I Suck At Shoveling

With the never-ending snow, this past weekend was very uneventful. In fact, I spent much of Saturday and Sunday shoveling snow. Too bad I suck at shoveling.

When I was not shoveling, I spent my entire time home-bound. Unable to go anywhere with the snow (even after shoveling a couple of times), Karen and I decided to just stay at home and watch some movies.

The movies we watched: the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy... the extended DVD version. Nothing quite passes the time like an extended version of a movie... or three. I had received the extended version of the trilogy as a present a few years ago. I had never watched them... until now. In fact, I was somewhat inspired to watch them because TNT was airing the Lord of the Rings trilogy on consecutive nights during the weekend.

Needless to say, I love the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In my opinion, the Lord of the Rings is the best movie trilogy ever. That may be my inner geek talking, but it's true. After all, what other trilogy can provide wisdom like the following:

"Always after a defeat and a respite, the Shadow takes another shape and grows again."
"I wish it need not have have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."

Too bad the Bible was not based on the Lord of the Rings. That would be cool... and probably blasphemous. Frodo 3:16!

Regardless, the extended DVD versions of the movies were great. Even though the extended versions made each movie so much longer (each movie is broken into two discs), I think it provides the viewers a more complete journey. Needless to say, I loved every minute of it. I would watch it again right now if I could.

I suppose the only good thing that even came out of my shoveling of snow was that I got to meet the new neighbors across the street. My neighbors apparently just moved into their new house on Wednesday. And interestingly enough, they were waiting for their furniture to arrive during the snow storm.

I just happened to be shoveling when my neighbors (Jeff and Corey) came over to introduce themselves. Jeff's girlfriend also lives across the street, but I did not get to meet her. All three of them are originally from Scituate.

To be honest, I am slightly jealous of Jeff. Jeff is 24 and part of a family business located in Scituate. He is actually very nice.

The reason as to my jealousy is because he accomplished at 24 what I did at 27: he purchased a house. Unbeknownest to many, I had always dreamed of purchasing my own home ever since I was little. My dreams were not a result of any bad relations with my parents or anything like that. Quite the contrary. I love my parents.

My parents, in their attempts to Americanize my brother and I by doing all things American, instilled in me some portions of the American dream. For me, that meant buying a house. From my first job out of college I began saving for a house. Eventually, I was able to save enough on my own for a down payment on a house. And luckily for me, I married someone like Karen who is equally good at saving money.

Regardless, I think it is rather remarkable for a 24 year old to buy a house. I just hope they don't party too much... those young whipper-snappers. Just kidding.

I Suck At Shoveling Snow

forecasters at the national weather service were predicting 6 to 8 inches (insert "that's what she said" comment) of snowfall today for the winter storm and mother nature did not disappoint. the good news, however, is that my commute home did not take 5 hours like the last time during the snow storm back in december... stupid mema (massachusetts emergency management agency)... where was the emergency management back in december?

anyway, even though my commute home in today's snow storm was much shorter than the commute in december, i still had some shoveling to look forward to when i arrived home. i suck at shoveling snow. part of the problem is that i have a driveway that could potentially fit four cars (two rows of two cars).

lucky for me, i had my trusty snow blower (insert "that's what he said" comment). back in december, i could not get the snow blower working. my snow blower is a pull chain, much like a lawn mower. during that fateful december day, i kept pulling and pulling. yes, i know, it sounds so dirty. i finally gave up, feeling defeated, because the snow blower would not start. my advice for those who have a pull chain on their snow blower, get one with an electrical starter. it will be much easier.

but that was then. today was a another day and a different snow storm. because i suck at shoveling snow, i figured i'd tempt fate again by attempting to use the snow blower. feeling all manly and all, i opened the garage door and wheeled out the snow blower. with my eyes toward heaven, i prayed that the snow blower would start with a few pulls of the chain. (okay, maybe i didn't really play. it was more like a "please please please please start").

the first attempt... nothing.

the second attempt... nothing.

finally, the third attempt... the motor started humming. too bad i played with the controls and accidentally shut the motor off... d'oh!

attempt number four... nothing.

lastly, on the fifth try, i got the motor starting again and actually kept it running. whew! needless to say, it didn't take long to shovel the driveway today...