Daily Ramblings: February 2007

Last weekend SC and I went on a relaxing weekend getaway trip to Provincetown. We were supposed to leave early Friday, but unfortunately my little Honda refused to climb over the frozen snow all around it. We spent a good hour or so trying to break away at the ice. We were able to get the wheels free, but sadly, all they did was spin when I tried to drive the car out of its parking spot on the street.

So, we went into a bit of panic. How the hell were we gonna get ourselves to P-town? We called a couple of rental car agencies but they were all booked or even had waiting lists. Finally, we found a place that was expecting to get vehicles back in the afternoon. Hurrah. We had wheels! Once we were on the road it was smooth sailing in our Chevy Cobalt.

Our weekend in P-town was fantastic. We stayed at our favorite bed and breakfast, the Crowne Pointe Inn, where we enjoyed our in-room fireplace and jacuzzi and happy hour in the club room. We ate tons of seafood. We visited with Jess during her work breaks. We went for a nice walk around town and did some shopping. We also went for a drive and checked out nearby Race Point and Herring Cove.

It's fun to go out to Provincetown in the dead of winter. It's a stark contrast to the craziness of summer.

Feel free to check out some photos from our weekend.

This morning I had a crappy commute. First I waited 25 minutes for the bus in the freezing cold. I thought my face was going to fall off. Then, the bus was super crowded and I missed my stop because too many people were in my way and I couldn't make it to the door in time. Grrr... so then I had to get off at the next stop, extending my walk to office in the -5 degree weather even longer. All of the sidewalks were iced over which added to my enjoyment. Fun times.

This cold weather and icy condition is rather problematic because I need to use my car tomorrow. I checked on it this evening and it was covered in a sheet of frozen snow. After 20 minutes or so I was able to break away the blanket covering the car. Unfortunately, there is like 6 inches of frozen snow surrounding my tires. I am confident that my little Honda cannot make it out of its spot with frozen snow all up on the tires.

I discovered that my full-sized snow shovel that I keep in the back of my trunk was broken. How convenient! I just happen to have a backup used mini-shovel, which I tried to use to chip away at the snow/ice. After 5 minutes of this, I decided that I was getting very far and my back was starting to hurt.

My co-worker mentioned to me today that he had to pour some hot water on his car to get things going. This seems like a pretty good idea, but I'm not so sure how well that would work with my own situation. I'd have to boil some water in a tea kettle, take my tea kettle down five flights of stairs, walk two blocks along treacherous icy sidewalks and then pour my little kettle worth of water on a tire. Then I'd have to venture back to my apartment and repeat the process three (at the minimum) more times. Something about this just seems rather impractical.

I obviously needed another plan of attack. So, I went for a little jaunt to Economy Hardware to weigh my options. While there I picked up some Ice Melt and a full-sized alumnium shovel. I hope I can use my new goodies tomorrow to kick some snow/ice-ass. Wish me luck.

This past Thursday I went to NYC for work. That evening, I had dinner with two coworkers. One of my coworker's husband came out to dinner with us. It turns out that not only is he a cool guy, but he is also a LEGO model maker. Yes, that's right -- he gets paid to play with LEGOs all day! He is one of only four LEGO certified professionals in the world. How wild is that?

Check out this website for photos of his LEGO creations: http://www.seankenney.com