Score!
Tonight I am celebrating a number of triumphs.
--I got my car out of the Hellish Ice. Since my parking space was empty for 3 weeks, I came off tour to about 10 inches of snow. As an apt dweller, I have demurred from purchasing a shovel so I did what any lazy person would do--barrelled right over top of it and parked anyway.
Due to an unseasonable (although thoroughly enjoyable) thaw, the snow softened up and compacted then froze again into cunning little wheel-traps.
Last night I attempted to go out for supplies (ie: liquor) and was thwarted. Today I brought some spare kitty litter out and hoped for the best. Kitty litter isn't the gravelly boon it once was. While it made my gloves smell pleasantly like fabric softener, I was skeptical of its ultimate Traction Power.
It seemed futile. The wheels were spinning to little effect. I drive a stick so while working my best Clutch Magic I would stop at intervals and ponder what my next strategy should be. I once used granola cereal to get a woman out of a snow bank back in college but I didn't have any in the house...hmmm.
It was at this point that I began to see the value of knowing one's neighbors since a push would have been really helpful.
With some doubt, I pondered the physics of the spinning wheels. I couldn't really get the litter under the tire and the ice was frozen hard and slick. If I let the tire spin in place, it shouldn't do any harm to the car any more than being on rollers in a test environment and the spinning might create enough friction to warm the ice into a more agreeable surface and/or get the litter underneath.
I gave it a shot. I kept the RPMs down to 1500-2000. I ran it for a minute or so and tested. I ran it some more and tested. There was a shift in the feel of the slipage. Suddenly I could feel the car trying to climb the crest of the ice cup. More Clutch Magic. More. I was free!
Fuck yeah!
I bought Ice Melt and some proper gritty stuff while I was out. Filled the ice cups with Ice Melt, then topped it off with grit before parking in the space just slightly outside the former tracks. I feel good about my prospects of getting out another day.
--itunes shopping fun. I spent my gift card tonight, getting a mixture of one hit wonders and audiobooks and guilty hairband pleasures. A little Seether and Evanescense, the new David Sedaris and a couple of obscure Anne Rice (Feast of All Saints might be my favorite book in the world), and a little Dokken, Fastway and Suicidal Tendencies.
I am well equipped for my upcoming road trip to see friends in Michigan's upper penninsula.
This trip will also see the end of my old computer which has been sitting on my kitchen table for close to two years. (I'm giving it to their 13 yo daughter.)
--got a new cell phone plan. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my current broke-ass phone with me so I will have to go back to get a new phone and transfer my numbers. Still, it was the last lingering thread of connection between me and Old Boss and it is satisfying to have it severed.
To my dismay, they didn't have a flip phone that was spring loaded. Oh well.
All in all a satisfying day.