Can we get more of a warning, ok?

I stumbled into my kitchen at 4 am this morning looking to get a glass of water. I didn't drink anything as I was shocked by the scene outside my window. All I saw was white. There was snow everywhere and it was still coming down.

All I could think was WTF? The weather guy had mention a bit of lake effect snow for today but nothing like this. By the time I got outside to shovel an hour later there was at least 6 inches on the ground and it the flakes were still falling.

By the time I left for work, my clean sidewalk had another inch on it. The forecast now is for 8 to 15 inches. We went from a dusting to 15 inches of snow like that.

Again, WTF?!?!?!?!

It is a lake effect snow. Those areas close to Lake Michigan are getting the snow. Where I work further out west, there is has been no snow. The sun is shining and the sky is blue. If you woke up this morning over here you would just get in your car and go about your business. By the time you got downtown you would be shocked at what you are seeing.

At least the snow was very light. But it is deep and still takes effort to move. It was like move feathers. You could easily push it all over the place but you still had to move it. Driving through it wasn't bad either. I felt like I was in a Jeep commercial, driving a vehicle through fresh snow, plowing my way down the road. I enjoyed gunning it down the quiet road, slipping and sliding and having fun. Not often I get to do that.

So I will have more shoveling to do when I get home. It is only March so it isn't like this shouldn't be expected. I just want the weather people to give me more of a warning, ok?

Got through some of my Netflix movies yesterday. Forgetting Sarah Marshall was pretty bad. Some funny spots but otherwise forgettable. The movie that interested me was Maxed Out, a documentary about the way people are too much in debt.

What I found interesting was how they basically blamed the banks and credit card companies for people's problems with debt they are carrying. There was some cases that could be made to show a bank or at least their reps were at fault. Some predatory lending has been done and has harmed some people. Sure some of the fees they keep piling on are excessive and they don't mind it when people carry the high balances as they make money on it. But it isn't the case with everyone.

The one thing this documentary did well was blame everyone and everything beside the people who accumulated the debt. The had on two mothers who blamed credit card companies for the suicide of their respective children. That floored me. They made their kids sound like perfect upstanding citizens of the world but failed to mention why they got credit cards in the first place or what they kept buying. These kids didn't just get into trouble with one card. They each had 6 of them. 6! What did they keep buying with all of this money? And why didn't these two loving, caring mothers not know what was happening or try to help them until it was too late? If you were that close to your kids they would have approached you about the problem instead of hiding like you said. You failed to teach your kids well. It wasn't the fault of any bank or credit card company.

Same with the widow. She even admitted she didn't read the fine print. She knew she was borrowing money she didn't have so she should not be shocked that they are foreclosing on her house. A $4000 monthly house payment? Did you not think of getting something more economical for one person?

I had gotten myself in over my head when I got out of college. I maxed out 1 credit card and was overdrawn at the bank. I didn't go get more credit cards to bail myself out. I spoke with both institutions and worked out a way to pay off my debt. I cut back on expenses until both bills were paid. I didn't go crying to the government or blame anyone else. If more people realized they are responsible for their own actions or at least saw there was a consequence for their bad behavior, we wouldn't be in this mess today.