Monday
Jan312005
One Busy Week: New York/Ice Storm of 2005
Monday, January 31, 2005 at 08:56AM
Wow, what a week--
In between blizzards and ice storms, I managed to make it to New York last week--and it was awesome!!! Three incredible days: did a little bidness, had a little fun, gave a little speech...and I got there and back, all on my own.
New York was beautiful, if cold and snowy, but the snow was all piled up on the side of the road and didn't seem to affect the flow. I didn't have a lot of time, but I managed to get out a couple of times and didn't insta-freeze on the street. I had no delays, no problems with flights or transportation.
Of course, then I got home...I caught an earlier flight home to beat the next arctic blast that was expected to roll over the Northeast Thursday night. I also wanted to get home for my son's 10th birthday on Friday! Got back to Atlanta, and got stuck in one of the worst traffic messes ever--and that's saying a lot in Atlanta (where traffic is always a mess). I finally got home, and so happy to be home again, home again--
Friday, January 28th was a great day because it was Zach's 10th birthday! I planned to pick him and five of his friends up at school, home for snack, hang out for a couple of hours, and then take them out to dinner and an ice hockey game at the Gwinnett Arena--an ECHL game (Gwinnett Gladiators v. Columbia Inferno) because the NHL ain't playing this season (doesn't sound good for next season either). ECHL is minor-league hockey, but the arena is brand-new, the tickets are cheap, you can get right on the ice, and it's scrappy--fun! They also offer a special birthday package, with great seats, goodie bags, and the Birthday Boy's picture up on the big screen--lots to be excited about.
For some reason, Jan. 28th has always been one of the very best days of our lives (starting with January 28, 1995), but twice now, it's also proven to be simultaneously one of the worst days...in 2002, it was the day Russ walked away from his technology company, after seven years of amazing success and a very tragic ending...in 2005, it was the Day of The Jury...
I've got to give Big Love and Props to my hubby for last week. While I was off working it in New York, he was in charge of house, home, three kids, and the old dog. On Monday, he was summoned for Jury Duty--and, of course, he was selected. So all week, while he was trying to take care of everything at home, and worrying about various fires and crises at work (with a pending business trip to Boston scheduled for the following Monday--today), he was in court all day, every day, following a horrific civil lawsuit. The case ended Thursday, and the jury began deliberation...they couldn't come to a verdict. I made it home late Thursday night, Russ was back in court Friday morning, deliberating all day. It was an extremely difficult case, and the jury went back and forth, back and forth, and could not come to an agreement. By late Friday afternoon, it wasn't looking good. They tried to claim a stalemate--a hung jury--but the judge wasn't having it. By 5:00pm, when they should have been done for the day, we were beginning to worry that they were going to be sequestered for the weekend.
Throw into the mix: a severe winter storm warning! By Friday night, sometime during the hockey game, we were expecting to be hit with The Ice Storm of The Century. The other Moms were freaking out. (The Gwinnett Arena is outside of Atlanta, about 30 miles north of the city.) I was freaking out. I had six high-energy boys in the house, and I didn't know if Russ was going to make it home or not. I had no intention of driving them myself, in adverse weather conditions, and it was minute by minute--
Long story short, the jury came to a verdict at the very last possible minute. The typical Friday afternoon traffic nightmare was not so bad, because many people had already headed home because of the storm warning. Russ made it home at 6:30pm. I had ordered pizza (instead of taking everybody out), so we loaded up boys and pizza in the car and headed up to the hockey game. We missed the first couple of minutes, but the game was GREAT! The boys had a great time--mostly paying attention to how many times they got to see themselves on the big screen. (The hockey was good, too. ;-)
Russ was totally freaked out about the terrible court case, the stressful week, the weather, the business trip to Boston scheduled for Monday, and all kinds of issues and crises at work that had flared up in his absence. Poor guy--I couldn't even buy him a beer (due to weather conditions--we needed our driver alert). The game went into overtime, and then a shoot-out (second overtime), so it was almost 11pm by the time we hit the road to head home. Fortunately, as is often the case, the Big Scare was a little premature--it was definitely cold, but the Ice Storm didn't hit...until much later in the early morning hours of Saturday. We got the boys all home safely and everybody had a great time.
And then...The Ice Storm of 2005 HIT! What a weekend we had! We were stuck all day Saturday, due to ice and freezing temperatures. We lost power Saturday afternoon for several hours, and then woke up Sunday morning with no electricity. All day long. We had people wanting to look at the house Sunday afternoon (we're on the market, remember). So they did. The Big Thaw began Sunday afternoon, and we were able to get out and about, but we still didn't have electricity...but Grammy did! We took the kids (and dirty laundry) to Grammy's. Russ and I went out to a nice, warm dinner and a movie (In Good Company). By the time we got the kids and got back home--power was restored!
