Snow business

BOO. This morning I woke up to four inches of freshly-fallen snow. It's kind of the first really big snow that's happened this year, and I am admittedly not ready for it. I'm not a skier or anything, so really the snow holds no big appeal. The only thing snow is good for is water the next summer. Mountains, you can keep all this white stuff. We city-dwellers would like to reclaim the streets (wow, I just made snow sound like the byproduct of gangs or something...)!

Here are the conclusions I've reached just since walking out of my apartment building on this cold, blustery morning:

1) Slip-on sneakers will not pull me through this winter season. Previously I could get away with ballet flats and other ridiculous shoes because I was out in the elements for mere seconds at a time (walking to and from the car at work), and my feet could handle small snippets of cold. Currently my situation is such that I walk a good two miles a day outside, and my abundance of silly shoes will simply not hack it. I need to invest in a pair of good boots if I'm going to pull off the walk I did this morning ever again.

2) People are not going to wake up early to shovel their sidewalks. 6:30 is too early for anyone to be awake, really, but to expect them in galoshes and gloves, wielding a shovel merely to clear the path for me? It's foolish of me to cast that expectation on anyone. So I trudged through. And who else but me would feel a little bit sorry that she's packing the snow down, only making it more difficult for the shovelers later in the day?

3) The train is a great method of transportation when Mother Nature decides to make the roads virtually unnavigable. What I failed to realize is that the train can get stuck on the tracks going up the hill! The driver tried and tried, and finally (after about five minutes) we got past the slick part of the track and were on our way. While my slight delay is nothing compared to the commute others endured, I was a tad worried that I'd either be hoofing it the rest of the way to upper campus or stuck on the train, holding up scads of commuters on their way behind us. We got stuck again one stop before I usually get off, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and take a detour.

4) Heaters are our friends. I don't think I need to reiterate this point, but at present, I've got the space heater under my desk, drying the cuffs of my pants (which were inevitably soaked by the time I made it into the office). Also, who knew that Legacy Bridge (up by University Hospital) is heated? The steps were clear, and the steam was rising off of it. It was a welcome sight for my thin sneakers.

5) It's that time of year for all the 'snow' jokes. Give it your best shot.

I just looked at the weather forecast on KSL.com--I'm sad to state that the low on Thursday of this week is 5°. Four months until Spring...? Bears have the right idea; I think I'll hibernate until April.