I just trudged to work through the remains of our not-quite-snowpocalypse.

Can I be empowered to set fire to peoples' houses if they don't shovel their sidewalks?

I'm here-ish.

As mentioned in Bitches, I'll be in DC with Vortex this weekend. Probable brunch with Buffistas on Sunday. Other than that, plans are fluid.

I'm just not fully caffeinated yet.

This.

I am sorting through the debris left-over from year-end accounting madness.

I was asleep. Not raptured. Maybe only sections of the East Coast got raptured?

Overslept just long enough that with shovelling off the car, missed first 8 minutes of morning meeting. I tried to care, but I didn't.

Sort of boggling over places in Europe and the UK that resort to rationing natural gas. I mean, I get it, and yet, can't really imagine. Does emphasize how damned big and varied this country's geology is. eta: not to mention infrastructural differences.

I'm getting a haircut today! Other plans for the weekend include going to the funeral of family friend, which will be sad.

I'm supposed to try hooking up with Colin this weekend, but I left things rather late. And ER stuff.

The Deadliest place on Earth? Surviving Cueva de los Cristales - The Giant Crystal Cave

It's 50oC and has a humidity of 100%, less than a hundred people have been inside and it's so deadly that even with respirators and suits of ice you can only survive for 20 minutes before your body starts to fail. It’s the nearest thing to visiting another planet – it’s going deep inside our own.

The pictures are amazing - the crystals are much bigger than people. It looks like the set of some scifi movie.

Nigel and I intrepidly stepped forwards – to say that the heat hit us like a wall would be an understatement, my glasses steamed up and their metal frames almost burnt me - I had to leave them at the entrance. A slightly fuzzy view however did not perturb my sense of awe. I was dumbstruck. A torrent of sweat streamed from my head, my energy was being sucked away, and my breathing became heavy. The view was enthralling, my eyes led me forwards but my body wanted to retreat. I was dwarfed by a forest of giant gypsum crystals, some up to 12 metres long - the largest crystals ever discovered, some estimated to weigh as much as 55 tonnes. It was something that had to be seen to be believed and I was doing just that... however within just five minutes I had gone from a reasonably fit 30 year old to an asthmatic 60 year old – it is the antithesis to the elixir of life!

Congratulations Erin!

I've seen a show about that cavern, it's amazing.