Thursday This n That

 Mmm, coffee.

It's February. I suppose I ought to change my calendar.  Only a day late, so go me.

Between the weather and the crud, there were only two people at work yesterday - me and another dude.  Nice and quiet, just the way ol' hermit me likes it.  And I get along with the dude, so the few interactions we had were pleasant. Mostly, it was me in my office doing my things and him in his doing his things.

Driving home yesterday was interesting.  When they plowed the highway, they left large piles of ice at the entrances to all the side roads.  And it got just warm enough to make snowcones out of it. So, I had a pile of soft ice to get through to get onto the highway and another to get through to get off the highway.  Lucky for me, I know how to handle shit like that.  And thankfully, the highway was free of other drivers.  A little fish-tailing was involved and I was in the wrong lane for a smidgen there.  We'll see how doing it in reverse works this morning.

Michigander me thinks all of this is piddlin'.  I've driven through way worse.  Of course, it's been 20+ years, but it's like riding a bike.  I don't understand how some people forget how to drive in snow from one winter to the next.  

Hubs with the crud means I've been taking on some of his chores.  Like feeding the deer.  They don't know me, so they freak when they see it's me and not him.  But after a couple days, they aren't running away anymore, so that's good.  I also took over garbage duty.  I rolled the polycart up to the road last night, which was fun since everything is covered in a thick layer of packed ice pellets. Tiny steps.  And hey, I didn't fall.  :knocks on wood:

I made an apple-cranberry crisp this week.  Unfortunately, I had no vanilla ice cream and the roads were too bad for a run to the store.  Lucky for me, I had a bowl of whipped cream in the back of the fridge.  Yum.  You definitely need something creamy to balance the tart of the cranberries.

Okay, I should probably start getting ready for work and junk.  Have a great day, everyone.  

A Pre-New Year's Eve PSA

With the biggest drinking night of the year coming at us fast, I'd like to take a moment to rant...

This morning, I read a news story about a woman who ruined an entire family because she was too stupid to not get behind the wheel when she'd been drinking.  The family was on its way to celebrate Christmas.  And now the dad is dead and the mom and the daughter are injured.  And she's facing manslaughter charges.

Drinking and driving is just stupid.  Seriously.

Oh, I've done it.  Although I never got caught.  Looking back, I'm surprised I survived doing it and I'm damn lucky I didn't kill anyone or damage any property.  That was 25-30 years ago.  I've smartened up a lot since then.  Cuz that was probably the stupidest thing I've ever done (and I've done some stupid shit).

Personally, I think one drink before you get behind the wheel is too much.  One beer?  One glass of wine?  Well, maybe, but how do you know how that one drink is going to affect you? 

I used to drink A LOT.  My tolerance level was up there, lemme tell ya.  One night I was out with friends and they convinced me to do a shooter.  Within 15 minutes I couldn't stand up straight.  I seriously thought I was having a brain aneurysm because I couldn't even remember doing the damn shooter and thought I'd only had my gin and tonic.  It was seriously scary.  Lucky for me, I wasn't driving that night.  My friends took me home and got me inside, where I crawled to the bathroom and hugged the porcelain god for a while.

Hammered by one shooter.  I wasn't even sure what was in the shooter.  Was it schnapps or was it 151 rum?  There's a big difference in the alcohol content of those two things.  Plus, the shooter mixed with some gin in my belly.  At least it wasn't mixed with any drugs - prescription or otherwise.  And there's another thing people don't think about - how the alcohol is going to mix with whatever else they have in their system.  Cold medicine, pain killers, etc. and alcohol can really mess a body up. 

Then they get in their car and drive home.  Or to another bar.  Or to a friend's house for after bar cocktails.  Woohoo.

Stupid.

So, do the world a favor.  Don't drink and then drive.  Don't get into a car with someone else who's been drinking and let them drive.  If you have to drink, find someone who hasn't been drinking to drive you home.  Designate a driver who won't touch a drop during your festivities.  Call a cab.  Get an Uber or a Lyft.  And if you can't do any of those things, don't drink.  It is possible to have a fun time without being pickled.

Don't make your fun night turn into a horrible night for you or anyone else. 

Just sayin'.

Park Like an Idiot Day

I got all the Christmas cards done yesterday morning and took them to the post office along with the Mom boxes, so if you're expecting something, it should be there soon.  (There's always one or two I forget, so I have a couple more to send, but those'll go out as soon as I buy more stamps.)

While I was out, I discovered it was Park Like an Idiot Day and I didn't get the memo.  Our tiny post office has parking for maybe five cars and a handicapped spot.  It's a dirt parking lot, so of course, there are no lines (except for the handicapped spot which is paved and well marked).  When I got to the post office, there was a farm truck with two round bails on the back, parked stupid and taking up enough space for two cars.  Next to him was a sheriff's SUV parked stupid and taking up enough space for two cars.  The one space left was occupied and farmer dude and deputy were chatting.  I went into a holding pattern, waiting for the one space left to open up.  He left and I slid my little Cavalier into the space.  As I was getting out of my car, a lady pulled up behind me.  "I'll be quick," she said.  "Promise."  And she was.  While I was inside, mailing my packages and cards, another lady pulled up behind me.  The second lady was old and not quick. 

Meanwhile, the two dudes were still chatting.  Between the old gal and the dudes, I couldn't leave without risk of car injury and trust me, if I'd scraped the sheriff SUV while trying to avoid the old lady's car, it would've been my fault even though he was parked stupid and she had to park stupid because of him and his friend. 

I eventually made it out of the post office.  (So irritated that I forgot to buy stamps, so I'll be back there today.)  Then I went to the bank.  It's not a big bank, but it has a lot of parking spots along the side if you're willing to walk.  Some numbnuts in a truck with a trailer had parked in front of the bank in the space between the parking spaces - you know, the space for driving - instead of the long row of parking spots no one ever uses.  I think he was there applying for a loan, for pitysakes.  Anyway, I dillydallied around long enough chatting with my bank friends that he left before I did, thereby making it easier for me to pull out of the space I'd wedged myself into.  Lucky I dillydallied, too, because irritation almost made me forget to get some cash while I was there.  Derp.

Then, I get back to the road that leads back to my neighborhood.  People are always parking around there for one reason or another.  There are places you can pull off onto the grass, so it's usually not a big deal.  Yesterday, there was a dude parked in the road, talking on his cell phone.  Anywhere else, it wouldn't be a problem, but here you turn off the highway and then turn to go uphill to turn and go toward the neighborhood.  He was stopped on the uphill between the two turns.  Good thing no one was coming from the other direction or POW. 

Today is Wallyworld.  Here's hoping Park Like an Idiot Day is over or it may turn into Go Postal on Stupid People Day. 

:sings:  It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  Every where I go. 

Not sure what it is about the holidays that makes people loose all sense of reason, decorum, and courtesy, but it does.  Be careful out there, folks.

(Yes, I could've politely asked the dudes to move their chat to the empty parking lot up the road a bit, but I didn't want risk pissing a sheriff's deputy off.  I'm pretty law-abiding, but I do have a tendency to speed a wee bit.  I so do not need a Barney Fife busting me for doing 3 mph over somewhere down the road because he's got a bug up his butt.)