And the forecast called for snow!
< 1 minute read
December 5, 2007, 7:49 PM
First snowfall of the year in Washington today. It was cold as hell, and my bus in the morning was 40 minutes late. It was very cold and snowing, and I’m standing on the sidewalk waiting for the bus. No fun. And Metro was running more slowly as well due to snow on the rails in the aboveground sections.
But I did get pictures…
This is the snow in the morning, in the vacant lot next to my apartment.
Continue reading…Categories: Winter weather
One more snow picture…
< 1 minute read
April 8, 2007, 8:52 AM
After I posted the previous shots, I was made aware of one more shot of the snow:
Mom took that one a little earlier than I did for mine, and from the street. As you can see, it really did snow, all right. And, as we expected, it was all gone by 5:00 yesterday evening.
Categories: Winter weather
It’s what month now?
2 minute read
April 7, 2007, 10:47 AM
I’m starting to have my doubts on the springiness of the spring here. Check these out, taken a few minutes ago from my bedroom window:
Categories: Winter weather
Were you expecting something else?
2 minute read
February 13, 2007, 11:57 PM
I got home after a very hellish drive back from work through heavy sleet and freezing rain, and Mom says to me, “You’re alive!” My exact response was, “Were you expecting something else?”
Let me tell you, though… in the year that I’ve had the Sable, this makes snowstorm #3 (one last year, two so far this year). And the Sable does so much better than the Previa did in bad weather. Driving the Previa in bad winter weather was kind of like playing Russian roulette. You never knew what was going to happen. The front of the car had a tendency to wobble a bit due to the engine’s location closer to the center of the car than the front, and correcting that made for a very unpleasant ride home, and on more than one occasion, caused me to briefly lose control.
I remember one time spinning out on ice in the neighborhood. I remember spinning counter-clockwise, and was convinced that I was heading for the ditch, and possibly into someone’s mailbox, and in that short time that I was spinning, basically resigned myself to that fate. But I ended up just spinning out on the road, and all I had to do was get pointed right again, and I was able to continue.
Categories: Driving, Winter weather
Sad to say, it looks like I will not make my stated goal, but…
< 1 minute read
February 10, 2007, 11:16 PM
Sad to say, it appears that I will NOT make my stated goal of having the J27 photo set up before my next DC trip on February 14. However, this is because other factors over which I have no control are acting on my plans and throwing a little monkey wrench into it all.
One word: SNOW.
It’s forecast to snow on Tuesday, and also snow through Tuesday night. Therefore, I’m going to project that the roads will not be in sufficient shape on Wednesday morning for me to safely make a trip to Washington DC. So I’m moving it up to Monday the 12th, before the snow comes. Thus I’m losing two days to work on it, and so completion by my next DC trip seems unlikely. However, finishing it by my intended goal date of February 14 still seems likely. After all, I’m going to have all day on the 14th to work on it. The 12th was originally going to be that work day. So there you have it.
And considering the rapid progress on this photo set, I’ve also rediscovered something about how I work: deadlines. If I set deadlines, I get the material out by that deadline. The Outlet Village photo set sat idle for some time, but then once I set a goal of having that set completed by the time the Outlet Village closed for good, I made the goal. So perhaps I need to become more deadline-oriented with this site.
Categories: DC trips, Schumin Web meta, Winter weather
I feel like a kid on a snow day…
2 minute read
February 7, 2007, 1:24 PM
Categories: Virginia local news, Winter weather
Remember not to misspell, now… that’s B-O-R-F.
2 minute read
January 21, 2007, 10:10 PM
Occasionally I have fun with my coworkers. I recently had the occasion of having some cans of spray paint go through the Service Desk to go back to their proper department. And in the meantime, talk of graffiti came up. I made reference to the DC-area graffiti artist John Tsombikos from Great Falls, best known as the main person behind the “Borf” campaign. Of course, my coworkers had no idea. They don’t make these biweekly runs to DC like I do. I remember seeing graffiti from the train along the eastern half of the Red Line referring to “Borf”, and I was like, what-the-heck. “Borf”? It wasn’t until really recently, talking about the “disarm” message that was stenciled on the sidewalk of the Key Bridge, that I really found out what Borf was all about. Very prolific.
Otherwise, it snowed today, as the weather forecasters predicted. Actually, it snowed first, then turned to freezing rain, and then to sleet. All and all, it was not a pleasant drive to work. Actually, going in was worse than leaving. It was all still snow then. Basically packed snow all the way to Waynesboro. The Sable still drives better in the snow than the Previa did, but the trip was not without its challenges, as stopping was something of a challenge. Most notably, I was unable to stop at the intersection of the westbound off-ramp of I-64 and Rosser Avenue in Waynesboro, and therefore slid right through a just-turned red light. So yes, I ran a red light today. I did, and so did the car beside me. Both of us slid right through the red light, blowing our horns to warn any potential cross-traffic of our situation. We both got through unscathed.
Categories: Anti-war, Driving, Family, Street art, Washington DC, Winter weather
I’ve had this car for two days, and I’ve already taken it in the snow…
< 1 minute read
February 11, 2006, 6:47 PM
Funny how things work out sometimes. I’ve only had the Sable for two days, and we’ve already bonded in a way that can only occur when you’re driving home from work in the snow. It snowed today, you see. And with my still not being completely used to the car, I took it out in the snow. And we made it out and back in one piece.
