Three things make a post (they do so)
I had a normal commute today! By which I mean it was terribly crowded in a normal bad day sort of way. My subway line is back open, there are enough cars to run at a schedule that prevents mobbing, and I look forward to the -17 F wind chill tomorrow when I assume I'll be standing on the platform waiting for trains that have broken down in the cold.
(The next four days in Boston look like this: Temperatures just above zero with wind chills down to -17; reasonable wintertime temperatures (in the 20s) with snow (!), temperatures approaching 40 with rain (!!), back down into the teens. Are we all going to be covered with a thin layer of flash-frozen ice on Monday morning? WHO KNOWS.)
On the plus side, I spent the long weekend visiting my parents in Florida, where it was mostly not really short-sleeves weather but where I at no point saw snow or wore winter boots. Went birdwatching and saw a couple of roseate spoonbills, ate seafood, walked on the beach, did a lot of reading, it was lovely. My parents are 71 and 69, and my mother especially is starting to edge toward looking old - I don't want to regret not having chosen to spend time with them, you know?
2a) While I enjoyed the break from them, I do love my winter boots. So long as I wear respectable wool socks they keep my toes very warm.
On the minus side, the day before I left my house was broken into while I was at work. Someone kicked the door in, searched the closet in my back room until they found my laptop (no great loss - I barely ever used it, I'm pretty sure it dated to 2006, and the only personal information anyone's going to get off of it is some information about my taste in erotica, though I think there were some vids on there as well so hey, maybe laurashapiro will get some feedback out of the deal) and then ransacked my jewelry box.
Upsettingly, they stole a really nice amethyst pendant my parents bought me in Uruguay when I was 13 or 14 - my first Grownup Jewelry - a pearl pendant I wore a lot, and the set of pearls my grandmother left me. (Interestingly, they did not take my strand of fake pearls. Someone's a purist.) They also took most of the necklaces that were on one of the two spinners in my jewelry box. Thankfully, they took them from the side where I had all the stuff I basically never wore, and left the rest - which I personally think had nicer stuff, including some other pieces from my grandmothers - sitting on my bed. Which is weird, but I think it's possible that they heard my upstairs neighbor moving around and bolted (he was home sick). Anyway, I shouldn't complain about that stroke of luck. But still. Kicked my door in. And left it stuck closed, which meant that even getting into the apartment was a half-hour comedy of errors, since I don't shovel out the path to my back door in the winter. In retrospect I should really have called the police as soon as I saw someone had damaged the door, but I couldn't get it open! I assumed someone had tried and failed!
I feel vaguely guilty for not having prevented this, which is of course ridiculous.