Plummeting Hits

There have been many times that I’ve thought about writing something in the last few days. I don’t remember what I was thinking at the time. It’s sort of like dreams. You wake up at three in the morning with a clear recollection of the dream and you say to yourself (if you’re me at least), man, that was a weird dream, I’m going to write about that later, and then you forget all details when you wake up a few hours later. It’s not enough to think about thinking about it, you have to make a conscious effort to drive the recollection into your conscious mind, to inspect it, mush it around, chew on it, digest it, poop it out. Sometimes you have to follow the metaphor to completion, I’m sorry.

Anyway, I remembered the dream about Jen trying to bribe a grader for an exam with $42 in an envelope. It was a $2 bill and a $40 bill, which doesn’t actually exist. That’s the good thing about sleeping with someone, you can mumble your dreams to them while they try to ignore you. Sometimes you just need an audience at 4 in the morning. Your dreams are important enough to wake someone else up for, and you should do it if you get the chance.

Something that wasn’t a dream was what I saw while driving to meet Jen’s aunt and uncle for dinner.

I’m barely coherent right now, by the way. I’ve done nothing but work all day, well, I guess I went to church and went on a hard run, but the moral of the story is that I’m delirious. My eyes are blurring. I want to shut everything down and go to bed, but I have a head of steam and if I do that I’ll lose it, obviously. I might clean the bathroom after I finish this. It’s just that I know it’ll be full of hair again in 3 days; it’s a little discouraging. Say what you will about Justin’s localized sloppiness, he didn’t leave his hair everywhere.

Anyway, the missus and I were driving north on 95 when we hit some traffic – which is normal for rush hour, even Saturday evening rush, which does exist around here. On the left hand shoulder we pass a cop car, two civilian cars and about 10 high schoolers looking hip in their shaggy hair and little accessory tote bags (while stranded on the side of the highway!). Immediately after them and stretching for the next 400 meters were many dozens of mangled, torn, disfigured stuffed animals. They had clearly hit the pavement at highway speeds, being dashed to bits as they pinwheeled snout over feet for an extended distance. Eyes were missing, appendages dismembered, button tails bobbed into the ditch in the median. It was the most macabre, morbid and absurd scene I’ve seen in a while. I wanted a picture of it. I have one, in my brain, and I’ll try to describe it to you if you ever want a full description. I can tell you that every stuffed animal was different. It had a lot of character for a mangled mess.

Let’s see. We’re going to WA in less than a week. My plants are thriving so far, but I’m a little worried about the Dahlia – they seem to be getting a bit to big for their britches. Thunbergia, Black Eyed Susan vine, are also in need of some new digs. I have a lot of garden related work between now and when we leave, including planting the second set of seeds, planting the forget-me-nots outside, planting the hummingbird mix seeds in a planter outside and planting some Dahlia tubers. I’m having a hard time negotiating the fact that I’m growing Dahlia from seeds right now while I have Dahlia that look completely different and grow from tubers in another place. Hmpf. Is Dahlia such a cool name that we need to name two different flowers with it?

I need a friggin nap. I need to go back to work so I can relax a little. Sheesh.

Root

Well, now I’m annoyed. I was happy, I was jovial, but Photoshop Elements 9.0 is different than 6.0, though only in annoying ways. It took me 10 minutes to resize a picture. Whatever, here it is:

These are some of the early results of the hydroponics lab in the basement, planted 2/14. Everything is growing. In this particular picture, the nine cell square (3 per side) in the top left has a few Vinca, grown from seeds that I collected from the deck last year. Bottom left is Sempervivum, aka, hen and chicks. They are plentiful, maybe too plentiful, but very small, having come from little tiny seeds.

The big ones on the bottom are dahlia. They’re growing their second set of leaves already – I’ve had to prune away the extras from each tray. It was sad. I’m still annoyed about image resizing, so this is going to be brief. A screwdriver and speed skating right when I finish too. Behind the dahlia are the black eyed-susan vine seedlings, which are going to have a prominent roll in the garden. I’m pleased with them.

Next to them, foxglove (look it up), in front of the foxglove, Rudbeckia. Next to that (not in the picture), a plant that’s supposed to be difficult to grow – primula gold laced – they’ve just recently sprouted – I hope those guys work.

Jen’s screwdriver…strong. We mix some strong drinks here in the Furst household.

Lastly, there’s the..uhhh…Ganzania. They are growing well too. The whole operation has been a resounding success so far.

Next weekend, I make the next tray. Not sure how I’m going to arrange things yet, or how I’m going to juggle all these plants outgrowing their pellets, but shoot, spring’s got to come eventually. When it does, I’ll have flower. Lots of them.

Next Man Up

Keep your eyes open for a possible storm 3/3.

Googling Not As Cute As Superbowl Commercial

You know that Super Bowl commercial about googling your exciting new lover from France? Most of the time, Google probably tells a different story about your priorities and plights. From the always interesting Trevin Wax, here’s a link about internet search information made public by AOL a few years ago. People candidly tell stories to Google, and Google remembers them all.

Day After Tomorrow

I feel obligated to tell you that a potential blockbuster storm is in the works for the traditional Nor’Easter areas – interior and north of us – later this week. We could get a couple of inches of snow from it. It seems like a mighty complex system, so I’m not going to speculate much further.

Addendum
From my father, jumpstarting the hype machine:
“Here we go again. NWS says ALL OUT BLIZZARD for Thursday into Friday with 1-2-feet for Orange County. Bastardi has one model that puts the bulls-eye between Washington and Baltimore with colder temps than NY and heavier wind, but not as much snow. His analog years are 1969 (Lindsey storm), 1958 and 1888 (the white Hurricane with Warwick measuring 42″). Be ready.”

Addendum
Let the hype begin! Just to be clear – this is a big deal Philly and north and west. This will be a wind maker in Baltimore, with some snow, but I think this is a much bigger deal for Goshen then Elkridge.

Addendum
Here’s your latest snow map. So Genelle, your weekend is in jeopardy. Sheesh.

Addendum
Some predictions:
Somewhere (probably in NY) will see over 40 inches of snow between now and Saturday.
Somewhere in Delmarva will see sustained winds over 50 mph with gusts over 65 mph between now and Saturday.

Flying

There’s a fundamental flaw in this article on the luge death in Vancouver. It assumes, a priori, that the death was not the athlete’s fault. I don’t think that’s a safe assumption. Doesn’t mean it’s not tragic.

