It shall be called, "Snowtorious B.I.G"

[honeychile]

You know that the feral cats are starving when they can walk on top of roughly 28" of snow! There are tiny little paw prints on top of the one corner. That, and they yell at you - Miaow! I think that means, "I'm going to get into that house if I have to break a window!" in cat. They did like having their kibble microwaved, though.

I'm just sick to death of it. I expect this in other places, but not here. I can't even get to my own house to get the mail.

[knight_shadow]

Students displaced due to potential roof collapse at TKE house

Residents in the Tau Kappa Epsilon house have been displaced, after the roof of their townhouse on 22nd street showed early warning signs of collapse, a University spokeswoman said Wednesday.

“A resident of the TKE townhouse noticed the roof collapsing and called 911,” said University spokeswoman Michelle Sherrard in an e-mail. “MPD determined the house was unsafe and needed to be evacuated.”

Sherrard said the four residents of the townhouse have been relocated to Guthridge Hall and that GW Facilities Management and the University Police Department conducted additional safety sweeps of the properties at 619 and 617 22nd Streets and determined they were safe.

Pete Piringer, public information officer for the D.C. Fire Department, said the TKE house was marked as unsafe to occupy after the Fire Department on scene said the roof had been compromised and appeared to be in danger of collapse.


http://blogs.gwhatchet.com/newsroom/...-at-tke-house/

[Munchkin03]

Everyone's been hysterical. OMGWTFSNOOOOOOOOOOW!

I'm at work. I've been at work since 8:40 this morning. No early dismissal; the people who couldn't get in (the commuter rails are closing early tonight and buses are cancelled) took PTO or vacation time. The snow is coming down pretty steadily and has been since 8 last night.

My father called me several times this morning. He was surprised when I told him that I was at work and didn't intend on leaving until 5:30. I'm trying to finagle an invite to the boyfriend's house for the overnight. He (my father) didn't like the idea of that. LOL.

I'm just annoyed that I can't run.

[southbymidwest]

It's not the food and water. It's the kids at home from school for a week, inside, because they can't do much with 30" of snow with an glaze of ice on top. Hard to make a snowman/snowwoman in that kind of stuff. They can't get to their friends' houses either. And this is for the first snowstorm. Does not include the additional 6" today.

It's the losing power for 2 days and the nighttime temps dropping to 9 degrees.

It's your subdivision not being plowed for FIVE days.

It's worrying about the in-laws and begging the father-in-law to not shovel the damn sidewalk because the ambulance can't get through if he has a cardiac event or falls. The best they can do is get to the nearest plowed road and walk in with their equipment, once again, in 30 inches of snow. It's worrying about your elderly neighbor who has the same issue.

It's knowing that you have contracts and deadlines at work that you can't get to, and the deadlines don't change because of the snow. And because of their classification, you couldnt take that work home.

IT's watching HGTV all day because you are so sick of the local news pre-empting regular programming except for prime time and seeing reporters at Tyson's Corner, Bethesda, DC and Arlington talking about the snow plows getting stuck, and how bad the snow is, and how cold they are, blah, blah, blah.(OK, on that one, I could turn off the TV...).

It's worrying about your own husband, who is not willing to deal with the fact that he is not 30 years old any more shoveling the snow.

It is the cabin fever.

It is dealing with 55 inches of snow already this winter, with more to come next week when we normally get umm, 6 inches, maybe? a winter.

IT is the few idiot drivers who don't know how to drive in snow and are completely unprepared. Even if they are on a plowed road. (NO NO NO DON'T PUT ON YOUR BRAKES GOING UP THIS HILL!!)

It is missing my daughter in college who was supposed to come home this weekend for the first time since Christmas.

It's seeing flat-roofed structures (like airplane hangers at Dulles and firehouses) pancake under the weight of the snow.

It's being irritated with people who can't understand why we DC'ers can't buck up. BTW, people DID stay off the roads. Big dozers and dumptruck plows had to plow, re-plow, and re-plow again the same main roads, trying to keep up with the snowfall and even they got stuck. VA Dept of Transportation plowing contractors couldnt help out much-many of their trucks are too small to move 30" of wet snow, or can't clear it. A F150 or 350 with a plow on front is no match for this snow. Neither is a bobcat until a big plow has gone through.And then the amount of time it takes to plow a street is double/triple the regular amount of time it usually takes. A lot of them got stuck, blocking the road and created another problem. AAUUGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

OK, I will now get off my rant box. Thank you.

[Gusteau]

You know its bad when you get yet another snow day and everyone says, "Ugh, again?"

