April Showers, Hurry Up with the Flowers!

That is what has been going on here in the Cincinnati area for some time now. Showers!! Dreary, cold dank days. If I didn't know any better I would think we were in London.

Not only is it dreary outside, things have been quite dreary since the start of April emotionally as well. On March 31st, my uncle died unexpectedly at 58 years old. He was for all intents and purposes, normal and healthy. He went running that afternoon, which is his normal morning activity and apparently got into his truck to come home, got down the road and had a massive heart attack in the car. He was found dead by the people in the car behind him when they went to investigate why he went off the road. Needless to say the family is completely devastated.

Things at work are good though, or at least from what I can tell. In this climate of dreary days economically we have plenty of work to keep us busy and maintaining our status quo. Tensions are not anxious as I have heard in some places of employment. SO that is a positive here in these dreary April days.

Even speaking athletically here in Cincinnati, it is dreary as it snowed on Cincinnati Reds Opening day festivities, and then the Reds lost.

So if the old adage is true, April showers bring May flowers, I certainly am looking forward to them blooming!...Do you think we could have them a little early???

Get Over Already!

Winter, I just want it to get over with! I have had a sore throat for several days and decided that I should finally go to the doctor. I thought I had strep, as it hurt so bad, but thankfully it wasn't.

Unfortunately however I had some other issues. My diabetes seems to be doing fine and my counts were good, now it seems I have an irregular heartbeat. (Which I think I've had a murmur since I was a kid) My regular doctor is out on a medical leave so I got to see the nurse practitioner and she was somewhat alarmed. So an EKG was done in the office and I have to schedule a stress test sometime.

DJ turns 29 on Friday and his mother turns 50 so we are all going out Friday night for a family dinner. Dan chose Applebee's it sounds like a good time, just hope i an shake this cold before then so I can enjoy it.

Let it Snow

Home again today. Two days in a row due to the weather. Yesterday we received about 4 inches of the white stuff, then last night freezing rain headed in as it rained most of the night, adding about an inch of ice to what was already on the ground. Now this morning I awaoke at 5:55 a.m. and looked outside to a sheet of ice in our parking lot, and freezing rain still falling from the sky.

By 7:00 a.m., the ice was now snow again and they are saying that we could see another 4-6 inches of this stuff on top of what we already have. Due to the ice there are broken tree limbs and yes, power lines down all over the place. We are currently on a level 3 snow emergency, so that means, no one is to be on the roads.

I am not getting out, so I say...

Let it Snow!

Hurricane Ike in Ohio?

For the first time in Ohio history, a hurricane blew in across the southwest Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana area and travelled north into Dayton and Columbus. Yes, a hurricane, well the remnants of a hurricane. Winds up to 79 miles an hour came through and brought a blackout through the entire tri-state area. Our power went out about 1:15 yesterday afternoon and was restored tonight about 8:30. We were one of 850,000 homes without power. Today there are still over a half a million people still with no power.

As I sat in my apartment yesterday I begin to hear the winds whip around and had no idea what was happening. I do not watch the TV, so of course I was not warned what was coming our way. By 1:00 I decided I needed to take my sons home and DJ and I began a 45 minute drive that turned into an hour and fifteen minutes. Our car was pushed and pulled by the wind and we saw trees down everywhere.

So a hurricane came to Ohio. There was no rain, thunder or lightening, just high winds. One of the most bizarre weather systems that I have ever seen. What will happen next? A Tsunami?

Snowbound

Well no one seemed to listen to my blog post a few days back in regards to I was over winter! It all started Friday morning and by Friday night we had about 8-9 inches on the ground and by this morning we had over 12 inches.

Needless to say 12 inches of snow is not as good as 12 inches of other things!! I left work Friday at 11:00 and what takes a 40 minute commute, took me over an hour and a half. The city was immobilized for a few hours, but as you can see from this picture, some people are out driving in this mess. Our road was finally plowed a little while ago, but we are unable to get our cars out of the parking lot, as they plowed snow in behind them.

We were under a Blizzard warning most of the night and early morning.

But it still was not as bad as the Great Blizzard of 1978. Now that was a Blizzard!!

I'm SO Over It

Winter, that is. I'm over it! Yesterday morning I left my house at 6:45 a.m. and arrived at work at 8:50 a.m.!! I normally have a 42 minute commute.

I remember as a kid being so excited when it snowed or we had bad weather and the schools would be closed, but now as an adult and I do not have the luxury of hearing my business' name being called off on the morning news, it's just not as fun anymore.

It seems as though this winter when we do get the bad snow or ice it's not AFTER we get to work, or even the night before so that we can go to bed with the knowledge that we will not probably go into work, or just sleep in a little later until the nutcases get to work first, it hits us right during morning rush hour traffic!! WHY? What have we done to deserve this curse?

Again this morning I had to fight ice and the elements just to get out of my parking lot at our apartment complex. I arrived at work only 10 minutes late this morning, but I still had to deal with all that undo stress of driving in the shit!

At least my employer did allow us to leave early Thursday evening before the weather got really bad. My sister in law left her job at 4:50 p.m. yesterday evening and did not arrive home until 9:10, so I will stop bitching. Thank goodness March is only 7 days away.