Stago Storms

Stacey sent me a text last night asking about the impending weather. I’m a little numb to it now, and it’s not looking like the blockbuster events of the previous few months, so I haven’t really been following. I can tell you that we’re looking at three-ish systems over the next 2-ish weeks. The first one looks like it will be infiltrated with rain for us. The second won’t be a big deal, the third might be bigger. The first is the Monday time frame. I’ll try to look up more on it later.

US XC Nats

It’s worth mentioning…Little Stevie Furst, shown here stalking American record holder in the 5000m Dathan Ritzenheim, just placed a respectable 9th at US Nationals for Cross Country in Spokane, WA. He was aggressive, sitting 4th for the first few miles, right behind some huge names and in front of some others. Bobby Mack, known for his high fiber diet was 7th in the same race. Along with John Crews, winner of all 3 marathons he’s won, including a 2:17 or something ridiculous like that, NCSt’s class of whenever they finally graduated is tearing up the professional ranks. Congratulations to all.

Loaded Questions

Last year, I voted for Barack Obama while registering to be a Republican. I figure that Maryland will always vote Democrat (unless they trot out McGovern again), so if I want my vote to count even a little bit, I have to vote in someone’s primary. I like half the Republican candidates and about a quarter of the democrat ones, so Republican it was.

Since then, I’ve gotten a handful of surveys, meant to whip me into an annoyed frenzy – the sort of frenzy that would induce me to return the self addressed stamped envelope with a contribution of $100, $200, dare I say, $500 to stop Obama’s liberal agenda. Now, they don’t want the results of my survey. They’ll be like me with wedding cards…open, shake to see if a check comes out, toss. Just kidding on that by the way, I saved all of the wedding cards that were extra special and even wanted to make a scrap book out of them. Let’s get back on track though.

So, I want to fill out the survey. The questions, Dear Reader^TM, were roughly as fair and balanced as Fox News. For instance, take the first one, and I block quote:

Do you agree with Barack Obama and the Democrats that taxes should be raised for the sake of “fairness,” regardless of the negative impact it is likely to have on the economy?

Not to get into an argument with Tim here, but could you ever ask a question like that in court?! Leading the witness, your Honor! Let’s break it down…
“Agree that taxes should be raised” – everyone’s taxes? this is a policy position here? I Barack Obama, with my disaffected Democratic Congress, hereby promise to raise taxes in an election year while the economy’s in the tank.
“for the sake of ‘fairness’” – So, Obama’s like “come on guys, it’s only fair!” Bunch of snotty button pushers these Republicans.
“negative impact that it is likely to have on the economy” – see also, Bush family (x2).

A handful of other ridiculous ones…

Should English be the official language of the United States?

Are we officially xenophobic as a party now?

Do you believe that Barack Obama’s nominees for federal courts should be immediately and unquestionably approved for their lifetime appointments by the US Senate?

Hey guys, that’s how it worked for like 4 Bush appointees. You lie! All Supreme Court assignments are for life. Who doesn’t believe that’s true after reading this survey? Lots of people are going to shout and scream about the injustice of all this. They’ll make signs like “No more dicktaters in the quarts! Go back to France, Stalin!” Nevermind, Stalin’s a little obscure for this crowd.

Do you support the creation of a national health insurance plan that would be administered by bureaucrats in Washington, DC?

Bureaucrats, fascists, republicans, bacterium, rapists, I dunno, does anyone else get aggravated by such blatant emotional engineering?

Do you agree, as the Democrats have proposed, with vision care plans that would pluck the eyeballs from sleeping babies for use on illegal immigrants?

And so on.

Now, let’s be clear. Everyone is this obnoxious. When you give someone a bully pulpit, they spew half truths and scare tactic gobbledygook to advance their agenda, Republican, Democrat, everyone. It’s the way this country works. It’s the way every country works, only most other countries kill the losers while we let them resume their day jobs. I’m going to fill out the survey and enclose a piece of paper that will fall out when they shake my envelope. It will say “$0 until you at least make believe that you’ve researched the accuracy of your questions” or something like that. I’ll take suggestions.

Waste of Spaces

There are several vehicles in our parking lot that have yet to be dug out from the blizzard. If you can survive for over a week without your car, why do you have it? Kick me in the head if I ever decide that I’d like to own and pay insurance on a car that I have no use for.

Not Much This Storm

We’re not out of the woods yet. There’s a big storm in the works for 7-10 days out. This particular storm, Monday evening into Tuesday, is just a 2-4 job for Elkridge, I think. Lewisburg is probably about the same. Goshen maybe a couple inches more. I don’t think this one is as big a deal…of course we’re not set up to handle snow right now – we have so stinkin’ much on the ground.

Two Wrongs Never Make You Right

Where there’s conflict for me it has rarely been, “is it my fault, or is it your fault?” It’s always my fault. My pertinent questions are “is it entirely my fault? do I need to start implementing damage control measures?” Once you’ve caused as many problems as I have, you stop wondering if someone else is to blame and just assume that you are.

In a way this is a positive. I rarely feel affronted by others, most of the time I assume conflict resolution is something that I have to do to make someone else feel better, as surely it’s my fault. Most of the time I was at fault with women, and women, as you might be aware, are never wrong.

That’s the cultural claim, at least. We, mankind, must avoid womankind’s whimsy and wrath, because we are always wrong and they are always right. Conditioned as I was by this cultural assumption, I was surprised when a girl/female/lady friend of mine recounted a recent conflict with someone by echoing my common refrain – of course it was my fault, it’s always my fault, I mess everything up.

As with most things, there’s a fine line between a healthy perspective of ones negative tendencies and an unhealthy self-loathing. Yes, you, me, everyone, even those who are too blind to see their real selves through their mythological self-conceptions, are bad people. We mess everything up. Our natural human tendency is to sow discord. Attribute it to whatever you want – maybe it’s original sin, maybe it’s survival of the fittest, but we constantly strive to elevate ourselves, our glory, our genome above our neighbors. It’s good to hold open the constant possibility that one might be wrong…because we probably are.

The problem comes in when you wrap your identity into being this bad person. Let me introduce myself. I’m Eric. I’m the guy that messes everything up. I can’t help myself, I’ll mess you up too, steer clear, watch out, I’m secretly scheming of ways to screw up the next thing too. We start to use our corrupt nature as an excuse, start to think we are resigned to our fallen fate, we’ll rot and fall under the weightiness of our own evil. Inevitability is an expedient to the continued future decay of your soul.

