Late

I had a million things to do before work this morning, then a million things to do during work, then a million things to do after work… so obviously I was going to oversleep, right?

Frustrated sigh.

Oh well. The big question for Friday mornings these days is do I watch the new episode of Severance while I do my morning exercise, or do I watch the new episode of Yellowjackets. Today I went with Yellowjackets. No spoilers for season three episode five, but if there is one thing that show needs (a lot) more of, it is PJ Harvey music. I started watching Severance (season two episode eight, I think) but I haven’t the faintest clue what’s going on. I’ll finish it before I sleep tonight. Promise.

We had a contractor at the house yesterday. We have another one coming this morning, any minute now, and we have another one coming this afternoon. Things are getting weird around here.

What else was I going to mention this morning? Oh yeah, I woke up at about 4:00am this morning. I think it was the wind that woke me. It was blowing around like a hurricane out there. It was bad enough that it knocked over the bird feeder. I have to fix it, but the ground is still frozen so it might have to wait a little while. It’s March so the thaw out is coming, but it’s not coming soon enough for me.

Today is also the NHL trade deadline. I expect it’s going to be a sad day for Boston Bruins fans as we’re far enough out of the playoff picture that we will be sellers. Here’s hoping for a lot of high draft picks while also hoping that none of my favorite Bruins get dealt away. Fingers crossed.

Apple Music just let me know that there’s a new Bob Mould album released today. I’ll give that a listen while stressing about everything under the sun. Sounds good to me.

The first contractor has arrived. I’d best let him in…………

Rain is a Thing

So rain is still a thing. I mean this from a work point of view.

When Covid hit and we all started working from home full time, I learned to stop really worrying about rain. I didn’t have a commute anymore so I didn’t need to drive to and from work in the rain. I didn’t need to walk out to a parking lot in the rain. I didn’t even need to walk to the driveway. From the perspective of getting to and from work rain (and snow) stopped being a concern at all.

Now that we’re back in the office at least some of the time it’s a thing again and it sucks.

It is pouring rain today. I’m looking out the window and the parking lot looks like a small lake. I have to drive to a different building soon and that means I have to go out in this suck-fest of a rain storm and get drenched so that I can make the next meeting.

Working at home is so much better than working in the office. So much better.

Thus concludes this morning’s rant about rain. Thank you for your time and patience.

Random Thoughts

The last few days have put me into a prolonged, slow burning state of freak out. Fun.

My friend’s father passed away on Monday. My father went into the hospital on Tuesday. No details on either situation will be forthcoming. We just got clobbered by a thunderstorm which, it turns out, was rough enough to knock out the power in the hospital. The backup generators kicked in a second later, but woah.

I am planning to go to the hospital after work tonight. I need to make dinner first but then I’ll go for a quick visit before visiting hours end. Tomorrow morning is the funeral. I’ll go to the hospital afterwards. How’s that for a tough day? The last few days have been bad, but tomorrow… woah.

On less important (re: not important at all) topics, I have one more episode of The Umbrella Academy’s final season to watch. I strongly suspect that once I finish that final episode I will immediately start a rewatch of the entire series from season one episode one. I think that is going to happen.

Earlier today I was looking at Threads (the twitter alternative social network made by the same assholes who make instagram and bookfayce which begs the question why the fuck am I giving this new social network site the time of day) and I posted that musically speaking, today is a Porcupine Tree kinda day (from a mental health standpoint, of course… meaning heavy and complicated and confusing if you’re not paying close attention). TWELVE MINUTES LATER I got a notification that the Porcupine Tree instagram account had been ported to Threads. They haven’t posted anything yet but I guess I should say you’re welcome?

I don’t know what the dad situation is going to be like this weekend but I do know that Bellana, my step daughter, is coming over for a visit. All the bad, scary stuff going on feels a little more bearable when the kids come by. I am really looking forward to seeing how she did at her conference this week. I want all the sciency details.

