Wait.  Wasn’t There Supposed To Be More Snow? …

   

Here we have two examples of sleds.  The first being what we used when snowmageddon hit us only because that’s all we had.  Now it’s just a brutally taped up, old trashcan lid.  But hey it served it’s purpose when we used it.  Having to go south for a recent business trip I found the polar bear sled (aka The Polar Bear Express) at a Walmart and figured I should get it since then there was still snow on the ground.  Unfortunately, Chewy and I were too busy to actually use it so Sharka and the rest of the crew are just riding around in it.

• This is me when Chewy’s on travel.
• Interesting look at News.  Apparently, it’s based upon some stuff the University of Maryland has worked on.
• I think that’s why there’s something called caffeine.  I’m sure Chewy would agree with the study.  Me, I’m not too sure.  I had to wake up before dawn and went to a school that had no windows.  My sleep patterns aren’t that messed up.  I think it more has to do with how much stuff I need to get done or want to get done.
• I wonder what Al Gore is gonna say about this?  It’s all just a big scam.  Me you feel good for paying a premium when really it isn’t any better than the item without the sticker.
• It’s the asbestos of our generation.
• I kept on thinking about Calvin and Hobbes after reading this.
• Makes me want to watch the Trilogy again.  It’s A Trap!!
• Is it really that technical or gobbledegook?  Come on.  If that was the case people would never learn anything in their life.  People just throw up arbitrary barriers so they have an excuse.  It’s so silly.  I think I’m gonna start using the same mentality now especially when other people do it.
  

OMG!  TUCKER FOR THE WIN!

Can’t say I’ve watched a ton of Maryland Basketball this season.  Usually I have no clue when they’re playing or even if they’re on the tube.  Being in my current exhausted state I started to channel surf.  Something I haven’t done in awhile.  Low and behold there’s a game on.  Something seems special about these Terps.  I wondered if they were going to falter especially after watching Vasquez hit that mid-court shot after Coach Williams called the timeout.  But would you guess that Tucker would take the last shot AND make it?  That was nice.  Nice win Terps.

• 24 is on hiatus while Kiefer recovers from elective surgery.  You figure after having so many “bad” days this would be nothing.  Wait.  Am I mixing fiction with reality?
• I guess this just really helps those people who can’t type.  But really do we need this type of stuff?
• Barbie a Computer Engineer?  Really?  There’s so many jokes that could be said about this (from both sides of the coin) but I better keep my mouth shut.
• Are they really only available for women?  I guess I’ll just stick to my Transformer PJ bottoms.
• Looks good – The All-American Chinese Cookbook 2
• I scratch your back.  You scratch my back.

MORE SNOW?!?  REALLY?  COME ON! …

Chewy loves the snow.  She really loves the snow.  I on the other hand only enjoy the snow.  It’s nice to watch it fall.  It’s nice to play around in it.  It makes a picturesque landscape.  But at this point I’m tired of the snow.  Tired of shoveling it.  Tired of driving around in poorly plowed roads.  And now I’m tired of trying to protect our house from it.

After helping my brother all weekend with some stuff we came home and noticed a six inch oval of a wet spot on the ceiling underneath one of the bedrooms.  Water some how started to leak into the house and basically went down one level already.  I guess I was too tired and it was too dark to realize where the water was coming in last night but this morning much to my dismay it looks like the water is coming in and around a window sill. 

Looking at the house from the outside, the snow has started to slide down the roof but with all the melting during the day and icing at night there looks to be an ice damn on the backside of the house.  Even with the downspouts cleared there’s just too much snow and ice on the backside of the roof.

Stuff like this makes me crazy.  During snowmageddon I diligently knocked off any forming icicles, moved snow off the porch roof and tried to clear the gutters and downspouts.  The only thing I really couldn’t do was get the snow off the roof.  The ice damns finally caught up to me. ugh.  As I’m currently in a crazed mood trying to contain the water with a towel into a bucket I’m trying to figure out how to get the snow and ice off the roof.

Standing on a chair, I hang halfway out the window with a hammer chiseling the ice off.  I use a rake to try and go above and back over the snow to try and push it off the roof.  I then remember the calcium chloride and pantyhose trick.  Basically you fill pantyhose with this stuff and lay it across the ice damn.  The stuff will melt the damn off and you should regain water flow off the roof.  OK.  Gotta find calcium chloride and pantyhose.

