Little Ice Age

The week of Christmas has come and gone in a flurry (pun was unintended but now tickles me).  I headed out to FdL on Monday, after successfully pulling my back.  Driving for three + hours with a back that hurt if I sat normally and really hurt every time I checked my blind spot did not equal serene JMP. My friend Y was in the far north burbs that week but the pain was too great for me to make the exit, chill, and drive more. Boooooooooo.  

Anyways, we got snow, snow, snow, then today, driving home, insanely dense fog, melting snow, and rain - Texas style. White knuckled driving coupled with lack of depth perception, topped off with the horrific claustrophobic feeling of the fog. For miles. Seriously.  Fog white out - 2 hours, rain white out - 1ish hour, off and on. Good thing I got grade A driving instruction in Dickerville.

Back to the fun stuff. Christmas was great but different. RTP didn't make it home; first Christmas without him. And RJB came home; first Christmas with anyone but the P family. It's like a coming of age movie (Man in the Moon, if you will) except I happen to be 30, not 12 (though I wasn't trying to get with an older boy that liked my sister...maybe not so much Man on the Moon, but you get the idea). We did skype so that was fun.  I do have to comment on how nice it is to be able to drive home for the holidays rather than trying to make peace with TSA and Sir Snores 'a Lot in the seat next to me (FYI, including driving, that sucker was a good 5 hours one way).  A lot less stress.

Sylvester decided to fast while RJB and I were gone. I guess he thought it was Easter rather than Christmas! He is very happy to have his humans back in the house and has left no evidence of shenanigans. That I have discovered, that is.

Not sure if I have mentioned it yet or not, but my camera has officially bit the dust. I am left with borrowing RJB's camera or using the iphone (oh! cheers to GW for the iphone purchase...another one going against the man!).  That being said, no holiday pictures this year. If you have a camera you love and would recommend it, please let me know. I didn't realize how much I used the camera until it stopped working.

Oh Lordly Lord! TLC is playing the ad for the Tree Man story and I have the heebee geebees seeing it out of the corner of my eye.  Horror prickling up my arms...don't they know children watch TLC? Talk about nightmares...

One final comment for this particular post. RJB and I saw Doubt yesterday. Highly suggest it. High drama, intelligently done.

Happy Saturday Night, festive readers.

White Death

I know it got icy and cold in Dallas. And the people can't drive in it because there is no salt.  And people don't dress for it. And that blows. But white death is upon the city of Chicago. It took us almost 1.5 hours to get home (all but for the 5-10 min El ride, we were outside) and we live a little less than 3 miles from the office. The bus never came, the cabs never came, the homeless were ruthless (did I give you change? No. Did I ask you to whistle for a cab? Hells no. Do you have to say I'm cold for not thanking you? Please step off sir). We ended up taking the el to Chinatown and walking about 10 blocks home. In the driving snow. On unplowed, unsalted sidewalks and roads.  Needless to say, we are happy to be in a nice warm house!

Is that boo or booouurns?

This does no justice for how red 

RJB's face was. And his hair was 

white with snow and ice.

Chicago Art Institute - where we 

waited with about 20 people for the bus that never came...

Okay, okay, you can stop your laughing, mocking, pointing, and muttering 'I knew she couldn't last'. No, no gentle, thin-blooded reader, all this is worth living in The Big City (picture shaking fist).

And by the way, those $150 uggs were worth every single cent.

Stay warm twinkle toes!

Picture print by Currier and Ives

It finally happened. It was inevitable, really. Snow. The coquette of winter. Oh yes, Snow looks so pretty and peaceful. Oh! Look at those pretty flakes dancing to the ground. And over there! Look at those cute dogs frolicking in the drifts. Everything looks so clean. Peaceful. Ahh, bliss. Then you open the door. 

Twenty-five mile per hour winds assault your body and that frigid air attacks any weakness in your winter uniform like the blitzkrieg.  You hesitate over the threshold but knowing you only get paid by actually showing up at work, you push on.  Up close, that beautiful white snow shows signs of 'dog business' frozen to the ground, and brown and black road slush. Oooops!! Arms flailing! Blasted ice! Time to cross the street. Shit! More ice! Tip toe around the slush! Crap! Cars and buses coming at full speed! Can't they feel pity for the poor freezing people slipping and sliding through the four lane intersection? (which of course only has a cross walk, no light...at this point you think that the driver's ed instructor who said pedestrians have the right of way was seriously on some snow of his own) Suddenly you realize you are in the middle of a slick, bitterly cold game of Frogger.  Leap over the snow-plow created snowbank and whew! made it. One block until the bus stop. 

Now its time to stand. And wait. In 22 degree weather. With wind chill, a solid 15 degrees.  Oh no! I my toes are going numb!!! Wiggle wiggle wiggle, stomp, stomp, stomp. Where are you stupid bus?! In your mind you are willing the blood to your toes and the tip of your nose. Come on number 1!!! Oddly you feel comfortable dancing around in public looking like the more attractive member in a penguin mating dance. Ah! There it is! The number 1 is flashing like a beacon! 

All of this and it is December 1. Winter weather is here for another 5 months. Tear....

At least there were stadium dogs

It's been a very grown up, adult-like week. Funeral, open heart surgery updates, bills... welcome to your thirties JMP! I long for those late-fall days of coming home on the bus, mom making chili, dad lighting the fireplace, and busily planning my letter to Santa. Sigh. Nothin' better than that chili.

Anywho, I will not bore you, my witty reader, with the drudges of my adult week. Rather, let's talk about snow. RJB and I set off for The Bend on Saturday to catch a little football joy (let's not focus on the actual game). Little did we know that ten inches of white death landed on The Bend on Friday (good ole Lake Effect snow - Chitown was untouched (does it bother you when people misuse effect and affect? Not claiming to be an English aficionado, because I do keep a handy copy of The Elements of Style nearby and I cannot spell to save my life. Plus this is a hard one and I do look it up every time I write it in an 'official' capacity. I digress.)).

Game-time blessed us with 27 degrees (due to other conditions, felt like 18), and given the timing, the ND budget does not allow for speedy stadium seating shoveling. What does this mean oh gentle reader? The stands were packed in with snow - behind the seats, under the seats, in front of the seats. By the start of second quarter, that fun, now packed snow got a little icy. RJB and I took off during halftime. We couldn't take it anymore. I took pictures via iphone so once I figure out how to load those on my nifty laptop, I'll post them.

Today we did a long run. I feel the pains of not running for three days (!!!! or maybe I am still a thawing turkey from the game). Hopefully the Turkey Trot will go alright. I am torn on being chipped. The Ego is taking over. If it takes me say, 65, 70 minutes to run the 8k, so be it, right? Ego shudders at the thought of official recording at such a pace. But its my pace! Ok, time to stop documenting the internal struggle...

RJB and I just finished watching season 1 of Mad Men. I highly recommend it. And some of my favorite books are mentioned - The Best of Everything and Fountainhead, and Ayn Rand is mentioned at least 4 times on her own. Indeed. I enjoy watching TV series via DVD. Given my occasionally intense personality, I like forgetting about real life and like to delve into the fantasy world of the given series. Though then the let down once you finish is in a way depressing. I wonder if voyeurs feel this way when their unknowing entertainers purchase window coverings.

Tonight we are watching the final True Blood of season 1. I cannot wait, though Big Love does start in January (and yes, we are catching RJB up on the prior seasons between now and then. Ahh....netflicks....). I'm whipping up some spicy red sauce and I have some pinot noir to lessen the hurt of Sunday Night Blues.

Peace