Midwestern ice/snow storm

Snowstorms never bother me, unless I know I'm traveling. I agree, it's the ice storms that really scare me.

A couple of years ago, we were supposed to get an ice storm with up to an inch of accumulation. I went to get something to eat that night before the storm hit, and as I was crossing the freeway, the off-ramp was jammed with trucks carrying power-company crews. The fear was everything was going to come crashing down, and they had crews from the parts of the state that weren't going to be affected coming here to help get power back. It was a little unnerving to see that. Turned out all we got was a quarter-inch of ice, no power went out, and the crews that stayed here for a couple of days spent all of their time at the casino.

 

Yeah 20 inches of snow sucks, but snow doesn't stick on top of trees and power lines.

I am looking forward to the dibs-related riots that ensure in Chicago this week. (If you don't know, there is a Chicago tradition of claiming your neighborhood street parking space with shitty chairs or whatever you have lying around.)

 

Better make the beer run soon. Screw eggs and bread.

 

And here are the winter snow stats for Toronto:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/01/31/snowmageddon-by-the-numbers/

And lest we forget, Toronto's #1 achievement in the Hall of Shame:

118 – Centimetres of snow during the blizzard of 1999 that prompted then-mayor Mel Lastman to call in the army, thereby thrilling residents of every other Canadian city — who haven’t stopped reminding us of it ever since.

118 cm = approx 4'

Paging, Double J......

 

The predicted storm is reason No. 5,841 I don't miss the Midwest.
We have good friends who lived in the Northwest all their lives. They moved to Chicago last fall and have been suffering from a bit of shock with the arrival of winter. All I could say was "Welcome to the Midwest!"

 

One of our reporters considered going with this as a lead: "The Myans appear to be wrong. The end of the earth is coming this Tuesday."

Good thing: My cousin has a generator and an enclosed gazebo with wood burning stoves. And he lives across the street, so if power does go out (and it goes out here on sunny, calm days because our power grid is antiquated), me and my roomie aren't hosed.

Bad thing: I'll have to go in to write about games that aren't being played due to this. And KU is playing at Texas Tech tomorrow night, so unless deadline is pushed up, I'm going to have to stay in the office and wait for it to get done so I can stick it on the page.

 

I'm surprised your deadline will allow you to. Or are you a PM?

 

Which would be good, if only for the embarrassment for Jerruh

 

Hello.

 

I stand with Lee.

One of the greatest mistakes of my life was not buying sufficient supplies many years ago.

But I have found a wonderful local brew within walking distance to tide me over during this event, so old man knowledge pays off! Huzzah!

Bob Cook, the Chicago Skyline and the backside of the lake (leave that alone!) shall be my greatest obstacle, I think. Put that new snowblower to the test. Help out the neighbors and clear the streets and alleys so cars may pass through

I hear there is a pizza here I must try. I shall do my best.

 

One little prod for the people in the storm zone, especially those of you of sound body ... If you have elderly neighbors, check on them. Because in many cases, no one else will.

The biggest, most important discussion that took place in our city following the 2009 ice storm was about how people could help those with special needs in this kind of situation.

 

Machine Head, fiercely trudging through a snowstorm to get beer gives one a tremendous sense of vitality.