as punishment for us winter-tough chicagoans belittling the woes of our new york-based pals when manhattan hit 18 degrees last week, chicago has been in the throes of a deep freeze for four days now. and by deep freeze we mean highs in the single digits, wind chills of -20, dead car batteries, pipes at my favorite coffee place frozen, emergency warming centers for the homeless, take a cab you’ll die waiting for the bus, boogers in your nose freeze on the first breath, what-the-fuck i don’t live in fargo for a reason-cold.

to add insult to injury, it started snowing this morning, apparently to the surprise of whomever schedules the snowplow drivers. about four inches hit the ground before the sanding trucks made it out, consequently it took me, oh, 90 minutes to travel 16 miles to work today. on the upside, chicago is really really pretty with a fresh coating of snow.

the first day or two of really extreme weather are kinda fun, it’s something to talk about with everyone you meet, like we’re all in a game of Survivor: North Pole together or something. after that it stops being so much fun.

whenever i complain about the cold JUST a little too much, someone points out, “wait, aren’t you from idaho? don’t they have winter there?” true, they do. but, two items in my defense: 1) i lived in the bay area for five years, and that made me weak, once i learned that people don’t have to live like this, and 2)winter in idaho is fun. they have mountains, and outdoor sports. and garages to park one’s car in. anyway, i’m taking a long weekend and going out to idaho for 4 days of skiing, snow-shoeing, and generally loafing around the cabin eating/cooking/knitting/reading/napping. the weather man promises chicago will back to livable temperatures by the time i return, and i hopefully will have reconnected with the sporty fun side of winter.