Life in Beta

You’ll never guess what feat of awesomeness I pulled off this morning …

Yup, I managed to stick the Element in the end of our driveway. I’ve never gotten it stuck-stuck before. I’ve gotten it semi-stuck, where I had to turn the wheel and go back and forth and edge my way out, but this morning, those games didn’t work. I wasn’t going anywhere.

I felt bad having to wake Mike up to help me. Thankfully he’s amazingly easy going and though he wasn’t thrilled to be out in the cold, he got right up and helped me out. We dug and shoved and spun, but no luck.

We finally called AAA and they sent a tow truck. We had a bit of a wait because the weather was bad and the towing companies were busy. Our situation was far from an emergency, so I didn’t mind the wait. (I used the extra time to make French toast to thank Mike for getting up to help me!) When the tow truck showed up, the driver and Mike dug some more and then pushed me out, no tow needed.

While I was at work today, Mike paid someone to come and plow the driveway. It was getting bad and the layer of ice made the snow extra-heavy and difficult to shovel by hand. (Not to mention we’d been driving over it and packing it down for several days.) He also had them widen the end of the driveway where it had gotten blocked so badly by the city’s big plow trucks. Hopefully we won’t get stuck again!

I’m wishing that we’ll get one of those random 40-50 degree winter days so we can we thaw out a bit. It would be nice to melt a little snow before adding more ice and snow on top. Too bad the forecast for the next week is saying we won’t get above 30 degrees. Brrr!

I keep sitting down to write an update, but fail miserably at it.  It’s not that I don’t have anything to say; I’ve been busy and there’s plenty to write about. It’s almost a case of the exact opposite: life is so busy that I’m to exhausted to put a coherent thought together. Forgive me if this post is nonsensical. I thought I’d make an attempt to post something…

I’ve been back in Erie for just over a month now. I’ve gotten to experience everything from 80-degree weather and sunshine to freezing temperatures and snow flurries. In other words: it has been a typical spring in northwestern Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, I’d forgotten what “typical” weather in this part of the country entails, so I’m getting used to the bipolar temperatures all over again. I’ve refused, however, to unpack a coat, so I’ve compromised with wearing hoodies when it gets cold. (And shhh, don’t tell, but I’ve borrowed my mom’s jacket off the coat rack a couple times when I had to take Gracie outside in the middle of the night.)

Speaking of Gracie — she’s adjusting to her new home pretty well. She’s trying very hard to make friends with my parents’ dog (a 12-year-old Akita/German Shepherd mix named Kodi). She likes to lay down next to him and attempt to snuggle, but he just jumps up and walks away, startled.  She always steals his treats from him too (little brat!) but he’s a gracious old gentleman and lets her have them without the slightest grumble or growl.

My new job is making me happy. It has me exhausted and I love every moment of it. Even when everything else seems to be going wrong, the one thing that cheers me up is the satisfaction I get from my work. Finally learning C# has been so fun and it’s made me want to delve into all sorts of other projects. I find myself writing code for 8 hours at work and then coming home and putting in another 2-3 hours some nights. I’m learning to appreciate the wonders of jQuery and next I’m hoping to dive into some Objective-C so I can work on some iPhone apps.

Yes, I realize that my geek is showing. HARDCORE.

Random other stuff:

… After seeing this advertisement for Tawapa jewelry in the latest issue of Inked magazine, I decided to start stretching my lowest ear piercings. (Random and crazy, I know.) I have 14 gauge tension hoops in now (which hurt like heck, I might add). I’m not sure if I’ll stay at 14 or go to a 12 gauge. I have no plans to stretch further than that, though. (So don’t freak out mom! Ha ha.) Those lovely Seraphin earrings come in gauges as small as 14g, so I’m all set.

… I’ve been driving the 300ZX almost every day. I don’t know why, but I never felt totally comfortable driving it in Nashville. I guess because I knew if I got lost in the Element, I had a built-in GPS system, but in the Z, I’d be crap out of luck. (Not that I ever really got lost? But whatever.) Anyway, she’s getting some mileage put on her now and I’m enjoying it immensely.

… I’m still a-knittin’. On evenings when I’m not working or out, mom and I sit and watch TV and knit together. I have a sweater-vest almost done for Benny and I finished a pair of socks for myself. Unfortunately I must have spaced out when knitting the second sock because it’s about an inch longer than the first sock so I need to tear it back and fix it. (Duhhh.)

… I am home sick for Nashville almost every day. I’m happy here and I love being with my friends and family, but I miss my “family” in Tennessee too. I’m stuck living with family till the house in Tennessee sells, so I’m in this strange state of limbo where I feel like I don’t actually belong anywhere.  I feel like some sort of homeless nomad, which would theoretically be really cool except that I can’t actually embrace the nomadic nature of my situation because of the mortgage and utilities that I’m solely responsible for, again, till the #@$% house sells. (Yes, I know I was stupid for allowing myself to get stuck with that in the divorce — I’ve had dozens of people tell me as much — but what’s done is done, so leave it be.)  I think once I finally find a place to BE, I’m going to feel a lot more settled. In the meantime, my loved ones have been doing their best to make me feel at home, and I couldn’t be more grateful.

It’s good to be surrounded by friends and family again, and it’s good to be loved. <3

I thought weather in Erie was crazy. (And it is.)

When I looked at my shoes by the front door on Sunday afternoon, I had to laugh. (And snap this photo.)

Everything from fleece-lined boots to flip-flops. And I’ve worn them all in the last week.

The weather over the weekend was gorgeous. When I went out with my friends Saturday night, I wore a t-shirt, jeans, and flip-flops.

Sunday was even warmer; I think the news said that it got up to 65 degrees. Unfortunately I spent most of the day in the house wrapping up the last bits of cleaning and packing. But it was so sunny and beautiful that I wound up wearing a comfortable jersey-knit sleeveless sundress while I worked.

… Sundresses and flip-flops in February!? I love it. Too bad the forecast shows the temperature dropping again over the next several days. I guess you have to take what you can get this time of year.

It came a little later than expected (starting around noon yesterday, I believe), but Nashville did indeed get some snow.

Not quite a blizzard, but impressive for what I’ve experienced in middle Tennessee over the last three years that I’ve lived here. Here are some more pictures from around town, posted on the Tennessean’s website.

The snow really wasn’t bad at all. The not-so-fun part was that there was ICE. The main roads were fairly good (at least in Nashville and north of the city) but secondary roads were somewhat slippery. On my evening commute home from work, I encountered one car that had slid off the road, but thankfully didn’t see any serious accidents.

The road I live on was basically a sheet of ice, but thankfully wasn’t too bad to drive on, so long as you took it very slowly and didn’t make any sudden wheel-adjustments. I actually didn’t realize just how icy it was until I walked out to the mailbox and was standing on the road. (Almost wiped out… whoops!)

Observing everyone’s panic over the road conditions made me very grateful that I spent my first 8 years driving in a climate where these sort of road conditions are common five months out of the year (or more).

But it really could be worse…

Once again, there’s the snow as of this morning at my parents’ house in Erie, Pennsylvania. According to my mother, the cars were totally bare at 11:30 PM last night. They’re expecting more lake-effect snow Saturday and Sunday. FUN!