Blizzard warnings in effect. French Toast Emergency System activated.

[rikibeth]

Okay, THAT gust of wind just made Little House on the Prairie, Long-Winter type sounds outside my house. Eek!

I am very glad that the landlady got the Internet-Eating Tree removed before any of this nonsense started.

Also, I was out enough this morning to notice that the town had pre-salted the roads. I hope that this will make the plows' job easier when they eventually make their rounds.


We have more than adequate stocks of bread, milk, eggs, and toilet paper. I am in no fear of running out of provisions.

OTOH, if our power goes, we'll be at the cold cereal and cheese sandwiches level of sustenance, because we've got an electric stove. I ought to price butane burners, I really should.

eternaleponine has already decided that there's no way she's going in to work tomorrow; even if they don't close the call center, she's got eight hours of PTO left for the year, and even though she's got a mighty Subaru wagon, she has no desire to get up at 5AM to shovel. I don't blame her.

I have likewise decided that there's no way I'm driving to New Jersey tomorrow to visit my parents. Current plan is to drive to New Haven Tuesday morning, take the train into the city, and, after the show, take a different train out to Somerville or Branchburg and have my parents pick us up. Visit on Wednesday, and repeat two-train process in reverse to get home. The train fares ought to be comparable to the money we'd spend on gas and parking, and much easier on the nerves.

Other than that, we really have no reason to leave the house during the Snowpocalypse except to shovel the driveway, and that's just how I like it.

Comments

[tamidon.livejournal.com]

butane table top burners can be had for 20-40$ at Asian grocery stores, we have one in the basement

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

I'll check A Dong, if I can find a $20 one I can lay it in before the next snowpocalypse.

[sapphorlando.livejournal.com]

I don't suggest it as an awesome alternative, but you can save even more driving (and not spend much more money) by riding out of Hartford. I've ridden from Providence to Hartford and found it very convenient. The Hartford-New Haven train isn't anything special, but they do the driving for you.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

No, I've priced it, doing Hartford/NYC involves Amtrak and that gets MUCH more expensive than driving down and taking MetroNorth, and I'd still have to pay parking in Hartford, and I don't mind the Hartford/New Haven drive.

[fabricdragon.livejournal.com]

i think the train sounds like a good idea... dress warm, carry your cell phone, and call to make sure they CAN pick you up before leaving....

hugs
and. i MAY have a camping burner (propane) maybe.. if so, do you want me to bring it to arisia?

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Propane is more awkward for me to refill than butane, since I already stock butane for my kitchen torch -- but that's very sweet of you. "Dress warm and carry your cell phone" is standard procedure for me anyway, especially in NYC! We're not expecting conditions to be terrible by late-ish Tuesday night, which would be our ETA in Somerville or Branchburg. And it's not far to the train station and they bought a small SUV this year (it was cheaper than a minivan and station wagons are not thick on the ground these days). So I don't expect pickup to be a problem. also, wtf would I do if stuck in the city Tues night? Hotel room = not on. Guess there are friends I could call...

[kittenmommy.livejournal.com]

Being snowed in can be absolutely awesome, can't it? :D

[kittenmommy.livejournal.com]

I'll check A Dong

*snickers like a twelve-year-old*

[sapphorlando.livejournal.com]

Agree about the parking in Hartford (though I took a bus from the station), and yes, Hartford to New Haven is Amtrak only, but once you're at Union Station you can take MetroNorth the rest of the way. There's no reason you have to take Amtrak the whole way. Hartford to New Haven is $9-12, last I checked. Is driving down and parking in New Haven that much cheaper?

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

IIRC, parking in New Haven is $11/day. I've got two train fares to buy, one for me and one for the kid. Screw adding a third train.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

We always do. I'm sure it means something perfectly inoffensive in Vietnamese.

[kittenmommy.livejournal.com]

No doubt! LOL

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

They sell banh mi for $2.50. And they have Pocky. I'm so not snickering where they can hear me.

[kittenmommy.livejournal.com]

I've had Pocky. It's overrated (IMO). Ban me can be had freely all over LJ; just show up at a random comm and act like a jerk. Presto, ban me!