And it’s true, the whole world is still mired in its corruption, groaning under the stress of its brokenness. It shivers and cities shut down, it spasms and they fall, it heaves and they disintegrate. Year after year more broken people do more broken things, year after year people get sick and die. One day it will be better, one day we will be redeemed from ourselves, but in the meanwhile, deep down we have a new nature. We are now defined by something other than our intrinsic corruption.

Because of this some day it might not be my fault. You will be the first to know. Don’t hold your breath.

Historicity

From Accuweather’s Elliot Abrams:
“Amazing stats: Philadelphia received just over 44 inches of snow during the first 10 days of February. Since January 1, 1993, a little over 17 years ago, the Philadelphia snow total was 435 inches (including the newest snow). That means in just 10 days the city has gotten more than 10 percent of the total it has received in the last 17 years. When you consider that period includes the January blizzard of 1996 and other big storms (such as March 1993, February 1994, and February 2003), it is apparent that while periods with heavy snow are spectacular, the giant storms are relatively rare. We can go years without seeing a lot of snow in the Middle Atlantic states. The totals for Baltimore, Washington and Philadelphia so far this winter have eclipsed the totals for ANY winter season in the nearly century and a half of official record keeping.”

There’s a good stat.

Life At the North Pole

Check that, the north pole doesn’t get snow like this.

I am going to say this one more time. This is the most insane weather week I’ve ever been a part of. We had 30+ inches of snow Friday into Saturday, and now we’re probably another 15 inches of wind driven powder into storm #2, a mere 5 days hence. 40 miles away from us, it has been doing nothing for hours, but we are stuck in this tremendous band of snow. It’s 21 degrees. The barometric pressure has been before 29.00 inches all day long. Winds are sustained to 20 mph, gusting to 40. We have 3 feet of snow everywhere, 6 feet in places, probably more. After a valiant effort, snow removal crews have given up. This is a battle that cannot be won. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to make it into work tomorrow either.

BWI is at something like 75 inches of snow so far this year, which will put us closer to 80. We’re 30 inches away from beating my lifetime’s NY record and that was a spectacular winter by NY standards. I’m just beside myself.

Squashed

I’d bet on the under for this storm. It was looking pretty wimpy last night and while it’s been cranking for a couple hours now, it ain’t getting to 20 inches, that’s fo-sho. I think that forecasters become emboldened by success. I think they start changing their thinking such that now, eh, 18 inches, no biggie. Well, for around here it is. You can go 5 years without an 18 inch snow, heck, you can go 10 years without one. The fact that we’ve had 2 in one year does mean it’s more likely to have it this year than normal ones (because these are not independent random events), but it is still no mean feat.

Whatever the case, we had about 3.5 inches as of 11 PM last night. Then, over night we got some freezing rain/sleet, which seems to have tamped down that 3.5 inches to 1 inch. Now we have 3 or 4 inches again. I guess that puts our total at something like 6 inches. Maybe 12 is possible. I dunno, I kind of even doubt that, though it is snowing pretty hard right now.

NYC, your fun starts soon.

So Uhh…

The Saints just won the Superbowl. That’s kind of bizarre.

Not For Nothin But…

Keep your ears open for Tuesday Night/Wednesday morning. Seriously. How does another 6-12 sound?

But this one is really for NYC – enjoy.

Addendum
I’m getting a little tired of keeping up with all of this. Tuesday night to Wednesday, expect something on the order of 10 inches for my neck of the woods. I’ve got to shovel out the deck this evening…just in time to get the last of the bulk snow out of the way for tomorrow night. I’m looking at a good chance of 7 straight days with shoveling here.

Addendum
I guess something like 12-16 for us here in MD – maybe a bit more north and east of Baltimore. 6-10 for the ‘Burg, 14-18 for NYC with really nasty blizzard conditions.

Holy Snow

I live in Elkridge.

This is effing incredible. Just insane. I want to confirm that total. I see at least another 6 inches today.

Addendum
Get official totals here.

We’re bombing! The Nor’Easter is starting to crank, and the snow is accumulating heavily again. The real question – does Elkridge officially break 3 feet? My guess? 38 by 8 PM tonight. That’s insane. You could live four lifetimes here on Ducketts Ln and never see that again.

Addendum
Here are some pictures from 10 AM. Insane. We’ve gotten another 4 inches since then.

Addendum 2/6 1330
I think we’re into our last 3 inches here. I see about another 1-2 hours of decent snow, then tapering down. I have well over 2 feet on the ground which includes compression. Best I can tell for the total snow fall so far is 7.5 by 11 PM last night, 21+ more by 10 this morning, 5 more since.

Addendum
Snow’s stopping. I don’t know how much we got. I’ll go ruin the beautiful deck in an hour or so and see if I can get a good measurement. I think we have about 25 inches of snow on the ground. I think that the spotter report of 30.3 at 6AM is inaccurate. It’s possible that he dealt with a drift or exposed just a small patch of land (which will blow in quickly). Who knows, I just don’t think I buy it. Given compression and all that, I think 30 is fair as a total, but not a 6 AM value – we’ve gotten 6 inches of snow since then.

I just went out on a run. The roads are OK, though I ran over 95 and southbound if parked, mostly semis but other poor dolts mixed in. There were a handful of trees down along the road, and let me tell you, it was incredibly beautiful in the woods.

Addendum
This just in! Elkridge’s official number just dropped from 30.3 at 6 AM to 28.5 at 11 AM! That’s more like it! That means about 30 total.

Addendum
2 W ELKRIDGE 38.3 400 PM 2/06
All right, dude’s got some splainin’ to do. 38 is consistent with the 30 he thought he had at 6 AM, but not consistent with the 28.5 he reported at 11 AM. What gives man? Whatever the case, they’re calling us ground zero for this storm. That’s the highest total. I live 3 miles from this guy’s house, and we have 23 inches in several drop sites in the yard, as many as 25 in various points around the community. We have quite a bit of compression, and the bottom 3 inches of snow are very wet, meaning a lot of it as drained down during the storm, but I find it hard to believe that we lost 15 inches through those mechanisms. I think we were closer to the 30 that everyone else reported near here.

Now, we were in the thundersnow zone at 4 AM. Tons of snow was falling during that event. I don’t know how much of it was related to drifting, but I did get 21 inches from 11 PM to 8 AM. In fact, here are my numbers.

