Either I’ve gotten too lazy or to old to go out and enjoy playing in the snow. We’re getting about 18″ already here and it’s still coming down. I was originally planning to go and do early Christmas with the fam today but that was wisely cancelled. I’m not about to get all bundled up and take a walk around the block with this much height of snow, even if the sidewalk snow is packed down, which I really doubt it is.

This storm, along with Tiger Woods, is why people shouldn’t start doing “Best of…” lists until the year is actually finished. Go December!

Funny trending topics on Twitter today are #snowpocalypse, #snowmageddon and @snOwMG.

Here are some pix, including the buried red Zipcar that I originally scheduled today.

After looking out the window every five minutes this afternoon a Lego shipment finally arrived and I immediately built this sculpture.

Yep, that’s it. It’s a thrill-a-minute around here. Yawn.

They say not to let your work life define you, except here in The District that’s what we do. It’s always the 2nd question asked when meeting someone. “What do you do?” Earlier in 2009 I used to answer this question with a professional title associated with what I’ve been trained to do for the past twenty years but sometimes I answer it with “Nothing” because that’s literally what I’m doing right now. So if work defines us and one doesn’t work, you can do the math.

Today since the weather was nice I went to the grocery store. Big whoop. I did this because basically I had run out of sugar for my morning coffee. Creamer I can do without but sugar, no. So I went. This was the first time I’ve walked there since the weather turned cooler and it instantly reminded me all those cold forays (sometimes at the break of dawn) to the store nine or ten months ago. Thankfully it’s not that cold yet. But it will be soon enough.

It’s funny the familiar people you see in a grocery store mid-afternoon on a Tuesday. Familiar people that you’ve seen at the gym, a local restaurant or bar, the bus. And you wonder why they’re there at that particular time. Did they call in sick? Is this their lunch break? Do they work nights? Are they using an EBT Card?

My favorite checkout employee wasn’t working. Out of chance (or fate) I was always in her line when I first started using my EBT when I was unfamiliar with the process. She always very discreet when she would need to explain to me something paying extra (for non-consumables) or alerting me to when coupons expire. I’ve helped her grab items off the top shelf that she couldn’t reach while she was doing her own shopping. Maybe she recognized me and that’s why she asked, or maybe I was just the tallest, closest person.

So that’s what I did today. Oh, and then I went to the gym. And then I came home and made a sandwich for dinner. Then I went to bed.

Purchase: $37.18
EBT Card Balance: $240.49
Club Card Savings: $1.69

I see now I was charged $3.79 for a stuffing mix that should have been $1.50. Sigh.

Freebies? Not exactly but I guess kinda on some levels.

One freebie is the credit balance on my Zipcar account, thanks to neighbor Sherif who houses the cars in his backyard lot. They give him monthly credit and every so often he’ll dole some out to me and other friends of his. Unfortunately the credit has an expiration date and I still had some that expire tomorrow. So I reserved one this afternoon (as well as a Mini convertible last Saturday) to do some grocery shopping.

Which brings me to the second freebie. While this is technically free, it’s that whole I’ve-been-paying-into-the-system kind of payback, and that’s my EBT card. Or as they used to be called pre-technology days: food stamps. Just like last time, I didn’t really need to stock up on anything other than perishables but since I had a car it was time to get more of things I usually can’t carry like bottled water. Plus I noticed that instead of having Club Card specials many of the hanging tags were advertising “new lower pricing” instead of Club Card-only savings. Subsequently, my Club Card savings wasn’t that much.

Pushed on by the drizzly weather I found myself buying comfort foods: tomato soup, deli turkey, stuffing mix, flavored mashed potato mixes. Oh, and Healthy Choice dinners $1.99 if I buy five or more? Sure, I’ll take six.

Purchase: $208.63
EBT Card Balance: $97.01
Club Card Savings: $21.90 (9% of purchase)

The balance on my EBT card is $348.20, and that’s a lot. Apparently I have not done a real grocery shopping run since mid-July. So it’s time. Rent the Zipcar, grab a cart (the kind you actually push!) and start filling it up. Since my balance is pretty healthy, I’m grabbing both things that I need to get as well as things that strike my fancy, with little regard as to what my purchases are going to add up to.

