Twitter and Facebook have been blowing up this week with people posting pictures of forecasts and temperature displays, as well as pictures and videos of the weather outside and all the cool, unexpected, and bizarre phenomena brought on by the extreme cold. I'm not going to join them in the pics/videos department, but I guess I'm going to write about it. It sure is cold.
"How cold is it?"
Well, let me tell you--I've had two straight days off work...and I work at home. Right now my weather app informs me that it's 6°, -8° with the wind chill, and that represents a significant increase from what it was yesterday and earlier today, when wind chills dropped below -30°. That's pretty fuckin cold, not to put too fine a point on it. Now, I had every intention of working yesterday, but the office was closed; at some point over the weekend my PC in the office lost power, and there was no one in the building to turn it on for me. I connect to that PC remotely to do the overwhelming majority of my work, and without it I had nothing to do. Even if I had been able to work yesterday, I wouldn't have today, because I would have caught up on everything with nothing new coming in.
The company I work for is in the Toledo area, which was hit even harder by this "polar vortex" than we were here in Troy, about 120 miles south. They were hit with a bunch of snow on Sunday night (the totals I've seen seem to be in the 7-10" range), which we were supposed to get, but which (for the most part) didn't happen here because of much higher temperatures than expected (i.e. we got rain instead). At any rate, the resulting wind and cold have made it nearly impossible to clear the roads in that area; hence, the two-day company closure. I fully expect we'll be back up and running tomorrow, but we'll see.
If it's anything like it is here (and I imagine it's not like it, it's worse), travel is definitely no picnic. Brandi reported yesterday that the interstates were in pretty good shape, at least between here and Columbus (which is east, not north). When I went to the gym around 11:00 this morning, though, I found that the surface streets are still pretty well sheeted with ice here in Troy. I expected it in our neighborhood, which sees little traffic, but I expected Main Street to be in much better shape. I've found the Neon to handle pretty well in snow and ice, especially for such a small car, but today was a slip-and-slide fest until I got a feel for just how bad the streets were.
I'm supposed to travel to Toledo on Thursday and Friday this week for our monthly catalog deadline, so that should be interesting. On the bright side, it's supposed to be significantly warmer by then--we may even rise above freezing! Of course, I also see that the forecast for those days calls for snow and rain, which would mean ice on the roads at the times I'm driving. So, we'll see how it goes--I ended up cutting my trip short last month due to impending snow, and at this point I wouldn't be surprised to see deadline postponed by a day or two to make up for the two days we've lost (that would be unprecedented in my 9+ years with the company, but then, so is a weather-related closure, let alone for two days).
But hey, it's only 37 days until pitchers and catchers report for spring training. Better days are on the horizon!
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 07, 2014
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Newport Aquarium
A few weeks ago, Brandi and I visited the Newport Aquarium in Newport, Kentucky (just across the bridge from Cincinnati). It was a pretty cool place to visit, and I got some neat photos like the one above. You can view the rest of them here.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Cozumel
I'll try to make this the short version. It's not that I want to pay short shrift to an awesome trip, it's just that I imagine reading a full account of someone's honeymoon is probably pretty dull. While it was a blast for us, it didn't create a ton of exciting stories that other people would die to hear. So I'll just hit the highlights.
Our flight was scheduled to leave from Detroit at 6:30 on Monday morning, so we arrived at the airport around 4:00 a.m. I don't have a passport, and we found out when we tried to check in that I had the wrong birth certificate. It didn't seem like we were going to be able to leave that day, as the options presented to us were to either go get an official birth certificate (from my hometown of Troy, Ohio, which would be about a three-hour drive from Detroit) or go somewhere to swear out an affidavit affirming my U.S. citizenship and have it notarized. By chance, we ended up at the desk of a different airline to ask a question about such an affidavit, and they told us that we could do it right there at the airport. The notary was at one of the gates, though, so Brandi had to check in (she has a passport) and go track her down while I pretty much just stood around and waited. It was a pretty length process, but eventually the notary came up to the desk with the affidavit for me to sign. Being an airport supervisor, she then expedited my trip through security so Brandi and I could sprint down to the gate in time to make our flight.
I'd just like to note that Continental Airlines was not very helpful in getting this issue resolved, but Northwest Airlines, with whom we weren't even flying, was awesome. If not for them, we wouldn't have made it. Once we were on the plane, though, we were home free. We flew from Detroit to Houston, where we got a snack and changed planes, and from there to Cozumel. Our travel company arranged our ride from the airport to the resort, where we arrived before our room was ready. They checked us in, though, and let us leave our baggage so we could begin to enjoy the resort's all-inclusivity. That gave us a chance to have our first of many margaritas for the week.
We were in Cozumel for six days, and it was incredible. The people there couldn't have been friendlier or more helpful. The weather was awesome--it rained only once during the day, and even that was only for about half an hour. We spent most of our time in and around the pool, enjoying the sun and the swim-up bar. We got massages together one day. We ate and drank a lot. We made friends with the cats that wandered around, and took pictures of all the other wildlife. We went to the show the resort put on each night, which was usually pretty amusing. We looked for seashells on the beach, and walked to the end of the pier one night to sit there and feed the fish. At night, we usually watched some Mexican TV.
