And Talk About the Weather

When you've got nothing to post, you can always talk about the weather.

Total snowfall this past season (assuming, correctly I hope, that it's over): 127 inches. Lucky us!

And now we're nearing the record for rainiest April EVER (breaking a record set in 1929) in a town that's already known for gray skies and dreary weather. Lucky us!

Tonight, we have a severe thunderstorm warning that could bring strong winds and hail. Yea!!

It's either time for Tears for Fears or the Weather Girls but God bless mother nature? Not right now.

Photo Per Day: Town Hall

The Pittsford Town Hall looked so pretty this morning on my way to work. It was covered in snow and looked all Gingerbread House-y.

Seriously, I need to take photography lessons just to raise the bar to "presentable." I don't need to be the next Stieglitz just a tad less blurry. I could blame it on the fact that I was driving (slowly) at the time but that's just a cop-out.

What a Surprise

Ended my fabulous week off with a bang. A rum punch to the head. Last night of vacation spent at Thirsty's with a bunch of out-of-town friends who came in for the weekend. The last day of vacation spent on couch. Floor. Bed. Couch. Bed. Bathtub. Bed. (Never again.) But it sure was fun while it lasted . . .

Sadly, it came directly on the heels of a wonderful, full day of meditation at the Rochester Zen Center. I should have quit while ahead.

Relax. Party. Crash.
Lather. Rinse. Don't repeat.

This week: sorting through 100+ resumes to interview for a local GM position. Attending meetings. And fielding calls from a million clients (okay, maybe four) who desperately need to talk to me as their management consultant shrink. "Yes, it will get better. I promise."

Today, sunny and warm. Yesterday, however, snow. Snow in Rochester? Wow, what a surprise. How quickly summer's over.

JetBlew It

Yeah, I know: snowstorms screw up flights. But I've discovered that the chaos can be severely compounded. Take JetBlew, for example. Just prior to this storm that overtook the East coast, they upgraded their computer system which resulted in a planned outage. Seriously? In this day and age with testing, up/downtime statistics, sandboxes, etc.?

So here's what has happened so far on our "vacation":

• JetBlew changed our confirmation number due to the system change but never communicated the change. We could not log in to confirm: call #1
• Even the new JetBlew confirmation number shows an error on the online system (i.e., states that it doesn't match my last name) and my TrueBlew number says that I have no upcoming flights: call #2
• JetBlew canceled our flight out of the Roch so I scrambled to leave work, took the kids out of school and checked into a hotel in sunny Jamaica, NY: call #3 (due to high call volumes, we cannot handle your call at this time) and call #4 (40 minute wait time)
• Awoke early to discover that our flight to Barbados this morning was preemptively canceled -- long before the snow even dusted the ground: call #5 during which I was on hold for over an hour as I walked through the hotel, waited for the airport shuttle, took the shuttle and finally hung up as I entered the airport
• At the airport was told (with a straight face) that tomorrow's flight was fully booked and that the next flight with any availability was the 16th (i.e., the day before we come home). Huh? And there's nothing anyone can do?
• My new friend Dany must have been thinking "This'll get rid of her" as he told me to call JetBlew after noon to see if they opened new flights for tomorrow. If so, maybe we could get on one. 
• Called at 1:00 p.m. to see if they opened new flights, held for 40 more minutes and the lady basically laughed at me. She said, "I've never heard that one. Someone told you that?" She then said that my best bet would be to get on the standby list. Where? Oh yeah, gotta go back to the airport for that at least 24 hours before the flight (i.e., exactly when I was at the airport last time) 
• Back to the airport for me where I stood by the counter for 2 hours and 48 minutes while the entire staff tried to figure out the new computer system. First they could only get me on standby. Then they could get only my mom and kids on standby and I was kicked off. Nothing would work. It took six people almost three hours to figure it out. As far as I know, we're on standby. Standby on a full flight that's likely to be canceled, as well.
• Wait, six people all helping little ole me? Why yes because there were probably 30 JetBlew staff members standing around doing nothing in an empty terminal while thousands of people were on interminable hold with their call centers. Talk about poor resource allocation. 
• Interminable hold you say? Why yes and listening to on-hold messages like "Take a Vacation!"

Key lesson learned: JetBlew is a one-trick-pony.

