Twelve hours from now I will be in the air on my way back home for Christmas. In the meantime, I have to first sleep, shower, and finish readying the house for the cats while I'll be gone.
I wiped the HD of the new laptop Daisy bought me for Christmas, and have installed Ubuntu Linux on it. That was an exhausting, needlessly frustrating process. I live-blogged most of it, but that post will have to wait until after I get home as I do not have enough time to work on it and insert all of the pictures tonight. My backpack, even with my clothing and small electronics in it, is big enough for me to take the laptop with me, and I plan to do so if possible.
Now on to the bad news.
Last night we got a snowstorm here in Kansas. It dumped a little less than three inches on me here in Newton, but it didn't get warm enough today to melt most of it off. That means when I leave the house in the middle of the night, I will have to be extra careful not to hit any black ice as I drive to the airport. Hopefully the interstates will be clear, and it will be a straight shot to the airport. This isn't that bad, except that the flight I'm taking home will be flying into Chicago first...at roughly the exact time the storm hits there. By the time I get home from Pittsburgh tomorrow night? The same storm hits my house and family in West Virginia, giving them/us anywhere between 8 and 14 inches of snow (or so that's what's predicted, anyway).
Yes, folks, I get to experience the same winter storm three different fucking times.
I am not happy about this, and have made preparations for every outcome possible -- the cats will have more extra food, water, and litter than usual (in case I get stuck back home for an extra day or two because of flight problems), my credit card is paid off so that if I have to, I can order a replacement plane ticket back home, and I paid the rent this afternoon, early, so that it can get in the mail tomorrow when I leave.
Update -- this is what the Weather Channel says for my parents back home as of right now:
... WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EST SATURDAY...
* HAZARD TYPES... FREEZING RAIN... HEAVY SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW.
* ACCUMULATIONS... 10 TO 14 INCHES OF SNOW. ONE TO TWO-TENTHS OF AN INCH ICE ACCUMULATION.
* TIMING... ONGOING FREEZING RAIN ON THE RIDGES AND RAIN ELSEWHERE WILL CHANGE TO SNOW LATE TONIGHT. SNOW INTENSITY WILL INCREASE FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND NIGHT.
...son of a bitch!
All I asked for -- ALL I ASKED FOR -- was that this shit not fucking happen while I'm goddamn traveling.
Yes, I did just use four different swears over the course of three lines in my blog. That's how pissed/frustrated/stressed I am.
Seriously, let it snow all it wants in either place once I'm safely back home and in my house with the cats, but right now? Stop, weather. Just stop it. For some reason the weather almost always has to be shitty over the holidays. All I want is a peaceful trip without weather complications, and it doesn't look like I'm going to get that; if my parents get that much snow, I'll be wracked with stress and will be unable to relax or have any fun. And, additionally, that much snow will snarl basically any plans of going out or being social with family and friends while I'm home. We'd planned family dinners and get-togethers, and all of those things will more than likely now be canceled due to the weather.
This is yet another reason I'm bringing my new laptop with me. If I'm going to be stuck in the house and unable to go anywhere or do anything when I'm at home, I will at least have a computer to keep me occupied -- and a new computer at that -- one I can mess with and get apps for to kill the time. That will at least keep me from going fucking nuts. I love my parents, I do, but tell me...would you want to be cooped up in a house with your parents for four days in a snowstorm? I don't either. When I go home I actually like to, y'know, do stuff while I'm there.
Anyway, I'm getting off track. The point of this post is that, as I don't really like to type on laptops that much, you won't see another post from me here (at least, probably not) until after I safely return home from West Virginia. If possible, however, I will be updating my Facebook and Twitter while I'm home, barring anything catastrophic happening. On that note, happy birthday to me -- I'm getting off here, taking care of the cat stuff, and am going to bed for a few hours before I have to get up and drive to the airport in the middle of the night.
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