolls, some plum rolls, and some salmon nigiri. I also sampled dishes from friends’ plates. All in all, I think sushi is OK as long as I stick to the vegetarian options. (Click here for a more detailed report.)

is for Thanksgiving in Missouri. Mom and Lindsay and I made the car trek south for Thanksgiving this year — Mom for the first time since 1963. Kacey Marshall hosted the feast in her new house, an airy one-story with a deck and a generous back yard. It was filled to capacity with Wiemholts: Mom and all 4 of her siblings, Granny and her beau Charlie, and spouses and cousins. The food, the company and the trip were all great. Several weeks later, I’m still full.

is for ubuntu. Ubuntu is an African word that means kindness, humanity, compassion or goodness. These are trying times we live in, with leaders and citizens alike twisting the words of their gods into justification for violence. But it's ubuntu that makes the world go round. Spread a little, and let's see if we can keep it going.

is for varietals, a word I learned when I took my first stab at gardening this year. My friend Justin, horticultural editor for Gardening How-To magazine, helped me choose and plant flowers, shrubs, climbing roses and a lilac bush for my front yard this spring. Despite my notoriously brown thumb, the greenery seems to be doing just fine, although I'm sure the warm, wet summer didn't hurt any. If things continue to go well, I may add some ornamental grasses to my back yard this coming year.

is for Wimme. In September I attended a concert that included an opening act by this Sami (Lapp) yoik singer. It was fascinating to be exposed to a style of music so different from what I’m used to. The excellence of it was a bonus.

is for X-Atlantic travel. (OK, that's stretching the X thing a bit, but what can I do?) In 2006, one of our esteemed T'ai Chi teachers will turn 50. He's an accomplished painter as well as a martial artist, and he's always wanted to see the works of the great masters in Italy. So in four years, some of his students, including me, are planning to take him there. I’m excited! This will be my first trip overseas since 1984. I've already begun saving my sheckles; now all that's left is to learn Italian.

is for a very good year. I'm spoiled, I'm blessed, and I know it. I bask in the love of family and friends. I live in a warm house with two ego-deflating cats. I drive a dependable car to a job I enjoy. My hobbies allow me to continually stretch both my physical and my mental abilities in the company of teachers and fellow students I admire. My writing life is flourishing. My thanks to the big Y in the Sky (Yaweh) for such abundant good fortune.

is for zest, zeal, zing, zip — enjoyment and appreciation of the wealth of love and laughter I’ve been given. I thank each of you, my friends, for making this a grand year. What do you suppose the next one will bring?