Last night I had the most wonderful dream. I dreamt I turned on the news, and it was 36 degrees! I put on just one pair of pants and one pair of socks. I wore my second-warmest jacket- without a hat. I laced up a pair of shoes that wasn't my hiking boots or my snow boots. I was so happy. My happiest dreams no longer involve me on a tropical beach with Sayid from Lost. They involve temperatures above freezing.

Then I woke up and found ice on the inside of my window. So I put on two pairs of pants, my giant red puffy coat (and a hat), two pairs of wool socks, and my hiking boots. I went to catch the bus. It was -17 degrees out. The bus didn't show up for 25 minutes. Why? Who knows. While trying to decide if my toes were still attached to my body, I began to understand why so many serial killers come from the Upper Midwest.

Temperature: 3/-12
WWTL: What do you think?

I can now add a new experience to my list of Unpleasant Things I Have Dealt With. When one walks to the bus stop in subzero temps, and finds it necessary to wear sunglasses because the glint from even the weakest sunlight off the sheets of ice covering every surface is literally blinding, one often finds that said sunglasses fog up as one's 98-degree breath filters upward through the three layers of scarf, coat and hood. Today, I noticed that my sunglasses were not de-fogging. I took them off to discover that my breath had, in fact, frozen onto the lenses. Awesome.

Here are photos from last Wednesday evening, after it stopped snowing and the cleanup began.


That snow's not piled up on a curb- it's actually that deep.


Bobcat clearing snow from the sidewalks.


Dump truck taking snow to be dumped out of town.


That snow-fence is probably about shoulder-high on me.

And now some photos from my weekend away in Galena, Illinois:

A little knee-deep hiking.


Playing in the snow with my friend Lindsay.


Sean makes snow angels while Patrick watches me try to get up.


Snow is a lot prettier in the countryside.

Temperature: 4/-5 windchill
WWTL: Alarmingly red.

From the National Weather Service:

"The winter season of 2007 to 2008 has been quite snowy across southern Wisconsin. In fact... Madison is close to setting its all time seasonal snowfall record for a winter season. Through February 9... Dane County regional Airport in Madison has recorded 75.5 inches of snowfall. This amount ranks as the third snowiest winter season on record in Madison. ... Madison will receive several inches of snowfall late Monday into Tuesday morning... breaking the all time snowfall record."

75.5 inches. What.

This is what it looked like outside on Wednesday because even though we got 14 inches of snow in less than 24 hours and the wind was terrible and you could barely see because snow was blowing directly into your eyes, I STILL HAD TO GO TO CLASS.


Stepping out my front door.


Do you see a sidewalk there? Yeah, me neither.


At least I didn't have to ride my bike.


Somewhere back there is a lake. It's kind hard to tell on account of THE WHITEOUT CONDITIONS.

I'm SUPER EXCITED that we'll have over TWENTY INCHES OF SNOW on the ground tomorrow. Knee-high snow when you're playing outside at your friend's vacation home (as I was this weekend)? Fun. Knee-high snow when you have to get to classes on the other side of campus? THE OPPOSITE OF FUN.

Current temp: -6/-23 windchill
WWTL: AS RED AS POSSIBLE.