It's All New to Me: Snowmageddon 2011

Showing posts with label Snowmageddon 2011. Show all posts

Day 120: Ig-Pay Atin-Lay

Oday-tay e-way ere-hay in-ay Atlanta-ay ere-way uck-stay inside-ay uffering-say om-fray owmageddon-snay 2011-ay or-fay a-ay ird-thay onsecutive-cay ay-day. Ig-Bay ummer-bay.

As-ay I-ay ave-hay aid-say efore-bay, one-ay ow-snay ay-day is-ay ecial-spay. A-ay econd-say ow-snay ay-day is-ay un-fay in-ay at-thay ou-ya et-gay o-tay eep-slay in-ay a-ay ittle-lay, ut-bay en-thay oredom-bay ickly-quay ets-say in-ay. A-ay ird-thay ay-day? I-ay ill-way ry-tay riving-day on-ay ice-ay ith-way my-ay o-tway-eel-whay rive-day orolla-Cay o-tay et-gay my-ay utt-bay out-ay of-ay is-thay eaking-fray apartment-ay.

o-Say I-ay id-day. At-ay en-tay AM-ay, I-ay ent-way out-ay in-ay an-ay attempt-ay o-tay o-gay o-tay ork-way, ere-whay I-ay as-way anded-stray, o-nay ore-may an-thay enty-tway eet-fay om-fray the-ay entrance-ay o-tay my-ay apartment-ay. ee-Say, my-ay apartment-ay omplex-cay is-ay at-ay the-ay ottom-bay of-ay a-ay ill-hay on-ay anklin-Fray, and-ay etting-gay out-ay eans-may oing-gay up-ay in-ay either-ay irection-day. And-ay I-ay an't-cay o-gay anywhere-ay.

Ow-nay, I-ay am-ay otally-tay uck-stay. And-ay I-ay ad-had o-tay ite-wray is-thay in-ay ig-Pay atin-Lay o-tay ave-hay a ew-Nay ing-Thay!!

For anyone who reads this in its entirety and gets the story, give me the name of my street I was stuck on and I'll send you a big package of chocolate...once I can get out of my apartment complex.

Day 119: The Opposite of Playing Hooky

Here in Atlanta, we're all cooped up and confined to Snow Day 2, Revenge of the Ice Monsters. What prevented us from going anywhere on Snow Day 1 was the general sentiment that, "OH GOD, SNOW IN ATLANTA, CLOSE DOWN THE HATCHES!!" Snow Day 2, however, ushered in a legitimate panic and inability to go anywhere because our beloved four inches of snow had melted into solid sheets of ice everywhere. There were more highway closings and accidents on Snow Day 2, Revenge of the Ice Monsters, than there were on Snow Day 1.

Now, being the good Atlantan that I am, I took Snow Day 1 pretty easy. I got on my computer to check my work e-mail and do some very general and easy tasks, not straining myself to perform great feats of work-at-home machismo.

Come Snow Day 2, Revenge of the Ice Monsters, I didn't have the option to not do work from home. So on Day 119, I legitimately worked from home. I mean, I was checking email at 8:30 AM, booking appointments for press, writing an article due next week, getting on two conference calls--the works.

Remember my Birth Chart and how it told me that I would be best if I worked on my own schedule--outside of a 9-5, etc.? Yes, indeed, that thing again was right. I loved it. It provided me with an awesome sense of freedom. I stopped banging my head against the article when it wasn't working out anymore and picked it up again after dinner to much success. I didn't stress over finding stuff to do when there was no work to be done. I stopped for a couple minutes to snuggle with my boyfriend. And I was productive!

Now, downfalls are that I kind of miss human interaction, but I blame that on the fact that we're cooped up inside and can't go out for any reason anyway. I'm pretty sure if I had been able to do my work from a Borders, take a yoga class in the middle of the day, and correspond one-on-one with some people from work I wouldn't have felt that way, or not that strongly. Hell, I only see an average of two people at work on any given day anyway.

So in short, I loved it. I could make it a way of life. Now how to convince the boss that's a viable option for me?

Day 118: Popsicle Bust

Being snowbound for day 118, I had to get creative with New Things.

I have a small list of things that I've been compiling since before the project began, and one of those things happened to be: freeze a popsicle outside.

I scrambled for something to freeze. Our fridge had a bottle of unopened champagne from New Years, a carton of milk and some beef and chicken stock. Not wanting to open the bottle of champagne, freeze our perfectly good milk or eat a stock popsicle, Mark came up with an even better idea--a Dole cup of mandarin oranges.

I found a tool used for carving pumpkins and made that it's "stick," and set the little bugger out on a snow-covered ledge in the freezing cold.

I sat and did other snowbound things, like read Anthony Bourdain's book, Kitchen Confidential, did as much work work as I could from home, watched daytime TV like "What Not to Wear," snuggled for warmth, cleaned off the ice from my car, etc. etc.

Hours later--not single glaze of ice on my fruit cup.

Nada.

So, because I was blissfully determined, I decided to leave it overnight. With temps down in the teeny-tiny twenties, I thought surely my little cup would get some sort of chill.

Au contraire.

This morning, I'm pretty sure that thing is even warmer than the snow around it.

My lesson: the preservatives in your food serve as anti-freeze in your food, and can't be safe. Thank goodness I couldn't eat it anyway.

Day 117: SNO-M-G!

Today I saw more snow than I've ever seen in my entire life. Due to global warming and it's effect on polarizing our weather systems--hotter summers, colder winters--we get the pleasure of being snowed in tomorrow for work (and maybe even the next day).

Snow is a huge deal in Atlanta because we are so humorously ill-equipped for it. Our tires don't work in snow, our roads aren't made for snow, our snow plows are brought in from neighboring states, and children are taught from early on that a single 1/4 inch layer of snow on the ground means that the city shuts down. Our brains shut down in the snow.

But today trumped it all...2-3 inches of snow inside Metro Atlanta, 4-5 in the 'burbs and freezing rain in the morning? Snowmaggedon. Seriously.

So what were Mark and I to do, but take a late-night stroll through snowpocalypse. Luckily, we're stocked up on homemade beef stew, Snyder's Nibblers, plenty of peanut butter and a bottle of champagne, so all is well.