I hate snow, volume whatever the hell number it is....

Of course you do. The world is whiter that way.

 

Down here in the South, a 75-degree day in February scares the hell out of people. It usually means you're going to spend the afternoon and most of the night dodging massive tornados.

 

And then 24 hours later it's 30 degrees and sleeting.

 

+1

 

Sandstorms are very, very . . . . .


























































































Dangerous.

 

This is the last week of the regular season in Kansas. A majority of the schools were going to play tonight so that the boys' or girls' team (depending on class) could get an extra night off before they play their first round sub-state game Monday night.

One game that's winner-take-all for a league boys championship is going to be played Saturday afternoon. That will suck for the girls' teams that play the front end of the doubleheader because they'll have to play their first-round games Monday night ... on the road.

The KSHSAA has also pushed the start of all the state wrestling tournaments back six hours on Friday (from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) and allowing an extra pound at weigh in (the 106-pound kid can be 107, etc.). And the championship matches will have to share the floor with the third- and fifth-place matches in order to get them done on time. They usually get the floor to themselves.

 

Techno?

 

The last thing I want someone to do who feels the need to drive cautiously is . . . not drive cautiously.

If it means I reach my destination (or more likely, the next stop light) a minute or two little later, so fucking what.

 

18 hours after the flakes fell and my landlord has STILL not plowed the parking lot. I somehow got my car out this afternoon but couldn't get it back in tonight.
Meanwhile my little sedan got through the streets the city did an incredibly shitty job of plowing. Half hour after I get to work one of the city plows got stuck on a street I got through.

 

As far as driving, use some common sense. If you're going to collide with something, it's a little less damaging to do so at 20 mph than it is at 60 mph. You can't stop as quickly on ice, so give yourself more room to stop.

When I lived up north, we'd have 20-degree days with six inches of snow and life would go on as normal. Schools in session, games played as scheduled, businesses open, normal newspaper deadlines. Down here, anytime it gets below 40 people go into a full blown panic; everything shuts down and they move the press deadlines up to 9 o'clock. So it's all in what people are used to and prepared to deal with.

People asked me how I could tolerate the extreme cold. I told them "They keep the streets plowed really well, so there's rarely much of an accumulation of snowfall, the pipes are all insulated so they don't freeze (love the feel of a warm shower on a cold day) and people just put on a coat and gloves and go about their business. No big deal."

 

I would not like to be caught in a sandstorm. What can you do other than take cover? I sure as hell wouldn't be driving in one.

 

Got anywhere from 7-10 inches here in the sticks. Could have been a lot worse.