My birthday came and went just fine, I suppose. I didn't spend the day any differently than any other day. I had a decent (but not really large) number of people tell me happy birthday on Facebook -- much lower than other years in recent memory, really -- and my mother sent me an email telling me happy birthday and that she loves and misses me, which is nice.
I didn't get any cards or anything like that; all I got in the mail was my Discover card bill and the paperwork that verified my loans' forbearance, which I was expecting anyhow.
I did, however, get paid for the last time for the fall semester on Friday, so today's task is to write out the checks for the rent and for that Discover card bill, and get them in the mail tomorrow so that I no longer have to worry about those things, at least.
Everything I had or have has been paid at this point except for those things; the cable bill was paid earlier this week, and a few days ago I renewed my car insurance with my Citi card. I've got about another month or so before any of my other credit card bills are due, and I don't know if the electric bill will come before Christmas or not. Even if it does, it won't be due until right before I return to teaching in the spring, so I have some time to kill there.
My credit score is 738, though, which is fucking amazing for a guy who basically has no money. Even Daisy thought that was crazily good. How do I know this? Because my Discover card bill says it right on it, and apparently they keep track of it with every statement. That's pretty neat, I think.
So yeah. My birthday was quiet. My friend April gave me a $50 Amazon gift card for my birthday/Christmas -- which is, as always, totally unnecessary but incredibly appreciated, and I thanked her for it -- and Daisy had a special gift delivery set up for me of a bag of Tim Horton's coffee and the newest Bathroom Reader book; those things were delivered this evening via UPS. April's gift card, though I did redeem and add it to my Amazon account, will not be used until well after Christmas, as even if I'd ordered something today I wouldn't get it until after I returned home from Omaha anyway. As for the box my mother sent, it has not yet arrived -- I am guessing the weather snarled its delivery yesterday (she said it had an expected arrival date of "by Saturday"). It didn't arrive, though Daisy's last Christmas present did.
The storm itself...well...
Yesterday morning when I got up, it wasn't doing anything at all. It was just cold and windy. None of the forecasts were still really in-sync yet at that time; one channel said 1-5 inches total. Another said 10+. The Weather Channel was shooting for the 5-7 inch range. So, really, I didn't know what to expect. I could've gotten anywhere between an inch and close to a foot of snow. Great forecasting, weatherpeople. Way to be vague.
"I'll check the weather before I leave," Daisy told me, in reference to tomorrow's drive down here. She didn't seem too concerned with the storm. She didn't really have a reason to be, honestly. By the way it tracked, Omaha didn't get anything -- maybe a dusting to an inch (I haven't talked to her this morning, so I don't know for sure).
By about 1PM or so, it was beginning to sleet. By 2-3PM, it was all ice. Hard, thick ice balls, the kind that looks like microscopic hail and turns everything white and slick, but isn't snow. This was the scene yesterday afternoon in my driveway and yard, complete with Pete looking out the window as well:
That white coating is all ice. Every bit of it.
By around 5PM, as it started getting dark, the ice was so thick and there was so much accumulation of it that it looked and felt like snow; when I went down to get the mail, I had to walk through the thin strip of grass next to my retaining wall (visible where Pete's ear is in the picture) to be able to get the mail without breaking an ankle.
When it got dark, the snow came. And boy, did it come.
I wish I could've gotten a good picture of the snow at night, but my camera doesn't really take good pictures in the dark (or at all). There were times we were in white-out conditions, with visibility of about 50 yards (or less). I couldn't see the next street over, and that's about 50 yards from my driveway, give or take. Yes, I have seen it snow harder in the past, but this was some really impressive snow.
This was the scene this morning when I woke up, at about 10:
My estimation, based on coverage on cars and a rough knowledge of how tall stationary outdoor objects are, is that Newton got 7-8 inches or so in the span of, oh, 9-10 hours, roughly (it stopped snowing before I went to bed last night). I haven't been outside, obviously, to verify the actual amount. I do know that last night in the evening, all of the forecasters updated their snowfall totals to amounts that were more reflective of what we were seeing on the ground, and I was updated to fall into the 8-10+ range as Newton was just far enough north and west to get the larger amounts.
Wichita, by the way, had an "official" snowfall total of 3.1 inches. That's basically a dusting compared to here and cities like Salina and Abilene, north of me, who got over a foot. Other areas, north, west, and southwest of me got 15 inches or so.
Again, Omaha and most everywhere else north of the Kansas state line? A dusting, maybe an inch at most; the storm was moving southwest to northeast. It completely bypassed them. Daisy won't see snow until almost halfway down here tomorrow on her drive, and when she does it will be like a night and day difference very quickly.
Crews have been out treating the roads, of course, but unless my neighbor on the farm next door gets out his tractor, nobody's going to plow out my street or any of the other residential streets around here, and it's not like the snow is going to melt anytime soon. It's not supposed to get above freezing for another several days -- more than likely not until I get home from Omaha -- and tomorrow it's supposed to be the coldest day in recent memory, with highs only in the single digits and lows below zero. I am not looking forward to it. By tomorrow all of the main roads and interstates should be cleared, yes, but that doesn't mean the drive is going to be a fun one. It will probably take longer than usual -- especially because it's now the holidays and everyone will be traveling.
