Blizzard? Snow way.

So as I alluded to in the previous post, it snowed a lot this weekend. One benefit of my house is it's located on a snow emergency route, meaning they plow 18th Ave NE nearly every hour. This is great, as the road is nice and clear. They don't do the alley quite so often, however. In fact the alley wasn't done until this afternoon. We didn't get stuck getting out to Sawatdee or Elsie's, but we nearly got stuck coming back.

The backyard upon our return. No, the owl lights don't ever come down!Kelsey running in the snow.
This was Kelsey's car last night. I should have shoveled it then, because there was another 8 inches on it this morning, up past the tires.
Here's where the Explorer got stuck last night. Hard to tell how deep the snow was, but the truck was pretty much immobile.
We shoveled the sidewalks at midnight, but had to do it all again this morning. What fun!
Here's the pile of snow from the driveway. I thought it was an impressive amount.
Muffin joined the fun in the snow. She was buried to her chest!Muffin loves the snow! She likes to eat snowballs and bury her face in the drifts.
Kind of a bummer the biggest snow fall of the year came so late. Wednesday and Thursday were nice and warm, in the 40s. I was beginning to think the Porsche might come out early, but no such luck. Now they're predicting more snow for Thursday.

Three Decades of Fun!

Erin celebrated her third decade upon this planet on Saturday night. Having been born in 1977, she opted for a 70's themed party at a local bowling alley, Elsie's. I don't know if Elsie's was in on it, but they featured a large amount of 70s music. But would it have killed them to play a little Foghat?

I, uh, didn't dress up in 70s apparel. Unless you count the Mao Zedong shirt I had on. He was in power during the 70s, right?
Here we have Melissa, Sara, and Erin's brother, Dave. Melissa and Sara braved the tremendous weather (another post soon) to travel from 'Sconi.
The 70s in all their glory. Notice Mike's chops. I thought he should've done the connection, but he said it was too "Civil War Era."
Laura really went all out, with the gold pantsuit. It was glorious.
A great night, until we tried to get home. Snow? Check. We managed to get the Explorer stuck in the driveway.

Hoodlums Redux

This was not the way I wanted to wake up. Kelsey woke me up at 6am this morning, saying my car alarm was going off. This concerned me, because the Porsche is kept in the garage. But she said it was the Explorer. Well, I didn't even know it had a car alarm. Anyways, after getting dressed to go turn it off, Kelsey said it turned itself off, as most do after a few minutes. I went back to bed. She comes back in a few minutes later saying the car's been broken into, and she already called the cops. Those damn hoodlums had struck again.Glass all over, of course.
Seat covered. Oddly, the aftermarket stereo and $125 sunglasses were untouched.
They even broke the lock for me! How generous!
A pretty shitty morning, I do have to say. A call to my insurance agent confirms that this is not covered, but an additional $50/6 months would get me full coverage, with no deductable on the glass.

I don't even know what to do. I had a light shining on the parking lot. The Explorer was parked closest to the street, and they still tried to break in. Maybe it's safer to park on the street, where they can't hide behind anything.

Update:
Well, for better or worse (probably worse), I wasn't the only victim. I ran into one of my neighbors, and she had BOTH of her front windows smashed. It seems the hoodlums hit most of the alleyway.

Hallway Time

I'm slow when it comes to home remodelling. It took a trip to China, and Kelsey's intervention to change the color of the living room. Kelsey was unhappy with the color of the hallway. I was ambivalent, but it wasn't great. The sunflower yellow didn't go with anything, and it was a bit stress inducing. So we investigated a new motif. Here's two options. Sea Drops is the lighter color, and False Cyprus is the darker. We went darker.Here's a good shot of the previous color. It was really bright with the compact florescent bulbs we use. Kelsey's pretty excited to tape!
Taped and primed. Ready to put down the first coat.
Despite my smile, I HATE trim work. The ceilings are the worst.
Rolling away.
And we're done.
Muffin enjoys the new hallway.
A quick project, hammered out in a day and a half. We could've gone quicker, but we took a night off. It's a lot more muted, and much nicer. It's amazing how much the color makes the carpet blend in, instead of stand out. The trim work is still messy, as the previous owners didn't take much care when painting. But I'm not going to replace all that right now too.

Now, can I finish the basement? Only time will tell.

Happy Hour Reunion

No, not a class reunion, and not the drink special time at the bar. Happy Hour is the name of our football team. We've played in the City Sports Connection football league for a few years. Obviously, while in China I didn't participate. I did make it to one or two games, but that was all. Anyways, Saturday night brought us all to Half Time Rec for some beers and bocce ball. It's the only bar I've seen with a bocce ball court in the basement. Two, actually. I know the picture is hazy, but it's just the dust from the sand. Like all of St Paul, there's no smoking inside.
Heidi, Anton and Erin hanging out.
The two Andersons, Mike and Joanna. Joanna had spent some time in Hong Kong last fall, but didn't feel the need to contact me. That wasn't very nice.
Alicia, Mike and Shawn.
A majority of the Happy Hour football team. We're not good, but we have a lot of fun. Heidi had an accident at the bar, where the bartender spilled an entire drink on her. I think she got a couple free drinks out of it, though.

It's Been Awhile

Hola, amigos. I know it's been a long time since I rapped at ya, but the tedium of home life is setting in. I love being home and all, but it's not quite as exciting as Southeast Asia.

The week prior brought a level of cold that caused Lucifer to turn up the thermostat in hell. Fortunately for me (or not), I got to spend a few days in Duluth, Grand Rapids, and Brainerd. For the Minnesota impared, here's a visual reference.
On Tuesday morning in Grand Rapids, it was -20F. Just say that out loud. -28C for those of you on the metric system. It hurt to even think about going outside. In the afternoon, we drove to Brainerd, where a heat wave took hold and it was 8F above 0. So that was the week.

On Friday, Miss Kim Carter celebrated her 25th birthday. For the 2nd time. I'm glad her sister Chelsea sent me a message about it, because it was a good time. We were at The Lodge, which I haven't been to in forever. Here's Jake, Kim and I. No candles for the cake, so she blew out a lighter.
Time for a shot! No, I'm not drunk. It was just bad timing on the pic.
We're supposed to go to Half Time Rec for bocce ball tonight. Hopefully no serious injuries occur.

It's Time.

Well, unless you've been sleeping under a rock, you know it's SuperBowl Sunday. The Indianapolis Colts versus the Chicago Bears. I have no ties to either team, so I'm not rooting for or against either. However, a prediction needs to be made, and what better way than a Tecmo Super Bowl SuperBowl.
What does the Nintendo think?
Well, it's a daring prediction, that's all I can say.