Survivor: Antarctica

All flights were cancelled this entire weekend, so I was sad not be going to Omaha to visit Teri. But I was glad to be with Bobby during our long weekend, as it would have been tough to handle alone!

As mentioned, we woke up on Saturday morning with no power and about 25 inches of snow outside, with 5-8 more on the way that day. There was no way we could hope to leave by car, Metro, or even walking, so we stayed inside all day. The lack of power was really only annoying because we couldn't make any warm food or drinks, and at one point our fridge was no longer cold so we didn't feel comfortable eating anything out of there either. We survived on crackers, chips, and Keebler Fudge Stripes Cookies. Our only entertainment was reading, sleeping, and watching our neighbors outside, a favorite pastime.

This lady is just one example of many who use umbrellas in the snow - weird!

This person shoveled for 20 minutes, got tired, and gave up. Maybe he just wanted to check if that was indeed his truck under that giant mound of snow?

This guy is an immaculate shoveler - he will come out to shovel 0.25 inches so he can back up his car 'safely'. We thought it was funny he painstakingly shoveled a path all the way around his car before realizing he didn't clear it off first!

As sunset approached and our house got steadily colder, we searched high and low for for supplies to last the night - blankets, flashlights, candles, books & games.  We were grateful to Santa this year for bringing us each Snuggies with free booklights! It was dark.

We also passed the time with a marathon game of Monopoly. I stayed warm by drinking wine.

We woke up Sunday morning and were disappointed the power had not returned, and alarmed at the new temperature reading (note, this is INSIDE our house):

How low could it possibly go? We didn't want to find out.

After borrowing a shovel from the neighbors, we burrowed free and drove around in the car with the heat on full blast so we could dethaw. We enjoyed a lovely brunch at Eggspectations in Silver Spring, a restaurant which serves all day gourmet breakfast. Then I got a coffee from Starbucks. We felt so good!

We returned home to our partially frozen cat and decided enough is enough! After having a taste of the good life, we simply could not stay at our house one more night. We had no idea when to expect power again, and the Super Bowl was going to be on in a few short hours! We used what little battery remained on my phone to search online for a hotel and called to book our room!

Jimmy found the new accommodations at the Hampton Inn Silver Spring much more comfortable.

It turns out the whole city had the same idea! The hotel parking lot was chaotic and many other families had their pets in tow. We all called ourselves "Pepco Refugees" - as our power company had yet to return power to 40,000 customers in the area. We heard from others that Pepco customers may not see restored service until Friday.

Our offices were closed today due to the weather so we were grateful we had time to check on the house. We were completely shocked to find out our power was back on! We cranked up the heater and brought all of our things back home.

Jimmy must have still been cold, as he was sunbathing all day long.

We feel for the thousands of people who are still without power and have to survive the cold. Also, our area is preparing for yet again another winter storm tomorrow, bringing 8-10 inches to the area. I don't see how it is possible to add that to the 30"+ inches we got. Where can it possibly go?

That will make this the snowiest winter on record in the DC area, and makes us seriously rethink our objective to move here and escape winter!

- Laurie

Snowmageddon

Many of you have heard about the Snowmageddon snowstorm that hit DC this weekend, bringing upwards of 30 inches to an area that shuts down after receiving anything greater than 3 inches!  The storm started Friday night, and sometime during the night we lost power. Now on Sunday night, we finally decided to check into a hotel because our heat and power still are not working! Once we get home we'll update more.

-Laurie

Watch out Nancy Kerrigan!

For some time now I've had the occasional desire to lace up my figure skates again. From the age of 3 through 15, I was a competitive skater, being part of the world of costumes, individual programs, 6am ice time, annual ice shows, and tons of fun with friends, especially on our Silverblades synchro-team. Ever since my good friend Jodi easily got back into skating again in college, I always wondered what it would be like.

Adding more fuel to the fire is the fact that Teri's Minnesota wedding festivities in October will include an open skating session for the guests prior to the reception. So I just have to get back into top form.

Last Friday night Bobby and I headed to the local Wheaton Ice Arena for a $6.25 public skating session. It must have been the premier pre-teen hangout for 8pm on a Friday night. Gotta keep those kids off the streets!

We stepped out onto the ice. I was nervous but confident! My confidence soared when all of the other skaters had those horrid brown rental skates.

My old skates still fit! I'm sure my parents are happy their investment is continuing to be of value - they spent more than one pretty penny on the cost of this hobby!