2 PM-11 PM: 7.5 inches (shoveled walks)
11PM – 12 PM: 3 inches (did not shovel)
11PM – 8 AM: 21 inches
Shoveled at 10 AM. Did not measure what fell between 8 and 10 AM. Let’s say 2 inches – it was snowing but not horrendously during that time.
10 AM – 3 PM: 4 inches

So, for me, it’s 7.5+21+2+4 = 34.5 inches +/- something

Well shoot. I dunno what to think. I think he’s high. My measurement is right in line with Columbia and Savage. His is 4 inches higher than anyone else except for a completely aberrant Colesville number. I didn’t trust my 21 inches because that was measured on a stretch of ground that I had shoveled. It was between two areas where the snow was higher – my front porch this is, so the middle was about 1.5 feet from higher snow. It’s my experience that snow will fill in holes and tend to equilibrate.

I can get 44 inches in snow drifts, if that helps.

Long story short, I don’t know if they’re going to accept his measurement.

Here are the reports.

Addendum
…HOWARD COUNTY…
2 W ELKRIDGE 38.3 405 PM 2/06
2 N COLUMBIA 33.8 320 PM 2/06
1 WSW SAVAGE 33.0 400 PM 2/06
ELKRIDGE 32.7 625 PM 2/06
1 SE CLARKSVILLE 31.5 530 PM 2/06
1 SSE SIMPSONVILLE 31.1 430 PM 2/06
1 ESE ELLICOTT CITY 30.2 530 PM 2/06
1 N SAVAGE 29.0 500 PM 2/06
1 WNW JESSUP 23.0 515 PM 2/06 AVERAGE DEPTH

OK, I’ll buy Elkridge #2. They got rid of the bonkers 40 in total from Colesville too. Next off the list, the bonkers Elkridge value.

Addendum
Want some history? This winter, with its two headed blizzard monster, is something like a once a millennium event for Baltimore. If only weather followed the same rules as it has since 1870 for 1000 straight years that is.

Beyond Epic

It is 11:35 and we’re getting buried. I was disappointed with the first 6 hours of the storm, we had only 4 inches at 8 PM. By 11, we were up to 8 inches, with drifting making it difficult to tell. I went out and shoveled the neighborhood – it was just about the heaviest snow I’ve ever dealt with, the bottom 2 inches end up being sopping wet. The wind is picking up, and we’re snowing at 1-2 inch per hour right now. By 8 AM, I expect 16 inches, maybe more. Our official guidance calls for 22.5 now – which is an ungodly number for a computer to put out. Those things are always cautious.

The temps are dropping and snowfall ratios should start climbing. That means the same about of liquid will make more snow. Could we have 20 in the morning? Yup.

Addendum
It’s an hour after the last post. I just helped two cars stranded in front of my house. In the last hour, we’ve gotten between 2 and 3 inches of snow – I had cleared the sidewalk, and now there’s three inches. I’m putting the tally at 11 at 12:15 and going to bed. This is insane. Nothing under 30 is out of the question.

Blizzarding

Fine fine.

Friday through Saturday. 16+ for Baltimore, 8+ for NYC – it’s another big one. It’ll be bigger for more people than the mauler we got the day before my wedding. Sheesh.

Here’s a reliable source.

Addendum 2/3/10
As far as I can tell, Elkridge has had 30 inches of snow so far this year. Average is somewhere like 20 inches. For reference, average snowfall for Goshen is probably around 40-50 inches.

We’re going to get over a foot Friday into Saturday. I’d say closer to 18 than 12.

Next Tuesday? Stay tuned, but it could be another big one. Could we crack 60 inches of snow this winter? Yup. Stormy, cold pattern have we here.

Check this out.

Addendum 2/4 AM
Remember that thing about the model amounts? They’re up to 16 inches now. I’ve never seen a model make such a bold prediction. If you and I are betting on 18 inches, I’d take the over at this point. Looks like it will start tomorrow around noon and end Saturday around 5 PM. 18-24 for Balto-DC, 16-20 for Philly, 6-12 for LBurg, 4-8 for NYC, 4-6 for Goshen. Something like that.

Addendum 2/4 AM later
Looks like my idea (or “my interpretation of their ideas”) is pretty well supported by the most recent snowfall map from Accuweather’s Henry Margusity. Try to make it more optimized for Elkridge, I dare you.

There’s a ton of liquid with this storm. The massive snowfalls will come if the temp drops even a tiny bit. The snowfall to liquid ratio is expected to be about 10 to 1 for my area – so if we get 20 inches, that would mean that 2 inches of precip fell (so 2 inches rain = 20 inches snow). If we are 3 degrees colder, that ratio will change to closer to 15-20 to 1. Now, colder temps pull some of the sting out of these storms, so there’s a limit on the amount of snow we can get, but shoot. Realistically, everything between 12 and 28 inches is still within the realm of possibility.

They do everything in all caps…

..WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 10 AM FRIDAY TO 10 PM EST
SATURDAY…

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STERLING VIRGINIA HAS ISSUED A
WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW WITH NEAR-BLIZZARD
CONDITIONS…WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 10 AM FRIDAY TO 10 PM EST
SATURDAY. THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

* PRECIPITATION TYPE…HEAVY SNOW.

* ACCUMULATIONS…STORM TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS OF 16 TO 24 INCHES.

* TIMING…SNOW WILL BEGIN MID-MORNING FRIDAY…AND WILL CONTINUE
THROUGH SATURDAY EVENING. CONDITIONS WILL DETERIORATE RAPIDLY
FRIDAY AFTERNOON…WITH HEAVIEST SNOWFALL OCCURRING BETWEEN
SUNSET FRIDAY TO SUNRISE SATURDAY. THE MOST HAZARDOUS WINTER
WEATHER CONDITIONS WILL OCCUR FRIDAY NIGHT…WHEN THE
COMBINATION OF HEAVY SNOW AND STRONG WINDS WILL REDUCE
VISIBILITIES TO BELOW ONE-QUARTER MILE…PRODUCING NEAR-BLIZZARD
CONDITIONS.

* TEMPERATURES…HIGHS IN THE LOWER 30S FRIDAY. FRIDAY NIGHT AND
SATURDAY…TEMPERATURES WILL BE IN THE MID 20S.

* WINDS…BECOMING NORTHEAST 10 TO 20 MPH FRIDAY WITH GUSTS TO 30
MPH FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

THIS STORM HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE SIMILAR TO THE 19 DECEMBER
STORM. PLAN FOR SUBSTANTIAL DISRUPTIONS TO TRAVEL FRIDAY AFTERNOON
THROUGH THE WEEKEND.

A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW ARE
EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. STRONG WINDS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE. THIS WILL
MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE FRIDAY NIGHT.

