Dirk news for the women...

And so, will he realize the need to commit early to the Mavericks, if he intends to do so? Is that clear? (Question asked to Mavs President Donnie Nelson)

"Crystal."

That was Nelson perhaps quoting Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men. Either that or he was making a reference to a certain former fiancée of Nowitzki's.

By the way, Nelson also mentioned that Nowitzki has a new girlfriend "of Swedish persuasion."

Did I tell you I went to Wimbledon today?

Outstanding. lots of fun, lots of walking, lots of sunshine, lots of beer.

Did I say it was lot of fun? #1 seed Roger Federer went down in 4 sets. Nadal survived and the Englishman Andy Murray which the press is fawning over.

Speaking of...I went to the Media Center and saw Bud Collins in his quilt-patch pants. And the ever young Dick Ensberg.

But, enough.

Tour de France starts Sunday in Rotterdam and heads thru Antwerp and Brussels. Hope to be in one or the other...and see Lance when he comes thru.

World Cup watching England at a London Pub? Check. Wimbledon? Check. Tour de France? We'll see. Rangers keep rolling? So far. Mavs sign Dirk and others? To be determined.

Later.

Did I tell you we went to see Billy Elliot?

Did you know he's a deaf mute?

The lovely Cindy went to Leicester Square on Tuesday to buy half-price tickets for Billy at the Victoria Palace Theatre that night. Great job. And you can imagine how pumped we were to see it.

Beautiful old theatre sitting across the street from Victoria Station. So, we took the train and arrived, of course, a few minutes ahead of our 7:30 kick-off. Which came around 7:32...those Brits are not necessarily as prompt as they could be.

Nevertheless, at 7:32 a little kid comes running on stage and an old black/white film footage begins to run. (The musical is about a coal miner's strike in the 80's in the UK.) There's no sound on the film. All of a sudden there's this loud pop and bang in the sound system and everything on stage goes dark. Couple of minutes later a Stage Manager comes out and says there is a technical difficulty and that it will be repaired shortly.

About 15 minutes later another guy comes out - some dude higher up the Chain of Command - and says that they are working feverishly on getting this fixed and will get it done. By this time, some people are leaving. Most are staying. (Some kids in the balcony start to do The Wave.) When the show started there did not appear to be an empty seat in the house.

Finally at 8:15, 45 minutes after the scheduled sart, the dude returns. (I had told Cindy if we see that guy one more time, it will not be good news.) Sure enough. He said they had been unable to fix their problem, and that the "show would be abandoned this evening." Well, F that.

But, that's the way it was. As we left the theatre folks were talking to each other. This older gentleman next to us grumbles: "It's that British Petroleum Syndrome." And then I mumbled, "Or that English futbol problem." Chuckles.

But, they said since we bought on a credit card, the cost would be reversed...wonder if that half-price dealer agrees? I even half-heartedly asked about my 5 GBP program I purchased, and they told me to go to the counter and they would refund...and they did. I could have kept it as a conversation item for the Musical we did not get to see. But...it gave us more time for dinner and relaxing that evening, so all's well that ends well!

I'm with Donnie

For the first time in 12 years, Dirk Nowitzki will not be a Maverick when the clock strikes 11 tonight.

His free agency, confirmed Tuesday when the notification that he will opt out of the final year of his contract arrived at the Mavericks' office, is not expected to last long. In fact, when he wakes up Thursday morning in Germany, he'll probably have a handshake deal waiting for him.

"My intention is to get on a plane and go to Germany with flowers and chocolates," Mavericks president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson said. "We want to show him and Holger [Geschwindner, Dirk's longtime consultant and friend] all the respect they deserve.

Mavs have mild interest in Jefferson

I'm so excited.

http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/nba/news/story?id=5340850

The English get what they deserve

We watched the USA-Ghana game at a pub along the Thames River last night. And the entire place was rooting for Ghana. Funny though, there were few black folk in the house. I told Cindy afterwards I predicted Germany would beat them today 4-0. Got close.

But, we did not see the game. Took a road trip (aka train) to the Windsor Castle today and toured it during the futbol game. Great way to spend the afternoon. Lots of great royal history. Grand castle of course.

One of the things that was most memorable...the current Queen Elizabeth and her sister Margaret when they were little girls, there were photos of them with their pet dog...a Corgi! His name was Dookie! As in a Duke. (Maybe explains why students at Duke are called what they are.) Anyway, I'm sure this explains why Norman (and Corey before him) appear to be so regal.

