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Apparently we're in the middle of a BLIZZARD. Rowley actually called last night to tell me we were supposed to get a ton of snow, but I didn't believe him. Every year around this time, Rowley calls to tell me there's a huge snowstorm coming, and he's always wrong. His family taped one of those holiday specials a few years ago, and the night they recorded it a "severe weather" warning was on the bottom of the screen. So now the weather warning is a permanent part of the recording.

Every time Rowley watches that holiday special, he calls me up and tells me a blizzard is coming. I used to fall for it, but I stopped believing him after he called me in a panic when he watched the special over summer vacation. So it looks like we're snowed in. Ordinarily I would be really happy to be stuck in the house, because it would give me a good excuse to play Net Kritterz all day long. But my account is locked thanks to Manny. A few days ago Mom decided it would be a good idea

to teach Manny how to use the computer, so she let him play on my Net Kritterz account while I was at school. By the time I got home, Manny traded in everything I ever earned in the game for tokens and then blew all of them in the Kritterz Kasino. And the worst part is that Manny somehow figured out how to change my PASSWORD, so now I can't even play the game and earn my stuff back. For the past few days I've been getting e-mails from Net Kritterz telling me I need to get back on the site, but there's nothing I can do about it. And if something doesn't change soon, I don't think my Chihuahua is gonna make it.

TO: Heffley, Gregory FROM: Net Kritterz SUBJECT: SOS! Dear Gregory- GREGORY'S LITTLE FRIEND misses you! Purchase more tokens for your virtual pet before it's too late! This isn't the only password Manny has changed, either. He figured out how to mess with the settings on our TV and changed the "parental lock" feature. The parental lock thing is supposed to allow parents to control what their kids can watch, but Manny changed the settings so that the only shows we can watch are HIS favorites. And he won't give up the password, no matter how much we try to bribe him.

Luckily I can still play video games on the TV. But Mom just got this exercise game, and now she spends an hour a day using my system. When it got cold a few weeks ago, Mom said she wanted the whole family to use her exercise game so we'd stay active during the winter. I tried it out, but I don't really like to sweat while I'm playing video games. The problem is, the game keeps track of how much

you exercise each day, so Mom was on my case about not using it. But then I figured out I could use the controller instead of my body, and within a few days I had all the high scores on the game. When Mom saw my high scores, she took it as a personal challenge to beat them. I feel like I should probably come clean and tell her I cheated, but she's already lost five pounds trying to get on the leaderboard, so I think I'll do her a favor and keep my mouth shut. Mom always says I need to spend less time on the couch and more time being active. But the way I see