So, our post-snowpocalypse weekend was quiet, productive, and fun, and not necessarily in that order. I went into the office on Friday to clean some things up, and got a good quiet day to work on a new homepage concept for work, which went very well. I also packed up my iMac and brought it home to downgrade back to OS 10.5 from Snow Leopard; our work server (some sort of snap server running a Linux variant) and Snow Leopard weren’t seeing eye to eye on permissions so I couldn’t actually save files remotely.
Saturday the girl got me up super-early and we enjoyed a quiet breakfast together. After Mama joined us, it was off to the grocery store to restock for the next promised snowstorm. We actually had a bunch of food left over from the first, but we felt it would be prudent to replenish in case we had to go all Donner Party on the cats. So: organic market, discount store, Trader Joe’s, grocery store, then home for a nap. After unloading, I spent the afternoon in the driveway with a shovel to widen the lanes, and seeing my labors, our neighbor took pity on me, came outside with his snowblower, and helped me clear a lane all the way back to the garage. Then, I showed the Jeep off to an old work friend, who is keenly interested in buying it from us, which is awesome. We’re going to have it checked out by an independent mechanic and then settle on a fair price in a couple of weeks, but for now I’m hanging onto it until the snow stops flying. Then it was back onto the front porch roof to shove 2′ of drifted snow off into the bushes before it dropped through the ceiling into the new office. Sunday evening we took advantage of Netflix’s lame selection of on-demand movies to watch The International, which was interesting if only in its faithful recreation and subsequent destruction of the Guggenheim Museum.
Sunday Finn and I got up early again, and after we had some breakfast she helped me make a valentine, cook breakfast, and deliver it to Mama in bed. Then she got her pretty holiday outfit on and we did what everyone else does on February 14th: We went shoe shopping! The girl loved to wander the aisles of the DSW and make friends with everyone she saw—I don’t know how two misanthropes like us could have spawned this child; she has no shyness at all. Between shifts as goalie and chaperone, Mama found a new pair of sneakers and slippers, and I found a cheap pair of lowtop sneakers to replace my dead Chuck Taylors. Then we stayed out for some lunch and let the girl nibble on our burritos while she was making eyes at the little boy a few tables down. After a week being cooped up inside, it sure felt great to get out of the house, but we had to return to the safety of the quiet, warm crib for a nap.
In the afternoon, taking advantage of a little Finn downtime, I ran out to the garage and tightened up the shroud on the Scout. Long story short, she’s running again, and I pulled her out of the garage! I wrote up more details over here, but this is a huge relief and makes me very happy. I have to do further testing to see if the overheating issue has been solved, but this is a long overdue step forward.
After Finn woke up, we had plans to take her to the pet store at the Mall to play with some puppies, but we found that they close very early on Sunday nights. She was not happy about the situation, but tolerated our singing the A-B-C song long enough to get home for some dinner, and then it was off to bed.
Here’s a great primer on how to add an FM modulator to a crappy stereo in order to run an iPod on the down low. The Saturn has a giant, oversized (and thus unreplaceable) CD player, the CR-V has a giant, oversized CD/cassette player, and the Scout has a $20 Wal-Mart cassette deck held in with sheet metal screws. So this is definitely on our radar.
→ This is a syndicated post from my Scout weblog. More info here.
The roads weren’t too bad until I got into the city itself, and then it was touch and go. Lots of snow left on the side streets, and our block was never plowed so it’s a skating rink in front of the office.
Finn likes to play the running game, especially when she gets the two of us to chase her.
What you’re looking at is the top. it’s sitting out in the open in our side yard. There’s no telling exactly how much snow we got, but it’s a lot.
Here’s the view from the porch this morning. Our front walkway is completely covered and drifted in again. The wind picks up and howls to the point of zero visibility, then settles down again to show the drifts piling higher. Finn keeps walking to the window and saying, “Wow!” And yes, all four of those cars were cleared off and running yesterday.
Uh-oh. The Onion AV Club gives the latest Massive Attack album a C+, which is pretty underwhelming, and Pitchfork gives it a 5 out of 10. I’ll buy it regardless, but I was hoping for a better critical reception. (Pitchfork gave 100th Window a 5.1 and I love that album, so this is all relative.)
Update: Meh. A few good tracks, and a few filler tracks. I’d say a 5 of 10 is deserved. seems to be getting better as it goes, though.
We’re not getting our usual milk delivery on Wednesday, what with the Second Horseman of the Apocalypse about to bear down on us (there was no mail service today and I can’t even find the milkbox on the front porch), so we felt it would be prudent to stock up on some before the snow starts flying again. Luckily, there were a few half-gallons of organic left at the bottom of the racks, so all is well. Everybody seemed to be in pretty good spirits while I was there, too.
Look at this incredible vehicle and tell me if it makes you drool as much as me. I never thought I’d lust after a Volvo as much as this thing. Well, maybe an original X70 Cross Country wagon…
Rumors of the Snowpocalypse were true; the End is Nigh. We’ve gotten three feet of snow, as far as we can tell from the drifts, with another 10″ or so to come. With help from our neighbor, his snowblower, and a 10AM can of Budweiser, I got the Jeep uncovered, warmed up, and through the 4′ drift sent up by the snowplows, but I don’t think we’re getting the Saturn out until April. When I came back inside, after being out for two hours, there was another 2″ of snow on the front steps. If the forecast is true, I’ll have to go back out tomorrow and do it all over again, but for now it’s a warm sandwich, some fresh salsa, and thick socks. And maybe another beer…