Out of the Woodwork

As the thaw continues and February finally ends, I'm starting to get just a teeny bit restless to get out and Do Things. Mostly those things are obligatory stuff that I've been putting off because of the storms and the cold, like visiting my uncle in his assisted-living facility three blocks away from us (but down a big hill so we have to drive), taking the car in for a much-needed oil change and a look-see at the noise my power steering assembly is making (we've had that before so I know what it is but I can't do anything about it), and finally getting to the bank that's only open on weekdays so I can open up a new account with the checks from Mom's estate. But I do miss socializing with non-work friends, of whom I have too few nowadays, it seems. Lo and behold, I got texts from two of them today at the same time - my friend Marjorie who lives in the Hamptons and shares a birthday with me, and my friend Terri who's the mother of my godson. So confusing for this one-fingered texter to go back and forth between the two of them! I hope to see one on Monday or Tuesday evening and the other possibly this coming weekend but that's all dependent on whether I can get the above necessar tasks done. At least my usual Saturday stuff is accomplished (food shopping, pills, comics sorting and ordering) so I'm making incremental progress.

Switching Hats

OMG, glad that day is over! I've been up since about 4 AM, with a loop playing in my head about the conversation I'd be having with a firm-directed financial advisor. I figured fine, it's going to be a quiet day. The day was not quiet, it was pretty easy to pack my entire eight hours, during which I actually spoke with two different financial folks, the firm-recommended one and the one who's been working with my family for decades and called to discuss Mom's estate. The latter was infinitely more helpful (which makes sense as my dad was a CPA as are both my brothers, so they're up on financial stuff, unlike li'l ol' me who just works at one of the Big Four firms). I'm beginning to formulate a plan going forward now, but it wasn't easy to keep switching between work, planning my future, and domestic chores like washing up. Especially on such little sleep. I expect I'll sleep better tonighr, I got a new Vellux blanket and there's no alarm to worry about for the next couple of days. Off to read comics and watch vet shows!

Manhattan Rising

For the first time since the blizzard, and thanks to our driveway road being plowed so I could get to the sidewalk and then to the bus stop, I decided to go into the office today. Thank goodness Robin walked me to the bus, as the sidewalk alongside the nearby college hadn't been completely cleared yet and was tricky going. But once I was in easily-navigable Manhattan and got to my workstation du jour, I hit the ground running. First thing I noticed was that one of the "legs" on that workstation's keyboard was gone, so I texted my local IT guy whilst waiting for Windows to update. Hoorah, the update fixed a problem I'd been having with not being able to shut down my laptop properly. And I was good to go, which was fortunate because work seemed to be nonstop and lots of folks seemed to need me for things. By 4 PM I'd worked my eight hours straight, nobody seemed to be emailing or texting me any more, so I got whilst the getting was good. All was well with the subway, but the local bus back in my neighborhood was a different story. At least a 10-15 minute wait for wildly delayed buses until I got one I could board. Fortunately I was one of the first on and got a seat there too. Now I'm just exhausted, but glad I went in (I actually missed the office!) and equally glad I don't have to go in again until next Tuesday.

All Plowed!!

Woo-hoo, the city came around our little tertiary U-shaped driveway road this morning with both a big-boy-beast and a baby-beast plow, and hit pay dirt! I mean, it hasn't been paved since before we moved in, so it's pretty much all gravel and ruts now, but that's a lot easier for me to navigate on foot than snow and ice! I'm hoping this means the more important roads and intersections are now cleared as well, and was happy to see the sun come out this afternoon and help melt the rooftop snoverhang and the front door canopy. I was able to plow through not only all my partners' expense report entries but a new assignment given to me that I'd been dreading, as it has so many moving parts. But it's essentially all organization, at which I'm good, so I spent about half a day on it and feel like I'm in good shape. My backpack is all ready to take into the big bad city tomorrow!

Still Snowed Under

I have no idea when, if ever, the city will clear our driveway, but there's no way I could get to the main sidewalk to walk to the bus, and the buses weren't running that well anyway. This is the big cleanup day after the worst blizzard in almost a decade, so I'm perfectly fine working from home again. I've cancelled my office workspace for today and tomorrow, and may or may not come in on Thursday but we'll see. It all depends on the weather and how quickly the precip thaws or evaporates. I hope my car will be good to go on Saturday so we can shop and get prescriptions, and that the "snowverhang" on the roof melts gradually instead of falling all at once around the car (which is fine as it's still buried under about a foot of snow). Deep breath while we see what tomorrow brings, as there's more snow in the forecast...

Dodging the Blizzard Bullet

Like just about every other nonessential New Yorker, I stayed home today, which was a work-from-home day anyway, and watched the storm rage then subside. We have a "snoverhang" off our roof now, the second one of the day and this one doesn't appear to be dropping any time soon what with the overnight temps going below freezing, but I know from what the first one did that when it does drop at least it won't be over my car. Which isn't getting cleared until we need it, probably on Friday or Saturday. The plows only came by once last night, and considering we got about 17" of snow we really need them again, but I imagine they're busy clearing snow everywhere else and our little driveway road is tertiary at best. So I'm staying put tomorrow and probably Wednesday as well, as we have plenty of supplies and a fruit bowl full of sugar-free chocolates (well, they were on sale so Rob kinda went nuts with my blessing). Oh, and we didn't lose power! So I'm very grateful that we're warm and safe.

Bye Bye Olympics, Hello Blizzard Prep

I'm still not sure how I feel about the Olympics closing ceremonies. I always like the ceremonial stuff itself, even though the TV commentators don't shut up and the network goes to commercials constantly mid-proceedings. But I didn't much care for the operatic theme of today's event, although I did love the costumes (I bet they probably even outshone Johnny Weir). And the jingoism... my word, it's exhausting! The whole point of the Olympics is supposed to be athletes from all nations getting to know one another amid friendly competition; instead it's increasingly become US Against The World, and I find that highly distasteful. It's as if we deliberately want to perpetuate the stereotype of The Ugly American. Watching the BAFTA awards rebroadcast this evening was a nice antidote. Closer to home, the blizzard has begun and my dearest hope is that our power doesn't go out with the high winds to come.

The Relative Calm Before

As we suspected, the supermarket was madness this morning, as everyone stocked up in preparation for however many inches of snow we're due to get tomorrow. Six? Twelve? Umpteen? Who knows? Anyway, the car behaved enough to get us home before noon, and we settled in for Olympics-watching and (for me) power napping. At this point our biggest fear is whether our electricity will go out in the coming storm, which will feature high winds. Crossing all appropriate digits we'll get through safely.

Winding Down

Another work week done, another scramble to make plans before a big storm. And there was so much I wanted to do now that I thought the snow from the last big blast was finally melting! The car needs an oil change, I need to start making medical appointments, and I've got to get to that bank that isn't open on weekends. But not today. Today was all about Olympics watching and getting my work week wrapped up. Tomorrow will be a mad scramble at the supermarket (thank goodness we don't need much) before another nor'easter wallops us. Let's hope this one melts more quickly!

Ache Replacement

Maybe it's the weather, which has been foggy and dreary with surprisingly meh air quality. Maybe it's watching athletes at the top of their prowess from my comfy chair while "I'm sitting here doing nothing but aging." But dang, these body aches! Most of the fallout from the fall seems to be on its way to healing, but my IT band issues are reasserting themselves, I spent way too much time in the bathroom this afternoon, and I'm more than ready for spring to assert itself inside and out...