Here it comes

So there's a big storm coming our way ...

After a late night of partying, somehow Kates and I got out of bed early this morning and ventured out to run some errands and stock up on groceries before the snow arrived ... Turns out the rest of the population was thinking along the same lines ...

The grocery store was never more crowded. There were impatient people pushing carts everywhere. These carts need brake lights and blinkers, I muttered to Kates at one point ... and when we were ready to check out, the lines extended about 50 yards from the register and into the produce section. No exaggeration.

Luckily, the line moved smoothly; the people stuck in it were patient and resigned to the fact that nothing anybody could do was going to alter the situation ... It took us about 20 minutes to get our cart full of groceries to the checkout counter. I can't even see the back of the line anymore, a young bagger said as we pulled up.

Then, as if the situation wasn't amusing enough already, the store's computer system went down as Kates was about to pay with her debit card. The clerk sighed and said the same thing happened earlier this morning, too. She had Kates try swiping her card again -- still nothing. It's ok, I'll just write a check, Kates told the clerk ... And I laughed as I noticed, like a wave traveling through a stadium, the same transaction occurring at every other register in the store: Harried clerks realizing the computers were down and desperate women echoing, It's ok, I'll just write a check ... Pretty funny.

Finally, Kates and I wheeled our cart to the exit. As we approached the automatic doors -- there it was ... the snow had begun to fall. We donned our gloves and hats and went for it ...

Funny. We were dealing with a batten-down-the-hatches storm a year ago today ...