Like, Love and Don't Like

This week, I like Carmex lip balm. It took nearly 3 years but I finally finished a tube of Burt’s Bees lip balm last month. Julie got me a tube of strawberry-flavored Carmex lip balm and I’m here to tell you that this is one fine lip balm. The strawberry flavor is an acquired taste but I really appreciate the way the Carmex product feels. It’s hard to explain that feeling but Carmex leaves my lips smooth and kissable – just ask Julie!!

This week, I love Julie’s tenacity. Julie and I decided to drop our cable and settle for being entertained by Netflix, Hulu Plus and the internet. At the beginning of this process, we didn’t have all the right equipment and technology we needed to pull off this major change. But that didn’t stop Julie from conducting researching and finding exactly what we needed. A good example of Julie’s perseverance would be the multiple trips she took to Best Buy and Radio Shack to find the right cable we needed to connect the computer to the TV. I shouldn’t have been so blown away – Julie always finished what she starts and if she sets her mind to a particular task, she will not stop until she meets her goal. Just one of her many, many wonderful qualities! 

By the way, being without cable TV is not so bad. Someone in our house hasn't even noticed a difference at snack time.

This week, I don’t like overreacting to snow. Growing up in Camden, I saw snow less than five times. I never saw snow after college when I was living and working in south Alabama near the Gulf Coast. But thanks to global warming (or whatever) I have seen snow during 4 of the 5 years that I have lived in Birmingham. While that’s somewhat significant, all of this snowfall has featured very little accumulation. But once the first tiny, short-lived snowflake falls on Birmingham, panic always ensues. And I blame the schools. Here’s the typical timeline of a snow day in Birmingham:

• The chance of snow is forecasted 2-3 days before it arrives. No one notices or prepares. 
• Schools announce early closings the minute the snow arrives. This forces many parents to leave work and drive in conditions that already-bad Birmingham drivers aren’t used to, which causes many wrecks to occur. 
• Traffic in all locations is terrible for the next 24 hours due to the previously-mentioned wrecks.
• Schools announce delayed openings the day after the snow passes, causing many parents to miss even more work. Any snow that is remaining on the ground is completely gone by noon. 

It snowed this week and the above scenario played out to the letter. The schools shut down and a lot of businesses have to close because most of their workforce was off picking their kids up from school. This is silly! Really, this is the equivalent of people in the northeast shutting down each time the temperature gets over 100° F in the summer. That would NEVER happen! I’ve always wondered what they think of us when we cease to function because of less than an inch of snow.

The following video is from Anchorage, Alaska. Just kidding - it's a video of this week's snow that I filmed this at my office on Valleydale Road.