the reason they laugh

[susandennis]

Ok, so yes, in a place where snow is rare, the systems for dealing with it are pitiful so even a few flakes can paralyze.  I grew up in such a place (Winston-Salem, NC) and Seattle is the same.  And the folks from Chicago and Minnesota and Wisconsin and Maine just chortle up a storm.   Our cars are not equipped, our road crews are not equipped, we are not equipped so the best money is to just stay home and stay safe and let the laughers laugh.

But... I just had a phone meeting canceled on account of snow.  It was a conference call.  Er, ah... ok, now everyone can laugh.  ???? 

It is cold outside - outside on the terrace and outside in the hallway.   One of the up sides of living in a box o' condos is heat sharing.  My living room ceiling is the terrace of my upstairs neighbors (so not heated) but the rest of my walls all have heated spaced on the other sides.  And I'm very comfortable.  I do have baseboard space heaters but I've never actually used them except once.  My friend, John, made me turn them on one Christmas cause he was cold.  Weenie.  But that was about 10 years ago.  The only time the cold bothers me is when my hands get chilled but when that happens, I just run hot water over them for a bit and they perk right up again.  Otherwise I add clothes.  Thicker socks, another shirt... it's so much easier to fight cold than hot!

It may well be a quiet day here.  Another way to ward off the chill is to get up and move so I think I might fill in some of the quiet time with a little desk cleaning up and maybe some general tidying of other things around the house.

Comments

[megmeg22.livejournal.com]

So yeah, road crews aren't equipped. That I can understand. But all classes at Seattle U are cancelled until 4pm...I mean, c'mon, most of the students live on or near campus! The roads on first hill and capitol hill are bare and dry.

But I'm not going to spend too long complaining...free time is a great gift. Enjoy the quiet day...

[dragonvpm.livejournal.com]

Heh that came up once during my senior year when classes were cancelled on account of a major storm, we were all mildly puzzled about why classes were cancelled if we're all here... until someone observed that almost none of the faculty or staff lived on or near campus :-p

[megmeg22.livejournal.com]

ahh, that's true...I thought about that, but then why not cancel morning classes and not for the whole day?

I guess I live in my own bubble of having lived in climates where there is snow, so aside from the oddity of snow in November out west, I didn't think much of it.

I'm a bus commuter, too, so I also have that insulation from the dreaded interstate mess.

[dragonvpm.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I thought that was odd too. IMO snow days should extend to the entire day, just to make things simpler bookkeeping-wise. If no one taught on day X you can just pick it up later in the year or everyone can just work around it, etc... Opening later in the day seems like some arbitrary rule that probably has to do with money in some way (e.g. having to have at least X # of school days in order to get some sort of federal funding)

I tend to live in my own little bubble world too, but mine is pretty much insulated from everyone else (running a small construction company) so I tend to get really disconnected from things like rush hour traffic (I usually just plan to be busy/not driving around that time) and vacation days (just schedule work around any days I want/need to take off) etc... IMO, living in your own little bubble is a Good Thing! :)

[roadskoller.livejournal.com]

The cheeseheads needed something to laugh about. The Packers didn't give them much to giggle over.

[dragonvpm.livejournal.com]

Heh you guys sound about as well equipped as we are.

A while back I was chatting with someone down at the traffic division at city hall and we were all chuckling about how the city slowed to a halt when any amount of snow or ice came down at which point I figured this was a good a time as any to satisfy my curiosity about El Paso's snow removal equipment.

The sum total of the equipment that El Paso has for dealing with snow or ice consists of a number of trucks that spread out that salt/dirt mixture on roads. The city does not own a single snowplow nor does it have anyone capable of operating one even if we did.

That struck me as highly amusing given that we do actually see snow once or twice a year. Then again, who am I to diss the ever elusive snow day? I can't say I've ever been upset that I didn't have to go out and work outdoors when it's snowing out :)

[pheon.livejournal.com]

I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1972 when they got their first real snowfall in decades. Enough snow to actually coat the ground to roughly 1/4 inch. And the temperature was actually below freezing. Everything, of course, shut down.

My favorite story from that day was the assistant manager of the SF Airport, who not having salt or sand trucks, ordered a water truck to go hose the snow off one of the runways. I think they had to borrow a salt-spreading truck from somewhere in northern California to melt the ice. [It has occurred to me since to wonder why they didn't use the de-icer they use on airplane wings.] And, as I recall, he didn't remain assistant manager.

[susandennis]

And, as I recall, he didn't remain assistant manager.

Of course not... he was probably promoted to a position where he couldn't cause any trouble like airport manager!

[rsc.livejournal.com]

Wow. I don't think I knew about that. I've always thought that the idea of San Francisco with icy streets was about as terrifying as it could get.

[vetch.livejournal.com]

it's so much easier to fight cold than hot!

That is so SO true! And yet every time I say so when people here ask why I prefer winter to summer, they look at me like I'm strange. It's the one thing I'll never get used to about Australia.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

The "Seattle snow" picture in today's paper was pretty impressive.