In penitence for prancing around in ribbed cotton briefs and a zip-hooded sweater all weekend, we had two days of crazy bitter cold.  Monday and Tuesday, dozens of schools who would normally stay open under mounds of snow, shut down because it wasn’t safe for children to go outside.  There hasn’t been snow, nor clouds to trap in all that lovely UV heat.

Suffering through mornings of  -3°F (-20°C) and wind chill -20°F (-28°C); magically, the groundhog not seeing his shadow along with the serpents and badgers peeping out of their wintery dens – signs of an early spring it has warmed to 0°F (-18°C) with a wind chill of -8°F (-22°C).  Come join me – I’ll be sunbathing in the back yard after I put the washing out on the line.

I don’t have headphones today.  I’ve been here for hours and I’m ready to pass out.  The soporific din of the ventilation system and workstations are causing me to fidget in my chair.  The unheard cries of unplayed podcasts are calling out to me.  While attempting to surreptitiously listen in, huddled near the macbook’s speakers; all ambient chatter that would keep me safe from non-podcast listeners, ceased.

I am now plotting a quick purchase of head phones during my lunch hour.  Turned my attentions to reviews on C|Net and have poured myself another cup of coffee to keep awake, I am determined.  Sure, I should be tending to customers but the bulk of my communication is through text chat and e-mail, a scarcely engaging medium.  I need my narrowly scoped, nerdily accented, exciting-because-it’s-not-my-life-we’re-talking-about podcasts to get through the day.

We’ve put off Christmas with Snuffy’s family until today. The trials of buying a house, Las Vegas, two terrible colds, and furnishing the house was enough to push gift exchange and overeating off of our docket. Yesterday, Snuffy buffed and polished surfaces while I tried to stay out of his way.

So, as I lay in bed and I hear the coffee percolating (yeah, stole the drip/filter coffee maker from mom and dad) I shouted to Snuff, “What’s for breakfast”. Seeing a fleeing shadow holding a cup of coffee descend the staircase to the basement, I believe I heard “Nothing, I cleaned the stove and I don’t want to mess it up.” My boyfriend, with all of his non-Virgo traits, has to be neat and organized.  I hope our guests appreciate all of his cleaning.

I whipped up a fish taco with the things that we had in the fridge, begrudgingly using the microwave. If it weren’t so friggin cold out here, I’d build myself a dirty kitchen in the back yard.