Snow (or how I almost bought an SUV)

The blizzard (okay; that may be a little strong, but still, a hell of a lot of snow) in Chicago is news across the country, along with that of New York's. Yesterday, it just wouldn't stop snowing. I shoveled 5 times to keep things clear.

Well, the snow is still around and my car -- useless in the snow -- is in the garage. A few years ago, I got stuck in the alley and had to have our neighbor tow me back to my garage with his Mercedes SUV. Thus, when the snow is deep enough to get in your shoe when you step in a drift -- that is a day I keep my car in the garage.

I went to the gym today and took public transportation. The trip took over 45 minutes verus less than 15 normally. If automobile dealers were open on Sundays, I would have been tempted to go shopping. Really. I built-my-own on no less than three manufacturers websites this morning. The Evil-Colin said, "Yeah. Select the V8 -- bring on global warming, baby!"

I decided to walk back from the gym instead of taking pub-trans. The sun shone and the world was bright (for once you needed your sunglasses). I got home and grabbed my camera, and wandered around my area with my iPod in my ears. Here are a few highlights. Click on any square for largers.


The last one is of my proto-beard. I tried it as an experiment, to both see if I could grow one and if it looked good. The answer to both questions is "No."

And yes, I intentionally didn't rotate the walkway photo. I like things better tilty.