How to $pend a Sunday

12/20/08-12/21/08

1) Gaze out your windows as a "significant" 3.6 inches of snow falls.
2) Rest easy in the warmth of your house on one of the coldest weekends of the year.
3) Go to retrieve cat food (if cat food is not available, any item will suffice) from your car Sunday afternoon.
4) Discover that your car is not where you left it Thursday night, even though you just saw it 3 hours ago when you were shoveling snow.
5) Get a little mad at the city of Minneapolis when you realize that they've called a snow emergency, unbeknownst to you since the amount of snow that fell in your neighborhood was no more significant than a storm that blew through 2 weeks earlier when you actually did check to see if there was a snow emergency (there wasn't).
6) Go to the impound lot. Feel like a criminal.
7) Wait in line outside in -10 degree wind chills for 2 hours with hundreds of other people.
8) Wait another hour inside the impound lot office. Watch a Simpsons rerun on the token "isn't waiting in line fun?" television.
9) Pay towing charge of $138 and get receipt that will give you your car back.
10) Collect ticket ($34) for illegally parking during a snow emergency.
11) Wait in new line for another hour so security can take you to find your car.
12) Ride around lot for 15 mins looking for car.
13) Clean snow off car.
14) Drive home.
15) Go to bed.

Gosh, I miss my driveway. We'll have to make it a priority to have one of those when we go house-shopping in a year or so. I'll also apparently have to check for the existence of a snow emergency every time it snows since there's no apparent guideline about what a significant amount is. You learn something new every day...