snow day!

Yesterday I woke up at 6AM, anticipating a snow storm had already started. I jumped out of bed and ran to the window, the way I have since I was a child, but saw no snow. Sadly, I then started going through all of the small routines I go through to start my day - made a cup of tea for myself, checked the news on the New York Times website, started breakfast. As I was stirring ginger clusters into my yogurt, I was surpised to hear a little chrip come from my cell phone, indicating that I had a new text message. I looked down and saw a message from my friend Marcia, asking me if I was going to work or not, since she heard there was a lot of snow near work. I then looked out my window again and was surprised to see lots of snow, with some accumulation already. "Damn!" I said, more shocked than angry, realizing that the show had fallen only within about an hour or so since I'd last looked out.

Considering I have a 30 mile drive to make in order to get to work these days, I made the decision, or the "executive decision" as people on The Apprentice would call it, to stay home and work from there. Marcia stayed home as well, although we later learned we were among the few. Apparently several people went through the trouble of getting out there, only to be sent home early, so I think we made the better decision.

I was able to get some work done, although that was offset slightly by the excitement of the snow day itself. I love the way a snow day can come along and disrupt your normal routine. All plans are off, and as a kid I think that's what I loved the most about it. We had nothing else to do but play in the snow, then go inside and eat all of those great cold weather foods like grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup and (the ultimate!!) hot chocolate with marshmallows. Of course, as we got older, there was more work involved that made things a little less fun, like shovelling and clearing snow, but overall you still ended up with a break from your everyday activities, a mini-vacation of sorts.

Since I live in the city, I don't have quite as much shovelling to do these days. So between work assignments I found myself instead doing other things I don't normally give myself enough time for, like catching up on personal emails, cleaning off my kitchen table and making use of it to organize holiday presents, going through clothes and getting rid of old ones, finding time to read one of the many books I've started of late but haven't finished. I ended up being more productive than I usually am on any given day these days, and I felt happier and calmer at the end of my day than I've felt in ages. (Of course part of that was from relief associated with completion of the final project for my Managerial Finance course, but I digress.)

So as a result of this, I've decided that from time to time I need to try to take figurative snow days. Just take a day off for no particular reason and use the time in whatever direction the day steers. I think we all need random breaks from our current realities, as if we are pinching ourselves to make sure we are still awake.

Now if there was only a way that I could figure out to get this style of living into my everyday life. *Sigh* Well, I suppose I'll consider that still a work in progress. But that's good in a way, because if I had life all figured out by now, where would the fun be going forward?

the web once again brings me somewhere I never expected to be

I just found this quote, thanks to Google's personalized start page (apologies to my Microsoft friends - I just love Google!):

The quickest way to a man's heart really is through his stomach, because then you don't have to chop through that pesky rib cage.
- J. Jacques

So then I was wondering, who exactly is this J. Jacques fellow? After using the aforementioned Google, I learned that he is a comic artist. The quote came from one of his strips, Questionable Content. Which, after a brief review, I would highly recommend checking out. I love the graphics, and it has some great dialogue in it, full of little witty asides such as the one above. Although I have yet to come across that exact quote, I have been entertained by others. Such as:

"I realize this is like interrupting an intricate waltz with a sledgehammer to the knee."

"Really? Well there goes my excuse for dancing topless on the coffee table and making out with some random girl then."

And, my personal favorite:

"I'm snottier than a 13-year old girl and more dehydrated than Joan River's hoo-haa."