I don't know what the plan is for tomorrow, really; Daisy has told me she's planning to come down here straight from work, and if she does she'd get here around 1PM, give or take. I plan to let her nap for several hours, if necessary, before we turn around and make the drive back up to Omaha. I will be driving the first two legs of the drive back, and she'll drive the third. When that will happen, though, remains to be seen -- I have to be here at the house at least until the mail arrives, as the aforementioned box from my parents should show up tomorrow, and I want to make sure my Discover card bill and my rent check go out in the mail smoothly before I leave town for a few days. Plus, I have to ready the house for the cats and make sure they have enough food, water, and litter (which they will) while I'm gone.
Tomorrow, amusingly enough, is Festivus -- I can't wait for the feats of strength and the airing of grievances.
The plan is to be in Omaha between tomorrow night and the night of the 27th, when we'll go see a play with the entire family (the 27th is also Daisy's sister's birthday) and then return home in the overnight hours that night, since Daisy goes back to work on the night of the 28th. Again, it's a fairly short trip, but given the holidays, the weather, and the comings-and-goings of family while I'll be there, being there for a few days is better than no days. Daisy's sister, her two sons, and her husband are already there and have been there for days. Her other sister and her family will come in on the 26th or 27th, I think. I don't know exactly how the family's holiday schedule will go, but I do know at the very least there will be a full house at all times over the holidays -- between eight and fourteen people, including myself, all occupying the same space, with six of those being children under 8 and two of those children being infants. Yes, the house is big enough for everyone with no issues, but that's a lot of folks who may and probably will be there all at once for a good chunk of the holidays. I do know that Daisy's younger sister and her family won't be there on Christmas, as they are going to the husband's side of the family's place (I think) before coming to Omaha.
As for anything else I have to do before the trip? Eh, there's not a whole lot. My bag is already packed. All of the Christmas presents are wrapped and are in a box, ready to be stuck into the backseat of Daisy's car. All I have to do is mail my bills (which are ready to go), and ready the house for the cats and close it up, which is already half-done since my car has been locked in the garage for a week now. Nothing major, really. While I'm not a fan of the cold, I will have to (unfortunately) turn down the furnace to about 50 or so before I leave the house, otherwise it will run nonstop while I'm gone and will jack up my already expectedly high electric bill for no real reason. The cats have fur coats; they don't need the heat running like crazy like I do, and they always stay warm enough. I don't care if I can see my breath in the house when I get home as long as the pipes don't freeze while I'm away.
Daisy has told me that I have "other" birthday presents, despite the fact that Christmas is three days away and my birthday was two days ago -- she just wanted to get the coffee and book to me on my birthday. I've told her she doesn't have to do anything for me, and she knows that already without me telling her, but well, it's Daisy, and she'll do anything she wants/can do for me even if I tell her not to. She's also been telling me stories about her older sister's husband (who, aside from being the man who will officiate our wedding, is also a big nerd like me) who has seen my Christmas gifts and is incredibly jealous of them, so apparently there's that as well. Again, we're supposed to be doing a "small Christmas" this year -- I have five or six gifts for her, total, and they're all really small, thoughtful, and inexpensive (I refuse to use the word "cheap"). I believe heavily in equivalent exchange; I don't want her spending hundreds of dollars on me for no reason, needlessly, when I have spent about $50 on her, total. It's excessive. It makes me feel guilty and sad because I'm poor.
"You never did guess correctly on how much I spent at Torrid," she told me the other night -- referencing a big shopping trip she had about a month or two ago.
"I'd rather not know, really. It would probably make me sick."
"...my point is that I spend a lot of money sometimes, because sometimes I can," she said. "I can afford to get you stuff for Christmas."
That's not really the point, I thought.
I don't need, or want, hundreds of dollars worth of stuff. I have no use for anything else that will simply clutter up my house or otherwise gather dust. My primary concerns are, and always have been, survival with minimal luxuries. I don't have time to enjoy a lot of the stuff I already have...which is why I have a stack of DVDs and Blu-rays that I've owned for years, yet haven't been able to sit down long enough to watch yet. I don't know if I'll ever have the time to watch all of those, even the ones I was so excited to see when they came out or when I originally purchased them. There's probably close to thirty of them at this point. Award-winning films from 2008 and 2009, even, stay shrink-wrapped in their plastic, gathering dust. Not kidding. I just don't have the time anymore. I generally have slightly more pressing concerns.
Oh well, though. It's not like I'm going to be a dick and be like "nooooo, I refuse" any gifts she gets me. I know she has her best intentions at heart and I also know that she puts a lot of thought into the things she gets me. Plus, I know how I'd feel if she refused any of my own gifts, so yeah. I also have a bit of leeway if necessary if I come across anything between now and Christmas morning -- my Discover card is now paid off and has a massive limit, with small minimum payments -- so if I see anything at the Walmart in York when we stop there, whether it be something for Daisy or something for someone/anyone else in the family, I'll be able to get it and not worry about it until after I'm paid again next month.
On that note, I'm going to end this post; I will more than likely update again tomorrow before I leave, but if I don't, I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas, and I'll catch you on the proverbial flip side after I return home.
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