finally finalizing
I'm one of only seven people in Merchandising (out of 23 in the entire department) who actually made it in to work today. Honestly, when everything shut down Friday afternoon in anticipation of snow coming that day and evening, and then more overnight, and more yet again Sunday, I didn't really think much that we'd have the same basic issues continuing into Monday this week. As was the case on Friday, for me, there's little to keep me from coming in to work. Granted, with Metro buses still on emergency snow routes today, I walked all the way downtown on Pine Street without even a single bus bypassing me (that's even fewer than the one bus that had bypassed me Friday morning) over that mile or so of my commute; and again this morning, once I reached 3rd Avenue, just missing the Rapid Ride D bus, with no other busses appearing to come any time soon, I figured, fuck it, I guess I'll walk the entire way in again. I got to the office at about 7:50.
There were already emails from Noah (whose kids' school was canceled again today) and Scott, both of them deciding to work from home today. We've all exchanged emails with snow photos. Scott even texted me last night to ask if I was going to "trudge through the snow" to work this morning, and I responded, "I don't see why not." He told me to be careful, and even said later this morning he was glad I made it in okay. Isn't that sweet.
I was going to see a movie at the Uptown on Lower Queen Anne, which is all of about a ten minute walk from work, at 6:15, which would mean going home and then turning around to head back almost immediately. With virtually no one at the office today, though, I think I might slip out early enough to go see the 3:30 showing this afternoon. Don't tell anyone.
In our email exchanges this morning, Noah asked how many people were at the office. He guessed way more than there were; even guessing all of Accounting was here. I actually took a walk around the office at about 8:05 and counting a whopping seven people here. Several more have shown up in the meantime, but I don't think there's any more than fifteen people here today -- and our office employs just over a hundred. The announcement even came before 10 a.m. that the building would close at noon. And here at the office, there is no one working the front desk -- the doors out of the elevator bank and into the office areas are locked and only accessed via our access cards.
As it happens, it seems today's weather is set to be a fairly significant shift back to normal -- or, at least, closer to it -- albeit with a bit of a delay: snowfall expected, yet again, between 11 a.m. and sometime between the afternoon and the evening, at which point -- with temperatures only a few degrees above freezing -- it's finally expected to come down as rain again. Cliff Mass is calling it "Slushmageddon." I guess a system with warmer air is heading in from the south, precipitating (ha!) this change -- but, as I write this, it's still 31° and snowing, yet again.
Apparently as of about 9 p.m. last night, SeaTac's snow accumulation thus far for the month of February was at 14.1" -- making it our eighth-snowiest month on record, and easily the snowiest February we have ever had. I'm having a hell of a time figuring out how much snow we got in that series of snowfalls that came down in December 2008; apparently it must have been less than this -- although this Seattle Weather Blog post says the 08-09 winter overall brought 23.3". And I don't remember other snowfalls outside of that December that year, so whatever!
That said, Seattle snow record comparisons are tricky, because for many years the "official" Seattle records were taken at SeaTac Airport, which isn't even in Seattle proper -- apparently that's where official records were measured 1945-1996, as well as 2005-present. And in this area, snow depths can vary literally neighborhood to neighborhood: Steven came in to work this morning that at his home on West Seattle -- quite close to the point on that hill that is the highest in the city, at 520' above sea level -- they still had a twelve inches of snow on the ground! Now, on Capitol Hill, whose highest point is about 444.5', I measured 6" on the roof of our building -- on Saturday morning. I would guess we saw as much as two new inches as it snowed yet again, but that means that, at most, there is maybe 8" on Capitol Hill, at least as of this morning. We'll see what kind of accumulation we get today.
Downtown is particularly different from just about anywhere else -- always the least accumulation. It was still mostly white all over the ground even as I walked here from Pine Street, but it was just a couple of inches, probably. Steven was marveling at how little there was here compared to West Seattle, and that's the only reason I know West Seattle has so much more than Capitol Hill. It seems just a couple hundred feet in elevation can make a huge difference when it comes to snow levels.
So, as for yesterday, after I captioned all my photos from the weekend, I walked down to Convention Place Station, caught the #41 with its snow chains on its front wheels, and rode it as far as 103rd street just to the east of Northgate Transit Center -- being on snow route, it was no longer going any further north as usual. This meant I had to get off and walk the length of Northgate Mall to get to Northgate Way and then a block or so to the east to get to Big 5 Sporting Goods and meet Shobhit.
He then drove us around to our requisite payday weekend shopping spots, on main roads perfectly drivable and virtually cleared of the snow, and parking lots slippery with packed snow and ice but we managed not to slip: Costco in Shoreline; Petco across the large parking lot from there (which we walked over to); PCC Greenlake Village; MacPherson's Produce on Beacon Hill; Trader Joe's three blocks from home. We're all set for the next two weeks when it comes to groceries.
