Since it’s Friday, I left work at my normal 5pm. I stopped at the bank on my way home to get some cash so I could get quarters to do laundry. I forgot to stop to get the quarters. But it’s a good thing I did. As soon as I got home, the sky opened up. Our first spring storm. It’s raining pretty good right now. But no thunder or lightning. :G-frown: I called Mom on my way home, and she said THEY had thunder and lightning. That’s not fair. I really don’t think we’re gonna get any, based on what I’m seeing on the radar. There are some nice looking storms down in South Dakota, but they won’t make it here before they fizzle out.

Oh well. This rain should clean up some of the dirt from winter (or at least hopefully it will). And maybe it will even green up the grass. I’m just glad I’m not going out again tonite.

I think my last post jinxed us. This is what it’s like outside right now …

click to enlarge

They’re advising no travel in town …

The city of Fargo is advising residents to avoid travel on Fargo city streets.

Fargo police officers and Fargo Public Works staff are encountering numerous vehicles stuck in the snow.

Blowing and drifting snow is also creating visibility problems on city streets.

Fargo plans to keep snow plows on the streets as long as visibility levels allow them to operate safely.

If you must travel, Fargo Police advise you to use the city’s snow emergency routes.

Because of that, they let me go home from work early (I left at 2pm). Thank goodness I can take major roads most of the way home. I usually don’t take those roads … I take some back roads ‘cuz they’re quicker. But not today. I took the long way so I could take those major roads. And from when I turned onto 25th Street until I turned off of 13th Ave to my apartment, I was behind snowplows. There were only really 2 tricky spots for me … getting out of the parking lot at work and getting into the parking lot at my apartment. But I made it through both spots. I gunned it to get into the parking lot at my apartment. I could hear the snow on the undercarriage … but I made it. And they had already plowed the lot (that’s where all that snow between the garages in the pic came from … and that had all finally melted from our other snow storms).

I hope Kelly makes it home okay. She left at 1:30pm, but she lives out of town. She’s got a ways to go too. It took me about 30 minutes to get home, when it normally takes about 15 minutes or so, depending on traffic. And that was all major roads. But she said that it was worse in town this morning coming in to work than it was out in the country. Hopefully she doesn’t have any problems.

It is so gorgeous outside today. I ran some errands right after dinner. I wore my coat when I left, but took it off and left it in the car after I left Walmart. Weather Pulse (the program I use for weather updates) says its 59° outside. But according to the thermometer I have out on my balcony, it’s about 67° out. Whichever one is correct, I don’t care. It’s just frickin’ nice out.

I hate running errands on Saturdays in this town. Everyone else and their dog is out (and I can say that today because I saw someone with a dog in the parking lot of Gordmans when I went there). I get stuck behind someone who doesn’t know how to drive. And Walmart is a mad house. It’s not as bad when I go around 10am, but I was watching Busch Series qualifying this morning (I actually got up at 8am or so … so I WAS up early), so I waited ’til after dinner to go. I’m gonna wait ’til Monday after work to do the rest of my shopping.

Who needs a man? Not me. Okay … maybe there are some things I need one for (and I’ll let you use your imagination on that one … but then again, maybe that’s not a good thing either … LOL), but I don’t need one to change the air filter in my car. I can do that all by myself. But I had to run all over to get the damn air filter. The first place I went doesn’t carry Fram air filters … they only have the Fram oil filters. I have no idea why. The second place had it though, and that’s where I got it. I came home, parked outside, popped open the hood and went to work. Good thing I’ve got my toolbox in my trunk ‘cuz I needed my screwdriver. Very simple to change in my car. The old one was dirty, but no too terribly bad.

Keeping on the subject of my car … I still have no idea what the hell is up with the window on the driver’s side. It worked perfectly fine today. I rolled it down just a little bit when I was going from place to place. But I decided to stop at the ATM to get some cash, so I needed to roll down the window. I rolled it almost all the way down (didn’t want to push my luck) and then back up with absolutely no problem. No noise, no hesitation, nothing. So I don’t know. I probably won’t take it in anywhere until it acts up again. Hey … if it works, I’ll save my money for something else.

And there’s a bunch of stuff I’d like to get. Of course, I’d like to get a laptop, but I also want to get an elliptical machine or something like that. Nothing too fancy or expensive, but something to work out on. If I had something, then I’d have no excuse. If the weather was crappy, I could still hop on it and work out. I keep saying that I’ll go on walks, but that never lasts. I think Robin said she got her elliptical machine at Walmart for under $200. And they’ve got a 2nd Wind Exercise Equipment store in town that has used machines. It just depends on what I can find and how much it is.

Well, that’s it for now. I need to balance my checkbook and then watch the Busch race. I’ve got it on right now, but I’m not paying that much attention to it. But they are under caution, so nothing is really going on. I gotta figure out what I want for supper too. I was gonna roast up some chicken pieces and make soup, but I don’t know if I’m in the mood. I can always do that tomorrow.

It is so beautiful out today. It’s been bouncing around 37° and 38° all day. It’s about that right now. The sun is out, but there are some clouds around. The snow is melting. Spring is in the air.

