I guess the obvious blog for the week is that I have been buried under several feet of snow for several days. The seasoned reader knows that I hail from Western New York-Buffalo, in particular. We are known for many things, mainly chicken wings, and apocalyptic snow storms. Myself, I can’t eat a chicken wing anymore. But, I can be buried in my house for 4 days!
I wrote a while back about how I think our mayor sucks. This is not an uncommon thread throughout the city- in fact, the man did not win the primary. You can read about that here, if you’d like. Anyway, when he was campaigning for re-election, he went real hard in the South District of the city. Now, as I wrote about after the Tops shooting, my city is fairly segregated. I live in a predominantly white, mostly Irish neighborhood. Yet our mayor is black, and so was his opponent, but here in South Buffalo they sure seemed to like calling her a God-forsaken devil socialist, for some reason. I personally believe this has to do with the fact that our country is a lot more sexist than it is racist, but I digress. The point is that the mayor went really hard scooping up those white votes down here. And he won, and then a huge snowstorm was projected, as it is nearly every year. I mean this is not new-he’s been in office forever- but he still allocates resources inappropriately during snowstorms. Everybody knows this…the new thing this year was a map that told you which streets were plowed. Which worked awesome until you noticed that the worst hit part of the city had absolutely no plows in it whatsoever, but the mayor’s street was fresh and clear. Then, the map suddenly stopped working, just as the rest of the city was released from a travel ban. But no, not my neighborhood of South Buffalo. We ended up needing outside crews.
The ban was finally lifted on Monday night, so I went out and started my car to discover that the battery had died. The perfect cherry atop my sundae of despair. Then, I found out school was canceled for the rest of the week, and since I wasn’t able to make it to Avis, now I will definitely be late on rent. So what did I do? I kicked this s*** out of a pile of snow.
AAA came and replaced my battery, and I was able to make it into work the next morning, which is in Orchard Park, where they had significantly more snow. Our parking lot, which is not just for parking but is essentially my office, is an absolute disaster. I spent most of my day yesterday cleaning returned cars and watching Boss-Mark try to get a Honda Civic out of a pile of snow.
Then, on the way home, the end of the street I live off was blocked. There were cops everywhere, and I kind of just assumed it was another snow removal crew. When I got home and went on my phone, I discovered that one of the workers for the city was killed last night down the street from me by a front loader. So now snow removal is suspended for another 48 hours. Which I totally understand, but I’m also not sure of the logistics for traveling around the city today. It really is scary to think of though, especially when just on Monday afternoon I was walking down that street because I needed some air. I feel terrible for that worker’s family right now.
So, the storm is over. Yesterday at work I didn’t even have my jacket on, and frankly I was mad I wore my boots because they hurt my feet. I am very nervous about the next few days, because Boss-Mark is out of town again, so I shall be running the shop. But today is Thanksgiving, so I get a little break first, more or less. Actually less, because in about an hour I’m going to drive to Salamanca to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in a nursing home with my mother. Then I’m going to my father’s to cook some foods to take to my Aunt Mary’s for dinner. We had Thanksgiving at Mary’s one year, the year that Mark lived there. It was nice, and it was fun, and I remember Mom being stress free about it. But we never did it again, and a lot of that had to do with the fact that Mom just loves making Thanksgiving dinner. She always invited over Sharon and Kevin, and it was always one of the best meals of the year. This year though, mom won’t be an attendance. Sharon and Kevin are doing nothing. I’m happy we are going to Mary’s, because at least we have done that before, so for me it is less stressful of a change, but my mom won’t be there. And that, my friends, just f****** sucks. There’s no other way to put it.
I need to focus on things to be thankful for. Like maybe the fact that I can actually drive my car down to see my mom today, instead of having a dead battery and impassable roads. Or that my aunt is swooping in as she does to cheer my spirits. Thankfulness for my new home, and my good job, and my loving friends and family. I will do my hardest to focus on these things today, because that’s what my mother would tell me to do.
Ham 'N Eggs 