The Jack London of suburbia

So, while thinking about this blog entry the past couple days- I've thought of a few things this particular blog site couldn't exist without- if not for the ability for me to complain about (in no particular order)
-The weather
-The stupidity of myself and/or the general public
-Driving
-Local Boston-area "celebrities"
-Television news (could also be folded into the local celebrities subheader, I guess)
And probably a few other items (the time I lived in California, the New York Football Giants and grammar among them) that these occasional threadbare entries would be mere absolute air without
Tonight, memory permitting, I will touch on most of the above topics- I just hope no one (other than myself) is drinking to the aforementioned references

-Had what has to be considered one of the worst-ever wintertime drives I've ever made in 22 years or so of licensed driving this past Sunday night (18 January)- The thing that got me thinking about the above preamble is the fact I just wrote about how cold it was last week ("Too cold for any good proverbs"- 14 January)- and for those who've seen the preceding few years of these entries on MySpace- I seem to complain about this shitty winter weather and the resulting behavior thereof on a regular basis here

But Sunday night's ride for me was the stuff of worst-case scenarios and those "Be prepared with a flashlight and 50-pound bag of sand"-level TV news reports one would ordinarily laugh at or say "Well, duh" to- until you're in what could be the possible resulting scenario

Started out innocently enough- snowed overnight Saturday into Sunday- a storm that was originally forecast to arrive about 6 hours later than it did- storm # 3 of the current 4 in a row the local TV-meteorological community has blown the past couple weeks- to wit- a predicted 8-12 inch storm that started late and came up short by half 10 January, a 3-5 inch storm that never materialized in the Boston area 15 January, the early snow above on the 17th into the 18th and Sunday night

Was watching the NFC and AFC Championship games at my friend's house Sunday- caught the news on one of the stations between the games- weather as of 6:25 Sunday night had about a dusting - 2 inches of snow at most coming overnight after the current snow lull ended- Knew I had to go to work after games were over- but wasn't worried- even when it was snowing before halftime of Ravens-Steelers game- l wasn't much worried when I had to brush my car clean to leave for work after 10:25 or so and still wasn't concerned during trip to Waltham where I encountered few cleared streets and about the 2-inch maximum that was forecast

It wasn't until I had worked a few hours and was leaving around 2:15 AM or so that I noticed it was snowing harder than any previously-noticed portion of the evening, has snowed more than advertised and hadn't seemed to be cleared anywhere in the vicinity around my work- that I became a little concerned about the conditions- particularly when I got down to the center of Waltham and could barely move after stopping for a red light that I started to think it hadn't been such a great idea to venture out at that time- but was too late to re-think it or turn back

It was rather bad the whole way back- ended up running most of the red lights on the way back- for fear that stopping would have meant getting stuck (in a Saturn) at either that intersection or a coming incline of any import- the lack of snow-removal efforts to that point led to a general feeling that the slightest wrong move would take me off the street into a parked car, light pole or worse increased as snaked thorugh Waterown into Cambridge and finally, back to Somerville

Whatever relief that gave me abated as I reached the hill that my residence sits near the top of- Had not- through last winter and this- encountered any type of situation where that hill had been allowed to get that snow-covered (as one of the "Hospital Hills" here near Somerville Hospital)- but got behind cab that had a bit of difficulty getting up it- as I shortly encountered- could see smoke from both tires and engine getting up it, alternately afraid of letting up the gas for fear of getting stuck and fearing stepping on it- in an automatic transmission's 1st gear and burning out my engine and/ or steel belts in doing so

Finally get to home stretch- near top of hill and entrance to driveway of my place- back up and rev for run into narrow, relatively short driveway to parking lot here- no avail- get stuck in first 10 feet or so- make a few efforts to back up and rev through- but realize that futility is going to be the least of my problems if I spin out sideways and hit either the brick facade of my building or the fence to the adjoining house- Decide I have to get out and shovel my way at 3:15 or so in the AM- unless I want to be either woken up in morning or ticketed for blocking sidewalk (Yeas it was the MLK Day holiday- but have more belief in the ticket than the being-woken-up scenario)

Grab shovel- try to make the optimistic least-area shovel job- like when you're a kid and tell your folks all they'll need is the 2 tracks to get through- was lucky a couple cars in my lot weren't there and could make more linear path to my usual spot- had to clear a couple times- sans hat or gloves and in wool overcoat- was so wound up by this point- didn't even occur to me until after I was done- Finally got car through after a couple of initial failed attempts to move a foot or so- and got back inside about 3:40 or so- feeling I had lived out the worst (I hope) of what I thought were the worst of the worst-case scenarios to parking in this particular neighborhood

I can think of a lot of particularly bad drives in the snow- a couple-inches an hour storm where I couldn't stop/ spun out once each when I lived only 10 minutes away from Waltham about a little over 5 years ago (and had to help my brother-in-law shovel out a parking lot spot the next night) and even the first few times in snow and was an absolute ass- especially my first full winter when I almost wrapped my car around both a telephone pole and the brick sign outside my school while going too fast and fishtailing- and this may have been worse than both of those

Relative Bullet Points
-Watched more of the Obama Innauguration coverage than I expected to- could not get over high-five/ Indian handshake Bush gave him on way to chopper- Level of near-camradarie between Obama, Bush and their wives at end was almost stunning compared to last transition eight years ago

That is why I watch- no matter whom I vote for or whom gets into office- The orderly transfer of power is always stunning to watch- as it was 32 years ago when I was a 7-year-old second-grader with no better idea and a TV wheeled into the classroom for the Ford-Carter transition- I can't quite feel the euphoria of some (especially among about 90% of my Facebook friends) and am almost envious of it- because I don't think I could ever be into/ believe as fully in an idea as hopelessly optimistic as to what some ascribe to/ for the Obama Administration- But as an American- I hope for the best, as always- and I will agree it seemed sort fitting that Dick Cheney finished out his eight years a VP in a wheelchair, wielding a cane- could not have been scripted better otherwise

-Speaking of Obama- told lady at work who's had Obama pin since practically the end of John Kerry's 2004 concession speech- who also gave me free newspapers for a few years until the fascists cracked down last year and ended it (OK, I was lucky to not pay for a newspaper for about 6 years- and may have sped the industry's sharp decline by doing so)- I would get her at least one of the Boston Globe afternoon extras published today (20 January) if I could- since I live closer to the city than work and she- and the Globe's extras were available for the 1991 Gulf War, O.J.'s being found not guilty and the Red Sox championships in these parts (Patriots and Celtics were covered by regular AM editions)

Went grocery shopping late Tuesday- got my shit and checked out- not thinking that supermarket on Waltham/ Watertown line would have any Globe extras- see stack of them as I left- decided "Fuck that- not getting back on line for the goddamn newspaper and can probably get it anywhere if it's here"

Sure enough, stop at a few stores on way home- either never got the extra edition or sold out- awesome- Feel kind of bad for woman at work- not myself, since the Obama shindig wasn't really going to be a keepsake for me anyhow (gave my day-after-Election Day papers to my old roommate)- But now wonder if I should just tell her the untrue "I never found it" versus the "I walked past about 50 of them"