I shovel well. I shovel very well.

January set a record for snowfall in Cleveland, and of course it would be just my luck to move to Ohio in time to get in on this wintery goodness. Every morning I wake up and turn on the radio and, along with Billy Collins, am as glad as anyone to hear the news that the Kiddie Corner School is closed, the Ding-Dong School, closed, the All-Aboard Children's School, closed, the Hi-Ho Nursery School, closed, along with—some will be delighted to hear—the Toadstool School, the Little School, Little Sparrows Nursery School, Little Stars Pre-School, Peas-and-Carrots Day School, the Tom Thumb Child Center, all closed, and—clap your hands—the Peanuts Play School.

In honor of Mr. Collins, I did give myself a snow day last week. The better part of the state got hammered with a foot of snow in a matter of hours, and there was no way I was leaving the house. I had my work computer with me and was surprisingly productive on my first work-from-home day. It made me wonder why I go into the office at all. So I'm just going to throw the question out there. Why do I go into the office at all?

Speaking of the snow, I'm happy to report an addition to the various handy things in my garage. Namely, a snow shovel. Snow shovel joins rake, brush sweepy thing, shovel, broom, and lawn mower in my otherwise empty garage. Yes, I have a snow service that shovels my driveway for me, but the bottom line is one cannot live in Cleveland and not have access to a snow shovel. I will say however, after shoveling snow for the first time over the weekend, that it's kind of hard. The shovel itself has some weight, plus the weight of the snow, plus the fact that the mounds you are tossing the snow onto are so high (from record snowfall) that you have to lift the shovel very, very high before dumping the snow. And so I have decided that I will no longer be going downstairs to the gym for my lunch hour. I will be going outside to the parking lot to shovel snow. You laugh now, but let's see who's laughing in a few months when my shoulders are rock-hard.