a few images i could have lived without

the picture on the left is a chart that was in our local paper (telegraph herald) regarding how freakin' much snow we've had in dubuque this winter. that's right folks, so far 60.6 inches. the picture below was the conditions of iowa roads this morning at 11 a.m. after another snow storm. okay winter, you've made your point. now kindly leave.

20 questions

i'm very excited to advertise my friend jed's new blog. i put a link on the side over there somewhere (Zombies Scare Me), but thought i'd give it an extra shout out. jed is a very close friend and someone that i've known since i was 18 or something insane like that. he is also one of the funniest people i know. his most recent post regarding a conversation he had with his son, ryan, inspired this post.

every year around christmas time, a group of us duhawks get together somewhere in the frozen north and hang out together. it is generally low-key, relaxing, and full of coffee, good food, and interesting conversation. we've been known to get into debates about everything from politics to religion to the desire to eat at chipotle or not (which for me is always a yes....let's go now!) we often come from different perspectives and view points, and at times this can lead to tricky banter. little did i know that one of the most mentally strenuous conversations i would have would be with ryan, who is three and a half. :)

i was taking some pictures of our crowd and my batteries were dead. this is the catalyst for the conversation...or perhaps, inquisition is a better word.

r: what are you doing?

k: i'm changing the batteries in my camera.

r: why?

k: because they died.

r: why did they die.

k: because i used my camera too much and they ran out of energy.

r: why did they run out of energy?

k: because i took too many pictures.

r: why did you take too many pictures?

k to friends: seriously?

k: so we could remember the weekend.

somehow, thankfully, we get sidetracked from this line of questioning. i finish putting in the "new" batteries and turn my camera back on.

nothing happens.

so i take out the "new" batteries and put back in some combination of old and "new" hoping it will work.

r: what are you doing?

k: i'm changing the batteries again.

r: why?

k: because those batteries were dead too.

r: why were they dead?

this went on for a while and i struggled to come up with more precise ways to explain why the batteries no longer worked, likely to no avail. his curiosity at this age is precious. and i hope it's something he hangs onto as he gets older. i was bested by ryan...master of questions. :)

"that'd be like showering outside."

i had a bad morning. yesterday it snowed a lot. a lot is an understatement probably. regardless, this morning i attempted to dig out my car in a vain attempt to free it from it's frozen igloo home. i started digging and realized that this was going to take way more energy than my body had in it, especially since i hadn't had breakfast yet, so i figured i could at least get the 6 inch snow blanket off of the car. i used our plastic shovel to shove the snow off the car, inadvertently hit the driver's side window, and it immediately cracked and then shattered. shit! now, my car was still buried in snow and had a broken window. after freaking out a bit, i got the window covered in plastic, stopped my digging attempts, and let my colleagues know that i would be late getting to campus because of calamities. fortunately, one of them graciously came to pick me up so i didn't have to make the short, albeit snow-filled walk to campus.

i talked to my mom/insurance agent about what to do next and she gave the names of some glass people to call. the hope was that someone could just come to my car and fix it, so i wouldn't have to worry about how to get it to the shop. the first guy i called was very nice, but informed me that no one would come out on a day like today, because it's too cold and snowy. in fact, he was emphatic about how unlikely that would be and told me that it would be "like taking a shower outside." i thanked him for his help and told him i needed to see how to get my car out of the snow to get it to a shop. i called another place, who basically told me the same thing only with less enthusiasm and could actually quote me a price (unlike the first guy.) so, i made an appointment for tomorrow at 8 a.m. to get the window fixed. this is all happening just in time for me drive to iowa city to meet my parents so we can get the hell out of iowa for the weekend.

i followed up that fun by making coffee for myself at work and forgetting to put the coffee in a coffee filter before running the machine. that did not work out so well for me.

the rest of the day was a blur of grading and trying to figure out last minute plans for my classes this afternoon. both went pretty well and my colleague gave me a ride home, which was great. i spent some time shoveling out the car more so that i can get it to the shop tomorrow. snow is heavy. very heavy. so i'm a bit tired now and looking forward to going out with some colleagues for dinner and a drink tonight. woo!

so cross your fingers that nothing else crazy happens today. maybe the weirdest part of the whole day was how accurate my horoscope was. i was hoping to go visit mike in ABQ in the next few weeks and found a cheap ticket, though we decided it might be better to wait and to save the money. and then, the universe said this:

You might have to reconsider your current activities, especially if you need to conserve cash due to an unforeseen expenditure. Perhaps a bill arrives that's larger than you expected. Or maybe you recently spent more than budgeted. At any rate, your fiscal condition may not be as flush as you thought. Make whatever adjustments are necessary now while leaving the long-term decisions for another day.

By Rick Levine

Thursday, February 7, 2008



Stupid universe.

snow, snow, go away...

last week i blogged about what's involved in blizzard conditions, which involved limited visibility because of blowing snow, but not necessarily requiring a lot of snow. this week, we got a shit load of snow. in fact, there is speculation that dubuque has gotten twelve inches in one day and it's still falling lightly today. all of the schools closed (including my employer eventually), many business are closed, my car is under a snowdrift, and i'm guessing the streets are a mess. as an iowan, you'd think that i'm used to weather like this. but after a nine year absence, it's just completely crazy to me. and i bet my friends who've lived here even longer than me would say that this is one of the most snowy winters in a long time.

i posted some pictures that i took this morning on my gallery and there's more snow since then. i actually just shoveled our steps in an attempt to get the mail and that was a pretty good workout. :) hopefully i can get my car out of the street sometime before friday morning.

stay warm friends!

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