I hate this time of year...

November November November! It's a love hate relationship. On one hand it's the month in which I bid my best two wheeled friend adieu for the long cold winter. It's the month in which I believe winter truly starts. Most of the fall color has fallen into piles of drudgery about my lawn. Driving home from work with some sun in the sky has taking it's leave. Soon I'll be waking up an hour early so I can make a futile attempt to start my snow blower. At least I get the pleasure of having the occasional snowball exchange with the kids. Four and a half months of taking twenty minutes to get ready to go out for a pack of cigarettes. Gray murky slush and enough salt to turn "the Lake" into a "Sea" fill every crevice of your vehicle with future rust.

On the other hand, winter is such a beautiful time of year when the season truly shows itself. It doesn't happen much so anymore but that first Saturday morning after a grand winter storm is so amazing! Trees covered in snow, thinly walled atop each branch. The plows haven't yet cleared the snow from the streets. Kids stirring early to be the first to build the best fort on the block. Father, pipe in one hand wife in the other stands proud over his domain. lol! Anyone who lives in the northern Midwest knows this day like it's their own birthday.

Not only were the Saturday's fun but so were the weeks. Can you remember waking early to watch patiently as the news man reads off the school closing for the day? That grand feeling as they announce your school. No books, no boring classes, no bells or crappy school lunches at least for one glorious day. A day filled with snowball fights leading to a field-trip to our favorite neighborhood sledding hill. What a memory that is.

Lastly on a more personal note September 30th ends the fiscal business year. That means I get to procure a crap load, and let me reiterate, a CRAP LOAD of new equipment. See, most of the year I spend sitting in front of my computer reading up on new technologies. When I get bored of that I head to digg.com and read about what that odd sort over there finds interesting. But this time of year I get to dirty my hands. To do what I originally got into this business for in the first place. God, I love the smell of new hardware.

Welp, I've got one more episode of Deadwood to watch and then I'm off to bed. I'll most likely catch the few of you who actually do find what I say interesting on Friday or Saturday if I get new ink.

Peace!