Speaking of science, from a nutritional standpoint I screwed up yesterday. I spent the whole day at the hospital with Dad and when I left the house I forgot to take my pill case with me. I took my breakfast vitamin pills before I left, and took my lunch vitamin pills when I got home for dinner. I was going to take my dinner vitamin pills before I went to sleep, but I fell asleep earlier than expected and missed that dose. Dummy. Note to self: bring the friggin’ pill case tomorrow. Dumb ass.

What else? Word from the hospital this afternoon is that Dad is starting to show early signs of coming out of whatever was wrong. My fingers and toes and eyes are all firmly crossed. Again, I am not sharing details beyond a small hint of optimism. Enjoy it while you can.

Okay, Robert. Stop stressing and get back to work. You have stuff to do. Do it.

Snow

It’s snowing outside. We are supposed to get a big~ish snow storm starting late tonight and running through the whole day tomorrow. They are predicting about a foot.

Yippee.

I hate snow. I hate winter. I hate them with the fiery passion of 100 burning suns. You see the irony, right?

The Land of Never Ending Rain

I wanted to cook a hamburger on the grill for lunch today. When I went upstairs to start prepping it started to rain. Figures. No cookout for me. I thought to myself, maybe I’ll cook dinner on the grill instead.

After I punched out of work I went upstairs to start prepping for dinner. The sky was almost pitch dark. Within minutes we were in the middle of a major thunderstorm. The sky opened and the rain fell in sheets. The lightning was close by and nearly constant. The thunder shook the entire house. No cookout for me.

Friggin’ rain. Mother nature is a complete jerk.

Rained Out

I had two plans for my lunch break today. Jen and I were going to go for a short walk. Just to the end of the street and back. Then I was going to cook a hamburger on the grill again. I was hoping to break for lunch around 1:00pm.

At noon I went upstairs for a minute. I had opened all of the windows in the house this morning and it should have been glorious up there but it wasn’t quite. It was really humid and the sky outside was almost completely dark. Like post-sunset dark.

In other words… there was clearly a thunderstorm brewing. I closed the windows. Just in time. Five minutes later the sky fell. Massive, crazy downpour. My lunch plans were completely rained out and I am quite sad about it.

Tonight after work I have to go to the Apple store. I checked the weather. The thunderstorm and the rain ended by about 2:00, I think. The forecast is telling me that there’s a chance for a second round of thunderstorms… right about the time that I get off from work and have to go outside.

Son of a…!

Shovel

That storm was an asshole. I’d say we probably had 6-8 inches of snow, but it was never cold enough for it to stay frozen and it was soaking wet and weighed a ton. We might have had way over a foot if it had been five degrees colder, and it wouldn’t have been sitting on a city sized puddle.

When I finished work I was convinced that I wouldn’t be driving into the office tomorrow. Then I saw the forecast had changed some and the predicted overnight snow was now predicted overnight rain. Shit. I went outside and shoveled the driveway and cleared off the cars. If it is just rain tonight I’ll drive to the office tomorrow. If it’s snow again I’ll likely stay home.

I hate snow in March. Have I ever mentioned that?

Two Storms in One

We’re going to get spanked around by the weather today. Also tonight. Also tomorrow. It started last night with a heavy rain storm. That storm is supposed to merge with a nor’easter today and turn into a butt load of snow. Yippee.

It was raining like nuts when I went down to the cellar this morning. When I poked my head up a few minutes ago it was just starting to turn into snow. Hooray.

The forecast is calling for 6-10 inches of snow today. I’m not sure how much we’re supposed to expect tomorrow. It’s March 14th. It’s still Winter, and Winter is not going to go quietly… the prick.

Tomorrow is a work from the office day, and the snow is supposed to still be falling during the morning commute. Oh good.

I hate Winter. I just hate it.

Snow

Yesterday, with the help of a neighbor who is a hero, I cleaned off the driveway. I also dug a path to the trash barrels on the side of the house and cleared a path from the street to the fire hydrant. I didn’t clean off the cars. Today I cleaned off the cars.

I hate snow and there was a lot of it. I guess that means there was a lot to hate.

In lieu of flowers, send money to the Red Cross and any Ukrainian charities you can think of.