The only time we left the resort was when we went on a snorkeling expedition, which turned into quite an adventure. I'm not a terribly strong swimmer, so as much as I love the water, I get a little nervous about stuff like this. When I jumped in the first time, my snorkel and mask filled up with water, and I got a little panicky for a minute. It was discovered that my mask had a hole in it, so the instructor gave me his. Once that happened, I was fine and able to totally enjoy what we were seeing. The first place we went was called "The Sky" due to the number of starfish located there. We also went to Colombia Reef and Palancar Reef, which were much deeper and featured a wider variety of fish. Of course, Brandi is mildly scared of fish, so she did a fair amount of screaming and growling in a futile attempt to keep them away from her. I thought it was cool when they got close, myself, but one guy in our group did get bitten on the finger by a red snapper. We stayed above the reefs, but there were times when I couldn't see the floor when I looked left or right. It was exhilarating. I could have stayed out there all day.
All in all, it was a great and very relaxing trip. The time went by so quickly, and on Saturday we just had time to have breakfast and check out before hopping a taxi to the airport. We flew first to Houston, where we had more travel adventures. We had to collect our bags and re-check them, which was a pain. I wasn't expecting another trip through security, so I was held for a pat-down when I forgot to take my iPod out of my pocket. We were also held up in customs due to a couple of cigars Brandi had brought back for her dad, which were eventually cleared. The upshot of all of this is that we once again had to sprint through an airport. We arrived at the gate a mere five minutes before our plane was supposed to take off. The door was closed, but they were waiting for us and we were able to board.
Finally we were back in Detroit, but our travel woes weren't quite over yet. Brandi and I had re-checked our bags at the same time in Houston, but hers made it onto the plane and mine did not. We waited for quite a while, but finally had to go file a missing baggage claim. It wasn't a huge deal--my bag was filled mainly with dirty clothes, and they located it and delivered it to our apartment the next day. It was just one last thing in a string of travel dilemmas. Still, the time in Cozumel more than made up for the travel irritations, and now we just have to figure out how we're going to get ourselves back down there someday.
Our flight was scheduled to leave from Detroit at 6:30 on Monday morning, so we arrived at the airport around 4:00 a.m. I don't have a passport, and we found out when we tried to check in that I had the wrong birth certificate. It didn't seem like we were going to be able to leave that day, as the options presented to us were to either go get an official birth certificate (from my hometown of Troy, Ohio, which would be about a three-hour drive from Detroit) or go somewhere to swear out an affidavit affirming my U.S. citizenship and have it notarized. By chance, we ended up at the desk of a different airline to ask a question about such an affidavit, and they told us that we could do it right there at the airport. The notary was at one of the gates, though, so Brandi had to check in (she has a passport) and go track her down while I pretty much just stood around and waited. It was a pretty length process, but eventually the notary came up to the desk with the affidavit for me to sign. Being an airport supervisor, she then expedited my trip through security so Brandi and I could sprint down to the gate in time to make our flight.
I'd just like to note that Continental Airlines was not very helpful in getting this issue resolved, but Northwest Airlines, with whom we weren't even flying, was awesome. If not for them, we wouldn't have made it. Once we were on the plane, though, we were home free. We flew from Detroit to Houston, where we got a snack and changed planes, and from there to Cozumel. Our travel company arranged our ride from the airport to the resort, where we arrived before our room was ready. They checked us in, though, and let us leave our baggage so we could begin to enjoy the resort's all-inclusivity. That gave us a chance to have our first of many margaritas for the week.
We were in Cozumel for six days, and it was incredible. The people there couldn't have been friendlier or more helpful. The weather was awesome--it rained only once during the day, and even that was only for about half an hour. We spent most of our time in and around the pool, enjoying the sun and the swim-up bar. We got massages together one day. We ate and drank a lot. We made friends with the cats that wandered around, and took pictures of all the other wildlife. We went to the show the resort put on each night, which was usually pretty amusing. We looked for seashells on the beach, and walked to the end of the pier one night to sit there and feed the fish. At night, we usually watched some Mexican TV.
The only time we left the resort was when we went on a snorkeling expedition, which turned into quite an adventure. I'm not a terribly strong swimmer, so as much as I love the water, I get a little nervous about stuff like this. When I jumped in the first time, my snorkel and mask filled up with water, and I got a little panicky for a minute. It was discovered that my mask had a hole in it, so the instructor gave me his. Once that happened, I was fine and able to totally enjoy what we were seeing. The first place we went was called "The Sky" due to the number of starfish located there. We also went to Colombia Reef and Palancar Reef, which were much deeper and featured a wider variety of fish. Of course, Brandi is mildly scared of fish, so she did a fair amount of screaming and growling in a futile attempt to keep them away from her. I thought it was cool when they got close, myself, but one guy in our group did get bitten on the finger by a red snapper. We stayed above the reefs, but there were times when I couldn't see the floor when I looked left or right. It was exhilarating. I could have stayed out there all day.
All in all, it was a great and very relaxing trip. The time went by so quickly, and on Saturday we just had time to have breakfast and check out before hopping a taxi to the airport. We flew first to Houston, where we had more travel adventures. We had to collect our bags and re-check them, which was a pain. I wasn't expecting another trip through security, so I was held for a pat-down when I forgot to take my iPod out of my pocket. We were also held up in customs due to a couple of cigars Brandi had brought back for her dad, which were eventually cleared. The upshot of all of this is that we once again had to sprint through an airport. We arrived at the gate a mere five minutes before our plane was supposed to take off. The door was closed, but they were waiting for us and we were able to board.
Finally we were back in Detroit, but our travel woes weren't quite over yet. Brandi and I had re-checked our bags at the same time in Houston, but hers made it onto the plane and mine did not. We waited for quite a while, but finally had to go file a missing baggage claim. It wasn't a huge deal--my bag was filled mainly with dirty clothes, and they located it and delivered it to our apartment the next day. It was just one last thing in a string of travel dilemmas. Still, the time in Cozumel more than made up for the travel irritations, and now we just have to figure out how we're going to get ourselves back down there someday.
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