I spent 5 hours in my truck this afternoon, trying to get to work. We got between 0 and 1 inch of snow today. Between everyone trying to leave work early, the normal traffic problems here, and the numerous accidents all over the place, it took me 4 hours to get CLOSE to work. At that point, I was running out of gas, so I pulled into a gas station. That station was out of gas. It then took another 15 minutes to get out of their lot and across the street in order to get in line for gas at another station. I got back on the road, heading for work. It was a parking lot heading south and east, but things were moving fine in the opposite direction. I gave up with an estimated hour to go. I turned around and was home in half an hour. My drive is almost exactly 20 miles, and it takes me 30 minutes. It's enough to make me give up commuting. Oh, wait, I was ready to do that anyway.

Beyond the fact that the locals don't know how to drive in snow/ice, the local roads aren't equipped to handle heavy traffic on a good day. They're working on it, but they can't keep up. There are kids spending the night at school tonight because the buses and parents can't get to them.

A snow day for me, but at what price? Five hours of taillights and NPR, all just to come home. Actually I could only stomach so much NPR, as they were reviewing the first term of Lord W, with clips from his "speeches" and the like. Sickening.

I got home and Val and I watched several episodes of Arrested Development on DVD. That made me feel much better.

Monday was our triumphant return to Carrboro, starting with a 6 am trip to the MSP airport with a windchill making the temperature feel like -15°. A plane change (with complimentary delay) in Cincinatti, and we returned to an unseasonably warm but very much appreciated 70° North Carolina. I had a great time in MN, but it's good to be back here to face a new year of who knows what.

The job search continues!