Everybody always talks about the weather

I don’t know about you, but I had a snow day today.

I woke up a little early this morning, and when I noticed the snow that had started to fall in the middle of the night — it was still mostly just half-frozen rain when I went to bed — I debated calling (or rather e-mailing) in to work and taking the day off. It was tough to tell from my bedroom window just how much snow had fallen, much less how bad it would get later in the day, but I really didn’t feel like risking it. I just didn’t want to be the first person in my group to take the day off. But twenty minutes or so went by and nothing seemed to be happening, either by e-mail or on the company’s emergency telephone line. And the office is officially open at 7 AM. I was going to have to commit to either taking a shower, or taking the day and going back to sleep.

In the end, I guess I did a little of both. I took a shower, but no sooner had I finished then an e-mail informing us that the office would be closed for the day was sent out. Had it been sent only ten or fifteen minutes earlier, I could have just gone back to bed, but, hey, a snow day is a snow day. It was pretty unexpected, but I was happy to take it.

I spent a good chunk of the day shoveling and snow-blowing out the driveway, and in trekking out into the backyard with the dog, who seems mystified every time we go out to discover there’s still snow everywhere. I also watched the really terrific Passing Strange, which I have out from Netflix — and which, I’ve got to say, beats venturing into Manhattan to reformat PowerPoint files all day. Which is probably what my day would have entailed, had our office been open.

Right now, I’m thinking about watching this week’s episode of Burn Notice or maybe a little late-night capping. I’m really just enjoying this unexpected three-day weekend.

Beans are in flower

It’s tempting to just fall back every day on my Forgotten English desk calendar, whether or not the phrases it defines are especially apt or not. Especially when it’s a phrase like today’s — “beans are in flower,” which was apparently “a suggested explanation for a person’s stupidity.” The thinking being that “it was formerly believed that the scent of the flowering bean induced stupidity in the recipient of it.” There wasn’t a whole lot of evident stupidity in my day — bean-induced or not — but it’s good a phrase not to share.

What there was a lot of today, however, was snow. No real accumulation, just a wet and dreary sludge. It meant I couldn’t take my usual walk around Manhattan at lunchtime, and also that I had to be careful about not slipping into a messy puddle on my way home. In the past hour or so, it seems to have turned more into snow than rain, so we might get they the three to five inches they’re predicting for overnight. Still, my commute tonight wasn’t so terrible — and a lot better than most, judging by tonight’s evening news. A man was even killed by a falling tree in Central Park. We’ll see what it looks like tomorrow.

And that’s about it, really.

In review

Today started out a lot like yesterday, although not quite as rainy, and I did manage to make the earlier train into the city. By the time I reached Manhattan, the rain had all but stopped, which made the people still holding up umbrellas look a little silly. (Though I suppose you never do know when a sudden downpour might strike.) I got to the office and started in on some art therapy instructor materials we’re developing for one of our websites. Why, what do you while you’re waiting for the remaining chapters of your counseling older adults book?

I also had my yearly performance review this afternoon. I knew it was coming, since we had already filled out our self-evaluations, but my boss kind of sprung it on me this morning by e-mail. Not that I needed a lot of time to prepare — and the review itself went really well, actually — but I always find that sort of thing a little nerve-wracking, even under the best of circumstances. As I say, though, it luckily went very well, and I do feel very glad to be a part of this team at work.

Other than that, not a whole lot is new around here. They’re predicting snow for tomorrow, but, then, when aren’t they these days? I will say this: I am glad it’s almost the weekend again.

Tuesday’s almost done

Today was a pretty good day, if only because I managed to accomplish more at work than I expected to. I wound up having to buy a new umbrella — and Duane Reade and I are just going to have to agree to disagree about our definition a of “full-size” umbrella — when my old one fell apart in the wind and rain during the walk from Penn Station. Luckily it wasn’t raining enough to get me drenched, and I was wearing a hat, but if the entire day had been like my morning, I don’t think I’d have been too happy about it now.

But it wasn’t. It was actually a pretty decent, if not altogether remarkable day. Now, I think I’m going to maybe watch tonight’s episode of Lost, then go to bed, almost certainly in that order.

Whither Saturday?

Early this morning, I drove with my father over to our local mechanic to have one of the cars submitted to its yearly inspection. Which may be the last time I did much of anything today. I did finish some of the editing I had left for the next issue of Kaleidotrope, copying my handwritten corrections over to the electronic files so I can send them to the authors. I think it’s shaping up to be a really great issue, and I’m growing even more convinced that a third issue for the year in July is a good idea. We’ll see. I definitely have enough material already accepted to fill the extra issue, so that’s not a problem.

Beyond that, I spent a lot of the day pottering around online, playing with the dog (who seems shocked every time by the snow, when he isn’t determined to eat every last ounce of it), and watching a little television. (I could tell trying to explain The Mighty Boosh to my father — much less three episodes into the second season, much less halfway through that episode — was going to be a losing proposition. Heck, I like the show and it’s not like I always understand it.)

And that’s it.