"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.