Snowpocalypse

Journal

@SchuminWeb

Remembering Snowpocalypse…

3 minute read

December 19, 2019, 11:40 PM

This weekend marks ten years since the “Snowpocalypse” storm came to the Washington region and blanketed the area with a couple of feet of snow. It was my first big snowstorm living in the Washington DC area, and it gave me my first snow day since college. While I was stuck at home, I photographed the snow quite a bit. After all, what else was I going to do while I was snowed in?

Snow coming down on Hewitt Avenue, seen from my apartment balcony, about four hours after the storm began.

Categories: Silver Spring, Snowpocalypse

Snow in Dupont Circle…

2 minute read

December 25, 2009, 9:05 PM

First of all, I hope everyone had a lovely Decemberween, as images of Dr. Christmas and the Dethemberween Thnikkaman dance through everyone’s heads.

I took some photos with my phone on the way into work on Tuesday, the first day back at work after the big snowstorm caused a snow day on Monday. These photos are of the snow encountered on my usual walk from the Dupont Circle Metro to the office.

Snow on top of the canopy over the south entrance to the Metro station.

Categories: Snowpocalypse, Washington DC

“You broke the bowling alley!”

4 minute read

December 20, 2009, 5:22 PM

Meanwhile, before the snow, I had a fun Friday night out on the town. The town of College Park, that is. I got together with JB, Anyman, and Burnt Toast from Anonymous, and we went out for bowling and dinner. We had a blast.

We went to College Park Lanes for bowling, where we rolled three games of duckpins. Of the three games, Burnt Toast won the first two, and Anyman won the last one (by one pin over Toast). JB hovered between second and third place, and then I came in last on all three games.

The strangest moment was when I accidentally broke the pinsetter. I wasn’t quite paying attention, and rolled the ball thinking that the pinsetter was finished. Turns out it was almost finished, but not quite. As a result, the ball hit the pins while they were still in the pinsetter. Oops. See, unlike in regular ten-pin bowling, a gate does not come down across the entire lane when the pinsetter is in action. So my ball hit the pins, and knocked a few of them out slightly left of the center. Yeah, if they hadn’t been in the pinsetter, that would have been a great shot. So the pinsetter sat for a minute or so, and then rose up with the pins it still had. Then after another minute or so, it unceremoniously spewed out the pins that it had been holding. Seriously, it just dropped them all to the floor, like as if it was carrying a bunch of stuff and accidentally dropped it all. We tried to get the lane to reset the pins from the controls we had, but it wouldn’t respond. That led to the comment, “You broke the bowling alley!”

Categories: Friends, Snowpocalypse

It’s like playing “find the buried treasure”…

3 minute read

December 20, 2009, 3:02 PM

Remember how I said I wasn’t going to clear my car until at least Monday? Well, I lied. First of all, I was bored, and it was something to do. Secondly, I started to think about things a bit. If I have work tomorrow, this will be about the only opportunity I’ll have to clear the car out in daylight, because this time of year, it’s dark by the time I get home. Plus if there’s any melt-and-refreeze action, it might make the snow harder to clear later.

So I went out to the parking lot of my apartment complex with a broom, and kind of dug out my car. Note the use of the term “kind of”. I cleared most of the snow off the upper half of my car. The lower half is still firmly embedded in the snow, and I don’t have the tools necessary to clear that out. But at least you can see the windows, and know that yes, there is actually a car under there (though mine wasn’t buried as deeply as others’ were).

But at least the car has lost its hat, and you can distinguish enough features to tell that it’s my car. The windows are clear, and the foot or so of snow on the roof is gone. So here’s the result of my handiwork:

Categories: Snowpocalypse

Sun’s out!

2 minute read

December 20, 2009, 10:28 AM

The sun is out, and it’s looking like it’s an absolutely beautiful day. That, of course, means it’s time to dig out. And people have been doing just that, getting the snow off their cars and such. My car, meanwhile, still wears its hat:

Categories: Snowpocalypse

As the snow stops, here’s what we’ve got…

3 minute read

December 20, 2009, 6:44 AM

Well, it looks like the snowfall is over. The snow has stopped, and the folks at Capital Weather Gang say that clouds will decrease during the day. Meanwhile, we’re pretty much buried in the white stuff, and here’s the proof:

My car has a foot or so of snow on top of it. That snow is expected to stay on there until at least some time tomorrow, because there’s no way in hell I’m going anywhere today.