Last day at MSU for awhile

Yesterday, Gary S and I carpooled up to Michigan State. The state highway authority reported that the freeways were icy and blown-over with snow, and Traffic.com reported several accidents in the area, so we ended up leaving Ann Arbor at 9:50 am, about two hours later than usual.

Once on Hwy 23 headed north, things were a little dicier than we had anticipated. It was snowing quite heavily. A strong wind was blowing snow across the highway like a low-lying fog, and the accumulating snow was starting to creep onto the roadway from the shoulders. Conditions improved after we merged onto I-96, which was much clearer, but as soon as we hit 55 mph Gary's car started to wobble like mine had on Sunday! So we took it slow, and pulled into Gary's parking spot behind Marshall-Adams Hall around 11:20.

I worked on preparing my Econ 420 course (intro to econometrics) most of the afternoon. I got really hungry at 1 pm, so I walked over to Grand River Avenue to get some food. Steve and Berry's was having a huge going-out-of-business sale, so I stopped in and bought $100 worth of Michigan State paraphernalia for $35, supplementing my family gift-giving. I also stopped in at Moosejaw, but I didn't find anything I wanted. Finally, starving, I ordered a bacon cheeseburger and fries at Flats, and worked on my course while eating, before heading back to the office to work some more.

Conditions were much improved on the way home, and the wobble in Gary's car was gone. Must have been the small amount of ice built up around the inside of his rims, which we had dislodged upon arriving that morning.

Gary dropped me off at home, and I took the car to drop off some movie rentals and buy a couple small, auxiliary fog lights at the auto store. I'm planning on using them to build a homemade bike light, and they're absolutely perfect. They are very professionally built, with metal housings and sturdy mounting brackets, and they use HID MR-16 lamps. They come with 35W bulbs, which are too powerful, but I'll replace them with 10W or 20W bulbs when I get around to building the bike light.

Emily got home around 8 pm and starting making a tasty risotto with chicken, peas, and bacon for dinner, while I worked to straighten up the house. We ate, then watched TV and poked around on our computers before heading to bed.