LOL

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

I take it you don't like sandwiches with cilantro and lightly pickled vegetables?

They also have a freezer full of dim sum and even scallion pancakes that fry up beautifully!

[kittenmommy.livejournal.com]

I was making a joke, which obviously fell flat. LOL

Those sound delicious, actually! Yum!

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

They're apparently classic street food, and Food Network is always showing these food trucks and little storefronts that have them, but NOT IN MY CITY. And most of the pho restaurants around me don't offer them. I was so pleased when I found out that the convenient Asian supermarket (and it's huge, really it is) has a counter where they sell them! I got one with a can of Thai iced tea and had a delicious lunch.

[kittenmommy.livejournal.com]

Well, DO WANT.

And Food Network makes me want to NOM everything in sight. I wish we had half that cool stuff near us, LOL!

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Now if I could only find somewhere to give me Korean BBQ tacos, but that seems to be an LA specialty and not available elsewhere. More incentive to visit a ghost from my past who lives out there now, I suppose.

[kittenmommy.livejournal.com]

I haven't been to LA since I was four. I remember it being very cold in the mornings. Also, I remember the teacup ride at Disney Land and being taken to see Knott's Berry Farm.

/tangent

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

I was seven. Disneyland, yes, especially fireworks every night and nearly falling out of my seat at the 360-vision thing that was simulating a ride on San Francisco's cable cars; Knott's Berry Farm, yes, especially the parachute drop ride (which my dad had to steel himself to go on with me, and these days it'd be equally difficult for me too, even though I'm a coaster freak pure vertical drops wig me out) and the waitresses dressed like saloon girls who mopped up my five-year-old brother after he'd spilled a soda all over himself; Olvera Street; and tasting my first burritos, including some pretty spicy fast food takeout ones which I thought were just fantastic, impressing my mother who's a spice wimp, and pleasing my dad, who is NOT.

[kittenmommy.livejournal.com]

LOL, we didn't do anything as exciting as cable cars or a parachute drop. I remember vividly getting room service and boggling that food was delivered! To! Our! Room! Truly amazing!

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

The cable cars was just a film showing them, it was a 360 surround screen so it was, um, very realistic, and played merry hell with my balance centers. The difference between seven and four is that I was big enough to go on some of the cooler rides. I chickened out on the Matterhorn, though -- my dad was willing to go with me, but this was in the days of E tickets and before FastPasses, so the two hour wait combined with my uncertainty made me say no. I think what I might have liked best was Tom Sawyer's island or the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse. And Haunted Mansion! When I went to Disney World with B last December, I insisted that we go to Haunted Mansion FIRST, because it was one of those formative influences in a baby Goth's life.

[kittenmommy.livejournal.com]

The difference between seven and four is that I was big enough to go on some of the cooler rides.

I think I'm some bit older than you, so those rides may not have even existed when I was there!

When I went to Disney World with B last December, I insisted that we go to Haunted Mansion FIRST, because it was one of those formative influences in a baby Goth's life.

LOL! I remember going back to Cedar Point as an adult, and making a point of riding every single roller coaster and ride I could, because I hadn't been able to ride them as a kid!

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

I dunno, I thought we were roughly the same age -- I'm turning 41 in February. (Says the calendar. I am not convinced I'm older than 27. Can I get a do-over?) When I went to Disneyland in 1977, Space Mountain had not yet opened in CA, if I'm remembering correctly -- that or it was so new that the lines were impossible -- and it had only been around since 1975 in FL.

I have not yet made the Cedar Point pilgrimage, although I want to. I don't plan to ride Top Thrill Dragster, just as I haven't bothered with Kingda Ka ad Six Flags Great Adventure, because I know that the one-trick-pony "top hat" coasters won't be fun for me, but all the other ones? YES PLEASE. Although the really big ones -- I can't remember what Cedar Point calls theirs, but the similar ride at King's Dominion is the Intimidator -- anyway, they're basically the same layout as Superman: Ride of Steel, which I adore, but about 50% bigger all around -- are making me wonder if I can withstand the terror of the lift hill to enjoy the gorgeous layout helix turns later in the ride.

