A round-up of sorts.
First: Weather!
We certainly have some! Here in town we had a little snow late last evening followed by freezing rain overnight. Ice on the car: 1/4-1/2 inch thick, part of it low-density. Slop on the sidewalks: about an inch. Man, that stuff was not very much fun to clear off. Took me about an hour and a half (it's a big corner lot) in the rain. I am wisely putting off going to work until my jacket is done in the dryer. Oh, wow, boo, I have big blister from shoveling.
It's really not too nice out there. In fact, in many places it's working on being "slicker'n snot," to haul out a great turn of phrase. I am relying on salt in large quantities and hoping to be saved from a frictionless sidewalk when I get home by the fact that it's around freezing now and is supposed to warm over the course of the day.
Second: Drinking the Kool-Aid!
Understand that I have never, ever played any sort of first-person-shooter or fantasy-quest type video games. At all. But last night while cayeux was at class and I had an evening to kill -- and more importantly, an evening to struggle with learning all of the game controls in privacy where no one can see me flailing, and where no one would have to know if I tried it, sucked, and gave up -- I actually started a game of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. This is hardly a new game (2006; for the record we have the 2007 release that includes both major expansions), but CJ only just got it as a Christmas gift and so it is new to our household. I've been enjoying watching CJ play, to the extent that I decided to actually try playing it myself. I am mostly getting the hang of the controls, and my character is even up to level 3 already, despite my spending a couple of hours of playing time mostly discovering ways to die a lot. The game is dangerously addictive, I tell you.
Third: Traveling!
This is almost old news by now, but I had a great time on our weekend jaunt to Washington, DC. Thanks again to giddysinger and gkaczns for sharing their apartment with us.
cayeux has never been to DC before, so much of our time was spent going to the major museums and getting him up to speed on the "core" DC stuff. Eventually I'll get around to seeing some of the smaller art museums and galleries there, but that wasn't this trip. Despite going mostly to museums I've visited before, I did find some neat things and learn some new nifty stuff. I was intrigued by the flying aircraft carriers, and the Wright Flyer has a big interpretive exhibit all around it that I don't remember from previous visits, and from which I learned a lot of amazing stuff about its development. The Star-Spangled Banner exhibit includes fun geeky details about the fabric, thread, and construction of the flag.
A grand time was had by all. I'm definitely looking forward to going again, since darn it, I've still never been to any of the art museums beyond the National Gallery. ^_^
Fourth: Time to get ready and go to work, I suppose. I will have a busy day because one of my coworkers from northerly suburbs has called to inform us that the roads &c in his area are so bad that he won't be able to make it in to town at all. Ah well.
We certainly have some! Here in town we had a little snow late last evening followed by freezing rain overnight. Ice on the car: 1/4-1/2 inch thick, part of it low-density. Slop on the sidewalks: about an inch. Man, that stuff was not very much fun to clear off. Took me about an hour and a half (it's a big corner lot) in the rain. I am wisely putting off going to work until my jacket is done in the dryer. Oh, wow, boo, I have big blister from shoveling.
It's really not too nice out there. In fact, in many places it's working on being "slicker'n snot," to haul out a great turn of phrase. I am relying on salt in large quantities and hoping to be saved from a frictionless sidewalk when I get home by the fact that it's around freezing now and is supposed to warm over the course of the day.
Second: Drinking the Kool-Aid!
Understand that I have never, ever played any sort of first-person-shooter or fantasy-quest type video games. At all. But last night while cayeux was at class and I had an evening to kill -- and more importantly, an evening to struggle with learning all of the game controls in privacy where no one can see me flailing, and where no one would have to know if I tried it, sucked, and gave up -- I actually started a game of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. This is hardly a new game (2006; for the record we have the 2007 release that includes both major expansions), but CJ only just got it as a Christmas gift and so it is new to our household. I've been enjoying watching CJ play, to the extent that I decided to actually try playing it myself. I am mostly getting the hang of the controls, and my character is even up to level 3 already, despite my spending a couple of hours of playing time mostly discovering ways to die a lot. The game is dangerously addictive, I tell you.
Third: Traveling!
This is almost old news by now, but I had a great time on our weekend jaunt to Washington, DC. Thanks again to giddysinger and gkaczns for sharing their apartment with us.
cayeux has never been to DC before, so much of our time was spent going to the major museums and getting him up to speed on the "core" DC stuff. Eventually I'll get around to seeing some of the smaller art museums and galleries there, but that wasn't this trip. Despite going mostly to museums I've visited before, I did find some neat things and learn some new nifty stuff. I was intrigued by the flying aircraft carriers, and the Wright Flyer has a big interpretive exhibit all around it that I don't remember from previous visits, and from which I learned a lot of amazing stuff about its development. The Star-Spangled Banner exhibit includes fun geeky details about the fabric, thread, and construction of the flag.
A grand time was had by all. I'm definitely looking forward to going again, since darn it, I've still never been to any of the art museums beyond the National Gallery. ^_^
Fourth: Time to get ready and go to work, I suppose. I will have a busy day because one of my coworkers from northerly suburbs has called to inform us that the roads &c in his area are so bad that he won't be able to make it in to town at all. Ah well.