I know you folks will not believe this...but it is sooooooooo hot here. And it may only be in the 80's (uggggh!), but with no A/C in a lot of these places, i.e., buses, tubes, trains, pubs, restaurants, etc. that more than makes up for the outside temp.

Oh well. Bitch, bitch, bitch.

We're having fun.

Later.

The BBC

The Brits have VERY BORING TV including VERY LAME attempts at game shows.

But, I just saw their funniest bit. In honor of the Uruguay (Your-a-gwie') futbol team, they're playing a game of "Your a Gwuy" or "Your a Gwirl." They put human silhouettes on the screen and the contestants guess if it's "Your a Gwuy" or "Your a Gwirl." Okay. It's funny for about 1 minute. But for them, that's great!

UK Today - OK Today

Don’t worry about the future. Everything’s fine today.

As most of you know from watching the news the UK had a big Tax Raise passed yesterday – the VAT (aka National Sales Tax) was raised from 17.5% to 20% (that would be a 14% tax hike to you) and various government benefits were decreased. But, not a problem. Today was about beating Slovenia (ok, $1 to the first person that correctly identifies the bordering countries of Slovenia – oh hell, just name the Continent it’s on) and moving on to the Knockout Round of the World Cup.

On the newscasts this morning, the first 15 minutes was spent covering the futbol game. And then, “in other news…the VAT was raised…” But, the image of England was at stake in the soccer game, damnit! The coverage was about “fear of losing, being disgraced, etc, etc.” France had been sent home yesterday and the team was labeled as “2nd-class citizens.” Such was the importance of today’s game.

When we had Audit Opening Conference on Monday, the fellow in charge proudly announced he would not be here on Wednesday afternoon. Not only did the company I was at unofficially shutdown this afternoon but I think all of England were either in Pubs or standing on the sidewalk hoping to get in. My guy had a room reserved at the pub across the street and I boldly asked if I could tag along. Oh yes. But the next sentence was, “I suppose you’re rooting against England because of the US?” I assured him, when in Rome…plus, I wasn’t about to be the Lone Ranger rooting for the opposite team of all these folks. Luckily if both England and the US won then both would advance, so that’s how we had to hope it turned out. (The game was at 3; he said we’d leave at "half past two" - that's "two-thirty" to you - and we did.)

It was close, but that is how it did turn out. Surprisingly (though I guess in true English no-frills tv form), there was no score of the US-Algeria game ever given, though they occasionally would flash the “current standings” on the screen and we surmised that the US was in a tie (that would be a “draw” to you, which combined with an English win would eliminate the US). But, at the very end of the game they flashed up the standings and the US was 1st with 5 points! We couldn’t believe it actually. And it’s bizarre in that it seemed as if nobody had internet – I guess these are throwback times where people are truly engrossed in the moment of their game and nothing else at all is of interest. Very different these English folks. Not that vocal or passionate. Calm exterior. Conservative in dress and style.

James told me later that the US scored just as the England game was completed – imagine that, they got to watch both games – and “that’s why you play the full 93 minutes.” Good line! That must have been dramatic. England scored its only goal in the first half and held on to the very end. The US scored at the very, very end.

The experience of watching the England game was one that I won’t forget, but in an unusual way. The people were obviously very interested and focused. And there was this pervading fear of losing, even though they were the favorite. With soccer being such a low scoring game a tricky bounce here or there can certainly change the outcome of the game. All you have to do is look at the 1-1 tie/draw between USA–England when their keeper fumbled the ball into the net. (One of the guys today pointed out to me that he has not played since. Poor guy will probably have to leave the country.) The only goal scored today obviously brought huge cheers. I was ready to fist-bump and high-five but they don’t do that. They just sorta shake their head and cheer. I kinda wanted to show them how to let loose! If this had been a Cowboys game and they just scored the only touchdown of the game, we would have all been running up to the screen and acting nuts…well, some of us might, hrrmph, be inclined to do that.

The only time I’ve been to Chicago I went to Wrigleyville and watched a Cubs playoff game in a bar. Those folks were jazzed and cheering on every pitch. I don’t think the English could take that sort of adrenaline rush.

In the end I was very glad that England won. I did not want to be around for a meltdown. No telling what would have happened. They would have probably put their heads down and headed home to begin their new life with a 20% VAT.