Home Depot has got calcium chloride.  Check.  Now to Walmart for pantyhose.  But what do I really know about pantyhose?  Bank robbers use it.  It tears easily.  There are different colors.  That’s about it.  While in Walmart I’m trying to figure out what to buy when this old lady comes up to me and starts asking me questions about pantyhose.  She’s like:

I ended up buying some knee high versions.  I fill them up and while halfway hanging out the window again lob them onto the roof.  Some throws are good.  Some are not and then the calcium chloride bombs land on our deck.  I think I trudged back and forth between the deck and window about 10 times.  It was sad.  I figure though these bombs are probably just lying on the roof but not really near the ice damn.  I really should have bought full length leg pantyhose.  This way I can sling them up and have them at least perpendicular to the ice damn to open up a hole right off the roof.  So back to Walmart for more pantyhose.

That’s when I see our neighbor and we start talking about the snow and it getting into our house and apparently their house as well.  They have the same problem though they’ve been living with it for several days now.  I tell them my plan about calcium chloride and pantyhose.  I offer to get them some calcium chloride and pantyhose since I’m heading that way.  They’re now onboard with trying to remove ice damns on our roofs.

I really shouldn’t have bought the cheapo pantyhose.  After filling the legs and tying it off a few have already started to have runs in them.  One actually bursts while I’m trying to sling it to the roof.  I tie it down further and try and get it on the roof.  More back and forth between retrieving them from our deck and throwing them on our roof.  All in all I think there are four full leg lengths and six knee high packets on the roof.

I’d have to imagine this will work or I just made things worse…

I hate the snow sometimes

A Samoa Girl Scout Cookie and Two Gummy Lifesavers …

That’s what you get when you’ve been at home for about a week and you’re too sore to do anything other than be on call for work.  The picture wasn’t even staged, the cookie was already in the bowl and I plopped two gummy Lifesavers into the bowl for Chewy.  It sorta looks sad.  Probably because it knows it’s gonna get eaten soon.  Maybe an eye first and then the mouth but nonetheless it’s gonna be eaten. 

Oh NO, Mr. Bill!

• I can’t believe the Winter Olympics start tomorrow.  Looks like they’ll be importing some snow in because Vancouver is all green-looking right now.  I wonder if they’ll be bring in any snow from D.C.
• Ted, no not the airline, is the greatest.  WE LUV YOU TED!  Thank you Ted!
• Boy it’s gonna suck when they find out they’re wrong.  People can believe whatever they want I guess.
• Yet, another reason I moved out of PG County.
• And a reason NOT to live in Virginia.

Undercover Brother err Boss …

After the Super Bowl, CBS aired the first episode of Undercover Boss.  The concept seemed interesting and with the whole down turn of the economy I figured this might be some good PR for the companies that become involved in the show.  At first I thought this could be an entertaining trainwreck that all reality TV becomes.  I finally watched the first episode which was based upon Waste Management.  We’ve all seen their trucks and possibly their ads.  Could be interesting and actually it was but not in a trainwreck manner.  For a self describe antagonist and spiritually gifted with negativity it was a good dose of seeing the better side of man.  For a company that deals with waste (trash, recycling, cleaning porta potty’s, etc) they showed how several employees had a very upbeat attitude and work ethnic.  Granted several of them had gone through life changing medical experiences that show their thankfulness to still be living.  But still, it just showed how dedicated and hard working these people were.  I applaud them and makes me feel blessed with my own health and job situation.  I should strive to be happier and more upbeat at work.  Well maybe. 

• I need to make something like this for our treadmill.  Maybe something with a wireless mouse attached to a glove or something.
• I miss him.  Do you?
• RIP Capt. Phil Harris – he was one of the more interesting Captains on The Deadest Catch.
• Google says the U.S. needs faster internet connections.  Now they’re going to start their own broadband experiment!!!  Google is AWESOME!  When the industry says competition spurs innovation which should decrease cost THIS is what they mean.  Not Comcast eating up smaller companies and pushing their not-so Comcastic service.

