10:00am - The weather outside is not quite so frightful as it was last night, but its effects linger. Last night was a bit chilly. The power went off for real a few minutes after I published my last blog post and it didn't come on again until 8am or so--about 10 hours in all. I woke up at the usual time without benefit of the alarm (my good old reliable, battery-operated child's toy clock), which was set for later because I was to attend a MAX All Hands meeting today and wasn't planning on going to the gym first. Sans power, I resorted to my fully-charged cell phone to find out whether or not the University was open for business. It was NOT. And the MAX meeting was cancelled as well.
So hear I sit in all my mid-morning glory, half-dressed (more than you needed to know) at the computer, and blogging away. The Federal government opens right about now, but Evelyn arose early and is long gone. It's her Germantown day, and I don't envy her the commute. Her car sits in the driveway under a snow white layer of snow, so she must have opted for public transportation.
Suddenly, the doorbell rings. I can't see the front stoop from the upstairs window, but I do see two passersby walking a dog and looking intently in the direction of the front door. In lieu of meeting my mysterious visitor, I begin dressing my other half, peering out the window as I do so. I am almost done when the back of a figure emerges carrying a snow shovel and broom. Ah, an entrepreneur! Well, I can shovel my own snow thank you very much, and now that he's moved on up the street, I'm going to do that right now.
11:00am - With shoveling complete, I read my email. I see that some of my neighbors still haven't had their power restored, and some have only had it restored in part of their homes. That's a new one on me.
2:00pm - Had a late lunch: smoked turkey and gouda on a garlic bagel with a glass of grapefruit juice.
5:00pm - Continuing on my Bob Clark binge (I watched "The Ransom of Red Chief" last week), I finished up "Baby Geniuses," following that up with a change of pace, "A Crude Awakening," a frightening documentary that takes a look at our increasing dependence on fossil fuel, its rapid depletion, and some sobering predictions for the future. After that it was time for a much needed break.
9:00pm - Watched one more film, "Super High Me," a documentary featuring comedian, Doug Benson, who goes a month without smoking pot to a month of mucho marijuana. He's a very funny guy, and he has a lot of comedian friends who make cameos throughout the film. Not sure that the film has much of a message other than to echo the rather obvious (to me) conclusion that today's marijuana's laws are bizarre, unenforceable, and damaging to those unfortunate enough to get caught in the crosshairs.
Tomorrow's my last day as Manager of OIT's Distributed Computing Services group. With the prospect of that thought rummaging around my brain all night, I doubt I'm going to get a good night's sleep tonight. On a much more sobering note, WTOP reports that there are 250,000 households still without power. Per posts on the neighborhood listserver, some of these homes are in our neighborhood. List members also report a couple of downed power lines and a taxi partially submerged in Sligo Creek. Staring into the glare of my fully-powered computer screen, I realize how lucky I am to have all of the comforts of home, literally.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
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