In other words, without partnerships or reciprocal agreements, if your flight is canceled, you're SOL. They don't even suggest placing you with another carrier; they just ruin your vacation.

One guy next to me on line this morning was freaking out because he attempted to fly out last night and they wouldn't put him on the flight. They were asking for $450 because he was confirmed on today's flight. This morning, his flight was canceled and they couldn't rebook him until next Tuesday. I thought he was going to pummel someone.

The JetBlew woman who was handling him was curt and borderline nasty. "There's nothing we can do about the weather." (Aside, other carriers including Delta, American and Japan Air were still flying international. We could hear planes flying overhead throughout the day as we were stranded.)

She's right but a little compassion would go a long way.

I need a hug. And a suntan. Instead, my mom, kids and I are probably heading back to Rochester tomorrow filled with dashed hopes.

United breaks guitars. JetBlew breaks hearts.

Let it Snow Let it Snow Let it Snow

The good news: it's warmed up since yesterday.

The Country Life

I seem to have a habit recently of quoting one of the hubby's musician friend's Facebook comments but yesterday he wrote (about Rochester), "The music scene is as good as ever, thanks to the die hard spirit that comes from this cold, shitty area, that everyone endures and comes to celebrate. Bring it on Old Man Winter!"

Blue collar poetry at its finest and I agree: Bring it on. Masses and masses of snow. Hot toddies in front of the fireplace.

This morning was just gorgeous. I could see for miles as I drove through the countryside. Snow was covering the trees and lightly falling from a pale blue and muted pink early morning sky. It truly felt like a dream.

So long to the city lights . . .

Marshmallow World

In honor of the local preemptive school closings, the start of our first really big winter storm this season and the fact that I watched a jogger jump into a snow bank this morning to avoid becoming road kill from the town salt truck, I decided to play one of my favorite peppy winter tunes: Marshmallow World. Nothing can beat the Phil Spector "Wall of Sound" from one of the best Christmas albums ever. I just wish I could sing as sweetly as Darlene Love (as does anyone who can hear me).

Sunflowers and Snow

I bought the most beautiful bouquet of flowers for my desk on Monday from Wegman's for under ten bucks. They look like they were delivered fresh from Arenas. Bright red/orange sunflowers mixed with gorgeous greens that seem to me (i.e., an un-naturalist!) to be herbs, berries and funky grasses. Just looking at this arrangement is helping me to forget that just behind me, outside my wall o' windows, lies a row of pine trees laden with snow. Snow!

The blanket of snow on the lawn between homes is so idyllic that it's hard to believe there were near white-out conditions while I was driving home through the park last night. Cars off the road due to black ice. Portions of the expressway closed.

Please remind me again: why do I live here?

It's a Marshmallow World

Today is one of those days when, just as you've had your taste of spring, it snows again. But it's that heavy fallen snow that clings to the tree branches and makes it feel like we're living in a Norman Rockwell painting. Breathtaking to say the least.

As Darlene Love would say, "Those are marshmallow clouds being friendly in the arms of the evergreen trees." Except in today's version the sun isn't red like a pumpkin head. Nope, there is not one iota of sunshine to be found in the the miles of colorless skies around here.

It's a monochrome world in the winter
When the sun can no longer be found
It's a toneless time, for my gray-filled rhyme
I brace for it all year round

But it sure beats rain!

Spring Fever

A couple of weeks ago, Stuff White People Like posted about how "white people believe that they can bring spring early by wearing a pair of shorts on any day that is above seasonal temperatures." That's how I felt this past weekend.

After spending a short (but fun) day poolside at a Courtyard by Marriott in Albany with some awesome friends and their kids, we drove back to the Roch to spend Easter at home. On Sunday, the kids woke up at 4:20 a.m., I coerced them back into bed for two more hours, and then they speed-hunted for eggs which lasted approximately one minute. Such buildup for this?

That left us with a day full of sunshine and, finally, a snow-free driveway on which to play street hockey, catch and basketball -- while retrieving the pucks/balls from the melting snowbanks. We then went around the block on scooters and further along through the neighborhood on bikes. Fresh air at last.

Today it's back to gray skies and snow. But, for a brief moment, it felt like spring.

What a great weekend.

Snow

Snow is
like one million
meteors that strike
the earth gently

Written by son #1 on the bus home on Friday and translated onto a snowflake that he drew and cut out of white paper.