Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful

It took me two hours to get home from work last night because of a snowstorm.

(Yes, this post will be me whining about the weather. My apologies in advance if I sound over-the-top annoying.)

The first thing people usually say to me after I announce that I just moved back to Chicago after living in New York for a few years is, "Well, you moved just in time for the bad weather." Thanks everyone, I am aware. Unfortunately, fate didn't allow me to move when the weather was crisp and light and perfect and instead fate granted me winter.

Chicago winters are notriously horrible. I grew up in the Chicago suburbs, so I have seen my fair share of blizzards, sleet storms, and temperatures so low that school was cancelled. But it's like I had brainwashed myself about these past occurences. Like they never happened. Because I would often hear people in my old office whine about how they had to go to Chicago for a conference in the middle of winter and how they would never survive. I would fight back. 'It's no colder in Chicago than it is in New York,' I would say and snicker. 'New Yorkers, they don't know anything,' is what I would think to myself.

I take back everything I said (and thought). It's effing freezing here. And it makes for one hell of a frigid commute in the mornings. So much colder than New York, in fact, that I had to buy a new coat because the ones I had been wearing in NYC did not suffice. Here is my new Patagonia coat. It is ferociously warm and toasty.

I think I have adapted (back) fairly well to the cold and snow. Unless you ask my dad, who would say I have complained way too much for my own good.

There are some things that come back to me. Like the fact that I remembered that I'm a klutz. Many side stories of twisted ankles could be added here, but I will refrain. How did I remember? When my morning commute, which consists of a five-block walk to my bus stop resulted in me falling on my ass. I looked like a fool. But a warm fool.

I also remembered that walking in the snow is an art form. If there is a lack of salt, one must do a shuffle through the snow. Picking up your feet will get you nowhere, so don't try it.

Also, weather is not a good excuse to be late in the Midwest. Everyone here is used to it. Snow does not deter anyone from getting anywhere. Most of the people in my new office live in the suburbs. And they were all in work yesterday and today. Despite the 6+ inches of snow we got last night.

And the new piece of info I learned during this past snowstorm, do not under any circumstances, take the bus home. I sat on Lake Shore Drive for approx. 45 minutes. Pain in my tush.

Not to mention I have to leave my house earlier to avoid delays...which means waking up earlier. How I loathe the mornings. And commuting.

Whine complete.