[VandalSquirrel]

Originally Posted by southbymidwest

It's not the food and water. It's the kids at home from school for a week, inside, because they can't do much with 30" of snow with an glaze of ice on top. Hard to make a snowman/snowwoman in that kind of stuff. They can't get to their friends' houses either. And this is for the first snowstorm. Does not include the additional 6" today.

It's the losing power for 2 days and the nighttime temps dropping to 9 degrees.

It's your subdivision not being plowed for FIVE days.

It's worrying about the in-laws and begging the father-in-law to not shovel the damn sidewalk because the ambulance can't get through if he has a cardiac event or falls. The best they can do is get to the nearest plowed road and walk in with their equipment, once again, in 30 inches of snow. It's worrying about your elderly neighbor who has the same issue.

It's knowing that you have contracts and deadlines at work that you can't get to, and the deadlines don't change because of the snow. And because of their classification, you couldnt take that work home.

IT's watching HGTV all day because you are so sick of the local news pre-empting regular programming except for prime time and seeing reporters at Tyson's Corner, Bethesda, DC and Arlington talking about the snow plows getting stuck, and how bad the snow is, and how cold they are, blah, blah, blah.(OK, on that one, I could turn off the TV...).

It's worrying about your own husband, who is not willing to deal with the fact that he is not 30 years old any more shoveling the snow.

It is the cabin fever.

It is dealing with 55 inches of snow already this winter, with more to come next week when we normally get umm, 6 inches, maybe? a winter.

IT is the few idiot drivers who don't know how to drive in snow and are completely unprepared. Even if they are on a plowed road. (NO NO NO DON'T PUT ON YOUR BRAKES GOING UP THIS HILL!!)

It is missing my daughter in college who was supposed to come home this weekend for the first time since Christmas.

It's seeing flat-roofed structures (like airplane hangers at Dulles and firehouses) pancake under the weight of the snow.

It's being irritated with people who can't understand why we DC'ers can't buck up. BTW, people DID stay off the roads. Big dozers and dumptruck plows had to plow, re-plow, and re-plow again the same main roads, trying to keep up with the snowfall and even they got stuck. VA Dept of Transportation plowing contractors couldnt help out much-many of their trucks are too small to move 30" of wet snow, or can't clear it. A F150 or 350 with a plow on front is no match for this snow. Neither is a bobcat until a big plow has gone through.And then the amount of time it takes to plow a street is double/triple the regular amount of time it usually takes. A lot of them got stuck, blocking the road and created another problem. AAUUGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

OK, I will now get off my rant box. Thank you.

I was just raised to plan for emergencies and have plans for events like these. I live in a snow area and I'm prepared for any disaster, up to and including not having shelter in freezing temperatures and having to live outdoors. I'm a single woman only responsible for myself and if I had kids, a spouse, pets, whatever I'd have a plan in place for the apocalypse (and thankfully my Mormon neighbors do too ). I realize it is frustrating to have life disrupted but I grew up in a city in a temperate climate, and now live in a rural area and really have no faith in anyone looking out for me, but me.

I'm getting at what would people do if the power went out on a Friday night or roads were closed for landslides or some sort of terrorist threat. I'm not saying my life would be OMG awesome but I'd be able to handle my daily needs and if people can get on line, watch cable tv, and spend some quality time with their families (or help neighbors with snow removal) is it really that bad in the grand scheme of things? I really think it is because I live in a smaller rural community that this just isn't a big deal, and with the extra snow we've had I knew which neighbors to check on and those of us who couldn't get to work just pitched in as a community to shovel and plow, check in on neighbors, and get shit done.

I really am a crazy survivalist Idahoan, dammit.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

Everyone's been hysterical. OMGWTFSNOOOOOOOOOOW!

Yeah, it has been kind of interesting to watch how crazy people have been about it.

When I was living in Boston we got something like 20-25 inches (may have been 2004/2005). The city shut down for a couple of days, but I don't remember the "end of times" craziness, and it's not like we're used to getting that level of snow in New England.

Originally Posted by ADqtPiMel

I've found that they work best on packed snow -- when I ran in them during SNOWMAGEDDON II: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO I ran in the middle of the road where a couple of cars had packed down the snow. It's really hard to run in these drifts. The YakTrax seem to work best in the few days after a snowstorm where there's complete ground cover that's been smooshed down a bit.

For some reason I've never been able to run in snow. I'm way too un-coordinated.

