Coping With Cabin Fever

Eight inches of snow isn’t quite as foreboding as it once was.  But the local news would have you believe that it was going to be certain Armageddon.  In fact, when it snowed 8 inches in our area this weekend, the local news station had a cardiologist in studio to let me know that prolonged snow shoveling could make my wife a widow.  Let’s be realistic here - I’m snowed in, sure, but I’ve got better things to do than shovel snow. I've got 28,000 songs on my iPod, thousands of streaming TV shows and movies on Netflix, and a few shows on DVR that I’ve been meaning to get around to watching anyway (I’m currently catching up on PBS’s “Soundstage” and am confused and curious about Jackson Browne’s physical transition into a lesbian professor).  Has there ever been a better time in history to fend off cabin fever? Here's how I spent my snowed-in Saturday:

• Found out Saturday morning that yes, Virginia, you can make pancakes with water. I later gorged on Krunchers jalapeno chips. I was a big fan of Krunchers as a kid, and until Friday hadn’t been able to find them in years. The Krunchers brand is back and is now owned by Snyders of Hanover, which will hopefully mean better distribution, so look out world!
• Held my own personal DVR mini-marathon of Elvis Costello’s “Spectacle.”  This show airs on the Sundance Channel, and Costello may very well be the worst interviewer ever, but his guests are stellar.  I watched the Bruce Springsteen episodes – parts 1 and 2 – and an episode with Lyle Lovett, John Prine, and Ray LaMontagne. Good stuff.
• Shoveled snow off of the driveway -- didn’t have a heart attack.
• Read this week’s Entertainment Weekly, which had a good article about the “Fletch” movie franchise.  I had no idea that another “Fletch” has been floundering around Hollywood for decades.  Kevin Smith wanted to do it with Jason Lee as Fletch, but Miramax would never sign off on it.  Zach Braff was eventually cast with another director at the helm, but Braff backed out.  It seems to be a cursed sequel.  The full article is available in the Feb. 5 issue of EW. 
• Made a bit of progress on a book I’ve been reading, “The Year of Living Biblically,” by AJ Jacobs.  Jacobs chronicles his attempt to follow the Bible as literally as possible for an entire year.  I’ve read mixed feedback on the book, but so far, so good for me.
• Filled out Mad Libs.  Lots of them. It's great to be an adult now and to have free rein to be as vile or vulgar with Mad Libs as I wanna be. Some of them are really pretty hilarious.
• Surfed the net and came close to buying this T-shirt. Very close.

• Polished off a build-your-own six-pack from Total Wine that I had stashed for the winter storm.  There’s usually one dud every time I build my six-pack, but this one was a well-rounded combination that deserves high marks.  The beers in my sixer were:  Monty Python’s Holy Grail Ale, Bear Republic Red Rocket Ale, Great Divide Brewery’s DPA (Denver Pale Ale), New Belgium Mothership Wit, Harpoon Leviathan IPA, and Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron.  All of these were really good.  Most were full-bodied and high gravity, with the exception of the Holy Grail Ale and Mothership Wit, so enjoy responsibly.
• Wrapped up my snowy Saturday of overindulging on comfort food (lunch was homemade chicken noodle soup; snacks were plentiful and salty delicious) by savoring a pizza that my wife made. It was out of this world. The kicker was a mix of freshly sliced garlic, olive oil, and crushed red pepper that she let mingle together for about 30 minutes before coating the crust with it. I swear I could’ve drunk that oil.