My Hope for Today

It’s the small things in life that really can get you excited. After several weeks of not having a functional toilet in the master bathroom, behold….

The Nexus!

If everything goes as scheduled, it is my hope that this will be installed by the end of the day.

Ahh….the little things.

A Bit Warmer, but Still Winter

We have gone through a temperature swing of about 40 degrees. Sad that even with that swing it's still just around 20 degrees. It might feel downright balmy, but the wind and the snow just prevent that from occurring. We may get above freezing on Wednesday before we head back down to single digits for highs.

As much as I complain about the cold, I guess I only have myself to blame. I agreed that this would be a great place to live. Hmmm....

Bracing for the Arctic Blast

As I write this, the sun is brightly shining over the numerous inches of snow that have piled up over the last month. On first glance out the window, it actually appears to be pleasant. However, I know it is not over 0 degrees outside. Yes, while those of you readers in what I consider now the south face the possibility of negative temps – know that we’ve been living with it now for a couple of days and we’re not done.

Tonight is supposed to be the coldest temps in 10 years. If you do the math on that one, I haven’t lived here for 10 years (quite yet). So, I do not know what these temps are going to feel like. All I know is that my car registered -26 Tuesday morning. That means if that wasn’t the coldest morning then could I possibly hit -30 tomorrow morning?? And those are air temperatures. Not counting wind chills. On the weather last night the wind chills were registering around -25 or so. That’s with the new formula for figuring out wind chills. With the old formula we would have been at -40. Seriously – how did Laura Ingalls do it up here!

I do have to give the Jeep “props” for hanging in with me this week as I force it to power through the tundra to and from work. It does keep me quite toasty. However, keep in mind that I have the blower on high for the majority of my commute. And that commute has been averaging over an hour both ways. With Monday afternoon’s 2 hour drive taking the award for “crappy commute” of the week.

As I write this over my lunch hour, I have also taken a moment to explore a warm weather get away. I now see the allure of being a snowbird. Not that I’m quite old enough to be considered a snowbird, I’m ready to find a job where I can work in the sun and warmth during the winter. Of course the airfares are a little steep right now….give me another week like this and I’ll cash in all of my frequent flier miles to go anywhere that the temp is over 60.

For those of you with thinner blood that aren’t ready for the arctic blast…prepare. Wear that hat (even if hats make you look stupid), double up on socks, gloves, scarves. Whatever you do….layer, layer, layer.

Happy 2009!

I haven’t had much “blog-worthy” material lately, but my audience of 1 has commented recently that I must have given up on the blog. So….here I go.

Started a new job a few weeks ago. Nothing more humbling than going from being the “expert” in a position to being the newbie without a clue! It helps that I at least stayed within the same company, but it really feels like a different world. I think I’ll enjoy a bit of a slower pace for awhile though. My last job kept me extremely busy.

I traveled at Christmas and got to know the Detroit airport quite well. Thankfully they have a Westin hotel within the airport. That helped with the overnight wait that I had! It was actually kind of nice to be forced to do nothing but sit and watch tv. No computer, not much reading material with me. Not to mention no clothes, etc. I have learned to pack differently when having connecting flights. Always keep a change of underwear, toothbrush, and hairbrush in the carry on luggage. Of course you are told that all the time, but had I been listening???? Of course not. I now have a nice t-shirt souvenir from Detroit. And no, it isn’t a Lions t-shirt nor one of the Big 3. Although I guess that might have been a boost to the economy.

I had a great holiday all in all. Saw a lot of family. Saw “Marley & Me” – very cute, but sad. When I got back home I got involved in watching the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy with Steve. Probably a good 10-12 hours of hobbits, elves, dwarves and orks. Next up…The Godfather series.

Now it’s 2009. Crazy that the year flew by like it did. I’m off of school for a couple of weeks, so it’s a great time to get immersed in my new job. Of course I also have time for those other items I like to procrastinate with like…working out, cleaning, etc. I’ll try and balance my free time appropriately. :)

Hope you have a wonderful and peaceful 2009!