It snowed today.

A lot.

If you've watched the Weather Channel at all today, you've seen it. We have a foot here.

I went out twice today to shovel -- the first time getting most of the 10 inches to that point cleared off the back patio, the front sidewalk, the path up to the front door, and the driveway. Then I went out later to do it all over again (there was a fresh layer of 4-5 inches) and clear off the cars.

To do that, I had to run my arm over the hood, roof, trunk and just sweep it away. I was laying myself out over the cars to push the stuff off. Then I had to shovel the driveway around them again, because the drifts were knee-high in some places; up to hood level in others.

I managed to clear two tracks down the driveway (a slight hill covered with stones) and when I backed out to come to work -- yes, I was one of a dozen people on the road -- I could hear the bottom of my car scraping along the middle section that I hadn't cleared.

It's annoying that I have to be here, to put out a paper when nobody should have to come out in these conditions. I didn't have a chance to enjoy the snow. I was up late, watching High Fidelity, which I loved and may elaborate upon at another time. Then I got up early, knowing I had to pack for Phoenix and shovel and come to work early.

So that's all done, and I'm here, and we've got only two hours left until deadline, which is an hour earlier tonight because of the weather.

I might make it out of here and get a second wind and head out to the pre-New Year's party at my favorite bar with a couple of friends, then get an hour or so of sleep before getting up at 4:30 to get a ride to Newark Airport, where I hope to be able to get on my flight to Arizona.

And with that, I hope that my next entry is full of fun and adventure from three days in Phoenix and a raucus New Year celebration.

Happy New Year.