Exhausted. soooooo tired. I thought this part was over! I've been getting ten hours of sleep every night, yet I can barely keep my eyes open. I think this may be due in part to the hard work my brain is doing these days and less to do with the hard work my uterus is doing. I just finished this crazy research methods exam where I just typed madly for two and a half hours, and just as I was about to print out and turn in the exam I thought to myself "doh! I forgot measurement!" which means nothing to you unless you're seeped in the language of research, but it may have a lot to do with whether I get honors in that class.

Doh!

So the very very best thing about snow- the most bestest very best thing has got to be watching our neighbors try to get up this little slope in their driveway. I think this is the reason we bought a video camera, in fact. Because it is absolutely hilarious. And yesterday I was given the gift of witnessing the joy firsthand. First time this year. When sweets came home I just mentioned to him that the very best thing about winter happened, and he immediately knew what I was talking about. He even made the noise, so I could relive the moment.

Oh my god it is funny.

See, (and I'm laughing as I write this) I live next door to a big apartment building full of people who apparently have never had to drive in sub-freezing temperatures before. heh. Perhaps, just perhaps many of these people never had to own a car before they moved here. It is conceivable. Anyway, they have a parking lot behind the building, and to get to the parking lot they have to drive up this little slope. longer than the length of a car is this slope, but not much longer than that. I know, because we have essentially the same slope, only a little steeper. When it snows, the snow makes a little icy patch on the slope.

are you starting to put the pieces together?

Every winter, all winter, my neighbors get stuck halfway up the slope, unable to get any further. I wish I could attach a little sound file so you could hear it, but imagine the sound of a little foreign car revving it's little engine as hard as possible, and the skidding sound of two little foreign car tires zipping along yet going nowhere. It's music to my ears.

You see, my neighbors don't know the drive in the snow credo: start low, go slow. They see a patch of snow or ice and they GUN it. This isn't just one driver, either- this describes the behavior of all who enter the halls of the building next door. On a good cold night we might hear that zizzing revving sound five, seven times.

So this is what happens. The car gets into the first part of the driveway- flat. They inch their way up the flat part until they get to the hill. Then they gun it, pedal to the metal style. The car doesn't move, and slowly floats backwards. We hear the sound and run to the windows to watch. The car then revs a little longer, brakes on. The car is moving backwards slowly, and almost- almost runs into the little fence that lines the driveway. We're dying of laughter. They ziz a little more. No dice. So, they then decide to back up maybe, say, four feet. To get a running start, you know. They don't back up well, so we are always waiting to see them back into the little fence. Once on flat ground, they floor it again. ZiZZIZZIIZZZZZ. Wheels spinning in the snow, they maybe move a little sideways.

Then, and I think this is the best part, they inevitably get out of the car to check the tires. Because, you know, they must be stuck. That is all that can explain the lack of forward motion. Oh, the joy of it all! Eventually, they figure out that they should just park on the street until the snow thaws. Then they just wait for the next freeze. I love it. This happens EVERY YEAR!

I need to figure out how to put my little videos online for your viewing pleasure. This is NOT to be missed.