I warned you I was a coaster freak. One of the high points of my summer was a pilgrimage with B to the original Coney Island Cyclone. Don't get me started on Werner Stengel's brilliance and the perfection of the heartline roll.

[kittenmommy.livejournal.com]

I'm turning 41 in February.

OMG, me too. LOL

I have not yet made the Cedar Point pilgrimage, although I want to.

If you go to their website, you can "ride" their rides online (first person POV views of each coaster going... some of it is really amazing).

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

I love doing coasters for real. First-person POVs of anything swoopy make me nauseated -- I closed my eyes during all the flying scenes in Avatar and told my friends to tell me when it was safe to look again. B went in 2005 when she was in grad school in Michigan and has delivered her personal opinions.

[kittenmommy.livejournal.com]

Ah, not good.

I was told by an eye doctor that 3-D films would never "work" for me; Avatar proved him wrong. I saw it twice in the theater in 3-D, just because I was astounded at the beauty of it!

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Oh, the 3-D was mostly fine, it was just the swoopy that was NOT OK. Apparently the new generation of 3D accommodates even my ex, whose eyes do not track together due to botched surgery when he was a baby and for whom earlier varieties of 3D were useless.

The not-swoopy parts were very, very pretty. Nice color choices.

[kittenmommy.livejournal.com]

Apparently the new generation of 3D accommodates even my ex, whose eyes do not track together due to botched surgery when he was a baby and for whom earlier varieties of 3D were useless.

My eyes don't track together either, but it's natural. I refused surgery, and now it seems I made the right choice! Botched eye surgery sounds especially awful! D:

The not-swoopy parts were very, very pretty. Nice color choices.

It was among the most vapid, idiotic movies I've ever seen. Totally predictable and lots of Unfortunate Implications. But Teh Pretty! saved it for me. Like I said, I never thought I'd be able to "see" 3-D movies (and indeed, the ones I had seen before hadn't worked for me) and so I was astounded by the sheer visual brilliance of it.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

I think, in his case, the not-tracking was also natural (severe congenital strabismus) and the corrective surgery was performed too late for his eyes to un-learn their separate tracking, although it fixed the appearance, mostly. His depth perception is for crap. It does not exactly enhance his driving abilities.

It was, as you say, a vapid and idiotic movie. But awfully pretty.

[kittenmommy.livejournal.com]

I think, in his case, the not-tracking was also natural (severe congenital strabismus) and the corrective surgery was performed too late for his eyes to un-learn their separate tracking, although it fixed the appearance, mostly. His depth perception is for crap. It does not exactly enhance his driving abilities.

I know the feeling!

It was, as you say, a vapid and idiotic movie. But awfully pretty.

I feel twice as dumb for having watched it two times! :p

[fidelioscabinet.livejournal.com]

Since my roommate picked up the butane burner, we have never had a major power outage, whether from an ice storm or a tornado or a power company catastrophe.

So clearly it's good insurance.

[kittenmommy.livejournal.com]

Hmm, maybe I should look into butane burners!

[mhaille.livejournal.com]

I felt the same way about getting a snowblower until this morning.

[mhaille.livejournal.com]

They are still having trouble keeping the train tracks clear, last I knew, so you may want to call and make sure all relevant lines are running.

[auspeople.livejournal.com]

Haunted Mansion is DA BEST!

[auspeople.livejournal.com]

You were at Disneyland in 1977? Because so was I. And yes, Space Mountain had just opened. Formative experience (I was 10, though I'd been to Disneyland something like two times before... Space Mountain was the turning point for me, though in not being wimpy about coasters).

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

I was there in August the week Elvis died. When were you there?

[auspeople.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm. Probably earlier in the summer, as we were there before we left for England. I'd have to check with my mom on exact timing.

Kewl though.

[ktpinto.livejournal.com]

THAT gust of wind just made Little House on the Prairie, Long-Winter type sounds outside my house.

You mean the sound of Pa playing the fiddle while the girls dance around the house?

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

LOL. I was thinking more of the "it's just the wind but it sounds like wolves" aspect.