It will not stop snowing. Seriously. The mayor said we've had 21 inches since the beginning of December, and it snowed another couple of inches today. The piles on the side of the road are up to my shoulder, which makes trying to get from the bus to the bar kind of interesting: either walk in the middle of the road to a plowed corner, or scale the dirty snow pile like a mountain climber. For a city that experiences as much snow as Madison, you'd think they'd be a little more competent in their snow removal.

Here are some photos for you to enjoy from your non-frozen Southerly locales. I tried to get some of the gigantic snow piles, but my batteries died. I'll try again tomorrow.


State Street last Saturday, early during the first snowstorm. Much later my ex-roomies and I would attempt to go see a movie but give up after spending 20 minutes trying to get out of the parking lot.


The Capitol during the same storm.


My friend Jennie is sad that her bike is covered in snow (she still rode it home, because she is hardcore). This is from the Tuesday storm.


State Street from the campus end, Tuesday night.

Yesterday I went outside and thought, "Huh, it's not too bad out." It was twenty degrees. Dark times lie ahead, yall. Dark times.

The semester is almost over, thank God. I should be way more stressed about it, but I've been reading the completely fabulous and totally absorbing Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, and wondering if I shouldn't just chuck this whole advanced-degree thing and just grow plants and write stories instead. Too bad it's not very lucrative, especially compared to the diamond-encrusted, luxury-car world of nonprofit environmental work. Though compared with the prospects of finding a job in the coming months, eking out a pantry from the ground might be less challenging.

I finally met the Elephant Man who lives upstairs. Like my neighbors next door, he also has a penchant for Whitney Houston, and he was enjoying "I Will Always Love You" so thoroughly that I had to knock on his door and ask him to turn it down. Tonight he was listening to Elton John (hold me closer Tony Danza tiny daaaaaancer!). I'm beginning to suspect that the women's voices I occasionally hear coming from upstairs might just be his friends.
Current Temperature: 26
WWTL: Yellow