Snow Boating

Lots of chatter about the upcoming week. First, we should get something Tuesday night here in Balto, probably a couple of inches. Saturday’s definitely a bigger storm – where it’s bigger and what sort of precip is entailed is still pending. It has a better chance to effect the northlands that the previous storms.

Addendum
Looking like ~4 inches for Elkridge tonight, 3-7 across the area, with higher amounts north and west of the city.

Fri/Saturday is shaping up to be a foot for around here. Models are calling for 16 inches to DC. I’m going to keep it on the low side of all this – 10-14 for DC, 8-12 for Elkridge, 6-8 for Philly, interpolate as necessary. 3 or something in NYC.

Addendum 2/3 AM
I use the momentum rule to augment my interpretations of the forecasts. If the snow totals keep climbing, I make them climb more. By that rule, the numbers listed below are too low by, say 4 inches. This is going to be a big storm.

Unfortunately, the model guidance is also shifting north. Good news for Goshen, but a potential issue for us – if this is rain, even any rain, instead of all snow, those totals plummet. I’ll hold the course for now, but stay tuned.

Timing wise, this is going to have more in Friday than originally specified. I see Friday starting around midday, snowing through most of Saturday.

Keep your eyes open for next Tuesday time frame. This is undoubtedly one of the stormiest patterns we’ve had since I’ve been in MD. This is also a historically cold winter for us. Apparently the southern hemisphere has been warm, better be because the US and Europe are not helping to make 2010 the hottest year on record – a prediction that many in the climate community have made.

More Snow, Here You Go

Tues/Wed and then next weekend, both possibilities for more snow. Saturday’s could be an extreme event, though it might not be optimized for the mid atlantic. Bastardi, who has been spotless this year, thinks that we’re in for several more weeks of winter, storms, cold and all.

And The Survey Says…

Every so often, executives at work say to themselves “I want to do something fun, and since I’m in charge here, I’m going to fabricate an excuse to make normal employees watch me have fun.” This time, it’s Family Feud. To support their effort, us employees are to fill out a survey of a bunch of questions. Since it’s optional, you get responses from The Sort Of People Who Have The Time To Do Optional Family Feud Surveys Instead Working™ (that’s the Bess Jankowski Memorial Overused Trademark™ in case you’re wondering).

Forgetting the potential statistical skew this engenders to the data – and I’m on a big “your statistics are worthless” kick these days – it perpetuates a silly counter-culture at work. Let’s be honest with ourselves…those execs who play these games work hard (or at least constantly) most of the time. When push comes to shove, they love the employees they can lean on constantly to work hard too. Yet it’s the other people that go to watch these dog and pony shows – I feel like they should have one of these things one day as a means to decide who to lay off. Get them all into the room, start playing Hollywood Squares, and then anyone who is still watching after 15 minutes gets a pink slip. Sure, the HR people might be appalled, as they seem to be unaware that the acceptable “work/life balance” is “work while you’re still alive, then stop when you aren’t”. I just made up that sound bite, which is why it’s not very clever.

Anyway, one of the questions on the survey was “What is your favorite element on the periodic table?” So, you have 115ish choices, none of which have ever personally distinguished themselves through clever PR. How do they expect to get more than 10% on any of those responses? It’s like asking “what is your favorite number from 1-40?”, because let’s face it, no one knows more than 40 elements. It’s a crapshoot. Still, I have thought about it a little, and here’s my top 10, in no particular order.

Oxygen (O) – now Oxygen has a good PR man, I’ll give it that.
Carbon (C) – recall, we are carbon based lifeforms, just like…all life on the planet.
Nitrogen (N) – there’s a lot of it around, and it rarely hurts people other than deep sea divers.
Hydrogen (H) – with uses as diverse as super powerful bombs and water, hydrogen has its fingers in a lot of pies.
Platinum (ummm) – precious.
Gold (Au I think) – also precious.
Copper (Cu I think) – useful for electronics n stuff.
Sodium (Na maybe) – who doesn’t like salt?
Potassium (K) – this is just a personal thing. I like how it reacts so readily with water.
Aluminum (Al) – Consider aluminum foil.

I don’t know, I could see maybe 10 more being in the mix…Calcium, Magnesium, Iron, Silver, Zinc, Helium, Silicon (for engineers), Neon, Uranium, Plutonium, and then who else would be in there? I’m starting to think maybe it’s not so ridiculous afterall. Still, nothing more than 20% for any one of them.

How About 542 Pictures?

Where are the pictures, where are the pictures, where are the pictures? I’m working as fast as I can people!

I’ve posted all 542 that our photographer Brian McEntire sent to us on my smugmug page. You can buy these pictures.

State of the Union – Nod and Blink

Why not, let’s live blog the state of the union.

9:09 – On a scale of carrot to Holland, how orange does our president look this evening?

9:10 – Jen just noticed that Biden and Pelosi are coordinated in their purple attire. Orange and purple go well together.

9:11 – Joe Biden has a great fake smile. He is a blue collar guy.

9:11 – Nancy Pelosi has cut down on the blinking, but I still can’t get over it. Maybe she needs to start coughing so she can take a break for a bit.

9:12 – I don’t think that the Union allies landed on Omaha beach at Bull Run Mr President.

9:13 – A year ago, I took office in a country exactly as it is now.

9:15 – Jen is watching the SotU while reading “Antineoplastic agents in the management of ovarian cancer”. I stole her laptop so now she can’t live blog.

9:17 – You might recall that I liked Joe Biden the best out of all the democrat candidates. He nods well. Though he just almost clapped out of turn.

9:18 – Root canals need a new PR guy.

9:20 – Jen just noticed that the supreme court and generals don’t stand and clap. That’s what happens when you have jobs that you keep until you die – you don’t over exert yourself.

9:21 – Booo for tax cuts say the Republicans. Boooo! No applause for you Obama!

9:22 – Where’s the “You lie!” guy?

9:23 – For whatever it’s worth, the sound quality on Fox News is substantially better than the sound on CNN.

9:24 – The slums are starting to hire again, that’s good to know.

9:26 – Pelosi, in the last minute, has looked like she’s working exceptionally hard to not blink. The Republicans are unimpressed.

9:27 – In short, let’s do everything that might conceivably make anyone happy. Let’s pay for it with good will and peace for all men.

9:29 – OK guys, bring your dark suits and look annoyed. Never clap.

9:29 – HOUSE HOUSE HOUSE!!!

9:29 – SENATE SENATE SENATE!!!

