Today is the last day of my 2-week vacation. It's snowing... again. I think this has to be the worst winter in recent memory. Even on the days we're supposed to get relief from the winter weather and return to our rainy West Coast climate we just end up getting more snow.
Snow kept me from a number of things yesterday, including writing a little something here on the blog.
As soon as I was standing up out of bed, I was getting dressed to go shovel snow off the driveway. My in-laws got rid of all my metal shovels, so I have a cheap plastic one that rides over top of any packed snow. In other words, I shovelled all the powdery snow on top, leaving nothing but a slippery mess underneath.
Enter Dreama for a visit and she gets stuck in the snow for a very frustrating hour. She had every right to be livid with the weather, even though she more used to it than I am. It's just that it's been following her everywhere. I feel for ya!
After that, I ended up shoveling more in the evening after my wife & I dumped kids off at various homes and escaped to the movies for a couple of hours. After that shoveling spree, I had a friend visit for about 15 minutes, then got the kids to bed and slumped on the couch to nurse my shoulder (sore from constant snow shoveling) and watch Titanic with my wife. I had no intention to watch that movie, but it was on and I wasn't up to moving --even to the computer 15 feet away.
And the snow continues to fall. I'm on my way back to work tomorrow and hopefully it's a better start to 2009 than the ending in 2008.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Friday, January 02, 2009
My Scene
2008 literally closed with a bang. And I do mean literally. A man was shot and killed just up the street from my house. That's pretty much all I know about it, but... yeesh.
I've mentioned before that we've gotten a lot of snow. In fact, I think we had a record snowfall for the month of December, but I haven't heard the official total yet. It was just shy of 90cm, which is about 3 feet of snow. Ugh. This much snow also meant the first White Christmas for my daughter. She's 8, so you know why I'm not big on the white stuff --not used to it.
Truth be told, I've probably spent a good portion of my 2-week "vacation" shovelling snow. For the most part, it was fine, but the latest dumps of snow have been wetter, denser snow. Wet snow means hard labor, as a good 5 inches of snow on the shovel can quickly weigh 20+ pounds! (or at least feel like it) The arms and shoulders burn after shovelling the driveway we have here.
Burning's good, though, it means I'm getting exercise, which has been sorely lacking over the holidays. I haven't hit the gym since December 18, so I'll take what I can get. And let's face it: Lots of snow means hiding in the house, not wanting to do much of anything.
I think I've ventured "out" (going further than my in-laws' house 5 blocks away) twice during my time off. I went shopping on the 27th of December and to my sister's on the 29th. Otherwise, I've stayed rooted in the house. My shopping day was for bargains and there were definite bargains to be had! After we'd bought a Wii for Christmas, I let the kids pick up a game for the system. They found one to agree on and it was a $10 purchase (it was $60 last year). At the same time, I picked up 2 games I wanted for under $10 each and then made the "big" purchase of a new DVD player. Our old one is 7 years old(!!) now and was a cheap model back then. It has trouble with some discs these days and trying to write out instructions to my parents on how to use the PlayStation2 as a DVD player took a long, long time. I bought a Sony DVD player for $50, which I think is a good deal.
I have a single weekend left before I head back to work on Monday. Right now I'm not sure how enthusiastic my walk to work will be Monday morning.... I'm tired.
I've mentioned before that we've gotten a lot of snow. In fact, I think we had a record snowfall for the month of December, but I haven't heard the official total yet. It was just shy of 90cm, which is about 3 feet of snow. Ugh. This much snow also meant the first White Christmas for my daughter. She's 8, so you know why I'm not big on the white stuff --not used to it.
Truth be told, I've probably spent a good portion of my 2-week "vacation" shovelling snow. For the most part, it was fine, but the latest dumps of snow have been wetter, denser snow. Wet snow means hard labor, as a good 5 inches of snow on the shovel can quickly weigh 20+ pounds! (or at least feel like it) The arms and shoulders burn after shovelling the driveway we have here.
Burning's good, though, it means I'm getting exercise, which has been sorely lacking over the holidays. I haven't hit the gym since December 18, so I'll take what I can get. And let's face it: Lots of snow means hiding in the house, not wanting to do much of anything.
I think I've ventured "out" (going further than my in-laws' house 5 blocks away) twice during my time off. I went shopping on the 27th of December and to my sister's on the 29th. Otherwise, I've stayed rooted in the house. My shopping day was for bargains and there were definite bargains to be had! After we'd bought a Wii for Christmas, I let the kids pick up a game for the system. They found one to agree on and it was a $10 purchase (it was $60 last year). At the same time, I picked up 2 games I wanted for under $10 each and then made the "big" purchase of a new DVD player. Our old one is 7 years old(!!) now and was a cheap model back then. It has trouble with some discs these days and trying to write out instructions to my parents on how to use the PlayStation2 as a DVD player took a long, long time. I bought a Sony DVD player for $50, which I think is a good deal.
I have a single weekend left before I head back to work on Monday. Right now I'm not sure how enthusiastic my walk to work will be Monday morning.... I'm tired.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
My Final Year
This blog's been going downhill over the past few years as my time disappears quickly. I managed one post during the final half of December, the entire time I was "on vacation." I just don't have the time anymore.
This blog was originally my daily journal, to keep track of thoughts/ideas and problems I was having at work. I try not to talk about work anymore (it could get me in major trouble) and my thoughts and ideas come and go quickly and don't always get written down anymore. And let's face it: It was never a daily journal, since my best year of writing consisted of 280+ posts, not quite the 365 needed for a daily journal.
So, I think this is the final year.
Going full circle, I've opted to go back to the theme of "my year," although admittedly, last time it was all about being selfish and getting my way. It's been 5 years. I've grown a bit (wider and wiser) and think I can more clearly state that My Year in 2009 is more about growth. No, not physical, but mental and hopefully spiritual growth. I can challenge myself to write a daily journal and we'll see how long it takes me to break that promise. If I can do it, then sometime this summer I'll hit my 1,000th post on this blog and hitting that mark will be a milestone in and of itself.
So, the countdown begins. It's 2009, My Final Year for this blog, and hopefully a more interesting year than 2008.
This blog was originally my daily journal, to keep track of thoughts/ideas and problems I was having at work. I try not to talk about work anymore (it could get me in major trouble) and my thoughts and ideas come and go quickly and don't always get written down anymore. And let's face it: It was never a daily journal, since my best year of writing consisted of 280+ posts, not quite the 365 needed for a daily journal.
So, I think this is the final year.
Going full circle, I've opted to go back to the theme of "my year," although admittedly, last time it was all about being selfish and getting my way. It's been 5 years. I've grown a bit (wider and wiser) and think I can more clearly state that My Year in 2009 is more about growth. No, not physical, but mental and hopefully spiritual growth. I can challenge myself to write a daily journal and we'll see how long it takes me to break that promise. If I can do it, then sometime this summer I'll hit my 1,000th post on this blog and hitting that mark will be a milestone in and of itself.
So, the countdown begins. It's 2009, My Final Year for this blog, and hopefully a more interesting year than 2008.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)