The Jobs Of Yesteryear: Obsolete Occupations
No, these were not outsourced overseas. I remember milk delivery — we had an insulated box on the front porch, and got the delivery at about 4 AM a few times a week. The clinking of the bottles as the delivery man walked up to the house would wake me up now and then.
Maps as metaphors.
Chad is having trouble with rodents chewing on the wiring in his car. It’s a problem in labs, too, where something will occasionally chew through some data cable (which was not as serious as when they chewed into the bag of M&M’s left on the lab bench, but try convincing the boss of that). I noticed one comment that was similar to my thought: float the data lines at a kiloVolt. That’ll larn them varmints.
No, not really.
Snowmageddapocalypse II: The Wrath of Khan has been dubbed “snowverkill” “snoverkill” by some. It’s a mess; I haven’t ventured out but I lost heat and hot water for about six hours. The local channels have been in nonstop-coverage mode, which is kind of silly, and is a matter of packing ten minutes of news into their hourly segments. In case you want to see what you’re missing, here’s some video shot through my window. You might have to turn the sound up a little, but you can hear the wind whistling at the window.
And, because I can (and because I’m a geek), here’s a shot in slow motion.
The federal government has been shut down for the last two days, which is probably a good thing — it alleviates stress on the transportation system, which is nowhere near full capacity at the moment, and I imagine there are a lot of people who would have great difficulty getting to work, especially so as you look north. Even here in northern Virginia, I can see side streets that have significant snow and ice, and where I would not choose to drive for fear of getting stuck.
So what’s next? More snow!
We are anticipating up to a foot where I am, and even more as you move into Maryland. The official warning starts at noon today, and snowfall has already been reported ~50 miles away, an hour prior to that. I just got back from the store; I had to refill my pantry, and pickings of perishables were scant (Yes, we have no bananas). I chatted with a nice lady while in the very long line; she also works for the federal government, and we agreed that it will probably be closed down tomorrow too — there’s no way the roads are going to be in better condition than they are now.
At least they are doing a better job of snow removal at my apartment complex. I surrendered my parking spot (no friction-related trouble getting out), and noticed that the snow removal crew was attacking vacated areas with their little Bobcat tractor/loader. I was able to find a cleared spot when I got back, so I’m good for now. Just fighting some cabin fever, because daytime TV sucks.
Snowmageddon, aka the Snowpocalypse, has moved intothe recovery phase. I got about 2 feet of snow, but further north and in the hilly regions, they got more. 40″ in some areas (i.e. more than a meter)
My car. It’s not a minivan.
I learned my lesson from the snowstorm in December and parked on the opposite row of the lot. The way they plow, the snow gets dumped on one side of the plow, and they don’t get as close to the cars. The people opposite me have 4 – 5 feet behind their cars, and it’s piled up, while I have no more than 2 feet. I dug out one gap between me and my neighbor yesterday, and will do a few shifts to complete the dig-out today. There’s always a little game of chicken in these situations — if you wait, your neighbor will dig out first and save you some effort. But they may also be assholes and dump snow in your cleared area, too. I was a good citizen and deposited the snow on the grassy knoll at the front of my car.
Almost missed that this is my two-year blogoversary.
Did this last year: cities in which I spent at least one night while on travel
Niskayuna, NY
Dewittville, NY
Dover, MA
Charlottesville, VA
How to make the deranged Easter bunny costume from A Christmas Story
Wasn’t really expecting this, but then, I live on a main road, and side roads are probably still waiting to be cleared. That’s the problem with only having, like, 8 snowplows. ( If only they could harness the hot air from Congress …) This isn’t unprecedented, either. A Sunday storm a few years ago dropped 2 feet of snow and shut us down for 2 days. I’m glad, too — after doing the equivalent of about 50 squat-thrusts yesterday (bend, fill storage tub with snow, lift, carry, dump. One!), plus other activities, I’m a little sore.