Frozen...

The colder the temperature, the worse the situation? Not really.

Last Thursday night, it started raining. The temperature was at about freezing. Wind was blowing. It rained for the whole night, it wasn't pretty but I didn't know it was that bad. I went to bed at about midnight as I was planning to wake up at 5ish and be at my cube at 6ish. As I was pretty sleep deprived for the last few days, I pretty much slept through the night. Even though the rain got even heavier and all (according to my colleagues). So, the next morning, it was still raining rather heavily and everything was just like normal, until I started driving. I saw many tree branches on the road, and one fell right in front of me as I was driving to work. I didn't react in time, and drove over the rather huge bunch of branches. Then, farther down the road, it got worse, a huge tree limb block the entire road and I needed to turn around. And, in December, it's still pitch black at 6.20am.

So, I used an alternative route, thinking that I need to avoid all the smaller roads at all costs. So, big road I chose. And, still some tree limbs managed to block 2 of the 4 lanes, and well, fortunately it was still early, else, the traffic problem could be much worse. So, that's the eventful drive. On my way to work, I saw many fallen trees and all.

When it started to get brighter, it was actually quite a sight, as all the trees are 'frozen', covered by a thin layer of ice. Yup. Ice, not snow. That's why it's so heavy on the tree limbs that so many branches gave in and fell.

Many power lines were down, and consequently, some phone lines and cables... To read more, check out this news article. The street in the third picture was taken just few minutes away from my apartment.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081213/D951FQH80.html

So, Friday after work, I went to the bar with my buddies from work. Went to Armsby Abbey,
http://armsbyabbey.com/welcome.html for a good pint. Well, quite a few actually. So, they just tapped some specialty Christmas Belgian Ales, and those stuff are rich, and potent. 3 of them were 10+ % alcohol, and another, unknown as it was aged for 2 years. I had 4 of them and wow. Quite a night.

Yesterday, I went to do some Christmas shopping, and not too bad. I managed to control myself from spending too much on myself.

Thanksgiving Break

Whenever I've a long drive, I tend to think a lot, if I'm not singing to the tunes blaring on my stereo. So, for my drive down to Richmond, VA and back over the Thanksgiving holiday, more than 1000 miles of tar to cover, I got the chance to reflect on a lot of things. About the future, about my future and all that uncertainties. Fun stuff...

So, in order to clear up my vacation, I took 4 extra days for vacation for this break. So, last Tuesday, I started my journey at about 7.45am. The drive was pretty smooth until I was leaving CT and entering NY. Then, some traffic on the Geo. Washington bridge in NYC. But, the worst was at Northern Virginia (I got stuck here every time... 3 out of 3 times). The traffic was pretty much crawling at 10-20 MPH for 2 hours! So, instead of the 8+ hours, it took me a good 10 hours and 15 minutes to reach my cousin place. Reaching at 6pm.

Also, for this trip, I planned that I'll be reaching Richmond, VA early enough to meet up with my college buddy Quang, before he leave for home for Thanksgiving. So, we met up for dinner. And followed by coffee and pub til late. It was fun to catch up with a Wolverines. I think that was my first time seeing a college buddy since graduating in late April. Can't believe it's been that long.

So, like Thanksgiving should be, I stuffed my face with a lot of food and wine over the break.

Other than eating, I helped out with some Christmas decoration, and also, helped my niece with decorating the gingerbread house. It's a laborious task, even with pre-made icing and ginger bread and candies.

Also, as it was also my cousin's birthday, we went to The Jefferson's in Richmond for dinner. Fortunately, I brought a change of preppy clothes, as it was certainly a place that you need to dress-up for. Even though it says casual, the decorations and the staffs in the restaurant warrant for more than jeans and t-shirt.

Also, we played this board game 'Rummikub' over the holiday. It was like Gin Rummy, but with tiles. The rules are simple, but the possibilities are vast. It's amazing to see how mind clicks and all that. It was so fun, that I decided to order a set and have it for game night with my colleagues once in awhile when we have them.

So... my thoughts... well, it was just a bunch of questions with no certain anwers. I rather not to bore you guys here.

The drive back from Richmond, VA wasn't that bad. Knowing that Sunday after Thanksgiving is the busiest day on the road, I decided to wait til Monday to start my 516.6 miles journey. I left my cousin's place at 9.15 am, and got back to my apartment at 5.50pm. I did hit some office traffic in CT. Oh well, if not, I could have pulled an 8-hour, including 30-minute stopping for coffee and restroom.

Also, with this trip, I managed to try out my ride's full potential. It's rather responsive to the accelerator, and I can get pretty good mileage, close to 30 mpg on average. And with gas prices this low, it's not really that big a factor... but to see the car going 400+ miles on a tank of gas is rather amusing... :-)