Good morning snow puppies and all of you who, like me, are snowless

It seems the world is divided into two camps - those with lots and lots of snow and us. Better than the usual camps of those who want Americans to go to other countries and kill people and us.

joyofmacs has spent the morning shoveling snow and estis talks about digging his car out. The digging of the car is something I can grasp but the snow shoveling has always been a confusion for me.

Once, when I was married, we had a beautiful snow on a Saturday morning. This was in Charlotte, North Carolina - we didn't see much snow - more than Seattle, but not much. It was about 6-8 inches and it was just wonderful. We had food in the house and booze and no where we needed to go. It was a perfect snow and I was really enjoying just looking at it. When all of a sudden my husband comes in from the front yard. He's standing in front of me announcing that he has made the ultimate sacrifice for me. He's shoveled the front walk for me. I looked out the window and yes, he had totally ruined the beautiful snow! I was so pissed. Why oh why?!!! He was a bit dumbfounded at my reaction. But, to this day, I cannot understand snow shoveling.

When I lived in Minnesota, there was lots and lots of snow - I was in heaven. (I only lived there 18 months but I managed to make it over 2 winters). There was no snow shoveling. We walked on top of snow. It was pretty darned easy. And it kept everything pretty.

I remember driving was easy too. First of all it was an amazingly flat place. But if you skidded off the road, you just skidded into a snowbank. Some kind Minnesotan (and there were tons of those) came along and got you out and on you went.

Good morning snow puppies and all of you who, like me, are snowless

It seems the world is divided into two camps - those with lots and lots of snow and us. Better than the usual camps of those who want Americans to go to other countries and kill people and us.

joyofmacs has spent the morning shoveling snow and estis talks about digging his car out. The digging of the car is something I can grasp but the snow shoveling has always been a confusion for me.

Once, when I was married, we had a beautiful snow on a Saturday morning. This was in Charlotte, North Carolina - we didn't see much snow - more than Seattle, but not much. It was about 6-8 inches and it was just wonderful. We had food in the house and booze and no where we needed to go. It was a perfect snow and I was really enjoying just looking at it. When all of a sudden my husband comes in from the front yard. He's standing in front of me announcing that he has made the ultimate sacrifice for me. He's shoveled the front walk for me. I looked out the window and yes, he had totally ruined the beautiful snow! I was so pissed. Why oh why?!!! He was a bit dumbfounded at my reaction. But, to this day, I cannot understand snow shoveling.

When I lived in Minnesota, there was lots and lots of snow - I was in heaven. (I only lived there 18 months but I managed to make it over 2 winters). There was no snow shoveling. We walked on top of snow. It was pretty darned easy. And it kept everything pretty.

I remember driving was easy too. First of all it was an amazingly flat place. But if you skidded off the road, you just skidded into a snowbank. Some kind Minnesotan (and there were tons of those) came along and got you out and on you went.

18 months must be my limit

For years, when I worked at IBM, I changed jobs about every 18 months. Most of the time that meant also changing time zones. But, sometimes it just meant a different building, different manager and different duties. I worked at Microsoft for three years - two different jobs. I worked for a dot com for three years - two different jobs. I have now been at this company, in this for for 18 months. And it's getting skanky.

But, there is no job to change to and I'm not ready to give up the sweet commute. I'm going to have to dig in my toolbox and see if I can find a way to get past my 18 month wall. Maybe I'll consider kyrielle's bribe idea. Think of some really big reward for making it, successfully, through December or through next Spring...

I remember once when I first started working for IBM. I had actually been on that job for 2 years and I wanted a promotion and I wanted to move - I wanted to go to HQ in the worst way. They kept telling me soon. I knew that if I didn't trick myself, I'd quit out of frustration. So one day, on the way home from work, I bought a new car. With car payments. I figured if I was in some serious debt, I would be not as prone to toss away a nice paying job.

I thought to myself that a car payment of $300 a month would be enough to feel but not too much to hurt. I pulled into the first dealership I came to and looked for the model with the most options. Found it in a color I liked and told the guy to start talking. We went into his little office and he started punching at the calculator. He said the monthly payments would be $310. I gasp because this was clearly doable! He thought I was horrified at the price and he went back to calculator and came up with $290 a month.

I drove the car home, and stayed with IBM another 12 years. (Oh and the new car and I moved to HQ about 6 months later. I drove that car for 15 years - it was a good one.)

The car payment ploy won't work this time but I think the concept is the same. I just need to come up with the prize.

18 months must be my limit

For years, when I worked at IBM, I changed jobs about every 18 months. Most of the time that meant also changing time zones. But, sometimes it just meant a different building, different manager and different duties. I worked at Microsoft for three years - two different jobs. I worked for a dot com for three years - two different jobs. I have now been at this company, in this for for 18 months. And it's getting skanky.

But, there is no job to change to and I'm not ready to give up the sweet commute. I'm going to have to dig in my toolbox and see if I can find a way to get past my 18 month wall. Maybe I'll consider kyrielle's bribe idea. Think of some really big reward for making it, successfully, through December or through next Spring...

I remember once when I first started working for IBM. I had actually been on that job for 2 years and I wanted a promotion and I wanted to move - I wanted to go to HQ in the worst way. They kept telling me soon. I knew that if I didn't trick myself, I'd quit out of frustration. So one day, on the way home from work, I bought a new car. With car payments. I figured if I was in some serious debt, I would be not as prone to toss away a nice paying job.

I thought to myself that a car payment of $300 a month would be enough to feel but not too much to hurt. I pulled into the first dealership I came to and looked for the model with the most options. Found it in a color I liked and told the guy to start talking. We went into his little office and he started punching at the calculator. He said the monthly payments would be $310. I gasp because this was clearly doable! He thought I was horrified at the price and he went back to calculator and came up with $290 a month.

I drove the car home, and stayed with IBM another 12 years. (Oh and the new car and I moved to HQ about 6 months later. I drove that car for 15 years - it was a good one.)

The car payment ploy won't work this time but I think the concept is the same. I just need to come up with the prize.