There's No Such Thing as a Free Lunch

[dawn_felagund]

Today, I was very much reminded that there is, indeed, no such thing as a free lunch. I mean this figuratively, of course. A more literal saying might be, There is no such thing as a free day off from work

Comments

[frenchpony]

Wow. Sounds like Baltimore just got a hundred-year blizzard there.

[dawn_felagund]

In terms of depth, we only got about five inches, which isn't even considered a lot around here! Four years ago, we got three feet, which was bad on several counts: 1) I was over my parents' house, 2) my dad decided not to move the snowblower from the shed, and 3) my parents' have a really long driveway. It got to the point where we had no place to put the show because we could not toss it to the top of the pile...quite interesting.

This year's storm isn't that bad, despite all of the ice and the fact that Alex can pull me across the surface of the snow as though I was on a skateboard (which is kind of fun but a bad behavior that I really should not encourage...)

[frenchpony]

Alex can pull me across the surface of the snow as though I was on a skateboard (which is kind of fun but a bad behavior that I really should not encourage...)

But which you're going to encourage anyway because it's just so damn funny. Admit it.

[dawn_felagund]

And really, how often do we get the sort of ice in Maryland where 140 pounds of Dawn can stand on the ice without punching through? I don't think there will be any lasting damage to Alex's training...

[allie_meril]

*boogly eyes* Your tires froze to the ground?!

[dawn_felagund]

Yep! Of course, part of the trouble is itself our mercurial Maryland weather. The ice storm had ended by late morning, at which point, the sun came out. The temperatures were in the high 20s/low 30s, so all the mess started to melt. When Bobby and I went out in the mid-afternoon, one of our streets was flooded with about six inches of water.

Of course, the sun inevitably sets and all that mess freezes. I suspect that's how my car froze to the ground.

In 1996, we got about 2.5 feet of snow, and schools were closed for the better part of the week. On the day that we went back, temperatures spiked to the 60s, and all of the snow melted in one day, and so schools were closed again...for flooding.

It promptly refroze that night, and I recall some pretty interesting "ice sculptures" on objects where the water had been high and then froze somewhat suddenly in interesting shapes.

[rinnor]

My friend over in Frederick said 3 inches of ice, yech! Ice is much worse than plain old snow, though a foot or more of snow will give ice a good run for it.

I've been guilty of calling people when I don't think there in, just needing to leave a VM, imagine my surprise when people answer the phone at 6:30 AM, but these are normal working hours when people are calling you, so I'm mystified.

Just pat yourself on the back for your work ethic.

[dawn_felagund]

The funny thing about my work ethic is that it's really not all that great...but it's still better than my coworkers'!

I mean, around eleven every morning, I generally stop working and start surfing the Internet or writing, regardless of what needs to be done. Or I procrastinate silly, stupid things, like putting away maintenance records for the cars or putting things in the mailbox. I also have an aversion to shredding things, though I've gotten over that a bit with some discipline.

The warrant officers, on the other hand, work out in the field, so they make their own schedules (which includes as many days off as they want/need) and aren't really held accountable for anything. For example, we have teams that get only one or two arrests a month. Compared with that (my "arrest" column for detainers filed is usually around five or six), I do work hard, if only because I'm the only person who absolutely must report to the office every day, so try as I might to avoid work, it tends to find my anyway. ;)

[tarion_anarore]

I'm with Allie, your tires froze to the ground?? That is weird. Even mine haven't done that! Now, this morning my car made pathetic noises when I tried to start it, and my windshield wipers were completely frozen to the windshield (I got one un-stuck, hoping to use the wipers to swipe the layer of snow of so I could just scrape the ice, but it immediately re-froze). And you broke two ice scrapers? Wow. Haven't managed that either (though I do have a Super Ice Scraper

[dawn_felagund]

I gave Allie a good explanation of why my car freezing to the ground is actually less indicative of the severity of the storm and more indicative of our strange, mercurial Maryland weather. If you're interested. ;)

And I made an oops when I said 1997...the maths don't add up! I was 12; I am now 25. The year was 1994. I don't know how I boggled it that badly, but I'll edit my post.

And that wasn't a blizzard so much as an ice storm, again. In 1996 and 2001, we got blizzards in the sense of 2.5 and 3 feet of snow, respectively, which paralyzes a pathetic state like this for a week!

Also, I can see the oil working, but what is the purpose of the fire? I think I must be missing something, even if just the value of a good ol' urban legend. ;)

[tarion_anarore]

Ah, that makes sense. Happens here too, except lately there's been so much snow left that the piddly melting doesn't have the tire-freezing effect (at least to the point where people can't move their cars).

Aww, well, we (as in the state, not me) got a blizzard in 1997; hence 10 Year Blizzard.

I think the "point" of the fire was that there was supposedly ice sealing the two parts of the slides together, and that the fire was to melt the ice and get the slides movable again. Like I said, a load of bullcrap, but an amusing concept.