As it was, everyone was in a good mood and the beer continued to flow, one pint at a time.

And now as a bonus they play again this weekend, as will the US, so there will be more opportunities to be disgraced. Just on a bigger stage.

Definition of Irony

Mississippi Governor, and Teabagger, Haley Barbour:

"Barbour said he has not yet requested emergency federal aid but plans to do so on Monday." GASP! Federal monies? "You can NOT be serious."

"No matter what, you don't throw children in brush piles."

My thought exactly.

As quoted by guy mowing land that found abandoned 6 year old. Maybe lay or gently toss. But don't throw.

"I am tho ekthited..."

I know Tim Tebow is excited and a tough guy to boot, but he needs to take care of that speech impediment. Espethially if he's going to be calling thignals in the huddle. A good Speech Language Therapist, maybe?

PETA in the Far North

Driving to work this morning and saw a truck with a PETA bumper sticker. Thought this was strange and out of character. Got closer and saw the fine print: "People Eating Tasty Animals" That's more like it. :)

Can't see Russia from here...

but can see the Wasilla Phone Book (click on image and enlarge).

And there's lots of daylight to see it with. Went to bed at 9:30 (local) last night and it was still daylight. Sunrise today - 6:25; Sunset - 9:32. Whereas our days in Dallas grow longer 2 minutes a day - 1 at sunrise and sunset - here it's 6 minutes a day (3 in morning/3 at night). Thus, class, 2 months from Wednesday on the "longest day of the year," in Anchorage Sunrise/Sunset will be 180 minutes later/earlier, or 12:30 am for Sunset; 3:30 am for Sunrise.

Test will follow later.

The worst day every 5 years

The day before the Colonoscopy. No food. Only clear liquids. All day. And that doesn't count drinking the gallon of "stuff" later tonight. I may eat this blog.

This Holy Day thing has gone too far

Went down to the hotel pub at 5 p.m. - only 7 a.m. at home, but proving once again it's ALWAYS 5 pm somewhere. The place was empty and one of the waitresses came over and told me that they can't serve alcohol until 7 p.m. I ask if it's because today is Holy Day and she goes, "yes starting on Thursday Night at 6 p.m. it's Dry Night until 7 p.m. on Friday." And you thought Texas was bad about not selling alcohol before noon on Sunday. Wait until the Baptists hear about this.

Proves also how long it had been between drinks for me. Maybe.

Obligatory Man and Camel

Required on all trips to the desert.

Bon Vogage! Home Saturday afternoon. Yee-ha!

Flew over on a 747

Forgot to mention...on British Airways (you know the one that may have a Flight Attendants strike) flew from London to Dubai on a 747. It's the big boy that has the upstairs in it. My seat was originally in the lower level in Business Class but before we took off one of the Flight Attendants (one of those) came and asked if the guy next to me and me wanted to swap seats with a mother and her child upstairs so they could be with their family downstairs. Abso-damn-lutely! For some reason there were lots of families with kids in Business Class and I already started dreading the noise, so this really was a terrific bonus.

Upstairs is so quiet. Seems I remember way back in the day when the upstairs was a lounge, where one could go to have a drink and a smoke...but I never saw that first-hand. Hard to picture that these days. Just as it once was in the back of the plane where the smoking section was. Another thing you whippersnappers haven't had to endure...though we hardly thought about it back then...unless we were stuck back there on a 10-hour flight to Hawaii and the little lady next to you was chain-smoking. She and her mother.

These days the upstairs is very peaceful. And just as in Business Class downstairs the seats are in reverse order next to each other. I've never flown like this before...unless you count the old SWA planes that had the seats that faced backwards. :) There's a little window/partition between you and your seatmate so you don't have to look at each other. Also, all your trays, screens, and yes, ottomans, all come out of the sides so that you have maximum stretch out room.

Here's a photo that hopefully shows up on this link:

http://airplanepicture.blogspot.com/2008/08/british-airways-new-club-world-cabin.html

Switching gears, on the dining front, have added Lebanese and Portuguese since last we spoke. Tonight there is a Hotel Wine Reception at Oscar's. French wine will be served. See how that goes.

