i went outside just once today, when i woke up this morning to put away the bikes in the basement because it was already snowing. i wasn't expecting to do any work but client N asked me to add a last-minute credits screen, so i worked on that until noontime (timing was perfect, because they were clearing out of the office by 1:00). i had a craving for chicken noodle soup but all i had were the canned variety, which i had to make do.

there was non-stop blizzard of 2013 coverage on most of the major local networks. the governor had a press conference where he announced the MBTA would be shutting down (all buses, subways, trains) by 3:30, and there was a state-wide driving ban starting at 4:00. penalty could be as high a year in jail and/or a $500 fine, but i think that was mostly scare tactics since i can't imagine any judge would put somebody in jail for driving during the snowstorm. not that there was any place to go anyway. i didn't check, but i assumed the supermarkets were closing early to allow their employees to go home since in a few hours there'd be neither public transportation or any kind of vehicles on the road (besides emergency services, snow plows, and the media).

the snow started out as wet slushy stuff, but as the day wore on, it became colder and the snow fell as soft powder that easily blew away so it was hard to gauge how much snow had fallen.

as 4:00 approached, the city was eerily quiet. the only time you'd hear that kind of silence would be in the middle of the night, and even then it seemed more quiet because of all that snow. and that's the thing too, falling snow doesn't make any noises, unlike a rainstorm. there was an eerie calm. every once in a while i'd hear a plow truck rumbling down the road, or the increasingly strong winds buffeting the northern side of the house.

in the early evening, on the advice of my mother, i found some cold medicine. granted, they were all expired (i haven't been sick in years), but old pseudoephedrine works just as well. it was some generic-CVS-brand sudafed, supposedly non-drowsy, but i got sleepy soon after i took it. i fell asleep a little bit on the couch, snuggling underneath a fleece blanket, my sinuses soon clearly up.

i'm still not sure whether i have a cold or the flu. i don't have a fever, but i have a lot of other flu-like symptoms, including overall fatigue, some aches, and later a slightly throbbing headache on my left temple. my nose continued to run (until i took the sudafed, which helped a little, but then it started runny again) and i've already blown out both my eardrums. so now not only can i not taste anything, i can really hear so well either.

i decided to sweat out the virus and took a hot soak in the tub. it felt good for the nearly hour i was in the bathroom, and i almost didn't want to get out because i knew it'd be cold again but my fingers and toes were getting seriously pruney.

i had a turkey sandwich for a late lunch early dinner around 4:00, and then after my bathtub soak i heated up another can of soup. i took another empty mochi container and made some more colored ice cubes. once the snow stops (who knows when, tomorrow afternoon? tomorrow night?), i'm going to decorate some snow mounds with my colorful ice tiles.

what i really wanted to do was to go outside and walk around a bit, taking some snow photos. but the winds are too howling, the temperature too cold (wind chill in the teens), and snow at this point is a fine powder that will make it impossible to keep my camera dry in these conditions. better to wait it out, or at least tomorrow morning when the sun comes up. besides, i'm still in the recovering phase of my cold/flu battle, i don't want to make it worse.

i shot about 2GB worth of videos (maybe a dozen clips) but i didn't have time to patch together another movie. i did however download the photos and videos onto my new MBP and i processed the pictures there (which it's much faster processor) before uploading them to the server. i finished the write-up on my old MBP. the 32GB class 10 transcend card downloads photos just as fast with the new MBP built-in card reader. the movies took a bit longer (anywhere from 60MB to 140MB).