I had initially planned to see this movie yesterday afternoon, but since we did all that shopping instead, I postponed it to today since Shobhit has a Braeburn Condos board meeting anyway. We had grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato basil soup for dinner, watched The Huger Games: Mockingjay which Shobhit had DVRed from the USA Network; then watched a few episodes of One Day at a Time and a couple episodes of Cheers while it continued to snow outside. For some reason we both zonked out and actually got into bed by 9:00, so by the time I got up at 5:15 this morning, I had slept for well over eight hours -- truly rare for a worknight but it I feel pretty damned refreshed today!
Other news that I am very, very happy about: Shobhit finally booked his flights to India and back. Thing is, the dates are shifted probably two weeks later than initially he assumed they would be. But, his mom continues to waffle regarding coming back with him for a visit, insisting she should not, until he gets a better, permanent job that pays more. I think Shobhit will still work to convince her once he's there, but, after initially thinking his trip would be the last two weeks, or at the latest the last week, of February, through mid-March, the he is now set to be gone Friday, March 1 through Monday, March 25. Bear in mind his travels last well over 24 hours each way, so even though I'll be without him for 25 days, he'll actually be in India for no more than 23. So basically, three weeks for India; three and a half weeks for the whole trip.
This shift in schedule does complicate a couple of things.
First, after Ivan became understandably frustrated with not knowing when he should book his visit from Bellingham, he finally settled on February 20-24 (Wednesday through Sunday, starting next week) -- he actually settled on these days a couple of weeks ago. And to be fair, "frustrated" is maybe misleading; he never acted annoyed, I was the one who did that. I really wanted him to visit while Shobhit was gone, so I'd have some company in Shobhit's absence. Ivan clearly wanted to visit in February, though, and with my intent to go see him during my Birth Week, this stays in line with seeing him on average every couple of months (although I have not seen him this time since he left from his last visit November 3 -- in terms of pattern of visits, it's like he just skipped December, which was kind of to be expected). I messaged him last night that Shobhit's dates were finalized, and told him what they were; he said, "Well, it's still my plan to come this month." I told him I assumed so and it was all good.
I've already made reservations for dinner at the Marrakesh, at his request, for Friday the 22nd. Shobhit will be around but he's opting out of dinner there, as it's kind of expensive. At least it's on the day I next get paid so it shouldn't fuck with my budgeting too horribly. (Right now with each paycheck I'm putting money aside for Birth Week expenses, which right now I estimate to be around $688.)
So anyway, I really wanted Ivan's visit to be during Shobhit's absence, but it's hardly the end of the world that it won't be. And it's better now that Ivan's visit will be well before Shobhit leaves, so my attention won't be too distracted from Shobhit in the immediate days leading up to his departure.
And, I finally messaged Jennifer about her coming to visit -- I hadn't even mentioned it to her yet, as I didn't want to until I knew the dates. Last night she cracked me up when she said, "YES" immediately over Facebook Messenger and then said, "My husband is getting on my last goddamn nerve!" So, clearly she needs a break. This morning we settled on her coming up after her mail route is done on Friday, March 16 -- she told me she thought it might be fun to be in Seattle over St. Patrick's Day weekend, and I realized something else: . . . Oh, shit! I had already registered and paid for Shobhit and me to be in this year's St. Patrick's Day Dash, which for the first time in years is actually falling on St. Patrick's Day itself! That was back when we were thinking he'd be back from India by then.
Not anymore. Jennifer said "sure" to my suggestion she go on it with me instead of Shobhit. Their website says they don't "typically" transfer participants, but to me that indicates there are exceptions made, so I'm going to try. And, as I said to her, if nothing else she can just meet up with me on the street right after the start point. They can't prevent her from walking public city streets! I just hope we aren't too hung over; we're sure to be drinking a lot the night before, as that's what Jennifer and I do. Although I rarely have an actual hangover, and I'll just be sure to drink lots of water.
So really, I've already got plenty of plans shaping up for Shobhit's absence, at least on the weekends:
March 2: weekend not yet planned; might try to hang out with Danielle and/or Gabriel
Friday March 8: monthly Happy Hour with Laney, location TBD
Saturday March 9: possible trip to Olympia for dinner to celebrate Dad and Sherri's 35th anniversary
Saturday March 16 to Sunday March 17: Jennifer visit and St. Patrick's Day Dash
Saturday March 23: Maria Bamford performing in Seattle; I'm hoping to get Gabriel to come with me
Then Shobhit is set to return Monday March 25.
Oh, and Holi, what is India's spring festival of colors and I would say maybe they're second-most significant cultural holiday (for Hindus, anyway) behind Diwali, occurs March 21. That's another part of why Shobhit shifted the dates -- his mom kept asking him to stay for the holiday, especially if she does not come back to visit Seattle with him after all. And so, he did. He'll be there for the holiday.
I'm just glad he finally booked the damned flights and dates, and now I'm getting to setting my own plans made accordingly.
[posted 12:24 pm]