Valentine Snow Day
2007-02-15, 16:26

After putting it off for what was apparently too long, we (meaning I) broke down and got a snow blower yesterday. The real clincher was the three-foot-high snowdrift in the middle of our driveway. I made a short-lived attempt at shoveling, but when I turned around and saw the drift that was lurking around the corner, I just dropped the shovel and went inside to get the car keys.

Not that I went immediately to the store; I had to dig the van out of the end of the driveway first. A half hour later I was on my way to the Dee-Pot. In short order upon m arrival I found what I was looking for, namely an electric starter that was big enough to handle our deceptively long driveway but wasn't going to take up an entire parking space in our garage (not that there's one available right now, Dad, now IS there?). And as an added bonus, I got a 00 model for 00. H approved of my purchase, and a while later snow was flying in a 30-foot-long arch into the neighbor's yard. The machine-loving boy in me squealed with delight.

And right away I got to be a Person That Has A Snow Blower. That is, I went over and did a neighbor's driveway, because they had not a blower, were friends and were buried to the point of not being able to leave the house. They also have a driveway even longer than ours. It was nice to be generous, and I plan on making a habit of it.

I didn't escape the snow removal process unscathed, however. The shoveling did a number on my knees, the effects of which manifested later in the evening, and somewhere along the line I managed to sprain or twist my bad knuckle (a victim of a nasty computer upgrading accident back in '99), so it's acting all achy and whatnot. Otherwise I'm feeling okay today, thankyouverymuch.

And what of Valentine's Day, you ask? I am lucky enough to have a wife that doesn't think that Romance should be relegated and forced into a certain day, so no major effort was expected, although certainly would have been welcome. And luckily again, in light of the influx of frozen, powdered water that load onto us over the last couple of days, it was okay that little was procured for the event. I think the act of unburying us from the snow single-handedly and helping her with a Scout project that was a larger task than she expected was gift enough. I'm pretty sure I owe her a surprise lovey gift at some spontaneous moment in the near future. Or at least I feel like I do, no matter what she says about it. She won't say no to a lovey gift, I'm sure.

We watched the Grammys on Sunday, something I personally haven't done in forever, but The Girl wanted to watch it with H so I was resigned to it. While most of it was rather uninteresting, there were a few high points. Justin Timberlake continues on his quest to make me think of him as talented (I'm sure it's all for my benefit, you know). The Police played, and Stewart Copeland kindly presented the image of someone who looks like they used to be a drummer, and is now a musical intellectual who's slumming it for some bonus reunion tour cash. And I've never been a fan of her music, but Christina Aguilera seriously impressed me. The girl has some serious pipes, and it was nice to see her singing something that showed of her power, rather than the hybrid R & B/pop crap she's done in the past. She sang James Brown's "It's a Man's World" as part of a tribute to the late singer, and she seriously kicked the song's ass. There's a YouTube clip of it (click), if you care to listen. I think she's going to be around and singing for a long time. And maybe one day she'll make an album I'd ever care to listen to.

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