Saturday, January 18, 2003
 

It's freakin cold. I awoke this morning at circa 8:30 (sleeping in; weekends are wild around here) to a wind chill of -8. Negative 8. It doesn't do that in my southern home state. It's warmed up now, at noon, to a balmy wind chill of 9. All of you have no doubt heard my decidedly whiny opinions of weather colder than 55 degrees, so, needless to say, I'm not happy.

I'm also afraid to venture out of my apartment. The roads have been a disaster, lots of wrecks, pile-ups, and cars off the road. I think the major roads are probably mostly clear now, but the minor ones that I have to navigate to get anywhere are still dangerous. A friend tells me that her street, a few blocks away, had an inch of ice still on it yesterday. The sidewalks also feature that inch of ice. I had to walk to campus yesterday, and it was a nasty venture the whole way. I have waterproof boots, but they're not intended to be snow boots; they're just plain old shoes. The waterproof-ness was fortunate, but they're smooth-soled and have no traction, making my entire walk an ice capades performance. Olympic judges, take note. Fortunately, I was so bundled-up that I doubt anyone could have recognized me.

I'm not going to try to make it to campus for my handouts today. Call me paranoid [NB: that's a rhetorical comment and not an invitation], but a relative broke her leg very nastily a few years back, and I'm not willing to risk it. I think I have more than enough to keep me occupied until Monday morning.

Ahh. There goes my kitchen timer. My pasta awaits . . .

Elvisette philosophized at 1:06 PM