Notes from the Freezer

• It is fucking cold. Not just cold cold. Fucking bone chilling, mind numbing, crazy ass cold. As in I don't want to go out of the house. In fact, I don't want to get out of bed. The weathercasters here say it's been about 9 years since it's been this cold. I just knew we were going to pay a heavy price for 60 and 70 F temperatures in December and January. Damn.
• This all comes at one of my busiest times of the year, too. I did a workshop on campus on Saturday. And I have one tonight, one tomorrow, and one Thursday. That makes at least 3 days of work this week during which I will, at the very least, work 13-14 hours. And it doesn't quit for another month and a half. I'm getting too old for this shit.
• Make it two weeks in a row that Mo has come, hunting me down. I don't get him. I really, really don't. Hot and cold with him for more than twenty years. I can't make head or tails of it.
• More and more I get good at the things, usually stupid things, that Tom used to do for me. I'm inordinately proud of changing my windshield wipers all by myself. Took me a while to make head or tails of the so-called installation directions (diagrams too small to be detailed and no words whatsoever). But, after several false starts, lots of staring at the directions, fifteen minutes of frustration, and a lot of motivation from the cold, the whole thing finally came together and within two minutes I had both of them on and functioning. My hands, by that point, were a whole other story however. Took another half hour inside to thaw them out.
• The only real investment in screentime I had in the Super Bowl this year was the half-time show. Prince is just as weird and wonderful as ever. He still mesmerizes me. And the guitar riff in "Purple Rain" kicks ass as much as ever, too.
• I'm getting a new mattress delivered on Saturday. This is going to be the biggest relief, ever. Ever since I moved out from Tom's and took the guest room bedroom furniture with me, I've been sleeping on the old, saggy mattress and box springs that were at least five years old when I moved in with him. So that would make them...what?...25 years old??????? No wonder my back and shoulder are sore all the time. Took me about 3 weeks of shopping, on line and in person, to find what I wanted at a price I could live with, but it wasn't easy. The sticker shock I got since the last time I shopped for one was a surprise. And I have to say that the memory foam ones I tried are the biggest ripoff I can imagine. I could go to the local craft shop, buy a big hunk of foam, and put that on my old box springs and be more comfortable and pay more than $1000 less for it. Horrible, overpriced stuff. I don't get the whole idea of a pillowtop, either. I would never buy a mattress I couldn't flip. No way. I ended up getting one from a local manufacturer who can custom make it according to your choice in padding, upholstery, and number of coils. And I'm paying at least $300 to 500 less than what I'd be paying for a Sealy or other name brand. I was just shocked by the prices. I can't have anything other than a double in my apartment (too many odd angles, stairs, and low ceilings) and thought I'd not be looking at anything higher priced than about $600. Obviously, I didn't know how things in the world of bedding have changed. The local people I finally purchased from told me they could have made me a queen because they can custom make a queen box spring in two pieces just like a king. But I decided not to despite the only slightly higher price. It's usually just me in that bed and I don't want anything so vast it makes me lonely. And any men I allow to sleep there will just have to cuddle or go home. Most of the time? I hope they go home. As long as they wait until I fall asleep.
• If I must hibernate, I sure hope TV gets better. Right now, I'm loving Heroes. I just can't get enough of it and I'm more and more intrigued by the week. 24 started out as a bit of a disappointment (though the nuclear blast was pretty spectacular) because it seemed a bit stale. But, as of last night's episode, I'm hooked once again. Guess we all now know how Jack became such an emotionally damaged badass. And much as I like James Cromwell as an actor, it would have rocked if Donald had been able to play evil Dad. Lost is finally back with what I have heard is a (finally!!!!!) pivotal episode. The early half of the season had me losing patience. But, if what I've been promised is true, I may get snapped right back into fanatic mode. Reality tv, meanwhile, has been losing its luster for me. No Project Runway, with the pale imitation Top Design taking its and Top Chef's spot. Meh. Survivor: Figi begins, hopefully with the new twist making things more personality driven and interesting. But I have only small hope that it will. All-Star TAR should be entertaining if for no other reason than Romber and the consternation they cause to everyone, racers and audience alike. Hopefully, they perform as well or better than they did the last time, just because it will keep me cackling and entertained for months.
• Looking forward to Ron heading north again in two weeks. Hopefully, the weather will improve or he's going to go into absolute shock. And, if he thinks it's bad here, wait until he has to head up to Erie, where his headquarters is located. Pittsburgh will seem cozy by comparison.
• Cowards, those Senate Republicans, aren't they? Pussies, pansies, panderers, and pretenders. Even Hilary looks courageous in comparison. And that's no compliment meant to Mrs. Clinton, just that Senate Republicans (with probably the lone exception of Sen. Hagel) have chosen to side with caution or their farthest right wing crazies or plain stupidity against the wishes of the vast majority of the American people, including not just Democrats, but Independents and those lonely and ignored libertarian Republicans. I mean, as a Democrat, I'm ashamed of how Joe Lieberman calls himself a Democrat while prancing about in his love slave of George Bush getup. But the Republicans don't even have the backbone to tell the right wing crazies and this thoroughly discredited administration to stick their surge up their asses. Lieberman makes me nauseous, but John Warner, Lindsay Graham, and John McCain make me throw up. They know this is wrong, they know a thing or two about actually serving (unlike anyone currently in the White House), and they know all of America would be behind them in making this administration accountable for this fiasco in Iraq. Disgusting. And these people have the temerity call people like me who want nothing more than to see the troops come home safely and to be used only in situations and with plans that have a reasonable expectation of being successful "not supportive of the troops." Bullshit. I support the troops, always. I want them to have a comprehendable mission, such as in Afghanistan where the real fight against terrorism is being waged. I want them to have the materiel to be able to successfully fight. I want them to protect America's actual strategic interests and allies when actually threatened. I want them to have the power and authority that the Powell Doctrine, with its insistence on overwhelming force and broadbased alliances, promises. I want them to fight the good fight, not the fight of one sleazy and deluded bunch of ethnic and religious provacateurs against the opposite sleazy and deluded bunch of ethnic and religious provacateurs. I want them to have the support of our defense contractors, not have to deal with the results of their war profiteering. What Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and their congressional allies have done to our armed forces and our country's prestige is the exact opposite of supporting the troops and respecting their and their families' sacrifices. I'm so ashamed of my country's actions and our leaders right now, I cannot even begin to articulate it. And my anger at their arrogance knows no bounds.