Shoveling Snow

The last few days Lexington has been rocked by a few snowstorms, and a couple more are in sight.

This was contrary to what people told us when we moved here: "No, it doesn't snow much in Lexington. Perhaps once or twice, but nothing too major." Sounds like what they told us in Seattle, too, before huge snowstorms almost derailed our wedding 14 months ago. Perhaps the snow really is our fault?


Anyway, Snowstorm + Homeowner = Snow shoveling!


There is a purifying element that comes from the back and forth motion of shoveling. The scrape of the shovel on the pavement. The cool in the air. The unspoken bond of neighbors shoveling concurrently. As Calvin's Dad told him, "It builds character."
During my university years, my favorite part about coming home for Christmas was the possibility that it would snow and I would get to shovel snow with my dad. (Well, he would snow blow while I shoveled. Whatever.)

Last week, then, I got up early one morning before work to quickly shovel the driveway. The snow was heavy, but there were only a few inches and it wasn't long before I was the envy of all the cul-de-sac.

Well, by the time the afternoon came around, the wind had blown around the snow so much that I had to shovel again. In the sidewalks, you couldn't even see that I had so meticulously cleared the snow only a few hours earlier. I began to clear the snow again.

The wind was stronger this time. Any time I attempted to clear the snow toward the south, it blew right back at me. I also had a difficult time with my shovel - although it was very good at clearing large amounts of snow, it is plastic and I could not remove any of the ice and packed snow.

In addition, there is this strange phenonoma in my subdivision. The trees that line the streets never lost their leaves. A large majority of the leaves continue to hang, dead and brown, from the trees. The wind blew through the trees gave an eery note to my snow shoveling.

A weekend of this back and forth has not diminished my love for snow shoveling. Yes, I go out there even if I know that a good portion will be blown back onto my driveway in a few hours. Like Sisyphus, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Myth_of_Sisyphus) the struggle itself is enough to fill my heart. I am happy.

An open letter to Google Maps

Dear Google Maps:

You have led me astray several times in the past few months:

1. My wife and I were driving home from Washington, D.C. right before the "Snowpocalapyse". I was even allowed to leave on Thursday instead of the planned Friday at Noon in order to make it out of the city. Our plan was to start driving home after a visit to the L.D.S. Temple, stay in a hotel approximately one hour outside of Washington and then continue on our way the next morning.

Well, luckily I had written down the phone number of the hotel, because Google Maps led us to the middle of nowhere. (Although it did lead us to Poffenberger Lane, which is my mother-in-law's maiden name.)

2. My wife and I were traveling to IKEA in Maryland. (Suburban D.C.) Although I am somewhat familiar with the area, I had never been to this particular IKEA and printed out a Google Maps direction in order to help us to get to our destination safely. Well, good thing I have a familiarity with the D.C. area because the Google Maps directions did not get us the right way. An hour later we arrived at IKEA, having taken an alternate route through the city since we were unable to navigate the confusing directions that would have lead us around the city on the Beltway. (Although, considering traffic that night, perhaps I made the quicker choice.)

3. I live in Lexington, KY. There is a street near our house - Star Shoot Parkway - that has been finished at least since we arrived here in August. However, it does not show up as finished on Google Maps. Ergo I have not used Google Maps for ANY directions in the city. In addition, I use other programs in order to plan out my running routes.

4. On a recent trip to southern Florida, my wife and I were driving to the eastern visitor center of Everglades National Park, located in Everglades, FL. However, upon reaching the city, the Google Maps directions led us to some house that had no affiliation with the park. Luckily I was able to find a sign and we arrived at our destination.

I love Google Maps for its easy-to-find route on the specific map, and the ability to drag the route from the "quickest route" to include specific destinations. However, lately you have been unable to provide me with clear directions that get me to the promised destination and have broken my trust. You don't have the fuel cost gauge that Mapquest utilizes that I find quite handy for long trips. In addition, I do not find your printable directions easy-to-follow, a necessity if I'm trying to look at them while driving.

I'm not mad, Google Maps; however, I am disappointed.

~Logan Schultz