Purchase: $202.70
EBT Card Balance: $145.50
Club Card Savings: $44.58 (17% of purchase)

Let’s see…

I still can’t hear about of my left ear after Eddy’s drunken/birthday/hello greeting. I’ve been hydrogen peroxiding it all weekend long, and while it’s tickly and bubbly it still hasn’t solved the problem. I’m afraid I’m going to have to put my no insurance/Medicaid to the test soon and actually go and see a doctor. Is it ironic that a cancelled beach trip with a deaf friend this weekend is the same time that I can’t hear?

This week I’m starting M–F half-days at my “volunteer” job. Best thing about it is that it’s only five blocks away. I haven’t even ridden the bike there, it’s quite enjoyable just to walk through the neighborhood. It takes about two iPod songs. Things I’ve noticed while walking that I never saw before on the bike or in a car: There is a house on 14th that has an entire porch covering made out of a wisteria tree. I’ll take a pic this week and add it here. Also, there is a grate/manhole cover on C that still has the ladder in it leading down to the catacombs. Whether the workers left it there or it’s non-removable is unknown.

After my last round of the blandest marinara sauce ever, I’ve redeemed myself with yesterday’s batch. While I didn’t have some of my fave/regular ingredients, I pulled it out with an eye-measured mix of ground cayenne red pepper, epazote, ground red chipotle, ground mustard, oregano and adobo seasoning. And the cans of diced tomatoes also had some jalapeños in them. And S&P, of course.

I’m going to see if I can barrel through a re-watch of Season 1 and 2 of Mad Men before the 3rd Season premiere on August 16. Since I don’t have AMC, luckily iTunes has S3 available for next-day downloads. That is something I’ll spend $20 on.

Useless trivia: Kristy McNichol’s name was spelled “Kristie” during the pilot credits of Family. When I was a kid in the 70s, I had a box full of notecards that listed the 555-xxxx phone numbers of television characters that I had collected over the years. I had the numbers of the Brady’s and Jaime Sommers, those that I can remember. Now you can just find them here.

I have been awake for about 27 hours now, not counting the hour-long nap yesterday afternoon.

I woke up yesterday with a headache and a headcold. I think the headache stems from the “sleep aid” pills that I frequently (these days) take, but they’re nothing but generic Benadryl tablets.

So yesterday morning I stayed in bed, trying to see if I could snooze off the headaches and the grogginess but I couldn’t get to back to sleep. Needless to say I had no appetite either so I haven’t really eaten much in the last 48 hours other than two hard pretzels.

Last night I went to bed around midnight, which is pretty average. I decidedly opted to not take any sleeping pills, figuring I’d be exhausted enough from being sick all day. Here I am ten and a half hours later and still not sleepy or tired enough to fall unconscious. And I only had two small cups of coffee yesterday as my only caffeine intake so I don’t think it’s that.

I guess I should get up and get on and wait for the brickwall crash that is inevitably going to hit me.

UPDATE: Around noon I made some scrambled eggs, figuring that a full stomach would conk me out. Soon enough it did. But only for about 3.5 hours.

A while back I received notice that the Stimulus Package was being put into effect, raising my weekly unemployment benefit as well as upping my monthly food stamp payment as well. Every little bit helps, right?

Then I received noticed from the Department of Human Services that my food stamp benefits were scheduled to be terminated, with June being my last beneficiary month, but that I could come in and get them extended for another six months. That’s what I’m doing this morning.

7:43 I’m on the red line Metro, opting to take the train instead of bus/long walk since it’s supposed to be pretty warm today. Quite a difference from the cold and rainy day in January, when I was last here.

7:55 I’m here now corraling in the waiting room. They do seem to be calling people a little faster this time, although I know that’s pobably no indication of how quickly I will be processed. And only two screaming/crying kids!

