No RedEye, no Reader. Not even a Hoy! to be found. This is the heart-wrenching tale of how the Wilburns survived the blizzard that brought life in Chicago to a standstill. For about 8 hours.

Tuesday afternoon, before there was even an inch of snow on the ground, Andy’s electricity skipped town, plunging his household into practically prehistoric conditions.

Kristen woke up the next morning and looked despairingly at the snow covered cars. “OH NO!  I’ll never be able to make it in to work today,” she cried while popping season six of The Office into the dvd player.

Looking out her window, Anna noticed that her AC unit was topped with a massive mound of snow and ice. Her heart pounded as she realized that it couldn’t possibly run in this condition. Thankfully, this crisis was averted as, it being the middle of winter, the air conditioner wasn’t being used anyway.

Guss was robbed of the ability to do several of his usual household chores due to the snow storm. Sadly, even the garbage had to be left inside, because, as he explained to his wife, the alley was only traversable by ski.

Will the Wilburns ever return to the office? To be continued…

It’s getting cold in Chicago; the snow has finally come to say Hello.  The holiday CTA car is out and about, and lawn chairs have been repurposed to hold parking spots.  Time to drag out the winter gear from the back of our closets and brave the winter flurries.  Living in the Windy City, we expected it to be nippy out.  What we didn’t expect was for it to be just as chilly inside the office!

The reason: Our thermostat has been taken prisoner by the abominable snowman.

One by one, staffers started to bundle up at their desks until the office began looking like an Eskimo village.

We’re talking scarves, gloves, hats, coats and even babushkas!

Have you ever tried typing with snow gloves on? It’s not easy, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Exhibit A: The polar bear in his natural habitat.

This has nothing to do with the cold, but isn’t it cute that Anna stands on a chair to write on the task board? Aww.

Even Minsky looks ready for a hike through the Andes.

Finally Bossman saved the day! By applying sheer brute force (and a handy-dandy tool kit) he managed to rig the heat back up. He’s our hero.

Just another day in the life of the Wilburns.