Then tomorrow in late afternoon it's off to the desert. What they call a safari (similar to Luau in Hawaii and Wrangler Night, or whatever, in Texas . We will ride out there is some SUV and do "dune bashing" which I think will be like ripping through the sand in our vehicle (a professional will be driving!), perhaps a camel ride maybe?, then watch the sunset on the desert with a bbq dinner complete with...a belly dancer or two. Then back to the hotel by 9:30.

Will still have Friday - which we all remember from last week's lesson is the Holy Day so it's rather slow the first half of the day. Still hoping to get to the Spice Souk to see what kinda stuff they got there. Have been to the Gold Souk twice now, thanks to my colleague.

Then home Saturday - leave here at 2:30 a.m. and get to DFW, via London, on Saturday afternoon. Will be gaining 10 hours that day. I should be in fine shape!

Still organizing my pictures and will send out when I have them completed.

Later!

If it's Tuesday, it must be Hump Day

And with the camels that would be one hump or two?

By the end of work day today, I'll be two days ahead of all you poor sweat-stained schmucks. With the work weeks being Sunday-Thursday it's sort of messes with your mind. ESPECIALLY on Sunday morning.

Tried to make one more run at the Big Building, but it remains closed. They thought it would re-open this week but not so. And even if it opens now I will not be one of the first ones to try out the new, improved elevators. Ddo have plenty of pictures though.

GOing to try and work out an evening desert safari. I want to see sand and camels. Figure when foreigners come to Texas they want to see cows and horses. I can do the same with camels. They're such an ugly sort - kinda reminds you of Bob (Sue don't tell him.). May make me want to light up. Camels of course. And while I ramble on, that does remind that people routinely smoke hookahs (spelling?) here. They look sorta strong - have charcoal in the little trays that are lit. I'd want to throw a slab of meat on that thing.

Oh well. Off to the shower.

Later, tater.

Come-a Come-a Down Doobie, Doobie, Dubai!

After completing a week here – well, a work week…sorta – time to report in and say that all is well. This city is all that it is cracked up to be. Modern, modern, modern…at least as compared to last year’s visits to Baku, Angola and Trinidad. It’s sorta like going to New York except knowing you’re sitting in the middle of a desert…and Iran is right over >>there. And in the other direction is camel racing which you can catch here on the hotel tv. Complete with little bitty fake jockeys. The World Championship Tennis Tournament is here this week and next too if one tires of following basketball games on the internet.

As can be seen from the photos above there are tall buildings with lots of glass and glitter, and that really seems to represent the city itself…though all I’ve seen so far is this one road…Sheikh Zayed Road (the late former president of the UAE). My hotel, the Crowne Plaza, is 10 buildings down from the building we’re working in, Al Moosha Tower II. Along here distances are not measured in city blocks or miles (er, kilometers), but how many buildings away you are. The first day we caught a cab to the office – wasn’t sure how far away we were and had all my “junk” that I haul to audits. The fare was $1.60, but gladly gave the guy his minimum $10 since I had just burned him on a decent fare. (Don’t tell Carol.) Ten buildings is about a 5-minute walk.

Office building has only 17 stories; hotel has 23. At the office we are on 13, except that is unlucky so the our floor is called 12B. And there are only 3 elevators. And people give a crap about polite and who “was there first” to cue up to board the elevators. It is literally dog eat dog. I’ve adapted nicely, thank you.

The work week here is Sunday thru Thursday. Since I left DFW on Sunday night – got to celebrate Valentine’s Day and weekend with my Valentine – I didn’t get to my hotel until 2 a.m. on Tuesday (Dubai is 10 hours ahead of Texas). The flight was over an hour late – headwinds as you announced, or was it because you left an hour late? – but the hotel driver had boogied so it took longer to decide he/she wasn’t there to pick me up and then took a cab. Despite not sleeping much on the flights over – DFW to London to Dubai – could not sleep, but since I had already missed two days of the work week, reported to the office bright and early Tuesday.

This is a Muslim country. Thus, lots of women dressed in Nun type wardrobes, complete with head scarves (not the burkas that cover the face); men dressed in starched white nightgowns wearing great little white hats with black headbands on them. Not sure what percentage I would place on this – maybe 10-15% of the women; 25% of the men. There are lots of Indians (dots), Indonesians and Pakistanis, Iranians, etc. and those people wear their native garments. But, then you have lots of businessmen wearing suits and ties, or at least slacks, jackets and dress shirts, which I chose to accept this week though I deteriorated to jeans and golf shirt today. Afterall it was Casual Thursday.