Bobby humored me and came with his hockey skates, although he spent some time standing around trying to avoid getting run into by others. We were there about 45 minutes longer than I expected! It took me a little while to get going.

But after the zamboni came out to resurface the rink, I got my second wind. It felt really good. We didn't really get any other good pictures besides this one - I must have been going too fast!

The rink was very packed so it was difficult to get much momentum. The best part was when Bobby sent a 13 year old girl flying headfirst into the boards - but it was totally her fault. Part of skating is learning the proper way to stop, now she knows she needs to learn.

Neither of us fell so overall it was a great success! My plan is to attend an Adult Open Skate next, and then hopefully I'll be ready for the Freeskate sessions where I can practice jumps and spins!

-Laurie

Parent's Visit Day 3 & 4: Spies, Vikings, and yet more Lincoln

Day 3 was another tourist whirlwind!

We started out at the Smithsonian's American History Museum. I really enjoyed it because it is divided into various exhibits, so your brain can rest between each one. There was a Lincoln exhibit which of course we loved.  But it became clear that the most popular exhibit is that of the First Ladies. All of the recent First Ladies have donated their inauguration gown to the museum, and about 14 are in display here.

Photo Credit: http://americanhistory.si.edu/

Our next stop was the highly touted International Spy Museum. I think we are spoiled with all of the free museums - when you finally have to pay for one, you have elevated expectations, which may lead to some disappointment. For people really interested in spy tactics and spies in history, this is right up your alley. To the average joe visitor, there are definitely some cool things, but the amount of content can be overwhelming. It is quite fascinating to think about all of the spies in history and how many there are today, in DC especially!

Spying is an important part of modern warfare, which is actually a great thing in my mind! When our current and former Presidents have announced our strategies of troop deployment and withdrawal, and our quest for weapons of mass destruction, I sure hope we have some hidden cards in the deck.

Here is just one of the many interesting exhibits - In WWI the Germans attempted to use this pigeon-camera 'technology' to take aerial photographs of enemy camps and positions, all undetected. I guess as long as it doesn't land by someone throwing bread in the air. Did I mention the project was abandoned?

Photo © International Spy Museum

The museum certainly inspires a lot of discussion! The scariest part was the end when an exhibit addressed how the United States is exposed to future terrorist attacks due to our aging infrastructure. How easy would it be to attack our water systems? Cyber warfare could shut down systems controlling phone communication, energy grids, air traffic control, and Internet servers - the results could be catastrophic. Not to mention biological warfare - in 1991, Iraq admitted to creating a toxin that when released, could kill every human on earth by inhalation, three times over! Imagine what they are cooking up in 2010! It is much easier to live in a vacuum and not worry about these things, as I'm hopeful there are plenty of smart people in Washington and around the world working secretly to protect us!

We returned home in eager anticipation of a big Vikings win over the Saints.  Much of the game was spent like this - a combination of cheering and cringing -

Of course the Vikings lost, but we can't say we didn't see it coming. I can't comment much more, bad memories!

On a positive note, has anybody heard about this new Dominos pizza? They threw out the old recipe and started anew, claiming it would no longer taste like the current flavor - cardboard. I liked the old pizza....which speaks to my lowbrow palette. Regardless, I was pumped for the opportunity to try the new pizza during the game.

I didn't think to take a picture until it had been sitting like this for about 40 minutes.

The overall consensus was that it was good! None of us were blown away, but hey, pizza is pizza. Even bad pizza is good. Has anyone else tried it?

I commend Dominos for not only listening to customers and improve their product, but fully disclosing the problems. Often you see a 'new and improved' version of a product (which I never understood anyway, how can something be new, and also improved? Doesn't that mean it exists anyway, and therefore cannot be new?) and the marketers are afraid to disclose what has been improved. As if the consumer will start to question what was wrong with it in the first place. Much to Bobby's disapproval, I like to 'reward' companies with good marketing tactics with my purchases.

On Day 4, my parents went sightseeing again while Bobby and I rested at work. They continued the marathon Lincoln weekend by visiting the newly remodeled Ford's Theater, site of Lincoln's assasination on April 14, 1865. He was carried accross to the street to the Petersen House, also a part of the museum tour, where he died the next morning. Bobby and I can't wait to go see this ourselves, I'm sure we will someday.

Whew! I don't know if I'm more tired from that weekend, or from blogging about it! Time for bed!

- Laurie