9:32 – The Republicans begrudgingly also do not accept second place for America. They’re going to have to stand and clap for the puppy portion of the speech too.

9:33 – Jen just read the last thing and did not laugh. Chances are it wasn’t funny. It stays.

9:34 – I wonder how tall Joe Biden is.

9:35 – This doesn’t help, but it’s interesting.

9:36 – I just missed the climate part.

9:36 – Jen thinks that Nancy Pelosi is going to jump up with pom poms eventually.

9:37 – I agree on clean energy. Global warming or not, clean air is good.

9:37 – We will double our experts, by paying our workers more.

9:38 – I like the pro-America thing. He’s got some nationalist tendencies.

9:39 – “So that our trading partners play by the rules…” like by subsidizing farmers.

9:40 – The supreme court can’t even clap for education? What about Santa Claus?

9:41 – I want to be Michele Obama’s special guest. I promise not to live blog next year if I get a seat on the balcony.

9:42 – That’s a strange policy. You don’t have to pay back your loans. Hmmm, sounds too good to be true. Hmm.

9:43 – We’ve entered the health insurance reform portion of our program. I want to hear about death panels.

9:44 – Obama just made a good joke about the political suicide that his health care plan has been for the Democratic party.

9:45 – Michelle Obama hates fat kids like…fat kids like cake.

9:46 – Jen has read three sentences in her paper. She highlighted “platinum agent” and “taxane”. GET TO WORK.

9:49 – The thing is, Bush did put the economy in the tank. He killed the budget.

9:50 – John McCain has gout on his face maybe.

9:51 – Do you think someone made sure that Obama’s tie used slashes in the opposite direction as Biden’s?

9:54 – Obama’s wearing a red tie. Aren’t the Republicans red?

9:55 – Are the Republicans all wearing light blue shirts?

9:56 – Let’s do something we’ve never tried. Let’s make everything better for less money. I’m hearing things like “You are working hard enough, maybe you just need to work smarter.” The only problem is, that is meaningless and/or impossible.

9:59 – Obama just spent a half hour bashing Republicans, now he wants to make peace. I enjoy that tactic.

10:03 – Nod.

10:03 – Blink.

10:04 – Politicians are a bunch of sticks in the mud.

10:05 – Tell me, is it the American policy to impose our social systems on Afghanistan? What if they Afghani people don’t want to give women rights? Just asking.

10:07 – Generals clap for veterans. The supreme court is asleep.

10:10 – How can you increase North Korea’s isolation?

10:10 – How much longer is this going to go? I want to go to bed.

10:11 – Someone just laughed about climate change, and Joe Biden just shot him a death glare. Pelosi stared him down too, but she blinked.

10:13 – The generals didn’t care one way or another about gays in the military. By the way, they aren’t prohibited.

10:17 – This guy is a great speaker. He owns the room when he talks.

10:19 – I want some yogurt. And to go to bed.

10:19 – Dear 8 year old boy in Louisiana: The president is not a 503(c)(3) organization.

10:21 – The president was interrupted 86 times for applause. Fox News is still counting Joe Biden’s nods and Nancy Pelosi’s blinks.

Weekend Snow

All right, thanks once again to my people at Accuweather, who pegged the blizzard of 2009 from about 8 days out…

Based on what they’re saying, I’m seeing a 8ish inch event (they’re saying 6-12) for Baltimore starting Friday evening, going through Saturday. Things are not looking good for NYC getting much, however – at the moment the snow is slipping to the south, leaving you in the not much to 4 inch range. Be forewarned, Bastardi wants to get you some snow, but the models all took a shift south during the day today.

It’s nothing epic, but the cold that follows will be pretty abnormal. Look for single digit lows in our neck of the woods come Sunday/Monday.

I’m all over it, never fear.

Addendum
Well, we’re right on the edge here in Balto/Washington. It’s looking like NYC is more or less in the clear, maybe a squall or two. Washington is probably 2-8 inches, Baltimore probably more like 0-6. Again, plenty of cold available, it’s just looking like this storm is optimized for NC/VA, not so much for us.

Now there’s a lame prediction, 0-6 inches. Oh well, we’ll see.

Want some snow on 2/3? That’s next in the shute, we’ll see on that too.

Addendum 1/28 AM
I dunno. I think Balto is going to get something. Let’s change the forecast from 0-6 to 2-6. Snow will occur mostly on Saturday.

For whatever it’s worth, little Stevie Furst could get a foot in Raleigh.

The storm track for next Tues/Wed seems to be further north.

Addendum 1/29 AM
Fine fine. 1-3 for DC, 0-2 for us, 12ish for Raleigh, nada for NYC. It’s still a big storm, just not for us.

Also, the bitter brutal cold was going to be related to the snow cover on the ground. Without the snow cover, I’m backing off the single digits too. Be on the look out for 10 degrees though.

Experimental Design, People

Jeff Masters, a tropical weather forecaster and occasionally myoptic global warming wag, posted an interesting article regarding the accusation of bias in temperature stations in the United States. As the story goes, over time these temperature stations have been enveloped by development. Since human things (pavement, waste exhaust etc) only lead to warmer micro climates, the theory is that we have introduced an observer bias in these stations. It might skew our temperature measurements warmer on average and explain the cause of global warming. It’s definitely a plausible theory.

Except that it’s apparently been proven false. Some actual scientists (as opposed to the global warming skepticals, who are every bit as ignorant as the global warming fanatics) grabbed the data from these “biased” weather stations and compared them to the pristine ones. If you look in the article, it shows that they’re not biased. In theory, it makes sense that they might be, in reality, they aren’t. So much for debunking global warming through that method.

Now, I will temper this. They have selected a subset of our weather stations, one that still provides adequate coverage, but that is unimpigned by human sprawl. They use this subset for important predictions and measurements these days. Good for them.

What irks me is that they still use the known bad data too. Masters claims that any potential warm bias is counteracted by a known cold bias in the sensor. Uhhh…we’re using a sensor that we know has a measurement error? It’s OK to use things we know are biased in our sample set? Just average em all together, the good, the bad, the broken, smush em all into one big mush of data. Are you telling me that people all over the world are averaging these apples with those oranges to figure out how the lemonade is changing as a function of carbon dioxide introduced to the system by humans? How are we suppose to trust ANY of the conclusions if these scientitists are haphazardly accumulating disjoint conglomerates of data? What kind of experiment is that?

Oh well. We’ll know one way or another by 2030, assuming we make it that long.