Friday is the Holy Day, which explains the work week. It’s going to be awfully weird going to work on Sunday.

Our audit contact is a little Muslim lady – complete with penguin outfit, no make-up, no jewelry, doesn’t drink and doesn’t like to eat – and is…Scottish. You read this right. She’s from Edinburgh and has worked offshore for a lot of her career. Surely she wore coveralls and steel-tip boots. As it turns out there’s lot of Brits here in addition to the above mentioned ex-pats. Dubai must be a melting pot – doesn’t have a Statue of Liberty, just lots of tall buildings. Since I deemed today to be “Casual Thursday” I wondered if she would show up in a denim abaya. No. Just black as usual. Obviously I’m just spoofing around, and this is not serious.

The entertainment seems to be centered around the hotels. The only place that liquor is sold is in the restaurants located in hotels. My hotel has 8 or 9 restaurants. While there are cafes/restaurants located elsewhere, all the nice ones are in hotels. And they are the only ones that can sell liquor. There are no liquor stores. No grocery stores selling beer or wine. Have I made this point clear? There will be no drinking outside of a hotel. This may explain why all my meals have been in the hotel this week – except for lunches while working.

The hotel has a typical European type restaurant that is open for breakfast serving a full buffet. Took only two days to realize I can’t eat that every morning – nevermind that it cost $35 US. One of the selling features to me for the Crowne Plaza was the Wagamama – and we ate there on Tuesday (the first) night. It was just as good as ever. All my meals have been good so far…which is a bad sign as far as meeting any weight reduction goals. Ate at an Iranian restaurant for lunch yesterday – one of the best meals so far – just don’t tell George Bush. Junior or Senior. Have also had Italian. Looking forward to Thai and whatever else I can get my hands on. After nixing the breakfast buffet, had a Subway turkey on wheat for breakfast with a diet coke and salt/vinegar chips (Not one of the hotel restaurants but two doors down - past the TGI Fridays.) Phyllis will be pleased.

Looking forward to the weekend. My colleague and I have reservations for a bus tour of the city. Actually a Big Bus tour as it is called. Double-decker and open on top. There are two routes to be taken – one of the inner city around Dubai Creek which includes lots of Souks (shops with specific themes, i.e., the Spice Souk, the Gold Souk, etc.), mosques and other sights and the other route I’m excited about goes along the beach and will see all the man-made islands – the Palm Island – the World Island – etc. You may have heard, the tallest building the world – 160 stories – opened in January and closed in February after there was an electrical problem. Yikes. At any rate I’ll see that tomorrow though I can see it at a distance from my hotel – it’s actually behind the buildings in the photo above and is not visible. Supposedly it has re-opened. If so, I will enter an elevator with great care.

By the way, the tour is one of these where you can get off at all these different stops and get back on whenever you want. Sounds great, and I’m really looking forward to it.

The major news story of the week was the Dubai police issuing warrants for the 11/12 UK residents who supposedly assassinated the Hamas leader in a local hotel (not the Crowne Plaza). Quite interesting. And of course it was stolen identity complete with fake passports. And I thought my stolen credit card number in Trinidad was bad. Just imagine being one of the poor schmucks who gets up in the morning, turns on the tv and sees his picture as someone who has a murder warrant outstanding. Yikes – again. But, it is all the talk of local news as well as that of the BBC.
Only other unusual thing that has happened was in the very beginning … at DFW airport.

Got there early and hit the American Airlines lounge for a free drink. Of course. Why wait until you get on the plane to start drinking on your 18-hour journey? At any rate, I set my stuff down, go to the bar and come back to my chair and there in the next chair was a lady I worked with at Arco (Kristin and Laura, I know! EVERYONE worked at Arco at one time or another.) And, coincidentally she’s still in our Fantasy Football League. It was Kim A. She now works for Cap Gemini (She actually got input from KLJF, via me, before she went to work there.), and was on her way to Oslo – on my flight…seated one row in front of me. So, she switched seats and, thus, unexpectedly, I had a traveling Chatty Kathy for the flight to London. She did, however, recommend the Michael Jackson movie. She watched that while I watched Grand Torino (great movie!) and couple of episodes of Curb.
That is all for now. I’ll report back after the Big Bus tour. And if I said anything disparaging about anyone, please don’t tell them. Pax.

