Snow, Snow, Go Away!

I just got home from work after a long, tiring week of shoveling and doing my best to drive carefully around snow banks and on now-narrow roads. Please don't read into this as I am complaining about the snow. Living in New England for over 2 decades, I am used to this and accept it as a part of life.

What I can't seem to get over though is just how bad people are at dealing with it. Every drivers' true colors comes to show when there is snow on the ground. People think it's some act of God that we have to deal with. It's snow! Sure, there are things you are supposed to do: drive slower, brake with more time in the event the roads are icy, etc. But then you have the people that speed like their at Daytona. The best part about it, is everyone thinks they are not to blame for the 2-hour commute to work. If you haven't expected this by now, move to Florida.

That's enough of my rant on bad drivers in the snow. My real issue is with the government and agencies put in place to deal with this weather. I realize we're experiencing a more than usual amount of snowfall so far, and it doesn't help storms have come so frequently. Enough about excuses. Cities and towns have already exceeded their snow removal budgets, and we're still in January. Look, someone has to realize we're in New England and to over-estimate the budget for this. Yes, I understand schools need money, but this happens every year and no one learns. Make some bold moves, and rearrange the budget to properly support the winter weather that we all dread.

Now to the safety issues. Mounds of snow at street corners, and narrow roads. Alright folks, am I the only one that has almost been T-boned by oncoming traffic because I must inch halfway into the road to see if a car is coming? These piles of snow are blocking my entire line of vision, as well as the vision of oncoming cars. Can these plows be a little more thoughtful about where they build up 8-feet piles of snow? Or maybe we should hire a special division of people that go around shoveling off feet of snow at each corner. I realize these are asking a lot, but my point is, I've been in enough near accidents, that I'd prefer to not actually get into one to fully make my point.

Additionally, has anyone noticed the width of our roads got cut in half? Do the plows not consider those few feet on the right side of the street part of the road? I deal with this every day where cars must ride both lanes because the right-most lane is not wide enough for a car. This too is an accident waiting to happen, and I see them almost occurring every day.

The point I'm trying to make with this post, is that we live in New England, and should know how to properly move snow. We spend a ton of money each year on doing snow removal, yet somehow it remains inefficient. I recommend developing a committee that lives in Alaska for a year to learn exactly what they do when it snows. I never hear them complaining, so something they do must be working.

The Love of My Life Evades Me

I wanted the title of this post to be serious, but don't think this is some lovey-dovey romance story. I think many people share my feelings on this subject, and as I sit in my bed early on this Saturday morning I decided to share my thoughts.

The love of my life, is sleeping, and unfortunately as I have entered this thing we call the "real world" it evades me. In college, especially my last semester or two, I had an amazing class schedule. Many times I was able to sleep in until 11am or noon, and that doesn't include after a rough night of partying. In fact, more than half my college career was without classes on Friday (How is that preparing us for the real world?!). So there I was, having a 3 day weekend, with very little responsibility. My biggest concerns on a Saturday were: What am I going to eat? What sport games are on TV? and When to start pregaming for that nights activities? That was the life of a college student. Not only was I able to sleep in, but my body physically allowed me to do so.

Now we fast-forward to the present day, at a time when I'm up early 5 days a week to begin the work day. And unlike school, you can't get away with being half asleep in your seat. It was a rough transition even though I had been used to it the last few summers.

The work week isn't really what I'm upset about as I've come to a realization that waking up early Monday-Friday will be my routine for the next 40 years. What I have an issue with is how this routine effects my weekend plans. I'd love to sleep in and sometimes mimic a day in the life of a college student, but that just doesn't happen. My body has become used to the idea of waking up early and sleeping in on the weekend is now 9am. That's just way too early.

For all you youngsters, it is better to accept what I am saying then try denying it. Even if you have nothing to do on the weekend, you will end up waking early.

Like taxes and death that are inevitable, so is the death of sleeping in.


I guess after writing this post I can say I've been productive today...

The Challenges of Blogging

So I've taken a bit of a break from updating this blog, and as much as I'd like to say it was because I was away on vacation, it wasn't. It was purely me being lazy and not coming across a topic I really felt like writing about. Every time I have mentioned my dilemma to people they respond by suggesting a topic or two for me to discuss. And although I appreciate the ideas, it's not always that easy.

Some people manage a blog on a full-time basis and are therefore forced to create content daily. Others maintain blogs that are focused on a certain topic and that tends to give them guidelines to write within. And maybe that is what makes keeping a blog such as Unsophisticated Banter difficult. I created this blog with the intentions to write about any and all topics I came across that I was passionate about, or at least that interested me enough.

The problem here is trying to come up with enough thoughts and/or analysis on a subject that you can write a well thought out post. You would think it's easy to write what comes to our mind, but in fact maintaining a blog is more then that.

Even as I write this I find that I am forcing myself to keep typing.

This is going to end up being a shorter post then I normally do, but I encourage all you fellow bloggers out there to share your blogging experience.

Where do you get your ideas?

How to you develop your thoughts for the blog?

Any tips for me or others with hopes of starting a blog?