Blogging is like ice sculpting in that we know our 'art' will be quickly reduced to nothing in a matter of days, and our posts could well be rendered irrelevant well before then!
So, to accompany my photo (well, of course, somebody else took it as I have not made a snowman since........1981?!) I will describe what my life has been like since rougly 3:00 p.m. on Friday when I first got caught in the great blizzard of 2009.
3:00 p.m. on Friday- I finally arrive in the Roanoke, Va., area after my ballyhooing and dumping off some paperwork at a community college in southside Virginia. I had stopped for gas in the hamlet of Boones Mill, Va., about 15 miles south of Roanoke when I sensed that it might be snowing very soon though I didn't quite realize just how soon. I would stop at a Denny's in the Roanoke area and have lunch with mom. My meal choice was a steak burrito. Fortunately, I had not been wrongfully convicted of homicide and it was not my last meal. Though I usually like Denny's food, I can't recommend the steak burrito, which consists of eggs and hash browns. As I drove to mom's house, the snow came pouring down. I felt lucky to be home and the family cat Gizmo greeted me as I walked in the door.
9:00 p.m. on Friday- After calling friends in the area and in others parts of Virginia, I finally got around to relaxing for the evening. I chose to watch "Bill Moyers Journal on PBS" which featured an interview with "Rolling Stone" magazine's Matt Taibbi who had written a piece which actually criticized President Barack Obama from the left. I was interested in what he had say- which was mainly that Obama was a sellout because he has apparently gotten cozy with too many people on Wall Street, even though I strongly disagree with his sentiment. I then turned to watched the second half of the Washington Wizards game against the Golden State Warriors which was being played in Oakland, Calif. Amazingly enough, the Wizards won the game. And, given the next day's weather forecast for the nation's capital, the team was probably happy to be in California.
11 a.m. Saturday- My mom wakes me up. Well, she had initially tried to do so around 8:30. Fortunately, she paid someone $20 to clean the driveway, so that meant I had to put water in the Christmas tree and feed Gizmo, who was ticked that he could not go outside. In fact, he is still staring at the window as I write this at 2:30 a.m., some 14 hours later. I would listen to a portion of the Met's opera broadcast from New York, answer email and talk to some friends. No one of us were going Christmas shopping at Macy's in Valley View Mall in Roanoke even though we expected they were open for business as they were on Friday night!
3 p.m. Saturday- I finally get around to paying some long-neglected bills and writing Christmas cards. Of course, the mail carrier did not come by today and we fully understand why as the few cars that traveled down the road seemed to be doing so with any remote sense of ease (even vehicles with four-wheel drive). I do all these things as I watch UNC play Texas in men's basketball. When I see that former president George W. Bush is there watching the game in person in Dallas, I contemplate changing the channel but I am too curious to see if the Tarheels can come back. They don't. Texas won the game 103-90. I continue writing Christmas cards after the game's conclusion and I am startled to see that the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl in nearby Salem, Va., is being played. I watched the game on ESPN Classics in complete shock. Little did I realize at the time that Virginia Tech and Georgetown University would be playing home games later in the night.
11:59 p.m. Saturday- I finish watching an NBA highlights show after watching the Wizards lose to the Phoenix Suns. Earlier in the night, I read "The New Republic" in its entirety and I talked to a friend from Woodstock, Va., in the Shenandoah Valley. They got 22 inches of snow. We got a 'mere' 18.5. If it had not been a Saturday, area schools would have definitely been closed. I also watched Penn State's women's volleyball team complete an undefeated season and winning a third national championship in a row after beating Texas. As of this writing, I'm getting sick of sports which I developed an interest in this year but as it is I watch an unholy amount of movies and I subscribe to eight magazines (most of which deal with film or politics). I certainly don't have time to watch sports except on a day like today when I actually found myself watching a meaningless basketball game between Ohio State and Delaware State on ESPN-U. I used to make fun of men who did such things, but at least I don't subscribe to "Sports Illustrated" though I do have a subscription to "Golf" magazine which I don't recall ever asking for?!
12:15 a.m.- I try to watch "A Christmas Story" on the internet, but I find it to be a boring waste of time as I've seen it at least six or seven times. So, I decide to blog. And, this is how I got here.
2:50 a.m.- Yes, I suppose I should go to bed. David Axelrod will be on both "Meet the Press" and "This Week..." John McCain will be on the Sunday political show which Fox broadcasts. I don't watch that show and I didn't vote for McCain, but I could end up watching that show just the same. Whenever I come to my mom's, I try to find time to go to a nearby Starbucks. I really don't do anything significant there. Sometimes, I read one of my eight magazines or I stare out the window. Barring an unusual melting of this snow tomorrow, I won't be able to go to that Starbucks. But, I suppose once this damn stuff melts it will be the first place I head to. I just hope it's not on Christmas Eve because that is the one day of the year when all sanity is lost in the world and no latte anywhere could remedy that. However, we can hope there won't be a storm on that day. Thus, I will find myself envying those who live in Phoenix, but sympathizing for those who live in Fargo.
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