Like it or not, here comes winter

Dude, I’m tellin’ ya………..

So WGN weatherman Tom Skilling says the Chicagoland area is in for some rain/snow precipitation this evening and into the night. Nothing major, but our first little taste of seeing some snowflakes hit the ground. Or at least some frozen sleet. Now normally I have a hard time believing Tom Skilling because of his damn brother. If you don’t remember him, he was a central figure in the whole Enron affair. He was one of the top officers and sleazier guys involved. And if I’m to go along with most people’s perceptions from my own personal experience, brothers don’t fall far from the tree.

At least in most people’s minds, that’s how it is. That’s what I get accused of.

My brother and I have both been accused of exhibiting a certain behavior because one of us clearly behaves that way. But ninety percent of the time, it is an ignorant assumption being made by someone and not true at all of the other (brother). Sure, my brother and I share several traits. We both like to tip a drink back now and then. We’re both rabid sports fans. And then we are radically different as well. He loves cars and engines. I hate ’em. He isn’t much of a reader. I am reading something at all times. He’s somewhat passive and reserved. I have an explosive temper. But people often assume that most everything about you is the same just because your brother has a certain quality.  

So that’s how it is with me and Tom Skilling. I used to trust him and his weather forecasts. But thanks to his brother….now I’m not so sure. Society has trained me to think that way. He could be pulling a fast one ! So I looked for confirmation from another source. Someone I can really trust.

Sure enough, local FOX weathergirl Amy Freeze confirmed Skilling’s forecast.

No shit. That’s her name.

Amy Freeze.

You can verify it if you want, but she’s the real deal. Her freakin’ name is Amy Freeze. Kind of cute in her own way too. You could probably say the woman was pre-destined to be a weathergirl, huh? But she covered Skilling’s ass (lucky for him) and agreed with the forecast for rain/light snow tonite.

Which got me to thinking a little bit.

If there is one reason to be happy to be out of work at the moment, it’s to avoid the friggin’ snow. Everything else about being in-between jobs sucks. But avoiding winter cold, and traffic, and snow is a small reward.

Nothing sucks worse than when it starts snowing hard in the late morning or early afternoon while you’re at work. By the time you get out at 5pm or so, there’s six or seven inches on the ground and everything is a mess. The street lanes are covered so the new lanes are simply a game of “follow the leader”. Traffic is so backed up that every stoplight change allows for maybe 2-3 cars to get thru. You get a green light, but you can’t even advance across the intersection because the turners from the previous light could barely get out of the hot zone. You move about one block every five minutes.

Sound familiar?

There’s at least two times every single winter involving a drive home from work like that. What normally takes a person 20-25 minutes takes an hour. And God forbid if you usually have a 45-60 minute drive home. That takes 2 — 2  1/2 hours. You come out of work at 5pm and spend fifteen minutes cleaning off your car and warming it up. Then you spend two and a half hours getting home. It’s almost eight o’clock at night and you haven’t even had the post-work cocktail yet. Or taken a leak.

There’s several other nights though where it isn’t bad out at all. But there might be some heavy winds and some snow drift. So some people have to go 20 mph under the normal speed and keep hitting their brakes. I don’t particularly blame these people; in winter I’m all for extra precaution. But there are many nights where it takes you much longer to get home. Due to “those people”.

And that’s at the end of the day.

(If you park outdoors)…. Warming up the car in the morning is a pain in the balls too. And if you’re a pretty responsible person (like me) and the news is stating there will be some nasty, ugly weather in the morning……you gotta get up extra early and allow at least another half-hour to make it to work on-time. {Although there are “those people” who believe you leave at the same time every day 365/year—and if there’s foul weather, well then it’s OK to be late for work !! The perfect excuse that they’d be downright shocked if it ever got challenged. Getting up earlier in anticipation ??     Not an option !! }

I do have to be honest, though. I look forward to shoveling snow this year. I really do. I’m renting a house these days. And the last 5 years, I lived in condos or apartments. So I haven’t had to shovel in a while. And I’ve got some time on my hands here. It’ll be nice to get out and enjoy some crisp, cool air and get some exercise in. Next year, I may not be so excited about it. I’ve never loved shoveling snow in the past. Usually it’s another pain-in-the-ass part of winter. This year, I’m ready to tolerate some shoveling, though.

What I will enjoy more than anything in the next few months is sleeping in just a little bit later…..especially when I hear the wind whipping and howling outside. Hunker down under the blankets just a little bit more. Then get up and look outside and see the snow all over and the messy streets——and know that I don’t have to do a damn thing other than scour the internet for jobs and reach out to my contacts/networks. With a nice cup of hot chocolate. Jamming some music.

And then watch eight more inches of snow start falling around one in the afternoon and be really glad that I won’t be driving home in it.

Sweet.

No shit. The broad’s name is Amy Freeze. And she’s a weathergirl.