I don’t wanna think how nice it would be if he hadn’t got all this snow last weekend. The sun and warm temps are all going to melt the snow (and boy is it doing that … there’s water EVERYWHERE). If there wasn’t all the snow, just imagine how nice it would be out.

But I’m not going to complain. This is a clear sign that spring is on the way (I probably jinxed us now … ) … it is March after all. The next couple days are supposed to be like today. On the radio on my way home, the dj said that on Monday we might hit 50° Sure … on a day I’ve gotta work.

But I’m enjoying the weather now. I opened up my balcony door to let some fresh air in. Sure is nice.

Well … looks like I’m staying home today.

I hadn’t gotten an email from Kelly as to whether or not work was closed. The Fargo schools are closed (and they usually don’t close) and we’re still under the blizzard warning. I’m not sure how the roads are in town, but on the local news, I think she said there’s ice under the snow (her microphone died so you couldn’t hear her). I really didn’t want to try to drive in this … even though I am in town.

So I decided to give them a call to find out. I guess Kelly sent (or was going to send) me an email last nite telling me we were closed. I’m not sure if she forgot or if it got lost in cyberspace or if she sent it to the wrong email, but I never got it. And I checked my spam folder and there was nothing there. Anyways, we’re closed today. :dancin:

I’ve already been away for an hour, so I doubt I’ll be able to go back to sleep. So I sit here at my computer watching the Today show. I’m getting a little hungry, so I think I’m gonna make my own version of a sausage egg and cheese mcmuffin. I think I’ll work on my own websites today. I’ve kinda been neglecting them. I still need to make a back-end for my racing sites. I’ve been updating them directly in phpMyAdmin since I put them up. And I plan on doing a website for Dad’s business. I can at least get some stuff put together for that. I still need to talk to him about what he wants on the site. And I should update the site I put together to try to get freelance work. I haven’t gotten anything from it ever, so I haven’t done much with it. I might even move it to this domain instead of having it on the old one.

I’m off to make that breakfast sandwich. I might make a couple … I’m feeling pretty hungry.:D

It started snowing around the time I left work yesterday. It has continued to snow since then … with a few breaks this afternoon. I’m not sure how much we’ve gotten thus far, but I think it’s over 5 inches. I need to watch the news to find out for sure.

This was the scene outside my window at work around 9am this morning …

Click to enlarge

I switched over from my mp3s to the radio around 4:30pm or so to find out that we’re under a blizzard warning now …

…WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM CST THIS
EVENING…
…BLIZZARD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 10 PM THIS EVENING TO
6 PM CST FRIDAY…

A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM CST THIS
EVENING. A BLIZZARD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 10 PM THIS
EVENING TO 6 PM CST FRIDAY.

SNOW WILL BECOME HEAVY AT TIMES BY LATE EVENING AND CONTINUE
THROUGH MUCH OF FRIDAY. ADDITIONAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE
BETWEEN 5 AND 9 INCHES…WITH SOME AREAS SEEING UP TO ONE FOOT OF
SNOW BY FRIDAY EVENING. THIS WILL BRING STORM TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS
TO BETWEEN ONE AND TWO FEET.

NORTH WINDS WILL INCREASE TO 20 TO 30 MPH LATE TONIGHT AND FRIDAY
WITH WITH SOME HIGHER GUSTS POSSIBLE. THE WINDS WILL COMBINE WITH
HEAVY FALLING SNOW TO PRODUCE NEAR ZERO VISIBILITY ACROSS THE
REGION THROUGH THE DAY FRIDAY. TRAVEL WILL BECOME IMPOSSIBLE BY
MORNING RUSH HOUR…ESPECIALLY IN RURAL AREAS. BLIZZARD CONDITIONS
ARE EXPECTED TO IMPACT INTERSTATES 29 AND 94 AND U.S. HIGHWAY TWO
IN EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWESTERN AND WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA.
THESE CONDITIONS WILL NOT IMPROVE UNTIL FRIDAY EVENING.

DO NOT LET THE RELATIVE IMPROVEMENT IN CONDITIONS THIS AFTERNOON
ALLOW YOU TO LET YOUR GUARD DOWN. THE WEATHER WILL QUICKLY
DETERIORATE LATE THIS EVENING. ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT CONDITIONS IN
OPEN COUNTRY ARE WORSE THAN IN TOWN.

Since we’ll be under a blizzard warning, I’m wondering if I should even go in to work tomorrow. I was there by myself today because Justin didn’t come in. And I doubt he’ll be coming in tomorrow if conditions are gonna be worse. But since I live in town, I’m not sure what justifies me staying home.

If they advise no travel tomorrow, even in town, or if the schools in town are closed (they didn’t today even though surrounding schools did), then I’m gonna stay home. I’m hoping to hear from Kelly before then to know what the company is gonna do (I really hope they close). I guess I just need to stay tuned to the news and weather and decide in the morning.

On days like today, I really wish I was still in school. We got around 6 to 7 inches of snow overnite and it’s still snowing. I guess the roads out of town are pretty treacherous. There are a bunch of schools around here that are closed today. I wish work was.

I’m pretty sure I’ll be at work by myself today. Justin lives a ways out of town. If I was him, I wouldn’t try to come in. He can work from home. I wish I could.