All-in-all we got more than 27″ of snow by the end of the storm.  Spent a few hours walking around the neighborhood with our next door neighbor trying to knock snow off some of the trees so they wouldn’t snap and break in half.  Played around in the tot-lot because there were no kids out.  Eventually made a sledding track on the hill next to our house.  That was fun (other than the walk back up the steep hill).

And yes, that’s Tauntaun wanting to get out and play in the snow (we just had to make sure there were no wampas out there). 

• OK, so made in Japan may not be as good.
• I was wondering when this would actually happen.  It does make sense, sorta.  Or try pushing better mass transit.  But that would contradict the government bailing out the American auto industry.
• Speaking of bailout this was funny.
• Didn’t watch the game, but the Caps beat the Pens 5-4 in OT.  Apparently Caps fans have issues with NBC.  No respect for the Caps.  No respect.
• Drinking soda may increase chances of pancreatic cancer?  Man, that’s making me thirsty.  I need to get a diet Coke.
• IMO the best Super Bowl commercials were Letterman-Oprah-Leno, Betty White & Snickers and the Pat and Tim Tebow commercials.  Some of the Bud Light commercials were funny (the astronomers one is the only one I can remember – mostly because the Asian guy is from the Dharma Initiative)
• Overall the Super Bowl was OK.  Exciting at the end but that was about it.  I sorta felt if the Colts didn’t jump on a huge lead they would lose.  They seem to get bogged down inside the 20 during the later half of the season and into the playoffs.  The Saints deserve to win.  They just out played the Colts.  I wonder how Snyder feels knowing that Mark Brunell and Gregg Williams just got a Superbowl ring?

Yeah, it’s snowing.  It’s been snowing since 11am and we’ve got about 4 inches of snow in about seven hours.  Snowmageddon really has begun.

• I get the lack of dipping ability but really, they that hard to open up?
• Tai Shan has left the country … and now he’s in China – if this was a human this would be sex trafficking
• Typically I don’t agree with Senator Franken but he does have a point
• Whoa, possible 2010 Prius recall for faulty brakes.
• Do people really think sob stories help?  Is it just to prey on peoples generosity?  It’s like the people who are on American Idol trying to get out of the contract they sign.  Sure the contract isn’t fair but would they really be in the position they are singing for a career if they didn’t have the AI exposure?  Sign the contract.  Live the contract.
• I know pet owners can get a tad crazy over their animals even to the extent of overvaluing an animal over a human.  Hopefully this helps them out, though it seems like a scam to me.  It just reminds me of those ads back in the day for a full refund if your bomb shelter doesn’t work.
• Still not Comcastic!  Not sure if this is the outline for the nation but the first offense is a phone call.  Break the 250GB limit within six months and they cut your service for a year – A YEAR!  Dang.  That really is Comcastic.

Black and White Unity …

Over the weekend, Chewy and I were able to make it down to see the Panda’s at the National Zoo.  We were trying to make it down there on Saturday but due to the snow and the eventually early closing of the zoo we were (or I was) glad we waited til after church on Sunday to see them.  There wasn’t much of a crowd and the weather wasn’t that bad either.  It was pretty cool because we were able to see all three of them outside just roaming around looking bored and then inside eating away at bamboo.  I’m not sure if zoo’s are the best place to pickup folks of the opposite sex but there seemed to be a guy flirting with Chewy as I was standing right next to her and him.  Not that she did anything to encourage it we both just thought it was weird.  I think the last girl who flirted with me was Chewy some seven years ago. 

     

• From a liberal point of view – Tim Tebow and his Super Bowl ad.
• Dude, what is with WMATA?!?!?
• Isn’t Sir Richard Branson awesome!!!  You just gotta be rich to do some of this stuff.
• This is not how you ‘represent’ the Kingdom.
• Yes, we know he gets a media pass.  We saw that all throughout the election.  People are scared to parody or make fun of him.
• Worry?  Why worry?  Our Toyota’s are made IN Japan.
• Oh Canada, show us the way.
• Isn’t he caving in by having a postal stamp of Calvin and Hobbes?  I still miss the strip.
• Would YOU confuse The South Butt with The North Face?