I had originally been hoping that Ray and I would head into the city for Bright Night to help ring in the new year. Bright Night is big artistic/performance festival that is put on in the capital city over 22 venues and the streets in between. It is really fun, though it can be pretty icy because it is always cold.

Unfortunately, we could not go. We ended up getting almost a foot of snow. It actually meant for a really short workday for me. We knew we were going to get snow the day before, and I was a little worried about the drive into work. The snow was supposed to start around 8:00 am, and it was supposed to end before we were planning to close. Because of the holiday, we were going to close at 5:00 pm instead of 8:00 pm.

The good news is that it started snowing a little later than expected. It was really just kicking things off as I was jumping into my truck to drive in. I was actually surprised at how quickly it started coming down. By the time I got to work, there was already a heavy coating on everything, and the Director had decided to close at noon.

When they told me, I said that I would probably end up staying at the library until the end of the storm because it would probably be safer. I hate the idea of the scary drive home that takes three times the time frame to get there. I would rather just wait to the end and wait for the roads to be a little clearer. It is a little safer.

Well, when I said that, the assistant director said I should just use some of my built up comp time and head home. I actually have a lot I have to do because my vacation starts on Monday, I there are some things I have to get done before then. As a result, I first turned her down, but then, I rethought things and decided to take her up on her offer. That left me with a grand total about 20 minutes at work.

I was really glad I did leave though because the roads quickly got worse as I was driving home, and it looked like it was going to be a total nightmare to drive home during the white out conditions that were in effect between about 11:00 and 3:00 pm.

Ray and I did our usual going out from time to time to do some periodic shoveling. It makes it easier so we don't have the big piles all at once. It also means I can do the heavy listing at the bottom of the walk and the driveway ... you know, that nasty, heavy stuff the plows push out of the street as they are clearing it. I tend to worry about Ray with the shoveling after his heart attack a few years ago (Ironically, on the same day that Dale and David got married - 5/5/2005).

After all of that, we decided to stay home for the evening and just relax as we ring in the new year. We had a little bit of wine around the house, and I made up a nice romantic dinner with candles and all.

It turned out to be nice. While it wasn't totally exciting like a party, it was still really special.