[tri deezy]

Not to turn too political, but I have a small thing to share because a few people on facebook have made some misinformed comments. There was also an unbearably misinformed ad that the VA GOP put out. Just absolutely nothing based on fact in it whatsoever. So as an environmentalist, I must share these:

Here: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezr..._disprove.html

here: http://www.time.com/time/health/arti...962294,00.html

and here: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010...o-rebuttal.php

The end.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by VandalSquirrel

I was just raised to plan for emergencies and have plans for events like these. I live in a snow area and I'm prepared for any disaster, up to and including not having shelter in freezing temperatures and having to live outdoors. I'm a single woman only responsible for myself and if I had kids, a spouse, pets, whatever I'd have a plan in place for the apocalypse (and thankfully my Mormon neighbors do too ). I realize it is frustrating to have life disrupted but I grew up in a city in a temperate climate, and now live in a rural area and really have no faith in anyone looking out for me, but me.

I'm getting at what would people do if the power went out on a Friday night or roads were closed for landslides or some sort of terrorist threat. I'm not saying my life would be OMG awesome but I'd be able to handle my daily needs and if people can get on line, watch cable tv, and spend some quality time with their families (or help neighbors with snow removal) is it really that bad in the grand scheme of things? I really think it is because I live in a smaller rural community that this just isn't a big deal, and with the extra snow we've had I knew which neighbors to check on and those of us who couldn't get to work just pitched in as a community to shovel and plow, check in on neighbors, and get shit done.

I really am a crazy survivalist Idahoan, dammit.

Eh, people have to deal with it in other areas too. I get what you and AGDee are saying about your areas, where you get a TON of snow. But, it's not like areas like New England and the Northeast (save for maybe the high altitude areas of NH and ME) get double digits all that often. You just kind of deal with things like losing power, having nights without heat, and all the damage/destruction that goes with it.

[VandalSquirrel]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

Yeah, it has been kind of interesting to watch how crazy people have been about it.

When I was living in Boston we got something like 20-25 inches (may have been 2004/2005). The city shut down for a couple of days, but I don't remember the "end of times" craziness, and it's not like we're used to getting that level of snow in New England.



For some reason I've never been able to run in snow. I'm way too un-coordinated.

Maybe it is the type of snow you're trying to run in? If it is packed down yaktraks work, if it is fluffy drifts you can run in snow shoes. I love hoofing it in snow shoes through giant drifts and making paths on the sidewalks before other people go out. It reminds me of running in sand if you get the right style of snow shoe.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by tri deezy

Not to turn too political, but I have a small thing to share because a few people on facebook have made some misinformed comments. There was also an unbearably misinformed ad that the VA GOP put out. Just absolutely nothing based on fact in it whatsoever. So as an environmentalist, I must share these:

Here: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezr..._disprove.html

here: http://www.time.com/time/health/arti...962294,00.html

and here: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010...o-rebuttal.php

The end.

This seems to be a popular topic for the anti-global warming crowd. People were talking about it when it snowed during the UN Climate Change Conference.

Originally Posted by VandalSquirrel

Maybe it is the type of snow you're trying to run in? If it is packed down yaktraks work, if it is fluffy drifts you can run in snow shoes. I love hoofing it in snow shoes through giant drifts and making paths on the sidewalks before other people go out. It reminds me of running in sand if you get the right style of snow shoe.

Maybe, although I honestly think it has more to do with my awkward running style. I'm a decent endurance runner (or at least I used to be, able to do 10+ miles pretty easily), but I don't exactly have a fundamentally-correct running style. Ask KSigRC, he's been witness to it.

[VandalSquirrel]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

Eh, people have to deal with it in other areas too. I get what you and AGDee are saying about your areas, where you get a TON of snow. But, it's not like areas like New England and the Northeast (save for maybe the high altitude areas of NH and ME) get double digits all that often. You just kind of deal with things like losing power, having nights without heat, and all the damage/destruction that goes with it.

Growing up in earthquake country with parents from snow country really drove the "we have to fend for ourselves!!!!" mentality. Oh and Girl Scouts, I learned a lot about survival and outdoor living conditions from Girl Scouts.

Natural disasters can happen anywhere at any time, and I and definitely ready to handle it and a lot of that is my background, current place of residence, and socialization skills in my community. Not having to work or go to school and staying home, even without power would be a dream!

[KSUViolet06]

The OMGWTFBBQSNOW hysteria reached Ohio this week.

Drives me nuts. People are acting as if we are in LA and have never seen it before.

Just make sure you have enough food and stuff to last for a couple of days and chill out.

PS. Stay off of the roads if you are scared. Please.

[cheerfulgreek]

We got quite a bit of snow, but nothing like people were saying we were going to get, and the roads look great.

[VandalSquirrel]

Originally Posted by cheerfulgreek

We got quite a bit of snow, but nothing like people were saying we were going to get, and the roads look great.

We have no snow this year, I am so glad I bought a new coat, pants, and boots for all the skiing I am not doing. I left the tags on the pants and I'll return them to REI since they are generous with their return policy.