P.S.: Took forever to post this. The Google page was all in Arabic. Had to guess on on what to do. Here's hoping this works...Yiiiiiiiiiyaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh...GO Mavs. Go Horns.

Next stop? Also Du...

After rango, then bai. Wowzer.

Feb 14 leave for Dubai for two weeks. Should be most spectacular of my international audits yet. Stay tuned.

Double the fun

Twice as much snow this week - 3 feet - than the average January snowfall. Just another record-setting performance.

Birds in the snow

Biggest, fattest robins I've ever seen out my window perched in tree during latest snow shower. They are twice as big as the one shown in the attached link.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Robin/id

and now it's official...

since the ol' boy here has been known to exagerate on occasion...here's verifiable 3rd-party documentation. Enjoy.

http://www.durangoherald.com/sections/News/2010/01/22/Storm_No_3_dumps_a_boatload/

Snow Update

Round 3 of the Snow has been the biggest.

Started at 5 a.m. Thursday. (Rounds 1 and 2 were Mon and Tues night; Round 3 is Wed night). It's 11 pm., 18 hrs by my calc. And at approx 1 inch an hour we are now at 18inches today and counting.

Was able to drive 20 miles from outside of Durango this afternoon at around 25 mi./hr. But...got stuck in Residence Inn driveway since their snowblower guys had gone elsewhere for a few hours. Was able to back up into main road and get a screaming head start and got into the parking lot.

After discussing with my bitter half, she suggests I head immediately to grocery store so that I don't have to get out any more. So...I head to: a) dinner, b) gro store, and c) liq store. Was able to park outside of restaurant (Ore House - Durango legendary restaurant) without getting stuck - paralleled park which I'm not able to do in normal weather. Made successful parking/departure.

However, pulling into gro store lot I got stuck. There was this young couple in p/u truck who worked diligently to pull my Hertz Impala out. As it turns out they were the Restaurant owners where we ate breakfast (Oscar's in Durango - definitely recommend.) Obviously they didn't accept my tip for pulling me out.

Loaded up at Grocery Store so that if I have to stay in for the next week I am totally set. Headed next to Liquor Store down the parking lot in this strip mall. Parked in middle of driveway - not taking any chances - went inside and bought week's worth of supplies once again.

Headed back to the hotel...and got stuck in the freakin' Residence Inn Parking Lot once again. Luckily there were Maintenance Guys out shoveling snow out of stuck cars, and then some super guy in a p/u truck comes along, and ties his line to my Hertz Impala and once again I"m pulled out of a pile of snow in an uphill driveway.

Hertz with no 4-wheeler and no brush to scrape the snow.

But, hey. I can't go home this weekend. Airport is closed. But I have food and booze to last a week. See you later.

EwLiSttDB

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Beautiful Durango here. Beginning of the week the prediction was 3 snow storms. Two down and two to go. Huh? We’ve had two – Monday night and Tuesday Night (each of which lasted well into the next day). But now they are revising the prediction and saying one for tonight (Wednesday) and then another big one Thursday/Friday.
The two we’ve had so far are well over 10 inches. But, it’s been cold enough that it’s been nothing but beautiful and not a problem to move around. Of course up here in the Rockies they actually know how to take care of snowy roads and how to drive, so not really a concern.

The only ones that apparently don’t understand is Hertz since they did not include a snow brush in the car. Must be like cutting out taking cash on airplanes for cocktails. We just can’t afford those expenseive brushes anymore. I do feel a letter to Hertz coming.

But, I digress. The folks here have a really good idea when it’s going to snow. All you have to do is look west to Los Angeles. When they get rain there…in 1-2 days it will be snowing here. Have you noticed how much rain LA’s been getting lately? While they’re dealing with floods and mudslides, the jet stream ensures that Durango and SW Colorado ski slopes are getting great fresh new powder. SoCal’s loss is SWCO’s gain.

Two other axioms: 1) the snow keeps the temperature up, so not frigidly cold, and 2) the wind hasn’t been blowing so that makes it not as cold either.

Supposed to go home Friday, but don’t know what weather will allow. Here’s hoping for smooth sailing or clear skies.

P.S: Not my pictures since I forgot my camera. Had to borrow the pix. Otherwise, we’d have icicles hanging from the roof and snow piled high on my car. But, would have been difficult to take a picture of me brushing snow at 7 a.m.

P.S.S: And if you didn't see James Taylor and Carol King on Letterman tonight, Youtube it!