Before the storm?

And this was the office at alden today, before the storm calling for 20 inches!

At least

Snow has some use.

Holy shit batman

I will post a map tomorrow with times of travel to each point of interest, but had hellish 3.5 hour, 6 mile drive home today. Most of that, 3 hours to be exact, were spent on a quarter mile stretch on Randolph road just west of Dewey drive.

Once I finally made it to the light at Dewey; decided that nothing ventured, nothing gained and headed into the cold black unknown. Turned into the neighborhood streets to climb the hill, passing under a downed tree with a clearance of about 3 inches in the truck. Passed a few struggling cars on the way to a black light at Veirs Mill. Took Viers mill towards university blvd and after crossing Connecticut, had to stop due to a burning smell emanating from my wiper blades. Cleared the ice that was preventing them from returning to the neutral position and headed up the hill. There were about 50 struggling cars on the way up the hill, which I took particular pleasure in emphatically passing in my 4WD truck. One party tried to flag me down, but I kept on trucking up the hill. No time to get carjacked in little Mexico. Plus, I found what I admit was unending, shameless joy passing BMWs, Mercedes, Prius, and other cars struggling up the hill at 3 mph (if they were lucky ti move at all) while going 20-30 mph uphill in my truck.

No lights anywhere in Wheaton on Viers Mill, kind of surreal to be honest. Heard a few transformers explode in the way home. No lights working. But ok since no one is at the small interactions, unlike the total clusterf&$@ on Randolph rd.

Got to georgia ave, which was stopped, and crossed on university to find a slick little S2000 flailing in all three lanes. Once he settled down, passed him with a vengeance and let him know that he was number one in my book.

Headed up the vacated university, and to my surprise was almost head-on collided by a jackass driving on the wrong side of the separated street. Continued on, saw the lights at northwood high go down, and passed a multitude of Mexicans walking down university with snow shovels, I assume to charge nominal fees for digging out cars and pushing them up hills. Finally made it home, where large branches are down in the front and back. Pics to follow tomorrow.

Two lessons from tonight. Have a gun in the car and always drive 4WD. Without it I would have been stuck sleeping in my car tonight, with a car stranded for god knows how long. The gun is to take care if any problems originating from south of the border, either on the drive or the desperation hike home. Can't wait to get the Judge for social work and deal out some stiff sentences.

Unlike my co-commuters who are undoubtedly still stuck on Randolph or have abandoned their vehicles, I am glad to be home. Grabbed a few beers and toasted the truck for a truly fine performance. Thank you Chevy!

iTunes rage

When Train, "Drops of Jupiter," is ranked number 5 on the iTunes Rock top ten list, it makes me want to puke and hiccup at the same time in the hopes I will drown on my own vomit rather than suffer more time staring down the vast emptiness of the collective American psyche.

And if you want to truly go down the rabbit hole, take a listen to Katy Perry's "Peacock," with which a certain fitness instructor was good enough to destroy any clinging faith I had left in humanity during a recent spinning class. You try pedaling harder after having your soul, literally, ripped out of your body.

Clearly, searching for some shred of decent music to cheer me up while on travel took a wrong turn. Thank you iTunes!