Marching in like a lion

OK, so I spoke too soon.

From time to time recently, I have mentioned our lack of snow. For the longest time, we just had four inches on the ground, even during a lengthy spell of weather when the temperature was around zero F during the day. Then it warmed up--but no snow.

Until last weekend. The storm arrived Saturday morning, and by the time it was finished, we had about 8 more inches of snow than we had before. The storm also lasted longer than expected. I went out to shovel it Sunday--only to find all my hard work buried under new snow on Monday. So I shoveled it all out again. On Tuesday, the plowman came and pushed it all away.

We had done the traditional U.P. pre-snowstorm shopping trip, so we were quite content to let the car sit all weekend.

That takes us up to tonight: just before midnight on Wednesday night. February has just 37 minutes to live as I write this. That means it's going to be a photo finish which will arrive first--March 2007 or the first flakes of our monster storm.

It's supposed to start overnight, and by the time it's done on Friday evening, we're supposed to have 14 to 18 more inches of snow than we do now. Wet, heavy stuff that I'll be shoveling (and re-shoveling) once again. The storm will likely postpone or cancel some of my sports events. Just to prove the old saying, "It's an ill wind that blows no good."

My little camera will try to document this major climactic event, of course, to the degree that I want to go outside and stand in the heavy snow and strong winds (supposed to be heaviest and strongest Thursday afternoon and evening). Yes, we did the pre-snowstorm shopping trip again this afternoon, so I think we'll be all set.

In other news, I recently got Microsoft Expression Web, the successor to Front Page, and am studying that now. I decided I want to get better with web layouts (not that I'll ever be an expert), and so far I'm liking Expression Web far more than I did Front Page.

BIG news in the office tomorrow. I'm finally getting a new computer. I just found out about it a week or so ago. It's supposed to be installed tomorrow (though with the snowstorm moving in, that's subject to change). Whenever it gets installed, it means the end of me working on a former Windows 98 machine with a CD-R drive that doesn't write and barely reads. Plus a CRT monitor that is an optometrist's delight--it produces eyestrain. Low brightness, low contrast, even with the settings maxed out. Plus reflections off the front glass. No tears will be shed when they haul that thing away.

Want one more piece of news? As some of you know, I have been planning for some time to get a new camera this spring, and I'm closing in on a final decision. I had been leaning toward a Canon superzoom "prosumer" model, the Powershot 3S IS. I had been expecting an updated version to be announced in time for a major photo show in early March. Canon announced some new cameras, but not an updated version of the 3S IS.

Meanwhile, I've been researching other options and discovered a digital SLR that isn't priced a lot higher than a superzoom. The more I read about it, the more I like it. So my top candidate now is the Nikon D-40. It will cost more than a superzoom, and then there are the lenses, which can get costly. I can't afford professional gear, but I'm thinking more and more that a digital SLR is the way I ought to go. The superzooms can only take me so far, and I'm at the point now where I want to go farther.

OK, it's now officially March. No snow yet, but it won't be long. Time to get to bed.