So, now that it's Tuesday, I'm finally getting around to asking how your weekend was. Mine was full--full of snow; full of family and full of work. Meetings on Friday and Monday meant a weekend in Ohio and an opportunity for a haircut and more importantly a chance to spend time with my family in northern Ohio. For 10 years, Jody at the jacob neal salon has been my go-to guy for my 'do, but since moving to Maine, it's been difficult to find time to see him. I've done crazy things like taking off an afternoon from work and driving the hour and a half from the office to the salon in Columbus or flying the $10.00 SkyBus from Portsmouth to Columbus on a Saturday to get a cut. I know it's crazy, but Jody is totally worth it.
I made an appointment for 9 am on Saturday and then planned to continue on north to my parents' house for Saturday night and Sunday morning. Friday's work day started at 7 am and ended at 8:15 pm. Crazy nuts day of meetings, book planning (authors in from LA for the day), crisis management--a usual day in the office with the added joy of a planning exercise created by some diabolical financial beancounter in an office in Stamford.
My best laid plans...northern Ohio started getting snow on Friday night, enough snow that most high school athletic events were cancelled, with significant accumulations on Saturday. Columbus-south to Cincinnati was to get ice and freezing rain; and sure enough they did. The drive to Columbus was sometimes slowed to a crawl of 25 mph or so; and there were plenty of accidents--mostly tractor/trailors jack-knifed, although I had the good fortune to watch a Kentucky State Trooper blow by me and then execute three perfect 360's right down the middle of I-71. He ended up in the right shoulder, facing in the right direction and continued on his way after a short pause (photo from a Flip video).
I made it to Columbus in time for my haircut and then onto my parents' house--where 6 inches of snow had fallen and more was coming down. It was the perfect opportunity for some sledding with my nephew, followed by a hike in the snow and some hot chocolate. My five year old nephew stars in and helped me create this video. I suggested a bit more editing, but he felt that we needed all this footage. He also picked the music. I remain a fan of the Flip:
Sunday, after a morning of swim meet (my niece is quite a good swimmer, but has been sidelined by a stress fracture sustained during the Cross Country season--she had a good meet but needs more training to get back to top form) over in Amish Country, it was back to Cincinnati, more spreadsheet work and no snow.
Now I'm back home in the land of 8 inches of beautiful snow, blue skies and my coffee maker, and so happy to be here.
Great video! (Love that your 5-year-old nephew is into rock music!) I have yet to get all that familiar with our Flip, but there hasn't been a whole lot to take videos of (unless you think lots of rain is interesting...) It sure DOES sound like a whirlwind weekend—made me tired just reading about it!
Posted by: Tonya | January 13, 2009 at 09:49 PM
. . . and I'll bet your hair looked great. Quite a saga. Loved the video.
Posted by: Beth | January 13, 2009 at 10:10 PM
How on earth do the Amish keep warm in their buggies this time of year??
Posted by: Dawn | January 15, 2009 at 02:34 PM
Tonya--I think you'll love the flip for Harstine. It's so easy to use, I don't think you'll have a stitch of trouble with it.
Beth-I still on the fence about the 'do. It's longer than last time, but I'm sure it will be just fine.
And Dawn- They stay warm a couple of ways: good wool lap blankets for our Amish who are Old Order and shun all modern stuff. Other Amish use battery powered heaters in the buggy. Plus they all wear wool--multiple layers in the winter. When it's really cold, they don't take long buggy trips.
Posted by: Melissa | January 15, 2009 at 07:35 PM