Snow.

Four inches as of 8:30 AM, and still falling - actually, more heavily and thickly than when I went outside to measure. Day care is closed, but the doctor's office is not, which should make this afternoon's appointment interesting.

( Snow height (image) )

Virginia has banned Christmas trees in certain apartments as a fire hazard.

That would be tragic, because, in addition to building roads and schools and waging the occasional war in a distant land, the obligation of the government is to protect citizens from freak accidents that kill a handful of people every year in a country of 280 million. This new law should be the catalyst for a sweeping crackdown on all the hazards that make Christmas notorious as the season of misery and death.

The list of proposed bans alone is worth the demographic quiz.

The doctor says that aside from my weight and what may be chronic rhinitis, I'm fit as a fiddle. (This is, of course, pending the results of the blood work, which should come back Tuesday or Wednesday.) I appreciate him for this comment alone: "Atkins works, but it requires that you cut so much from your diet that almost nobody can follow it properly, so unless you have a lot of discipline it's better just to watch calories." (I hadn't told him about my Atkins experience.) I appreciate that. He acknowledges that it can help, but suggests something else instead, instead of a kneejerk Atkins is bad!.

I signed up for singing lessons today; I start next Friday at 5.

I also bought a microphone today. I'm disappointed that I'm going to have to return the stand (stripped and spalling screws), but the microphone itself is pretty cool. Also bought a guitar patch cable and a pick-holder, so I don't have to keep digging for them. Unfortunately, my father seems to have taken the amp to Michigan. :/

Oh well. Good day all around.