Jan 7, 2017

Becca and I slept in and woke up to snow outside and a text from Ryan saying his rehearsal was canceled so we could leave for Vermont earlier. It was already 10:30, but Becca made blueberry pancakes that were amaaaazing! We ate and then spent a little more time together before I had to go and finish packing.

I got to Ryan's at 2 and we headed out slowly onto the snowy roads. We thought it would let up after getting past Philly, but that wasn't the case. It took an hour or more to get to the NJ Turnpike and even then the traffic was hardly moving. Things only got worse as it got darker.

In Connecticut we ended up behind 4 plows blocking the whole road going between 15-25mph at any given time. This lasted for a long time and we stopped at a rest stop to use the bathroom and get away from it. Amazingly as we pulled back onto the highway we got behind 4 more plows. We just had to laugh at how ridiculous that was. Once we got to Massachusetts the roads finally cleared up a little and 7 hours in we finally hit were able to go the speed limit on a road. 10 hours of driving and we arrived at the Econolodge in Brattleboro, Vermont. It was quite a day.

Jan 26, 2014

Another early start to the day. Ryan and I made breakfast and then headed over for day two at Elk. It was supposed to be much colder today, but it felt warmer with the sun out. After a while it went away and I felt the cold even more.

There were far fewer people there this time so that was a plus. It was nice not dealing with groups of people getting in the way as much. The trails were groomed even more nicely this time. We spent some more time on the far side of the mountain, but soon returned because there isn't that much over there.

Once my goggles fogged up enough times to be annoying and we got cold enough, we decided to head out. It was a good day of skiing, but it was also starting to snow and we thought it might be wise to head home at that point.

Once we packed up the house it was time to head out. The ride home was interesting as my windshield washer fluid was not working so with the snow and the salt spray from the road it became almost impossible to see at times. We had to pull over once or twice to clean it. I tried to fix the fluid to no avail. Once we got closer to Philly the roads were better so it wasn't a problem anymore. Once I got home I was tired, but I ended up staying up late watching shows anyway.

Jan 26, 2011

I didn't get a job and when I got to school I was able to talk to Tom about my upcoming show and projects that I want to work on. He seems pretty excited about them which makes me more excited about them as well. He gave me some good ideas. I talked to Heather as she worked on her Sculpture I project about what she would be doing and doing the box installation.

I went to get Shannon and picked up some slices on the way back to Westby to eat while I set up the lighting and such in the studio to shoot some photos. A lot of the equipment is either not where it's supposed to be or it's broken so that wasn't helpful.

Though I started off without much idea of what I wanted to do, we stumbled upon this box in the studio and used it as a prop, which really made everything start working. I really love the box and we got some really great shots with it.

I dropped off Shannon and drove through the snow as it piled up on the way to Quizzo. The game began with less teams than usual but still a decent crowd considering the weather. We were doing quite well through most of the game and had an early lead.

Fish tacos were delicious and our waitress was great.. and we won first place! There's thirty bucks for next week's fun!

The snow had gotten pretty crazy in the short time we were there and we had to scrape off and dig out our cars before we could leave. The drive back to Shannon's was not too much fun. It was really slow-going and careful. Between not being able to see the road ahead of me and thinking I might get stuck a few times I'm surprised I made it back without incident.

We watched the beginning of The Social Network but the disc stopped working about forty minutes in so we switched to Mr. And Mrs. Smith but we were all falling asleep anyway so we called it a night and went to bed.

Feb 13, 2010

I came home in the morning to shovel out some of the driveway. It only kinda worked, as I got stuck again for a short time.

Katie came over and we went back to Rowan to catch the bus for Cheesesteakin' Me to Philly (proof that I didn't come up with that above). We got there just in time for the bus, grabbed our front seat and headed to South Street.

We got what they call the "Meatless" sandwich, which is just that. They put mushrooms, peppers, onions, lettuce and tomato on a roll (with cheese if you so desire) and that's it. I don't know what I was expecting.

I thought it was pretty good for what it was, Katie did not enjoy hers. To be fair though, I got cheese sauce on mine and that made it much better I'm sure. I haven't been to Jim's Steaks in forever (obviously) and the upstairs area reminded me of sitting up there watching it snow a long time ago.

This was the first event (that wasn't snowed out) for the roaming gnome game/competition/whatever. The point is to take the gnome that is provided, decorate him, take him to Rowan events and photograph him creatively while solving short riddles to earn points each month for the chance to win gift cards and prizes. Sounds like fun to me.

The "riddle" led me to the wall of celebrities who ate at Jim's and left signed photos to hang up. I figured the gnome might like to give his two cents as well so this is what I did.

After eating we went down the street to the TLA where I picked up some tickets and then stopped at Mako's bar for dollar drinks. They have quite the daily specials at that place. Haven't been there in a long time.

What's more is that they offer games! Our bartender gave us Connect 4 to play. It turns out I'm really bad at it. I don't know why I can't concentrate well enough to play that game. I'd rather play chess.

When I got home I continued to shovel the driveway until Ryan and Carissa came over to go sledding. We went back to the overpass we went to last year.

It was nothing but ice on the one side and I quickly fell off of my sled and on my side. After a few times down we got the hang of it.

Going down face first seemed to be much easier to control and I didn't flip off. There were a few kids there that we had to wait for but it was mostly empty.

Of course, Ryan and I had a race where we sledded to the bottom of the hill, rounded the tree on foot and raced back to the top of the hill. Ryan won the first time and we tied the second. Running in snow uphill is extremely exhausting. I need to exercise more.