Spring has Sprung

Only one day left in March, and what a March it has been. Just this past week it was like Spring just appeared. The trees have blooms, the grass is a rich beautiful green, and birds are singing to me in the morning on the way to work. This is going to be a great Spring and Summer, I can feel it already. So as we say goodbye to March let's say goodbye to winter!

Under the Weather

Well we got the freezing rain, snow and sub-zero temps they said we were going to get. Sometimes, unfortunately the weather forecasters get it right. But not only did we get the weather, I got something else. Some bug.

I have felt like shit for three days and finally today, after leaving work early on Thursday I just could not go to work. All day today I laid in bed. It's some kind of respitory infection I guess, but I am so exhausted all I can do is sleep.

Valentines Day came and went, and of course DJ thought of me and bought me some chocolates and The Departed DVD. The movie is great. Pure edrenelin rush. Damon, DiCaprio, Wahlburg and of course Nicholson was fantastic. Not giving any secrets away, but there is plenty of people getting killed and suspense, action and just plain good acting and film-making. I see this taking home the gold for Best Picture, it was that good. I know not a Valentines gift you'd expect, but DJ knows my love of movies and knew how much I wanted this one. He is too good to me. And what is an appropriate Valentine's Day gift?

Rain, Ice, Snow

Cincinnati does not normally get much snow. But when we do it causes havoc. Last week we got about 7 inches of the white stuff and it literally stalled the entire tri-state for at least a day. Even though we had ample warning from the weather forecasters we still were not ready for it. I guess it is like someone that has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. You know the inevitable is coming but you just refuse to accept it, but it finally comes and catches you unaware. then after the snow fell I travelled into work the next morning (which took me an extra 15 minutes) and worked one hour and was told that we had to close. No not more snow, but a water main break. We had no water in our building. So back home I went.

Now again today the forecasters are calling for Freezing rain, ice and snow, some places may see 10-13 inches! Which for us that is a tremendous amount of white stuff. So I have decided if I wake in the morning and see that, there is no way I am going to fight with all those people to get into work. I will just crawl back into bed and enjoy a day off.

On the Road Again

It has been unseasonably warm here since the new year began. Yesterday we actually broke a record for warmest temp in January. It just does not seem right to not be wearing a coat in January, at least a jacket, but there has not been a reason for it this week.

Yesterday was my third week at my new job, and have I told you how much I love my new job?! Yes I love working there. There is only one thing I do not like about the job. The drive.

Anyway, my third week and we had a staff meeting at the Vernon Manor yesterday morning at 8:00 a.m. So I left home a little early and headed out for my Friday. Unbeknown to me, as I was listening to Fergie's new CD instead of the radio to get the traffic reports, there was a tractor-trailer jack-knifed on the expressway. So about 15 minutes into my morning road trip I was sitting at a standstill on the highway. I sat there for 30 minutes, not even moving. As we s l o w l y moved I finally got past the worst of the traffic. Nothing I saw on the road was worthy of me sitting in stopped traffic. I think if I am sitting in stopped traffic I should have at least seen a white sheet on the road somewhere. But nothing. I walked into the meeting already in progress with the firms owner standing at the podium, facing the door. As I sheepishly walked in (15 minutes late) he seemed to leer at me. Fortunate for me, two attorneys and three other staff came in after I did, so the impact of the "new guy" being late was hopefully lost on the fact that his attorneys were also late. They are supposed to be role models. I did talk to the owner afterward and explained the reason for my tardiness. He said he already heard that some were stuck in traffic due to the accident. I was saved. This time anyway.

Blowing in the Wind

Well December is here. It came in with a bang too. We had temps this past week in the 60's and last night our temp dropped and then the winds blew in winter. Today it's only about 30 degrees and the winds were so high overnight and this morning that Christmas decorations were blown all over the neighborhood. DJ awoke this morning and had to go hunting for the garbage can, which had blown a block away.

Today was also the day I had hoped to hear from my most recent job interview. So far I've heard nothing. I thought it was pretty promising as I knew several employees there and had hoped this would be a benefit. The interviews (2 of them) went quite well and I thought for sure I would have heard something by now. I just keep my fingers crossed and continue hoping.

It has been five months now that I have been unemployed and I've had ten interviews with even more applications that were submitted to several employers. Still nothing. It would be nice going into the holiday season knowing I have a job, but I suppose we will just have to wait and see. Sooner or later the winds should blow in my direction.

Storms and Debris

Storms were wrecking havoc here last night. In the area of Cincinnati where I work it was hit the worst. We had a tree completely blown down due to the extreme high winds. The entire area here had large trees cut in half and debris everywhere. One of the main roads was shut down this morning due to a tree falling across the road. It actually pulled up sidewalk and pavement.

Now where I live, which is about 20 minutes northwest of here, we had nothing but thunder and a few sprinkles. So when I got the call last night that there was damage from trees at work I was taken by surprise. The weather bureau is stating that it wasn't a tornado, but the were "tornado like" winds and damage sporadically across the area . Luckily there was no property damage to our offices, but many of the businesses in the area were not as fortunate.

So the day will be spent cleaning up the debris from the storm.
Isn't that true with storms of life?
There is always a mess to clean up afterwards.