Always Snowing

Seems like all it does around here these days is snow. Snow, snow, snow. At least it's beautiful on the bare trees of winter.

I had to shovel my car yesterday because in addition to the regular snow fall, the plow trucks made a lovely barrier between my car and the road. Hence the sore arms today.

Some of my co-workers though ended up getting stuck in 6-7 hours of traffic on Wednesday night because cars were getting stuck on the road or slipping all over the place. Some of them even slept at the office. I'm really glad I wasn't scheduled to work that day! But the next morning there were still abandoned cars on the middle of the highways. There would be a car with a small mountain of snow around them and cars are zooming down the road at 70+ miles per hour. I want to know where the owners went? Did they walk home off of the beltway?

Snow Tubing

Some people spend Christmas indoors in front of the fireplace, cozy and warm. Other people spend Christmas outdoors on the side of a mountain, cold and freezing...because they're snow tubing!


This year, after a yummy dinner and games with extended family we bundled up in scarves, boots, gloves, hats, and big coats; squeezed ourselves into the SUV and headed out to Liberty Mountain Resort in Carroll Valley, PA. Most of us had never gone snow tubing before so I thought it would be a fun Christmas present for my family.

Once at the ski resort, we hopped into a shuttle bus and arrived at the snow tubing location on the side of the mountain. They issue you a pass and snow tube once you sign a waiver you won't sue the place if you break both legs and an arm. Then you ride a conveyor belt-type thingie to the top of the hill, pick a lane, and whooosh, slide down the mountain. At the bottom, the staff insists you "drag your feet" to slow down, but if you can't stop in time there are big red inflatables to cushion your stoppage.

I was surprised at the level of organization of snow tubing. I expected a free-for-all area of tubes bumping into each other, but there were about 15 lanes where you ride down individually and then clear out at the bottom to make room for tubers at the top. I was also surprised there were hills built into the tubing area so you didn't go straight down, but up and down, and at times, getting air if you went fast enough.


The staff at Liberty was really friendly. They would give you a good push down the mountain if you needed one and practically begged you to let them spin you. That style of going down was fun, but you couldn't do to too many of those before your head would be spinning faster than your snow tube. My favorite way down was on my belly with a fast running start to encourage speed.

I really enjoyed snow tubing and will be sure to go again in the future. If we have to have cold weather anyway, why not take advantage of it?

Snow

When I peeked outside this morning and saw several inches of snow and an unplowed road, I was sure classes would be canceled. To my dismay, they weren't. I wrapped myself up in a hundred layers of clothing, scarves, hoodies, hats, gloves, coats, and boots and armed myself with an ice scraper in a effort to rediscover my car somewhere in the white abyss. After driving at about 10 miles per hour with a death grip on the steering wheel the whole way into campus, I cursed whoever decided that it would be safe for us to be out on those icy roads.


My day was painfully boring. I met with a professor, sat at work with no tutoring appointments, watched white flakes fall from the sky out the window, and checked my email every five minutes waiting for a cancellation. Just when I thought the university was cold and heartless, the announcement came that evening classes were canceled. Thank goodness. I rejoiced that my American Lit test will be pushed back as I shoveled my car out for the second time today.

On a brighter note, I just discovered EZ Borrow in the library. Yes, I know--I'm a senior English major, and I've never used the service before, shame, shame on me. It turns out all Pennsylvania schools have a system of sharing books between university libraries. I am not confined by the choices good 'ole Shippensburg and other state schools offer to me. I have been eyeing Snow, by Orhan Pamuk, a modern Turkish classic in Borders for the past few months, and now I can read it for FREE! If I love it, I can buy it, if not, there's no loss. Why didn't I discover this system years earlier?

Ice Fest

The Chambersburg Ice Fest was this past weekend. It is quaint little community ordeal. Fireworks and sculptures carved out of ice. I saw eskimos, a house, several half-melted things, Ben Franklin, a horse and sleigh, a snowman throne, and a train to name a few. Chainsaws and ice, bah ha ha.

Brrrr.

A Picture Perfect World

I'm telling you, icy trees are perhaps the only redeming quality of snowy cold weather.


I can't help but think that these photographs look like Bob Ross paintings--only they're real.


I am captivated by icy tree beauty.

Snow Flakes

The snow today was beautiful. I love looking at the trees. The contrast of the brown bark against the snowy white crystals is startling. I was hoping for canceled classes, but no such cigar.

In other news, I am upset that the University now charges us to print. I missed the email and already used up a big chunk of my quota unknowingly. What's with the charging for everything? We pay so many thousands of dollars to go there and they can't even let us print for free? Even stuff that we are required to print for classes, because of the whole online, Blackboard craze anyway? I can not read endless articles on the computer screen. My eyes already suffer from too much screen-staring. And I cannot proofread as well in Word as on paper. Booooo.

GRE update

Here's the outcome of my GRE.

Snow-yes. Ridiculously slow driving on 81 both ways. Limited visibility and numerous rubber necking slow downs.

The good news: I improved 60 points on the verbal section, exactly my goal.

The bad news: I dropped 60 points on the quantitative section. Not so much my goal.

I ended up getting the same freaking score, only reversed. I know exactly why too. They made me take the math section twice, one is for their 'improvement of the test for future test takers', and one you actually get a score for. The first one I took my time and probably did awesome. On the second one, my brain was fried. I lacked the motivation and mental clarity to answer how many sides that triangle had. ha. I'm 100% sure they took my score from the second one. Darn it.