The Snow Is My Fault

Staycations At Home, , ,

I apologize to everyone in the Upper Midwest.  I got carried away last week by the warmth, the sunshine, and the sight of what was once my lawn and gleefully put away my snow shovels.  This has obviously angered the winter deities and has brought a curse upon us all.  Thank goodness I don’t own a snowblower or I’m sure it would have been much worse than the 5-10 inches they’re predicting.

One of the few benefits of working from my home is that I can go out anytime to shop, see a movie, or pop over to see friends and relatives.  At least, that’s the conventional wisdom.  In truth, I rarely go out during the day because I feel too guilty about it.  I mean, I’m a struggling entrepreneur and I should be hard at work at all times, stopping only when the coffee is no longer effective in keeping my eyes open or (Heaven forfend!) my Internet connection dies.

When the reality of this latest storm settled in on me this morning, I took a quick inventory of the kitchen and realized that I was nearly out of several essentials of life: bread, peanut butter, Diet Coke, and Twizzlers.  I could perish!  So I gave myself permission to make a supply run.  Fortunately, Roundy’s had a sale on coffee a couple of weeks ago, and I stocked up.  So I didn’t have to do a major shopping trip and ended up at the local Walgreen’s where the prices are like playing the lottery.  Will I actually get the sale price on the peanut butter?  No?  Better luck next time.  Such fun!

Among the many reasons I’m so tired of winter is that I promised myself I start to do a morning walk to try to get some exercise.  My hermit-like existence means my regular daily physical exertions largely consist of a couple of trips up and down the stairs for meals.  It’s gotten so bad that even the muscles in my gluteus maximus have atrophied to the point where I can’t even sit in front of my computer for extended periods.  So I’ve been waiting for the ice on the sidewalks to clear and the puddles to dry.  But I have a lot of repairs to do on the outside of the house and around the yard, and I can’t do it until I regain some endurance.  Maybe by July…

Trying to Develop Snow Blindness

Away From Home

thumbIconYes, it’s that *special* time of year again. The Twin Cities got a dusting of snow and thus our inevitable march into winter has begun. There have been the expected reports of accidents on the slippery roads and even, tragically, a death this morning that caused me to omit the obligatory joke about Minnesota drivers needing to get re-accustomed to driving on icy roads every winter. Traffic fatality reports always make me want to immediately post a sermon on the virtues of attentive driving, fastidious use of seat belts, designated drivers, and so on. And we’ve all heard this stuff so often that it turns into background noise, but I am going to ask you to please make it a habit to stop yourself every time you take your car keys out to focus on safety for a moment. Remind yourself that arriving safely is the only goal worth worrying about. The old saying, “better late than never” seems like sage advice to me.

Despite my deep and abiding hatred of winter, I’m trying to shake it off this year and achieve a zen-like acceptance of the inescapable snow and cold. I put in quite a few hours this past summer repairing and repainting the windows on my house, which I’m hoping will improve their insulating qualities by some minimally noticeable extent. I’m not expecting miracles. I just hope that there are fewer occasions when I feel a cold breeze in my living room or when I come downstairs in the morning there is no longer a 6 degree drop in the air temperature.

Getting back to my attitude adjustment, I’m trying to find fun winter activities. This project has been severely impeded by the Minnesota Vikings who, let’s face it, stink on ice. Thank goodness that the Gophers have put together a very respectable team this year, posting three straight wins over Big Ten teams, including Nebraska whom they hadn’t beaten since the 1960’s. The U of M is my alma mater, and one of my best friends from my schooldays was even Athletic Director for a few years, but I had pretty much given up on the Gophers several decades ago. So this recent string of victories is saving the season for me. And it’s great to be able to dream about the Gophers being in a bowl game that features an opponent slightly stronger than Benilde-St. Margaret’s for once.

The folks over at Meet Minneapolis are having a giveaway to promote the Hockey City Classic which will be running for the next seven weeks. They’re giving away ticket and hotel packages that sound great. If you’re a hockey fan looking for a great weekend getaway, they’ve got some deals available on their website, too.