Hot Off The Press

Bastardi likes a big storm this weekend – not as big as the one in December, but substantial enough. Details to follow once others start chiming in…or he starts backpedaling.

Addendum 1/26 AM
Things are looking good on this story. Looks like a Friday/Saturday thing. It seems like the big thing for this particular storm will be the temperature – it will be COLD. It looks like we could get a lot of the snow at temperatures at or below 20 F. This could lead to high snow ratios – colder air tends to make puffier snow. This is looking like quite the winter for the mid-atlantic. Last I heard NYC was still in there for a direct hit – I’ll advise this evening after I watch everyone’s videos on the subject.

Addendum 2
This has nothing to do with this weekend’s storm, but how about Mt Washington losing the wind speed record. It wasn’t even close.

Who Dat?

The Saints are in the Super-Booowl.

Hail Cubes

When my brother and I were kids, we’d watch every storm, oftentimes standing under the awning or running to some obscenely unsafe location to get the best vantage point. My father, also a weather weenie, took part as well.

Last year, none of us were home when my mother witnessed one of the worst storms we’ve ever had. She was so annoyed that none of us were there to be impressed by it, to lend it our seal of severe weather approval. She collected hail and stuck it in the freezer to make sure at least my father could be impressed by its severity.

Interestingly, sometimes hail goes in the other direction.

Addendum
You’ll appreciate this. It’s about my guy Drew, written by the hilarious Jo.

Suffering Sufferage

In the past year since he took office, President Obama’s approval rating has dropped from somewhere in the 70% range to somewhat below 50%. Me? I like the guy. I liked him when I voted for him. He’s smart, he’s cosmopolitan – he helps the American brand worldwide. Those outside of the United States think very highly of him, and that improves our position in the world. He has been proactive on the economy, he has managed our military admirably, he successfully purchased a dog.

Some people are disgruntled that he hasn’t accomplished what he said he would. Me? I’m not a clueless idealist. I, like many people who live in reality, knew that it was impossible for Obama to do a third of the things he promised to do. The young and impressionable bought into it. You would have thought we’d have solar powered abortion clinics for gay couples by now – funded by a public option and staffed by illegally held detainees no less.

Hope is a nice thing. It energizes 20 somethings to go to campaign rallies for a few months before returning to their couches to ponder how to leverage their religion degrees into a six figure work at home income. “Hope floats” they say – until it pops and plummets after a few months. It doesn’t take long for optimists to become pessimists. By my estimate, Obama’s lost about 40 million already!

Whose fault is it? It’s not Obama’s. He operates in the same reality that politicians have always operated in. I, for one, blame the fickle American public. We do this after every election, republican, democrat, and if we ever elected a libertarian nihilist, we’d flip flop on him in 9 months too. We prefer to be unhappy for as long as possible, so that we can naively convince ourselves that the future will be better than the past every four years. It’s not a bad system. Stupid, repetitive, predictable, sure, but we have had 200 or so straight years of orderly power transfers. Somewhere, something is working.

Now let’s just not go overboard and elect Sarah Palin – Obama’s not that bad.

Slideshow

You want to want to watch this, probably.

Haiti

Here are the Furst family choices for Haiti donations:

Partners In Health is an organization that Jen has known about for a while. Haiti is their thing – they have over 100 doctors and 500 nurses that operate out of Haiti regularly. Boots on the ground.

World Relief has been my biggest non-church contribution for the last 6 years. Based out of Baltimore (and staffed by friend Amy), World Relief attempts to fulfill part of the church’s mandate to serve the poor. They are large enough to make an impact, and small enough that your donation will make an impact.

For a country with almost no previous infrastructure, something like this is a much bigger deal than just the event. It will take a logistical operation with substantial resources to feed, clothe, care for and house the displaced and injured for the next several months. Feel free to post other reputable organization – Lara, I’m looking at you…

Addendum
Jen hit the nail on the head with Partners in Health. They have spent years building connections in Haiti and their expertise is coming in handy as the world ramps up its effort.

“Yesterday, Dr. Farmer arrived in Port-au-Prince to check in with our team and to meet with Government and UN officials. Since his visit, we have already seen the tide begin to change – this morning, the PIH/Zanmi Lasante team was designated by the World Health Organization to serve as the coordinators of the public hospital, Hopital de l’ Universite d’Etat d’Haiti (HUEH), where thousands are suffering in need of medicines and surgeries. In this new role, we will be supporting the administration and staff and recruiting other NGOs to help restore services, particularly triage, nursing, and surgical, at the city’s central hospital. Our priority is to increase stock of medicines and supplies, ensure steadily functioning operating rooms, and guarantee sufficient medical staff is available, particularly for nursing care to help with post-op recovery, iv management, and other care that has had to be self managed over the past three days.”

Mr Chicken Cacciatore Down on Mulberry Street

Jen dove back into the recipe book tonight, this time preparing Janet’s Chicken Cacciatore. Now, I’ve still never met Janet. I think she’s avoiding me. She has come up in conversation enough times that if I don’t recognize someone that Jen is talking to, I accuse her of being Janet, especially now that Lisa’s existence has been proven.

This is not the first time I’ve eaten Chicken Cacciatore. When I went to class at APL for my masters, I used to stop at Mamma Lucia’s for a chicken parm sub. This was an almost weekly occurrence, but I was too cheap to buy anything other than the sandwich. I determined that I would treat myself to a real meal the last time I went there before graduating. Having confused Chicken Cacciatore with Chicken Piccata, I accidentally ordered it for my celebratory meal.

The thing is, I don’t really care for peppers. They cause imbalance in the humors, make the blood angry. Regardless, Jen cooked it to perfection. Everything was of the perfect crispness, except for the chicken, which was appropriately moist. I are the peppers with gusto, because, damnit, my wife made me peppers and I was going to persevere. I couldn’t let Janet down either.

Tilapia

This is not like previous lives of the blog. If a friend gives me a recipe and especially if my sainted wife cooks it, I’m not allowed to not like it publicly.

Don’t read too much into that disclaimer. The Tilapia over spinach with mango salsa and rice was good. It needed soy sauce maybe, but so does everything. At least salt and pepper. We want to try a different salsa next time. Otherwise, yes, good.

