After that terribly cold week we had, we were given the gift of a few warmer days.  Nights are still pretty cold but daytime highs were just below freezing which meant that direct sunlight brought water back to its true form until gravity removes it from the infrared love.  There are huge icicles hanging off of every rooftop.  This one is hanging right off of our porch and is roughly two feet long.  I tried to capture it as best I could through our very dirty window.

Just last night, Erin finished Ocarina of Time.  It was great to see her finish the game.  What a great game.  Even with the out dated graphics it still felt like I was watching a movie.  She got hooked so quickly.  I asked her to play a Gamecube game so that I could test sound levels and video capture.  (Ocarina of Time is an N64 game but was put on a Gamecube disc as a promotional item in the early 90's.)  In just a few minutes, she wanted to keep going.  I really didn't expect that to happen but I'm glad it did.

Today I forgot my wallet at home.  It contains my key card to get through the security doors at work.  The temperature when I went to work today was about -10 Fahrenheit.  I would normally wait at the door for the next person, show them my ID, and thank them for letting me inside.  There wasn't anybody immediately behind me and standing outside any longer than necessary would be a stupid idea.

The best alternative is walking to the front of the building which is only another 300 yards…if that.  There is a security desk there but at least there is a double door area where you could stand out of the cold.

I could also use my phone and call a co-worker but the walk through the building is down two floors and some hallways, basically the same distance (time wise) from me to the front door.

The parking lot that I parked in is less than the distance from the front door and there is a building obscuring the view to the parking lot.  If somebody were just walking toward the building at the time I got to the locked door, it would be a shorter walk than that for me to walk to the front of the building.  Would I take that risk?  Would I hope that somebody were on the way?

This morning I noticed that I received some spam post comments last night.  I will continue to allow anonymous comments (no login required) but I will keep a close eye on these postings.  Fortunately a login is required for my forum.

I don't know what they expect to get out of me.  I just suggest that if you see something odd in a comment from somebody that says something about how great the post is and provides a link to somewhere, don't click on the link.  For your safety and the safety of my site.  We can try to beat this crap together.

And yes, today is national awareness penguin day.  Which for some reason is different than world penguin awareness day.

I have been too frozen to type.  Everything is covered in frozen water in some form.  Albany's entire population of Squirrels live right above my head in my ceiling.  Driving to work and back has become more of a dangerous sport than a depressing ritual.  My poor heater needs a rest.  When will this madness end?  Hopefully around the middle of March.  That's what I'm banking on.

Five degrees isn't a real temperature.  It's more like a joke temperature that you use when you want to say how cold something was without exaggerating too much.  You could say it was "like a million degrees below zero" but that's impossible.  Sometimes the exaggeration is funnier if it is in the realm of conceivable.

Right now it is five degrees outside.  That isn't funny.

Some awesome jazz I found.  Some sounds familiar.

I finally did what I thought was never going to happen.  I have retired my 8 year old computer.  I wasn't using it as much as I used to and it was very slow by today's standards.  It has been replaced with an NAS with some fancy features that would take the place of some of the most important parts of the old computer.  So far I am pleased with it.  I didn't spend a lot of money.

IBM, we had many great years.  I'll miss you buddy.

I did not make these.  With the success of clommory, I found it necessary to share this.  Say it out loud or you're doing it wrong.

Snow fell last night but barely enough to cover the ground.  Not enough to cancel flights.  Erin will be leaving tomorrow for another interview trip.  She will be going to Tucson, Arizona.  Let's hope that it is warmer there.

Thanks for all of the comments lately and especially to Lisa for helping me breathe some life back into the forums.  I changed the star and rating system and added an aggregated forum that will display all of the topics from all discussions based on latest response.  Check it out and join the fun!