When it’s Christmas time, please do NOT put large labels on the outside of the UPS shipping boxes proclaiming what the contents of the box are in big letters.

It ruins the surprise.

This has been an amazing weekend weather-wise. Not just here, but also in Seattle. Seattle ended up getting more snow in 24 hours than it had received for the entire 6 years I lived there. Then they had 90+ mph winds last night. Crazy.

Here in Chelmsford we got close to a foot of snow yesterday. We shoveled off the deck and the walkway, and I fired up the snowblower and cleared out the driveway. I love the snowblower. It has tank treads and throws the snow well over 50 feet. It also has a canopy to keep me out of the wind and blowing snow. Plus a headlight. Sweet!

Then today we have gotten another 8-10 inches so far (still coming down) and are due for 55 mph winds. I haven’t bothered shoveling/snowblowing today, as I’m pretty sure the high wind tonight will put the snow wherever it wants.

Pictures of it all are here!

We spent most of today sitting in front of the fire in the library with the christmas tree and Fifi, sipping hot chocolate and working on our laptops. It’s been lovely!

I hope you are all warm and safe.

Normally I’m all for Fraud Protection and security and all that stuff.  But Bank of America takes it to an awful new level.

I was doing some online Christmas shopping while watching a movie here tonight.  On one of the purchases my Bank of America MasterCard was rejected, so I used another card.

Then Bank of America called me on my cell phone to see if it was really me, and to unlock the freeze they’d put on my account.  I had to answer the typical security questions, SSN, DoB, Mother’s maiden name, recent charges, etc…

Then they started asking some fun ones:

“What are the names of the two golf courses nearest to where you lived in Kenmore, WA?”  First of all, that’s like 5 years ago, secondly I’ve never been golfing.  I know where the nearest coffee shops always are, but apparently that doesn’t count.

“What are the full names and street addresses of five neighbors?”  I have no idea.  I just moved here, and I’m not a super neighborhood kind of guy.

And so on.  And if they managed to ask a question that I actually knew the answer to, they ended up having bad data on their end.  Apparently my SSN was issued from a state we lived in after we moved away from where I was born, so they didn’t believe me that I was born in Minnesota.  And so on.

I spent over 30 minutes of my evening attempting to convince the people who called me, that I was really me.

This past weekend, with TONS of help from my father-in-law and my wife, I built a woodshed.  I built it off the back of an existing shed on the property which mostly hides it from view and meant I didn’t have to build a back wall for it.  It will hold over two cords of firewood, and should be able to withstand a bomb blast.

A few pictures:

I was on-site in Bolingbrook, IL, a suburb of Chicago all of last week.  I stayed at the La Quinta this time.  On the upside, the wireless internet actually worked, whereas my last hotel had no working internet.  On the downside the entrance looked like this:

When I arrived at 11 PM, garbage bags had been tossed out this door and burst open, drawing the attention of a family of skunks.  Luckily I was able to scare them off with shouting and make it into the hotel.

I had one of the nicest rooms in the hotel, nice big Jacuzzi tub, all that.  This was my view:

Please note: that’s a chain link fence backed with an electrified fence.  With trash at the base.  Pretty scenic huh?

Also, there are no non-chain restaurants in Bolingbrook.  Lots of fast food places, and nothing else.  

I worked there all week, and then flew home.  Or tried to.  We boarded our plane, sat on it for 2-2.5 hours.  Got off, went to another plane.  Waited in the empty airport for 30-45 minutes.  Learned the new plane was smaller than the old one.  Watched a number of people get told they weren’t flying anywhere, and they couldn’t get their baggage.  Got on the plane.  Flew to Boston.  Got back to the house around 3:45 AM.  Good times.

I’m home now, and so happy to be here.  I’m really looking forward to Thanksgiving.  We’re hosting this year, and I can’t wait.