I came home and cleaned up a little before people started coming over for game night. Carolyn, Katie, Ryan and Carissa came first and we played something of a game of Cranium. It seems like every time I play that game I'm still trying to figure out some of the rules. Tracy, Mike and Christie showed up shortly thereafter and we started a new game. There were some frustrating humming clues that I could not get and some hilarious acting out clues that we all had fun with.

We played that for a couple of hours until it got late and everyone was ready to go home. I thought we might have time for more games but we didn't. It was a lot of fun having everyone over though. Something we need to do more often. Everyone left a bunch of junk food, come help eat it!

Feb 9, 2010

We got up early and went to Denny's near campus for free Grand Slam breakfast. It was delicious. Pancakes are awesome. We got a seat right away and we got served our food quickly so all around a good experience. Good marketing, Denny's.

I went home to get ready for work and got stuck in my driveway for about a half hour until my dad and some friends of his helped me dig/push it out into the street. I got to work a little late even after the 90-minute delay the school was on because of the poor road conditions. There was another teacher with me all day and the students were working on essays so I didn't do anything but work on my Graphic Design paper most of the time.

After work, which ended pretty early since I had last block off, I caught up on Monday tv and went to see my sister and grandmom for a short time. Later I met Katie at the Starbucks in Target for tea and I brought a smoothie.

We talked for a while about school and caught up on everything. I enjoyed this on the side of the cup because our classes for tonight and all day tomorrow were canceled due to the next giant snowstorm!

Joanna and I met Chuck and Diebra at Quizzo later since I didn't have class. It was good to be back at Bennigan's for veggie burgers, onion rings and trivia with Shakedown.

We did pretty well, coming in second out of six teams. Name all nine presidents who did not finish their term due to illness, death or impeachment. Go.

The drive back was similar to the ride home from Allentown the other night because the snow was crazy and the road wasn't even close to plowed. It took a long time to get back and my gas light was on the whole time, keeping us on edge until we got to the exit and the gas station. The snow is already piled up past my ankles and it's supposed to continue all day tomorrow.

Feb 5, 2010

I had to be up pretty early to get to work on time but luckily the nature of my job helped me out a little by offering me an easy day. I had the first block off so I went home and did some laundry while catching up on Important Things with Demetri Martin. I had to go back for a class with another teacher for second block and then I had another two hours off between classes and for lunch. I went to my grandmom's and had spaghetti with my sister and Aiden before going home to shower and pack some things up for the weekend. After all that I went to the Senior High to finish my day in health care class with very friendly and inquisitive students.

After a failed attempt to get lunch with Katie, I met up with Joanna, got a veggie burger and vegan chicken patty for the road and headed to Allentown. The big crazy storm that had been predicted had yet to show any signs yet so the drive up was fine.

The Swellers opened the show. They were a lot of fun, I need to listen to them. This Providence played next and were good to listen to but hard to look at. Well... depending on who you are I guess.

Set Your Goals played next and the crowd actually started moving around. It was the first time I had seen anyone really do anything but nod their heads with the music all night. I stood off to the side since my knee was hurting a bit. I wasn't trying to re-injure myself. At least not before Motion City.

Speaking of.. Motion City Soundtrack came out (finally) to the opening track to their new album and played a whole bunch of great songs, new and old.

They were funny and energetic as always. They played a lot of new stuff and we were right up front for most of it. They played a two song encore and then people fought over the drumsticks. I had one for a second but I let it go when someone else tugged. I'm not wrestling someone for a drumstick, I'll just buy one.

It was barely snowing when we got out to the car but shortly after we got on the highway the storm revealed itself. Armed with Dunkin' Donuts white hot chocolate and a bagel with cream cheese, we braved the storm slowly down the PA Turnpike to get home. It was hard to see most of the time and ice was forming on my windshield wipers. We carefully made it home, even though many roads, like 55 (above), were unrecognizable.

So what should have taken less than two hours took about twice that to traverse. Oh well, I plan on staying inside for a while now. It seems like Rowan actually decided to start plowing this time instead of letting it pile up. How forward thinking of them.

Dec 20, 2009

This is what the car looked like in the morning once I finally got around to going out to it. I had to force the door to the building open and walk through knee-deep snow to get to it.

I think the driver's side gives you a good sense of how deep the snow was.

I slowly swept the snow off of the car and out from under all of the tires. It was the only tool I had.

I took me a while, but I got it pretty well cleared off and I thought it might actually make it out.

First try! I pulled straight back out of the parking space and did a victory slide.

Need me to get your car out?

Once the car was dug out, we brought all of Joanna's stuffs out of the room that she was taking home and then went to get ready. We had some tasty oatmeal with raisins and cinnamon and spices and then headed away from Rowan for a while.

The roads were still bad locally but once we got on the Turnpike it was pretty well cleared. The highways were fine and there wasn't a lot of traffic so we got to Avenel really quickly.

Once we got to her house, we loaded everything in and then had some veggie lasagna. These were the first things we put on the Christmas tree and then it was time to decorate.

I haven't decorated a tree in a really long time so I was a little rusty but I think I did alright. I liked the icicles.

This is the finished product. There are a lot of snowmen on there. After the tree trimming I took Joanna to work and I spent some time there shopping. I only ended up getting myself some clothes at Gap. No luck on finding things for other people yet..

I drove home to find my driveway looked like this. For some reason I never considered this until I was a few miles away. After just staring at it for a while, I walked through it to the garage while parking in the middle of the road so I could get a shovel and start digging.

I dug enough of a hole to get my car in and then dug a walking path to the door.

Just digging the parking spot and the path took a long time. I wasn't going to try to shovel the whole driveway.

I spent the rest of the night in the house. I didn't want to see any more snow. I fell asleep really early. It felt good.