And let me tell you… the Sable seems to handle better in the snow than the Previa. I’m thinking it’s because it’s front-wheel drive (the Previa was rear-wheel drive), plus it’s closer to the ground. The Sable is also a breeze to clean snow off of, too. It’s because it’s not so tall. Not so much reaching to do there, compared to the Previa, which was a full head taller.
Now tomorrow is going to be really fun, though, as I have to drive through all the snow in the morning, in the dark.
Categories: Driving, Mercury Sable, Winter weather
This will either be seen as brilliant or really stupid
< 1 minute read
December 16, 2005, 12:01 AM
This Thursday, we received a few inches of snow and ice. And I have to go to work Friday morning. So rather than scrape my windshield in the morning when I’m in a hurry, I cleared it tonight. No problem. Windshield clear. I did it with a plastic snow shovel, too. Once I made a dent in the outer layer of ice with my hand, it came off easily.
The only way this could backfire on me (and knowing my luck, this is quite possible) is if we get any further rain or ice and it freezes into a sheet on my windshield. Then I’m screwed, because then I might have just as well left the original snow on the windshield in the first place.
So we’ll see if this time-saver works. Now I’ll still have to scrape my back window in the morning, which was covered by a sheet of ice, to make myself a peephole for driving. And the shovel is not precise enough to get that gunk off. Still, the big job – clearing my front windshield – is done.
Categories: Toyota Previa, Winter weather
Bad, bad parking…
2 minute read
December 7, 2005, 4:09 AM
Just a couple of things I want to show you before I go off to Washington DC this morning…
First of all, check this out:
Categories: Driving, Matthew, Winter weather
And the first snowfall has started!
2 minute read
December 5, 2005, 7:35 PM
It’s so interesting to work at Wal-Mart when snow is falling or when it’s predicted to come. The entire population of Waynesboro piles into the store, and buys enough groceries to last them for weeks on end. All of us who work there just comment to ourselves that it’s only a few inches, and these people are acting like they’ll be buried in snow up to their necks for weeks.
Then of course when it snows, reports trickle in about what’s going on elsewhere in the town. By that I mean road conditions, school closures, accidents, etc. And of course, since Wal-Mart has no windows, it’s hard for us to tell what it’s doing outside.
Of course, meanwhile, I’m thinking about my ten-mile drive back to Stuarts Draft from work, and how deeply my car will be covered in snow, and how tricky getting out will be. I park on the far edge of the lot, nose in, with a rear wheel drive vehicle, so it can get a little tricky. By the way, I park in the same parking space every day unless a semi or motor home blocks it. The last row in the lot is slanted down more sharply than the rest of the lot, and so with my car being rear-wheel drive, it doesn’t take much distance before my drive wheels are on snow, ice, or slush. But I got out just fine, after realizing I didn’t know where my snow brush and ice scraper were. So to get de-snowed, I just used the front and back wipers a few times, and did some up-and-down moves with the front windows to clear it all.
Categories: DC trips, Winter weather
What kind of shoe are you?
2 minute read
February 23, 2005, 6:25 AM
Categories: DC trips, Winter weather
Be careful what you wish for, because in this case… I got it!
2 minute read
February 3, 2005, 9:46 AM
Yesterday, in this space, I said, “Still, I’d like to really see a snowfall that will cause several inches to cover my car, requiring me to really use the brush on the end of my scraper. Or perhaps give it one good blast with my windshield wiper.”
Today, this is what I got:
Categories: Winter weather
Always be careful what you wish for…
2 minute read
January 22, 2005, 11:45 PM
We got snow again. Fun stuff. And not just a little dusting. This was SNOW, like snow snow, like make-the-parking-lot-treacherous snow. It snowed while I was at work. Coming in, the roads were perfect, and so I was able to run at full speed, set the cruise control, and then slip right into the parking lot. Going home, however, the parking lot was badly plowed, leaving a layer of packed snow on the lot, making walking pretty rough. I was actually partly blocked in by the snow plows, as they had to plow around my car, and thus there was a ring of snow around my car. I had to back-and-forth my way out of my parking space. Getting the tires to “grab” something was a challenge, but somehow I got out, and then it was smooth sailing from there, albeit slippery sailing. I was fine until I was almost home. There’s a stop sign right across from our driveway. I stopped. And then started spinning my wheels. Not a good thing. I was thinking, of all places, right in front of the house. At least it wasn’t in the middle of 340 or somewhere remote. And I also soon got a grip on the road again, and rolled right into the driveway.
It was also amusing to see Wal-Mart before and after the snow. Before the snow, everyone and their mother was at Wal-Mart, cleaning us out. It was like Christmas all over again. Then it started to snow. The crowd dropped off quickly, and it became a BORING day, with everyone kind of wondering how their trip home from work is going to turn out.
Categories: Winter weather
Finally, it’s snowing! How long have I been waiting for this?
< 1 minute read
January 16, 2005, 7:53 PM
Finally, winter came back after two weeks of spring-like temperatures. And tonight, the snow is falling. I am so happy.
And I’m also happy that I’m back home. I had to drive home from work in the snow. And let me tell you… it’s looking a bit ugly out there right now, as snow is not only covering the ground, but also the roads. That was fun to drive in – ha ha ha. It was a long, SLOW trip from Wal-Mart to home. But the car and I made it home in one piece, so that was good.
Now, though, I wonder how much snow we’ll have come morning.
Categories: Winter weather