Quite an adventure...and now the challenge is re-entry (delayed) from the New York trip and catching up. I'm working on this week's column, review, and the Weekly Update, among other things...and I've got to run now to get Zach to the orthodontist! (No, it never ends--)
In between blizzards and ice storms, I managed to make it to New York last week--and it was awesome!!! Three incredible days: did a little bidness, had a little fun, gave a little speech...and I got there and back, all on my own.
New York was beautiful, if cold and snowy, but the snow was all piled up on the side of the road and didn't seem to affect the flow. I didn't have a lot of time, but I managed to get out a couple of times and didn't insta-freeze on the street. I had no delays, no problems with flights or transportation.
Of course, then I got home...I caught an earlier flight home to beat the next arctic blast that was expected to roll over the Northeast Thursday night. I also wanted to get home for my son's 10th birthday on Friday! Got back to Atlanta, and got stuck in one of the worst traffic messes ever--and that's saying a lot in Atlanta (where traffic is always a mess). I finally got home, and so happy to be home again, home again--
Friday, January 28th was a great day because it was Zach's 10th birthday! I planned to pick him and five of his friends up at school, home for snack, hang out for a couple of hours, and then take them out to dinner and an ice hockey game at the Gwinnett Arena--an ECHL game (Gwinnett Gladiators v. Columbia Inferno) because the NHL ain't playing this season (doesn't sound good for next season either). ECHL is minor-league hockey, but the arena is brand-new, the tickets are cheap, you can get right on the ice, and it's scrappy--fun! They also offer a special birthday package, with great seats, goodie bags, and the Birthday Boy's picture up on the big screen--lots to be excited about.
For some reason, Jan. 28th has always been one of the very best days of our lives (starting with January 28, 1995), but twice now, it's also proven to be simultaneously one of the worst days...in 2002, it was the day Russ walked away from his technology company, after seven years of amazing success and a very tragic ending...in 2005, it was the Day of The Jury...
I've got to give Big Love and Props to my hubby for last week. While I was off working it in New York, he was in charge of house, home, three kids, and the old dog. On Monday, he was summoned for Jury Duty--and, of course, he was selected. So all week, while he was trying to take care of everything at home, and worrying about various fires and crises at work (with a pending business trip to Boston scheduled for the following Monday--today), he was in court all day, every day, following a horrific civil lawsuit. The case ended Thursday, and the jury began deliberation...they couldn't come to a verdict. I made it home late Thursday night, Russ was back in court Friday morning, deliberating all day. It was an extremely difficult case, and the jury went back and forth, back and forth, and could not come to an agreement. By late Friday afternoon, it wasn't looking good. They tried to claim a stalemate--a hung jury--but the judge wasn't having it. By 5:00pm, when they should have been done for the day, we were beginning to worry that they were going to be sequestered for the weekend.
Throw into the mix: a severe winter storm warning! By Friday night, sometime during the hockey game, we were expecting to be hit with The Ice Storm of The Century. The other Moms were freaking out. (The Gwinnett Arena is outside of Atlanta, about 30 miles north of the city.) I was freaking out. I had six high-energy boys in the house, and I didn't know if Russ was going to make it home or not. I had no intention of driving them myself, in adverse weather conditions, and it was minute by minute--
Long story short, the jury came to a verdict at the very last possible minute. The typical Friday afternoon traffic nightmare was not so bad, because many people had already headed home because of the storm warning. Russ made it home at 6:30pm. I had ordered pizza (instead of taking everybody out), so we loaded up boys and pizza in the car and headed up to the hockey game. We missed the first couple of minutes, but the game was GREAT! The boys had a great time--mostly paying attention to how many times they got to see themselves on the big screen. (The hockey was good, too. ;-)
Russ was totally freaked out about the terrible court case, the stressful week, the weather, the business trip to Boston scheduled for Monday, and all kinds of issues and crises at work that had flared up in his absence. Poor guy--I couldn't even buy him a beer (due to weather conditions--we needed our driver alert). The game went into overtime, and then a shoot-out (second overtime), so it was almost 11pm by the time we hit the road to head home. Fortunately, as is often the case, the Big Scare was a little premature--it was definitely cold, but the Ice Storm didn't hit...until much later in the early morning hours of Saturday. We got the boys all home safely and everybody had a great time.
And then...The Ice Storm of 2005 HIT! What a weekend we had! We were stuck all day Saturday, due to ice and freezing temperatures. We lost power Saturday afternoon for several hours, and then woke up Sunday morning with no electricity. All day long. We had people wanting to look at the house Sunday afternoon (we're on the market, remember). So they did. The Big Thaw began Sunday afternoon, and we were able to get out and about, but we still didn't have electricity...but Grammy did! We took the kids (and dirty laundry) to Grammy's. Russ and I went out to a nice, warm dinner and a movie (In Good Company). By the time we got the kids and got back home--power was restored!
Quite an adventure...and now the challenge is re-entry (delayed) from the New York trip and catching up. I'm working on this week's column, review, and the Weekly Update, among other things...and I've got to run now to get Zach to the orthodontist! (No, it never ends--)