Be careful what you wish for...

Note to self.

Dear Self,

Please remember that "changing seasons" was one of the reasons you cited for wanting to move back to the east coast.

Then, please note that nobody in Hawaii could have taken pictures like these this morning:

That's a HARD sheet of about quarter-inch thick ice I was chiseling off the car. This came from about 2 inches of soft snow during the day yesterday, followed by sleet all night last night compacting the snow and making it into a hard shell of ice around the car.

Chiseling my way across the back window...

Attempting to shovel the driveway.

It took a lot of hard scraping with the shovel blade to get the ice up off the driveway. I didn't finish the job before sleet started tapping on my head and shoulders, so I gave up and came back inside.

* * * * * * * *

I was pretty annoyed with Loudoun County Transit this morning. Normally, I get email alerts from Loudoun County about traffic accidents that block roads or delays in the buses or severe weather alerts. This morning, I checked my email to see if there were any Loudoun County Alerts.

Nope. Nothing.

I decided to take it a step farther and checked their website to see if there was anything there about inclement weather affecting the buses.

Nope. Nothing.

So I chipped my car out of the ice tomb and carefully drove toward the commuter bus parking lot. I paid the four bucks for the Dulles Greenway becuase I knew it would be plowed and treated and in better condition than the smaller side streets I normally take to the commuter bus parking lot.

I listened to WTOP on the way for any news on bus service.

Nope. Nothing.

I pulled into the commuter bus parking lot looking for the 6:10 bus.

Nope. Nothing.

I wasn't the only angry commuter sitting in the parking lot wondering what the heck. I looked up the phone number for Loudoun County Transit on my BlackBerry and called. THAT's when I got to listen to a voice recording saying ALL Loudoun County bus service was CANCELLED today due to icy road conditions.

Nice.

What the heck?!?!? Thanks for the heads-up Loudoun County Transit! Thanks to you, I wasted $4 on tolls and was 45 minutes late for work. Thbbbbpt! :-P

* * * * * * * *

I hope I provided some Fairfax bus riders a good laugh to start their morning. I had my doubts that the DoD shuttle bus would be running this morning. I had an important meeting at the Pentagon though, so I walked. (Aside: During my walk both to and from the Pentagon, I never saw any of the shuttle buses, but did see lots of people waiting for the shuttle buses.)

Wait a minute... "walked" sort of implies a controlled set of motions doesn't it? More like slid.

As I was walking generally making my way in a forward direction toward the Pentagon, and a Fairfax bus was slowly driving by me, I came to one patch of slick ice along the sidewalk. I was trying to take short steps to keep from slipping, but there was a slight downward incline. Suddenly, I found myself moving forward at a steady course and speed... although my legs were both completely still. I did one of those things you see in movies where I spun my arms around in big spiraling circles saying, "Whoa-Whoa-Whoa-WhoOOOOAAAA!" Luckily for me, I came to the end of the ice and was able to gently stop without toppling over. I think the people on the Fairfax bus next to me were laughing at me though.

* * * * * * * *

Alright, so getting back to the point. Lesson-relearned: There are good things and bad things about every duty station the Navy sends you to. Focus on the good things and make the best of it.

Oh, and if the detailer offers to let you go back to and/or stay in Hawaii, come back and look at the pictures in this blog post. :-) (Reviewing this blog post might be a good idea, too).