8:08 Being here is kind of like being at the DMV: lots of waiting with fellow humans that you probably would ever encounter elsewhere in your life circles.

8:44 Name called to fill out paperwork. Then wait again for appt with case worker.

9:52 Coming up on the two-hour mark and these chairs are not comfortable at all. There is a man that came in and took off his shoes, no socks. He grabs a towel from his bag and wipes his feet off. He puts on brand new athletic socks and puts his sneakers back on. He is also carrying another, nicer pair, of sneakers in his bag. Now he’s putting on a yellow tie, yet he’s wearing a tshirt.

10:30 They’re putting The Wiz on the TV!

10:52 Well that was a fucking waste of time. Now they’re saying I need to show all this different paperwork that wasn’t needed before. Which means now I’ve got to get in touch w/ the H8ST8 to get proof of unemployment payments with them, as well as proof of lease (neither of which was necessary before). I think it all depends on who you get waiting on you and what kind of mood they’re in.

No job, no car, no cash to buy food. I do have the food stamps though, on my EBT card. Normally a trip to the grocery store consists of what I can carry the eight blocks home, usually amounting to one of those handbaskets full and and maybe a little overflowing. I would do this trip a few times a week. It’s not bad, but it’s not good either.

Since I’ve been away the last three weekends and all last week I was trying to get lean on the groceries in my cupboard and fridge so that nothing would go to waste. I didn’t see the point in making grocery runs since I was going to be away for many days. Add to that another monthly deposit into my EBT account, and I have a whopping $373 on which to spend on groceries. It was time to spend $15 and rent the Zipcar for a couple of hours.

On today’s trip I was actually able to push a cart through the grocery store. I’m buying crazy stuff that I never would have dreamed of before: gallons of milk, 12-pack of paper towels, Odwalla chocolate protein shakes, three boxes of cereal, eight cans each of 28-ounce crushed and diced tomatoes, two magnums of Fresca & a 12-pack of Diet Dr Pepper, a five-pack of Mac & Cheese and over a gallon of laundry detergent.

Because of the humongous balance on my account I was buying things I normally wouldn’t, items that weren’t on sale (gasp!) or multiple items that were on sale and will be used stored and used eventually.

Purchase: $231.89
EBT Card Balance: $141.57
Club Card Savings: $76.17 (23% of purchase)

I was trying to pick a CD to take with me for driving to Charlene’s services yesterday, and I stumbled upon Journey’s Escape, purchased with my first year roommate at UofH, when we both joined one of those music clubs to get 11 CDs for a penny. I thought Journey would be a good pick for the era that Char and I were good friends; we graduated in 1982.

I was surprised (and only a little embarrassed) to discover I knew practically all the words to every song, even the ones that weren’t radio hits. The biggest mistake was when I pulled into the funeral home’s parking lot Open Arms was playing and I was a big blubbering mess.

After the service (and decompressing at home) I went to dinner with Goldy and since she had missed her bus I told her I would take her out to Herndon where she can pick up her car from the commuter lot. Driving back into town around 11:30, with Thomas Dolby and Depeche Mode’s Speak and Spell blaring from the speakers I had an odd sense of déja vu. Twenty or twenty-five years ago I was taking the exact same route, probably at the exact same time on a Friday night, to go downtown and party. Destinations at the time would have been Winston’s or Poseurs in Georgetown, Lost & Found or maybe Badlands in Dupont. A-ha, Hall & Oates or Arcadia would most definitely have been blaring from the “tapedeck” at that time. Or maybe Styx or Journey.

After passing through the toll plaza I see the cars exit that are heading north and south on the Beltway but I and several other cars keep going, taking the most direct route into town. I wonder if they’re coming into town to do what I was doing years ago. Possibly.

Today I’ll head back out to Annapolis for Charlene’s former funeral service. I’ll bring the Escape CD with me again but I’m really wishing I had Paradise Theater or something by Heart or Pat Benatar. Wait, I’ve got it: Go-Go’s Beauty and the Beat!