This Year? Really?

It’s my 12th December in Washington, and for a dozen years, I’ve wished for enough snow at the holidays to make it feel festive. (It’s the only time of year I want it to snow. Otherwise, I’ll pass, thanks.) For 11 years, Mother Nature has declined to play along. This year, though? The one where I have a huge trip looming and really need to get stuff done? When I have a list of tasks and errands as long as my arm? Yeah. This is the year for snowmageddon.

And it seems as if this may, in fact, be for real. I am generally skeptical of winter storm threats around here — with very few exceptions, they tend to lead to very little. This storm, however, started three hours early, is sticking (to the grass, sidewalks, and roads), and has what the northeasterner in me knows is the danger sign: tiny, tiny snowflakes. The forecasts are calling for 12 to 24 inches, and, well, it looks like it could happen.

Wanna know the best part? We might get thundersnow, which, if you’ve never experienced it, is the weirdest damn weather you’ll ever see. It’s exactly what it sounds like… a thunderstorm, but while it’s snowing. Like I said, snowmageddon. *

* alternate terms include “snowpocalypse” and “snOMG,” because what’s the fun of a giant storm if you can’t give it a silly name?

This -n- That

Yesterday, President Obama gave his big jobs speech at the Brookings Institution, which is two doors down from my office (a place most notable in my world for having a cafeteria with tasty turkey chili). Though life in DC ought to make us jaded about such things as presidential sightings, well… many of us are not, and I spent a few minutes on the corner outside my office with colleagues and neighbors hoping to get a glimpse. Unfortunately, the motorcade came from the wrong direction and the President was shuffled into the building without any of us seeing a thing. Bummer.

I did have one realization as this was going on, though. My first President-at-Brookings incident was not one but two administrations ago. I was outside folding & stuffing letters for a mailing (yes, before my Internet calling found me) when a member of the Secret Service told me I needed to take my mail bin inside because President Clinton was going to be along shortly. In the relatively lax 1990s, I was welcome to remain on the lawn, but my container was not. This time, we were cordoned off of the opposite side of the driveway.

Presidents have changed, security has changed, but I still work in the same place. Wow.

***

Speaking of things that have changed, I was sorry to see yesterday’s announcement that my onetime daytime-tv staple As the World Turns was being canceled. With the exception of the occasional sick day — mostly spent trying to figure out who the hell everyone was and what the hell was going on — I haven’t watched in a long time, but to say that it was once a huge part of my life would not be overstating it. I watched it for years, from the time I was a small child, because it was one of the soaps my mom liked. In middle and high school, my friends & I were such dedicated viewers that I can remember us spending part of a trip to the mall watching a particularly critical episode on a wall of televisions at Sears. I taped it on the VCR for years in college and my early work days, getting roommates along the way hooked as well. And while I know the plots were often laughable, it still seems a shame to me that the long-format storytelling of soaps is slowly fading from the airwaves in favor of crappy daytime talk shows. It won’t be ending until next September, so I suppose there could be a reprieve. After all, as anyone who has ever watched soaps knows, death is very rarely final. Or, perhaps it’s previously-unknown identical twin will make its way to our screens.

***

Crap. There was one more thing I wanted to write about tonight, and now I can’t remember what it was. I really should have made a list. Oh well. The blog will still be here tomorrow when I remember, right?

Remember Me?

No need to adjust your screen, and your eyes aren’t tricking you — this really is a new blog post. As my almost two months of absence can attest, I’ve been struggling with the blog lately. The entire thought process surrounding this is long, fairly dull, and might lead to concerns for my overall mental stability. (“You spend time thinking about that, really?”)

But, lest you think I am pretending in order to excuse a too-long absence, here are just some of the questions I’ve been pondering: Who is the blog for? (Me? Readers? Both?) What is the blog about, other than me? Does it have a theme, a purpose? Does it need one? Are Facebook and/or Twitter working better for me to keep in touch with people? Should I be using the blog differently now that I’m using FB & Twitter more? Would I want to do more with the blog if it had a less-stupid name? And, of course, once I get those questions answered, there’s the usual, mundane stuff about finding the time to write and all that. (And all I can say about that is it’s amazing what a mere 30-minute change in work hours can do to complicate things.)

But anyway, I’m happy to report that the time I spent on my blog hiatus certainly wasn’t dull. I’m never going to manage to recap it in any comprehensive way, but here’s a quick overview. Since last you heard from me, I:

• had house guests, twice (Marlene & Chris in October, Shannon & Wendy in November);
• went to Nashville for the National Preservation Conference and, among other things, ate more barbecue than would probably be considered appropriate;
• took a trip to Mexico (Akumal, on the Riviera Maya), had a blast, and discovered that tequila doesn’t kill the H1N1 virus;
• had the swine flu and an ear infection — at the same time;
• got to see nearly my entire family (Mom, the Minnesota cousins, the Pennsylvania cousins, my uncle, and — of course — Brian, Jen, and the boys) for an early Thanksgiving/family hockey night extravaganza;
• did a bunch of planning for my trip to Egypt and made a website for the friend whose wedding I’ll be attending there;
• went to several Caps games, a Redskins game, and a couple of concerts (Andrew Bird & Bruce Springsteen), and — this is the biggie —
• got a new nephew – at least for now, one who I’m excited to be meeting for the first time this upcoming weekend.

I don’ t know if this post marks my return to regular blogging or just a drive-by visit to the blogosphere, but given that it’s a new month, I thought I’d kick it off with a post.  We’ll see where it goes from here. And by all means, if you have any opinions about the questions I raised or advice on getting my blogging mojo back, by all means, have at it in the comments.