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today was a day marked by a debilitating paralysis to get anything productive accomplished in terms of work. i still have a little bit of stuff to do for client E but i haven't heard from them since thursday of last week so i'm back in standby mode. without the proper goading, it's easy for me to relapse into pure procrastination.

first thing i did this morning was walk down to the post office to mail off frances' latest norwegian shipment. it snowed a little bit this morning, about an inch, nothing to be concerned about, but i still decided to walk instead of taking the bike because i figured it'd give me more opportunities to take photos on my way back.

the temperature wasn't nearly as cold as yesterday (in the 30's) but the tips of my fingers inside my gloves still hurt from the chill. coming back, i stopped by the mass ave rite aid to stock up on some chocolates ($2.88 for 9.5 oz. bag of dove milk chocolate). i also picked up an 8 lbs. jug of paw-safe ice melt ($9.99).

back at home, i shoveled the bit of snow off of the sidewalk. since there wasn't too much, i ended up doing my neighbors' walks as well, 3 additional houses. i also expanded the gap on the sidewalk snowbank directly in front of the house. originally i dug out the clearing so i could get to the road without having to climb over a snow pile. but last week my neighbors used the gap as a place to put their bins on trash day (leaving me no place to put my own trash, which i ended up balancing on a snowbank). so not only is car parking at a premium, but so is apparently trash parking as well!

in anticipation of the next snowstorm that's supposed to arrive late tomorrow afternoon (later downgraded to late tomorrow night), i made a bike trip to market basket. earlier i found a recipe online for new orleans corn bisque with smoked sausage that i wanted to try. it took me a while to realize it was a shill for hillshire farm to get people to buy their smoked meats.

in the evening i finally made the bisque. in fact, there's nothing bisque-like about the soup, which turned out to be more chowder-like (chowder has chunks, bisque is pureed). normally for chowder i'd use bacon, so i had my doubts about the sausages (i used a kielbasa). however, the end result was pretty delicious, and i finished a big bowl. i was ready for a second serving but decided to save the rest for tomorrow, since there's probably an insane amount of calories given the milk and corn and potatoes and sausages. the recipe didn't call for it, but i added about a tablespoon worth of cayenne sauce, which made the chowder super spicy as well. it really hit the spot on a cold day.

while throwing out the trash, i ran into bruce and jack wandering the streets. it was jack's 50th birthday today and the two of them were returning from dinner. later bruce showed me the new ice penguins he made, now in patriots food coloring. i came back home and watched obama's state of the union address. afterwards i felt significantly inspired. hopefully it'll get my ass of the couch and back to work tomorrow.