Welcome February

I tend to think of December and January as the worst winter weather months in Chicago - December is full of snow, and January is full of cold...bitter cold. Well apparently February is making an effort to top them both this year by bringing in....a blizzard!

Now, I tend to think people overreact to snow fall and it's never as bad as the weather folks predict. In this case, I certainly hope that holds true as we are under an official "blizzard watch" through Wednesday this week. This storm is bringing over a foot of snow, with up to 18 inches possible, coupled with winds that could result in 4-8 foot drifts.

My favorite quote from the blizzard watch: "SNOWFALL RATES OF AT LEAST 2 TO 3 INCHES PER HOUR ARE POSSIBLE... ESPECIALLY WITH ANY THUNDERSTORMS THAT OCCUR." Who knew you could even have thunderstorms and snow at the same time??

Combating the Wednesday blues

Do you ever have those days where you get to work, sit down at your desk (or stand in front of your classroom or whatever), and you think, "I don't want to work today, not because I have other pressing issues, not even because I'm tired, but because I just don't want to."

That is how I felt this morning. It's cold and gray outside, like it has been for months, and the only thing I want to do is curl up with a blanket and a book. So I said to myself, "Okay Ashley, work. Now. You can do it." Don't judge - my office is usually empty in the mornings, so I am the only person I can talk to. Anyways, slowly, painfully, dragging my feet about a mile behind me, I started to work. Eventually I got into the rhythm of my day and it got easier, but those first few minutes were kind of brutal.

Do you ever have these days? What do you do to combat it? Tips appreciated!

Unfortunate Forecast

This is a really unfortunate forecast for later this week:

This means that over the course of one night, the temperature will drop 21 degrees and then leave us in single digits. And that's just the temperature - the windchill is going to be worse. These are the days I wish for a backyard, so the dog wouldn't need walks, and an electric blanket made for pipes so nothing freezes. Brrrrrrrrrr!

The Pirate

This weekend, Alex and I made our first big purchase as a married couple - a car! As you may know, Old Faithful (our affectionate name for Alex's '96 Honda Accord) had been giving us some problems - 230K miles and all of a sudden it started needing repairs, roughly one every other month, and we decided we'd had enough. So we started car shopping.

We had a strict budget in mind because we wanted to pay cash, and we knew we ideally wanted something a little bigger with decent gas mileage, and 4-wheel drive if we could find it. Well, we did! We bought a 2003 Honda Pilot (it's new nickname is the Pirate, kinda sounds like Pilot), in great condition with 80K miles on it. Here's a pic:


We are pretty pumped about this car, excited to own another Honda, and ready to do battle with the elements of a Chicago winter. Plus, it's got lots of seating, with a pop up third row of seats if we ever need to fit that many. It was sad to say goodbye to Old Faithful (we traded it in), but exciting to drive home in this!

This is not an interesting story...

But I'm sharing it with you all anyways :)

Today I was scheduling a mass email at work, which I do fairly often, and whenever I pick the time, I have to set it in Pacific time....it's just how the system is set up. So today I wanted to schedule for 2:00CST, which is 12:00PST...12:00PM, that is.

And I wondered, why would 12:00AM signify the start of the day, rather than the end? Why does the time counting start with 12:00, only to go back to 1:00 an hour later?

Well, after a little research (meaning I googled "12:00PM"), Wikipedia gave this explanation. My favorite part, which was difficult considering I actually found the article somewhat confusing, is this:

"In the United States, noon is often called "12:00 p.m." and midnight "12:00 a.m." With this convention, thinking of "12" as "0" makes the system logical."

I'm not sure what is logical about giving a different number value to a number that already has a value of it's own (i.e. 12 = 12), but at least it confirmed that I was sending my email at the correct time!

My favorite Christmas decorations

One of my favorite parts about Christmas is all of the mail! This year, we got cards from family and friends all over the country and our fridge is covered - and these are just the cards with pictures! The rest are displayed out in the living room.

As we prepare to take down our tree and return the holiday cheer to it's big gray bin this weekend, I think I might leave the cards up for just a little longer...I love seeing so many smiling faces in our kitchen!

Leonidas has some style!

Look what Alex's mom made the dog for Christmas! It's an argyle sweater, complete with a collar and sleeves! He looks hilarious/adorable in it and it's loose enough that he doesn't seem to mind wearing it. She made a second one with Penn State fabric so he can be a real fan.