In other news, Jen got me a wonderful Christmas present, The Economist. There’s a minor problem. I read it all the time…and still can’t keep up. There’s so much information in that magazine, much of which is interesting. Sure, I’ve never before said to myself “gee, I wonder what’s been happening in the upcoming election in Kazakhstan,” but if you stick it in front of my face, I’m going to want to know. I like opening my eyes, I really do. I’m not even really all that close-minded. I care more about how the rise of the middle class changed the wine industry than I need to. I like having useless tidbits at my disposal. I like the fact that I read the letters to the editor and don’t feel stupider, instead feeling cowed by the heads of state and government ministers that chime in on a weekly basis. Since I don’t know what it means, I would sign it Eric Furst, Esquire, should I ever write in.

Lemon Bars

We bought a bed today, a soft one, a queen, which is by the way only 6 inches wider than a full, but felt a lot bigger in the mattress store. We’ve been intentionally hemorrhaging money – I saved up a bunch of money solely for the purpose of dumping it all into a bevy of purchases designed to dislodge any vestiges of my previous life. Money buys stuff, and stuff confuses you until you forget what you were looking for, or even who you were.

That’s why you also need lemon bars. This was from my mom, thank you very much Amy, lemon bars better than you’re MOM’s meatloaf. Notoriously fickle, Jen took a game shot at them and managed to nail the flavor exactly right. The crust maybe needed four more minutes and the top layer another minute, and yes, we need a sifter for the powdered sugar, but shoot, I knew where it came from the minute I inhaled the sweet sweet [sugar into my lungs] aroma of lemon bars wafting from the oven.

One of these days I might get around to giving a special Words review of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Prison Letters – until then, you have this from Goodreads.

I’m still deciding how much I like Dave Barry, who is about as far from Bonhoeffer as one can get. I loved the first three chapters of A Series of Unfortunate Events as well – then it was the same for 3 straight books and it got stale. Barry is clever and weird, let’s see how high he flies with that.

Meatloaf

I don’t know what writing on here is going to look like in the future. I don’t know what to write about…or, more accurately, if I’m allowed to write about the things that I want to write about. One must maintain some minimum level of decorum. But before I start doing that, when you neglect to share your bed with people for 28 years, you know what you learn? Sleeping with someone else in a full size bed is not easy. I need some damn sleep.

Anyway, that has nothing to do with meatloaf. Otherwise things are fine. We have a ton of stuff in my house, and we need to figure out where to put it all. We went on a honeymoon to Ocean City, MD and saw almost no one. That was fun, incidentally. If the walls could blog…but I’m not the walls.

Still no meatloaf.

Rewind two months. Jen has her bridal shower, receiving almost no skimpy attire. Instead, she receives recipes. Me, I cook 5 times a week and never use recipes. I do everything on feel, a little bit of this, a little more of that, uhh, maybe make it hotter, colder, 3 or 4 more minutes, too acidic, needs pepper, maybe it’d taste better with soy sauce – as much as it is assumed that I’m anal retentive and formulaic, I really just do something based on how I feel like they should be done. I’m hardly an expert, but if you’ve eaten my food enough times, you’d have to admit it’s pretty decent. Not repeatable, mind you, but most of the time I get it together OK. So, I’m not a big recipe guy. Jen? She IS a big recipe guy. Err, girl. Everyone brings a recipe on an index card, all the index cards are compiled into a scrap book, food ensues.

I, in need of a gimmick, decided I was going to blog about our different recipes. Tonight was meatloaf. I don’t know who made it, but it seems like perhaps one of the Amys. The concept is meatloaf with onions, bisquick, ketchup/brown sugar sauce, ground beef and pork – pretty straightforward in mixture. Instead of baking it as a giant mass, you’re supposed to cook each clump separately, sort of like a tall hamburger. You still do it in pyrex and so on, it’s just not one lump. Jen, who was cooking tonight, supplemented with massed sweet potatoes and corn.

Not sure what to say now. It was good. It was tasty. The sauce was tangy. The meatloaf tasted like meatloaf, but maybe 20% better than most meatloaves. We have leftovers, which is nice. The recipe brazenly exclaimed “better than your mom’s meatloaf.” Better than MY mom’s or Jen’s mom’s? Don’t you talk about my mom. She doesn’t even make meatloaf, but if she did, it’d be better than your mom’s meatloaf. Maybe it’s better than your mom’s meatloaf, but you don’t even know my mom. Maybe it’s better than Jen’s mom’s meatloaf, fine, I’ll give you that. I don’t know if she makes meatloaf either.

Take it back.

Alive

This is going to be quick and fluff free. We made it back last night without much problem, though as of noon on Monday the roads are still snow covered. My first act as husband? Shoving 2 feet of snow to blaze a path for my mostly barefoot wife to the door, then extracting the heat pump from its icy tomb before it crapped out.

In Baltimore, the 22 inches ranks as the #7 snowfall since 1883, and by far the most ever in December. Here in Elkridge, I’d eat my hat if it were less than two feet. It’s astounding, it’s been a decade since I’ve seen snow like this.

And we got married nonetheless. We were short 34 guests but still had a great time. A lot of people seemed to enjoy themselves and many commented that it was one of the most fun weddings they had been to, which is what we were going for. The DJ, mashed potato bar, concentration of kids, and casual atmosphere were all big hits.

For us, trekking into Baltimore on Saturday was a godsend. We had a great time with our friends. Speaking of friends, I lost count of how many people stopped me to tell me how awesome our friends are. We were served constantly – from things as big as Bethany traveling to Hunt Valley at 0-dark-thirty to get the cookies and flowers, to things as small as Uncle Bob breaking several traffic laws at the same time to shuffle family back and forth from the hotel, we were exceptionally blessed by everyone. I get the feeling the thank you cards are going to take a long time…but it will be very satisfying to let everyone know how much we love and appreciate them.

As it stands, we are married. I, for one, am utterly exhausted.

Mush!

I’ve got a bride to evacuate and a wedding to get to. Wish me luck.

Addendum
Made it. Had two spin outs occur directly in front of me (at different times) but we made it. Crazy stuff.

Uhh So…

We’re down 17 guests and falling as fast as the snow. I’m considering trying to make a sortie to pick up the bride-to-be, MoH and a couple of bridal partyers and bring them to the hotel. The NWS suggests I bring a snow survival kit. Baltimore and DC both have the opportunity to break the December record for snowfall. The weather outside is truly frightful.

BTW, if you’re not doing anything on Sunday, feel free to come to a wedding. I’m serious, drop me a line, I’ll give you the details.

Addendum 1
I’m seeing about 6 inches in Elkridge at 7 AM. The snow has just started picking up and the wind is blowing hard. The roads are not conditioned. Driving through snow when it’s like this is actually easier than driving through it when it’s slushier, icier etc.