Dysmey Post Archive > Pages for 2007 > Mid-February 2007 Edition
A blizzard rolls through central Indiana. A blizzard warning has been declared north of Interstate 70 (along the middle of the state from Terre Haute to Richmond). Grant and Delaware Counties are in the middle of it. The radio reports that the weather service urges everyone not to travel. It is folly to drive through this even on Interstate 69, so on Tuesday I decided to take a vacation day and stay home. After the blizzard ended, with 10-18 inches (25-45 cms) of snow, strong winds continue to blow, making hugh drifts over the highways.
Classes at Ball State and its laboratory school were closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Campus offices are open, though, so everyone who can are expected to come in. As proof that there are at least some decent students on campus I present this response on the Tuesday Muncie Star-Press Web site:
Although I'm excited about no classes, I also feel sorry for all of the food service and janitorial staff that will still have to brave the elements and work for us students, most of which are ungrateful. Thanks for everything you guys do!!!
I also got a call from my boss Tuesday while I was in the shower. He must have called from his cell-phone, because it was mostly a droning sound on the answering machine, but I got the gist of it: Come in if you can. I confirmed this with him over the phone. Later that evening my boss called to tell me that the office will be closed til noon. That was before I heard that the closure is until five o'clock in the afternoon Wednesday, meaning I need not come in at all. Frankly I don't think I will make it in today, either, given the wind. It is kind of foolish to come in for just half a day of work when there is nothing to do in a bogged-down campus, anyway.
The two days of vacation would have been a good time to get a double cheeseburger with pepper cheese from the local grill half a block from where I live. But the grill was closed. So were most of the businesses downtown. You could not get to them, anyway, due to the moutains of snow in front of the buildings. Those that were still open included the post office, the banks, the general store, the video rental shop, the gas stations and the grocery; and most of those closed early due to lack of staff.
The local restaurant downtown was also open, so I visited that and had me a double cheeseburger with fries and cole slaw. The placed is called Remember When, and it uses the nostalgia theme as had most of its predecessors. (And that restaurant had a lot of predecessors … half a dozen, I think.) Some of the walls were made of a collage of cut-outs of pages from old yearbooks … from my teenage years. That makes me feel old! Then there are the placemats fashioned out of laminated pages from advertising from the mid-20th century, including this interesting ad about stewardess training at what is now British Airways (it was called BOAC back then). The food was delicious.
The library was closed because the librarian lives in Marion and could not make it to town. That is also the reason why this month's library board meeting was postponed until next week; the board's members all live within walking distance, but it was pointless to hold it if the librarian can't show up.
On Wednesday morning I went outside to shovel out my car. I could not believe how deep the snow was around the car. But it had to come out, so I gripped the shovel and dug out a space behind the car. Then a guy on a tractor with a snow plow came and helpfully dug out the snow behind the car and a strip beside it. That made it easier to remove the remaining snow from the side of the car. Then I started the car and backed out a couple of meters. I shoveled out the snow in front of the car. Next, I started the car again, drove the car out onto the street, and drove around a few blocks to make sure I could drive the car in these conditions. Now that I have no longer an excuse to stay home, I will go to work tomorrow.
During my enforced vacation I spent some time cataloging my books on LibraryThing. I have catalogued 330 books so far, and those were the ones I could reach. I still have books on the bottom of my white bookcase, which I can't get to; in the big box in front of the bookcase, which is why I can reach the bottom shelf; and books in the closet. I figure I will be past the 400 mark when I am finished.