So, it's almost May and I figured I'd better get another update in before the end of the month. It's only 95 days until the wedding and I have to be honest with you I'm getting anxious. It's not a bad anxious, just a strange kind of "wow this is all happening pretty fast" anxious. It won't be long before we're moving into our new apartment. I've really got to start packing. I keep looking at my room thinking, "holy crap, I've got a lot of stuff!" It's a daunting task that I'm not particularly looking forward to.

I was finally able to pick up the dining room table and chairs set that I had been eyeing at Sam's for the last couple of weeks. It's really nice and only cost $250. All solid hardwood. It was a great deal and it will fit perfectly into our dining area. I saw it a couple of weeks ago and they didn't have any left. I talked to someone there and they told me that they'd have 8 more soon. It took nearly two weeks! It's a small price to pay for high quality "cheap" furniture!


- Jeremy

So, I'm sitting here at work, it's almost 11 on a Saturday night and I'm fighting the urge to fall asleep, because I know that I have to drive home in just over an hour.

Well, the ice is gone and most of the snow from the near blizzard we had at the beginning of the week is gone as well. From what I can gather from the weather reports it looks like winter may finally be over *knock on wood*. Thank God too, because I was beginning to believe that it wasn't going to end. The sun was out today and I drove to work with my sunroof open. That was nice...of course now I have to get a haircut so I don't come out of the car looking like a windblown sheepdog!

For those of you who are unaware, I put up two more picture galleries and added two pictures to the miscellaneous gallery.

Pictures of my 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix (I LOVE MY CAR!!!) and pictures that I took during the Ice Storm. As always, comments are welcome!

Oh yeah...one more thing. I found a really great tool a couple of weeks ago. It's called Favorites Home Page. It's completely free and it's definitely worth a look. Basically, it creates a fully navigable web page with links to all of your favorites. It resides on your computer and it makes sifting through your favorites list a lot less of a hassle. I have it on both my home and work PC's.


Anyway...enough rambling for one evening.


- Bye!

It seems that the Ice Storm of '03 is over finally. According to the reports on the news the storm itself actually lasted longer time-wise than the ice storm we had 12 years ago in 1991. It just didn't have the same punch...though some would disagree.

It was eerie leaving work last night. As we walked out of the building the grass looked as if it was made of glass. On both sides of the walkway were fields of sparkling green grass. Some of the trees surrounding the parking lot had already started to collapse under the weight of the ice. There is a small forest of trees one the north side of the lot and every minute or so you could here the snap, crackle, and pop of trees falling over and branches breaking off. It was amazing to listen to. I was chipping away at the ice encasing my car when one of the trees on the median separating the two parking lots fell over with a loud crash. Thankfully I had the foresight to park my car in the center aisle of the lot as to avoid any falling tree limbs. At that I decided to grab the disposable camera that I keep in the glove box of my car and snap a few pictures of the horrible beauty of the ice. I'll post the pictures as soon as I get them developed.

The drive home last night wasn't quite as arduous as I anticipated. I just took my time. It was much like driving home on Thursday night. Pockets of darkness and power until I was north of English road on Dewey Avenue. Then it was pitch black. The strange bit was that even though a state of emergency had been declared in Monroe County there were more people on the road last night than there were the night before. There were a few trees in the road here and there and I could see the blue green flash of transformers exploding in the distance. You couldn't hear the explosions and all you could see were the eerie flashes of light over the trees. I stood outside for a minute after I got home and listened to the silence. It's strange how quiet the world becomes when there is a power outage. What's more amazing to realize is how loud the world has become with all this technology that surrounds us. For example, I never realize how loud my PC is until I turn it off. I've just gotten used to it.

The power was out at the house when I got home last night. Mom said that it had been out since around 11 pm. I stayed up for a little while listening to the radio, but I after about an hour I decided that I ought to get to bed. I threw a couple of extra blankets on my bed, blew out the candles and was soon fast asleep. I woke up around 10 and much to my dismay the power had not come back on. Knowing the Erin was going to be calling I grabbed an old corded phone and plugged it into the jack in my room. I went back to bed and Erin called a little later. Being that she only lives five minutes away from me her story was much the same. The unfortunate difference being that she had to get up at 4:30 am to go into work. We talked for a few minutes before the phones went out at the store. I was able to get in touch with her again a little while later. By the time 12:30 rolled around the temperature had risen to the mid 40's and the ice had started to melt. I went outside to clear out the end of the driveway and immediately realized that I needed to get out there with my camera and take some pictures. I ran back down stairs and grabbed it and another roll of film. I finished off the roll in the disposable and then finished the roll in my Nikon. The last roll of film that I had was one of Black and White that I had purchased several months ago with the thought to try it out at some point. That particular moment seemed as good as any. The carnage was even more evident in the day light. Tree limbs were down all over the neighborhood and the inevitable symphony of chainsaws was already beginning to swell over the rush of the wind. Our yard was not spared. The tree that resides on the northeast corner of the house was literally split in half. It was as if some jolly giant decided to make a wish with it. None of the evergreens in our back yard were damaged but their branches sagged under the strain of the ice turning slowly to slush. Every so often large sheets of ice were falling off the sides of the house. I was along the east side of the house taking pictures of the split tree when the largest sheet, almost 100 square feet, came crashing to the ground. I nearly came out of my skin.

Speaking of skin...

One interesting thing, hopefully which came out in the pictures I took, is that there was a paper thin skin of ice covering the thickest branches of the split tree. It was a truly bizarre sight. The only thing I could think of is that it had the look of shedded snake skin. It had the same milky translucent color to it. It gave me goose bumps!

After relaxing away from shutterbug mode I cleared the mound of slush that had piled up at the end of the driveway. Back in the house I took a shower by candlelight...trust me when I say that it wasn't that romantic as I was by myself...I heard that thought!

The rest of the story goes...

I got dressed...in the dark. Ate lunch, brought in some firewood for Mom, made dinner for tonight and went to work. The drive in was fine. Roads were dry and there were only a handful of traffic lights out.

So, here I sit. Hopefully my night won't get to exciting.

*knock on wood*

- Jeremy

Okay...here's the situation. There's been a huge ice storm! I'm at work right now and I'm a little concerned that I might be stuck here until tomorrow. The drive home last night wasn't too bad until I got past English Road going north on Dewey Ave. From there it was pitch black until I got home. I lit a few candles and read Ubik by candlelight for a while before deciding that the power wasn't going to come back on. I woke up at about 8 am this morning freezing my ass off because the power was still out. I got up and went to the bathroom and ran back to bed. I swear I had five blankets on me it was so cold. Finally, power came back on just before 11 am. Phones came back up after that.

The worst part...I had no internet connection this morning! I couldn't care less about the TV or the phones, but the fact that I couldn't check my email was driving me bonkers. It's sad, really. I'm so dependant on email as a primary method of communication. Then again, I am doing this...technology is your friend!

Thankfully it hasn't been too busy tonight and I'm really hoping it stays that way. Especially if we can't leave. But, hey, we've got our radio and the building is warm. Tuck me in baby!

- Jeremy

I'm running on about 4 hours of sleep and I feel like total crap so if this is less than coherent...well...you'll just have to deal with it. Thank god for spell checkers. Anyway, My day is almost over and I'm not looking forward to the drive home. It's been very icy all day and the Bay Bridge is pretty bad from what everyone has been saying as they've trickled in.

Work is good and we're looking forward to moving into our new apartment. We've got a few things we need to get before we move in, but we're waiting until after the wedding to get a new bedroom set.

I'm unable to keep my brain on task so I'll sign off.

- Jeremy