More snow

It's October. It's supposed to be a time of watching the leaves change, carving pumpkins, watching cheesy zombie movies as Halloween approaches. It's not supposed to be a time of shoveling snow and missing work because of a blizzard.

We got hit by a major snowstorm yesterday. A snow day is always cause for a celebration. But, lots of people lost power and the heavy snow brought down tree branches.

A bunch of pictures of the snow and its consequences can be seen here: www.gazette.com/gallery.php?gallery=37#/.

Luckily, I didn’t lose power and was able to do some work from home, as well as enjoy a day of toasty fires, blankets and homemade soup.

Bury me not on the lone prairie

Funerals suck. I understand they represent some kind of closure for many people. And religious people view them as a passage (or some such). But they suck. What is the morbid fascination with looking at a dead body? I firmly believe we move on from that body when the heart and brain stop. I'm not sure where we go from there but what's left is a shell and honoring the shell just feels wrong to me. There's also the fact that I never feel like the body laying there looks they way the person would have wanted to be remembered.

I go to funerals for the family and or friends of the deceased but I really don't think the dearly departed cares if I'm there or not. Honoring someone's memory with a song or by planting a tree or some other private gesture seems more meaningful to me.

I'd like to be cremated and scattered at the top of a mountain or in a forest. But don't stick me in the ground in a box to rot. And no leaving me on the mantle in a fancy urn. Throw a party, drink a toast to me, have a good cry (I expect that) and then remember all the good times. That seems like the perfect way to say goodbye.