Happy Birthday! all you presidents

Long weekends. Another great invention. We should have more of these.

Katie and I saw Hotel Rwanda this weekend. It is set during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Good, good, good movie. Watch this movie. Moving. Heartbreaking. Frustrating. You'll have to see it, but I was struck by this line from one of the journalists in the film. "I think if people see this footage, they'll say 'Oh, my God, that's horrible.' And then they'll go on eating their dinners."

I'm wrestling with "what now?" I'll let you know where this goes. But SEE this movie.

So I was informed last week by my wife that she does not have ANY snow boots. How is this possible? We have lived here for almost 7 years. Before that, she was at Miami for 5. And before that, Boston for most of the rest of her existence. One thing all of these places have in common, is there is often snow falling out of the sky and gathering on the ground in the couple of months on both sides of Christmas. Typically this is seen between November and March (May if you're in Boston) at undetermined intervals. I have known Katie since early 1998. So let's assume that we have lived through approximately 45 months of snow possible months. And let's be conservative by saying we've had one big snow fall a year.

It is perplexing that I never heard something similar to this, "Gee, I sure could use some other sort of covering for my feet in those instances when there is snow outside on the ground and I need to leave the house. My water absorbing shoes seem so ineffective in the face of such a large accumulation of snow flakes." My response would have been centered around, "Oh, you are describing snow boots. They've been around for years and they're quite useful. Let's go buy some for you."

As you know, that conversation finally did happen. And like my fictitious response implies, we went and bought her some. Not just any snow boots, but some schweeeeet snow boots. And apparently the only pair of 7.5s left in the country. They have not arrived yet as we bought them online, but since the snow has pretty much gone, what's another 3 days. We also discovered that the selection of snow boots for girls (women, as my Dad is fond of reminding me) is severely lacking. Choices are few. But this is the pair Katie chose.

Don't get your head caught under these monsters. And warm to -45°F, which is somewhat overkill for this area, but you never can be sure with global warming and all. I was also surprised to learn, according to the manufacturer Columbia, they are designed for city or country slogging. Well that's good. It's like 2-in-1. And they have a "Non-marking Omni-Grip® rubber compound with minimal loading lug tread pattern," so they'll be good for basketball or NASCAR tires.