blargh!

[swingchickie]

the snow in boston is killing me. it's beautiful, really gorgeous... it looks like someone dumped a billion tons of confectioner's sugar on the city... but driving in it is a living hell. for a city that gets snow as much as we do, we are still really ineffective when it comes to dealing with it, especially large amounts. i drove to work yesterday, and no lie, it took me almost THREE HOURS to go five miles. why? because the plows only stripped a single lane down the middle of all these 2-lane cambridge streets, so cars couldn't get past each other anywhere. at every light i came to, you'd see people turning at the light, except there was nowhere for them to turn... so traffic would get backed up for 20 minutes while everyone jostled their cars to make room. not to mention the fact that there was still an unplowed 3 inches or more on the street, so people were sliding like mad. what's classic is that if you park on the right side of the street, you get towed because they need to plow there... yet they didn't plow there, they plowed the middle. *shakes head* AND, there's another snow emergency today (we're expecting another 4-8 inches), so once again people are jostling for spots in an already over-snowed area. thank god i'm in philly now and don't have to deal with it for another few days!

which brings me to my drive down to philly yesterday. i'm down here for work, and after the commute fiasco yesterday morning (and my still-infected sinuses), i said "screw it" and started driving down at noon. missed any rush hour times, so i made it down in 5 hours (very good)... so i stopped at the willow grove mall to look for a briefcase and get my nails done for my interview. well, it was also because i needed to get out and stretch my legs... you see, i had stopped 1/2 hour before at a rest area to get a quick bite to eat, and things went horribly wrong... i walked into the building, and this overpowering smell hit me: CINNABON. i love the smell of cinnabon, but i won't eat their stuff. i haven't in at least 10 years. all i remember is that all that sweet gooiness was like crack, and i didn't want to get an addiction going. but for some reason, this time i felt different. in fact, it was like a physical need. between my PMS, fatigue from the drive, hunger, fighting this cold virus, and nerves about my interview, it all added up to GIMME. so i got a "caramel pecanbon", sat down to tackle it... and 1/3 of the way through it, my eyes started to cross from all that sugar and fat and i had to toss it. it was total overload. so, that's one of the reasons i was at the mall 1/2 hour later... i was feeling gross from the cinnabon, but was zooming from the sugar, and i needed to walk around somewhere for a while.

i peeked in WS to see if 12thknight was working (where the hell were ya? *waves hi*)... he was nowhere to be found, so i started searching for a store that would have some sort of attache-y, briefcase-y thing. no luck. but i DID find a cool-as-hell sweater in benetton, marked down to almost nothing, so i treated myself. i made my way through the mall, still on my briefcase hunt, and stopped in CVS to get a few odds and ends. now, the CVS is at the complete opposite end of the mall from where i started at benetton... and if you've never been to the willow grove mall, i'll just tell you that that's FAR. really far. it's a long freakin' mall. so imagine my surprise when i got to the counter at CVS, and realized my ATM card was not in my wallet. hmmm. i paid cash for my stuff, and went and sat on a bench to tear my purse apart, thinking that it had fallen out of my wallet or that the benetton girl had given it to me with my receipt and i'd put it in the receipt pocket. nope. so i trudged all the way across the mall, back to that store, to see if my card was there. it was. (and the salesgirl didn't even apologize for forgetting to give me my card back with my receipt... she just handed it to me when i walked back in and that was it. grrr.) so i opened my purse to get my wallet to put the card back... and my wallet wasn't there. oh, holy god, i left it on the bench ACROSS THE MALL when i tore my bags apart! so i sprinted (and i mean sprinted, this mall is not in a nice neighborhood) all the way back to the bench, and there was my wallet, just sitting there happily as if it had been waiting for me. so by the time i walked into the nail salon, i was red-faced and sweaty, having just run 1/2 mile indoors in a sweater and winter coat. argh. from there on out it was fine... got the nails done, made it to mom's safe and sound, and was asleep by 9:30.

have to rally now... off to work at the training center, and i have to look presentable despite the evil germies wreaking havoc in my body...

Comments

[thetech.livejournal.com]

Well, I suppose that's one way to get some exercise in. I would think that you worked of that third-of-a-caramel-pecanbon for sure! LOL

As far as the snow removal goes, I've heard it said that Montréal is the expert on snow removal. I don't know what their system is, but it is apparently very effective. Perhaps you should give the City Works gang in Boston a call and tell them to contact the Frenchmen [and women] to the north to learn their secrets! :)

[12thknight.livejournal.com]

::sigh:: I'm sorry I wasn't around...at the very least I could have chased down your wallet! The odds were with you this week, though...I work six days because physical inventory is the 31st.

I'm 3-11pm Thursday the 27th (tomorrow, as I write this), if you wanted to try again. And of course, I'm sorry that you're...GOD!...still sick.