This is a first...

In the 16+ years I've had to deal cope endure traffic in the burbs of chaos, I believe I say for the very first time something very unusual. 
I took a bit of a detour and different route for a portion of my commute, as I heard in time (thankfully) on the radio that the BW Parkway was closed due to a wreck.  Not surprising as the many of the roads I had been traveling looked either icy, wet, or  most likely, a combination.  I had already seen no less than a dozen vehicles that had gone off the road.  Of all my commute, the Parkway is the road I detest the most. 
So if you've stuck with this so far, you're probably thinking, "Shut up already and tell what you saw!"
In my alternate route, I could see portions of the Parkway and backed up traffic.  I was glad I wasn't in it and figured I would continue taking an alternate route, albeit being a few miles farther around.  At the last moment I noticed that the traffic was moving. Slow, but moving.  I would only have to be on it for one exit; approximately 2 miles.  So I took my chances.  Lo and behold, the vast majority of drivers were being cautious and giving 2-3 car lengths space between each other!  Usually the obliviots are right on the bumper of the car in front and constantly tapping their brakes.
I guess the sight of all the other cars in the ditches and off into the woods woke a few people up!
It was nice to see for once (except for the car with the NC tag; there is caution, then there is just being scared.  You my friend should stay off the road.) but I know better than to expect it.

Alarm clocks

I have had various alarm clocks over the years.  Currently I have a Bose Wave that usually works well.  It's one that I married into and it has numerous nice features, such as two different alarm settings.  That works well as my wife and I get up at different times.  It also sounds pretty good too, on the rare occasion we play CD's or the radio.

Another nice feature and one that I really appreciate, is the gradual ramping up of volume of the alarm, therefore not jarring one out of sound sleep and starting the day off badly.  The snooze time is adjustable as well, which is great, because I, to my wife's chagrin, am a snooze alarmer.  I sometimes think that I get the best sleep in between alarms.
As much as I like this alarm clock, I have noticed over the last few years that it occasionally decides not to work.  Most notably if the alarm is not turned off and then back on, it may not trip when it is due.  Something must have gone wrong in the sequence of the smoke circuits last night/ this morning because my wife woke me about and hour and a half after the alarm should have gone off.  Grrrrr.

So I sprang out of bed, dashed through my morning routine and headed down the road to work.
Usually I have a pretty flexible schedule because most times I work independently.  That is to say that there is no one watching when we come and go (typically) and there is no time clock to punch.  This morning was not one of those independent work days.  I had gotten sucked back into a prior project to help make some repairs to an item that failed.
Even though I was later getting to work than usual, I wasn't as late as I expected.  And that got me to a sad realization about my job and it's location.  I wasn't so much concerned about being late.  What annoyed me was that by being and hour and a half later than usual meant that I was going to be in much more traffic, which meant the increased odds of being at the whim of the consequences of some idiot's poor driving skills.
But fortunately my concerns never materialized and except for a considerable amount more traffic, I arrived at work with no incidents.  Glad this didn't happen yesterday when we had a bit of freezing rain.