J.P.

Welcome to Central New York.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

Earl and I decided to go for a drive today, despite all the snow advisories that were in place. You can’t let Mother Nature slow you down two days in a row.

Last night we were suppose to drive to Syracuse and join my sister for dinner, but it took almost and hour to get as far as the Thruway (about 20 miles) so we jumped on the Thruway in the other direction and doubled back home. There were times that it was snowing so hard we could barely see a foot in front of the Jeep.

The Thruway Authority does an incredible job with snow removal, but there’s one problem with taking to the Thruway during a snow storm: out of state drivers. When you’re on the local roads during a snow storm you see your fair share of bad drivers. When you’re on the Thruway, you see things that you wouldn’t believe. For some reason, a lot of folks in New Jersey think that they have to wear sunglasses in a whiteout, even if it’s midnight. Somehow, somewhere, they were taught that wearing sunglasses in the middle of a blizzard makes it easier to see, despite the time of day.

It doesn’t.

You know what actually makes it easier to drive in a blizzard? Turn off your headlights. Even if it’s the dead of night. Usually there will be enough light around you that you’ll be able to see the tracks in the road that you should be following and you won’t have the glare from the snow obscuring your view. Make sure you leave your parking lights on though, so others can see you.

And don’t turn on your damn flashers because that makes others think you’re broken down or an emergency vehicle, causing unnecessary responses that could create accidents.

Now that I’m off my snowbox, Earl and I went for a drive, went to the mall, picked up a classic joystick for the Xbox 360 and went grocery shopping. Not a walk through Thrillsville, but enjoyable nonetheless.

We’re kicking back for the rest of the weekend.

Canceled.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

I said yesterday that we were going to do this and tonight we made it official.

“American Idol” is no longer on our TiVo. It has become entirely too mean spirited. We will no longer waste brain cells, electrons, bits or bytes on this program.

Buh-bye.

Under Construction.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

This picture is of our local Price Chopper grocery store. They are rebuilding it from top to bottom and keeping it open at the same time. It makes for quite an adventure for a number of reasons, including the fact that nothing is in the same place two days in a row, the checkout lanes are scattered all over the place, some of the aisles are half a cart-width wide and most importantly, there’s a lot of prime beefcake in the way of construction men to be found in just about every nook and cranny. In fact, I tried to sneak a picture of the guy sticking his head out of ventilator shaft, but then I found myself almost being run over by a fork-truck, so I decided not to risk the venture.

When all is said and done, our Price Chopper will be as close to a Wegmans as the area will allow. This being our closest grocery store, it’s still almost eight miles from the house. I really wish that we had a store closer to us and I have begged Wegmans to build in our area on several occasions, but they’re not coming this far east. I’d even be happy with a Wal*Mart Neighborhood Market.

There Be Walls.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

When I got home from class today I noticed that our contractor had put the sheetrock up in two of the four rooms we’re having built in our basement. It’s very exciting to see this sort of progress. I’ve been pulling wire through the studs for the past couple of nights, when all is said and done each room with have three-line phone jacks, internet/network access and a clock from my school clock collection properly flush mounted against the wall. Even the storeroom.

Earl has big plans for the workout room, including a set of lockers he has leftover from work to store our stuff in. It’s great to see the project coming together. We’re really happy with the work.

I can’t wait to move our offices, the music studio and everything downstairs.