Hm…the hour feels much later than 8:39PM. The last two and a half days or so have been dangerously cold. T and S’s school closed bother yesterday and today. I, of course, drove into work. The Saturn held up well. I had to crank the engine later in the afternoon, both days, but she started without much difficulty. I love that car. Anyway, I was reminded of our apartment on Pine Grove fourteen years ago the year that similar (although slightly colder, if I remember correctly) conditions befell Chicago in early January of my first teaching year. I remember I had to move my car from inner drive to another spot because of the stupid city parking rules, and I was so cold walking the few blocks that my snot froze in my nostrils. M, the cats, and I spent most of the frigid stretch huddled beneath the covers on the waterbed.
The last few days passed easily enough. On Sunday I skipped church and worked on the dissertation for a couple of hours. After the boys arrived home I decided to clear my head, rather than drive into work, so I hung out, watched the pre-Super Bowl coverage, and started “Thank You For Smoking”. M and the boys watched some of the game with me. The kids were more or less attentive, I guess, and I wasn’t entirely disappointed by the Bears. Hey, no one thought they would get past the first round of the playoffs, let alone the Super Bowl. They’re a young team. They’ll be back next year. After the game I finished “Thank You For Smoking”, which I liked quite a lot (Aaron Eckhart is brilliant), then fell asleep by about midnight or so. I had read online that a few local districts had closed for Monday, even early Sunday night, and I wasn’t surprised Monday morning when the local district called off the day. Work wasn’t bad, a clean day of paperwork and conferencing. The students were pissed, more often than not, about our failure to cancel U level classes, but hey, I’d cancel the classes if that were my call, but it’s not. I stopped at Trader Joe’s on the way home (tofu, juice, a couple of other things) and did the dad thing through the early evening. The local districts cancelled today’s classes by early last night, so at least the boys knew ahead of time that they were off again. M arranged for friends to come over, especially for T, because he loses his mind without social interaction. I drove to work and managed another more or less productive day. I might…might…be caught up by Friday. Yay me. Tonight was laid back. M isn’t feeling well. Tomorrow is a dissertation day. More then, from the library or coffee shop.