Ice, ice, baby (and other things)

This weather is ridiculous. When we went out this morning (“we” being me, Bernice, Mandy and Dodger), the precipitation seemed to be what the meteorologists call “freezing rain.” The dogs hate it, but it wasn’t horrible. If anything, it encouraged them to do their business quickly and get back inside. Fine by me.

Marc drove me to the station this morning, so I wouldn’t have to walk from my parking space—usually about 10 miles from the platform (okay, I might be exaggerating slightly)—in this nasty weather. It was cold on the platform, and the train was running late, of course. Even so, I could deal with it.

The ice storm on the cake came when I exited the subway. I don’t have far to go from the subway exit to the hospital entrance. Truly. It’s perhaps 150 feet. Not a big deal ordinarily, but today brought a special joy. The wind comes around the hospital very hard, probably due to the way the crosstown streets converge here. Added to that, the freezing rain had moved up to full-blown sleet. The high-speed sleet HURT! I walked out of the subway and was hit with pellets that struck with enough force to elicit repeated epithets. So there I was, trying to keep from falling on my ass, walking with my bag in front of my face and saying, “Ow! Fuck! Geez! OWWW!” the whole way to the door. Such a lovely start to the day.

In other news, I went to the conference for the new job. As I mentioned a week ago, it was in Fort Lauderdale. That was a nice break from the cold, and they seem like a good group of people. They work hard and are serious about their business—and that’s a good thing. More importantly, they seem genuinely nice and welcoming.

The return trip had a bit of excitement. As my plane (well, it’s not really mine; it’s JetBlue’s, but they let me sit in it for a fee) hurtled down the runway, the pilots got a warning. So we went from full-throttle acceleration to standing on the brakes in a heartbeat. I’d say it was exciting, etc., but the truth is that it was over before I realized what was happening. They pulled onto a taxiway, checked in with their maintenance people, reset something (which I think translates into, “we gave the instrument panel a good kick”) and went back to take off. The total delay was perhaps 10 minutes.

Yesterday was a big day for Marc and me. It marked 10 years of living together. We dated for about a year and a half before he moved here and we got a place together.

Ten years ago, Marc and I moved into a two-bedroom apartment in a nice village called Roslyn. We lived there until we bought our first house. When I came home yesterday, I found two dozen roses he’d bought to mark the occasion, as well as an early Valentine’s Day, and that night I found a very, very sweet card tucked under my pillow.

There will be more celebrating tonight, but it would be hard to beat the sweetness my baby showed me yesterday. I’m certainly a lucky man, but I’ve known that since I met him.