This evening, we again have snow. And, as with so many things, a snowy day loses something in the retelling. Yesterday’s snowfall: magic; this evening’s: …not so much. Last night’s snow had largely melted away by morning – certainly the roads were quite clear and dry; the landscape was not much improved by its passage. What had been stubbornly green a few days ago is now wilted and droopy, yellowed, brown, frostbitten around the edges; pristine white snow was replaced by soupy mud. And where yesterday all was ghostly, ephemeral, and quiet, tonight was nothing but slick roads, minor fender-benders, and stuck cars. Metro buses? Not so much transiting going on this evening, mass or otherwise.
Oh well. At least the boy had fun playing in the back yard this evening, trampling the snow into submission yet again. And he went to sleep still holding out hopes for The Big Snow Day – you know, because having a four-day weekend during which he couldn’t escape his parents wasn’t quite enough… closeness. Yeah, closeness. The big dreams of first graders die hard.
And last I read, it’s looking like we might have another couple of days of this. Snow, rinse, repeat.
Meh. Sic transit gloria flakeus snowus, or something like that.
Update: No two the same, indeed. Tomorrow, unlike today, will be a snow day. The Boy’s wish has been granted.
Posted by protected static as random at 8:32 PM UTC
Earlier today, it was rain; cold rain, icy rain, constant rain. Seattle winter rain, a wet and cold that seeps through the windows and walls and into your bones. Rain that makes this city’s coffee obsession instantly understandable.
But tonight, it is snowing.
Last night, The Boy was postively dancing at the thought of the snow-related havoc he would be able to wreak today. Not so fast, we reminded him, just because it snows in the mountains doesn’t mean it will snow here. And even if it does snow here, it probably won’t last.
But tonight, it is snowing.
This morning, I ran errands, boxes and packing tape so we can move some stuff into storage. We filled them with books and bric-a-brac, and buried them in the basement like squirrels bury their nuts; we will find them when they are again needed. The rain pelted the eastern side of our house, coming in from the lake, sloshing in from the foothills and passes of Snoqualmie.
But tonight, it is snowing.
This afternoon, I ran to Goodwill with our leavings. Outgrown clothes and games, dishes and napkin rings (napkin rings!), stemware that hasn’t been used for three moves. Out to the driveway, into the truck. The rain was cold, colder than before. Back and forth, house to truck to house again, the rain getting colder by the minute. A little crackle and sizzle mixed in with the spatter of rain. Sleet and freezing rain. I started the truck, and sat in the driveway while the windows cleared of fog, the rain growing slushier by the second. I pulled out my cell and called the house.
Tell The Boy he’ll have his snow in an hour.
Oh, I see; it’s starting to come down. … Be careful, okay?
Okay.
And I will. Because soon, it will be snowing.
The sleet and freezing rain turned to snow as I drove through holiday-empty streets. Goodwill was packed; it always is. There was one other pickup in the donation lane, leaving as I pulled in. Four surly guys in soaked-through slickers helped me unload the truck at Goodwill. Clothes in these, toys and games in this, careful please, those are glasses.
We are quickly done. And I drive slowly back home, sticking to ever icier surface streets, wincing at the occasional fool who flys past in his (almost always his) expensive four-wheel-drive crossover.
For now, it is snowing.
The patter of rain is gone, a fine hiss in its place. The snow is starting to stick now, clinging to lawns still perversely green. From outside and across the street, a car door slams and laughter floats through the air; both sound oddly detached from their source, disembodied, supernatural. I can see the I-5 bridge through the denuded trees that surround our backyard; in one direction, brakelights gleam like coals through snowy haze; in the other, headlights jab through the swirls. The snow acts as a curtain in more ways than one; even with the decreased traffic, I-5 is still an omnipresent white noise. But tonight, it has been moderated, modulated, muffled to a faint ghost of its normal self. Sights, sounds; both are blurred by the snow. A rare, ghostly quiet settles over Seattle along with the snow.
For tonight, in Seattle, it is snowing.
It doesn’t take much snow to shut this city down; at this rate, we’ll hit that mark by morning. We’ll have at least a couple of inches: roads will be slick, the school bus late, appointments cancelled. Things will be a mess, and then the rain will return. The snow will disappear before it, melting away under its weight, and gray slushy mud will soon replace the whiteness. Before long, the slush too will be gone, and all we will have is mud and a memory of snow.
But that can all be tomorrow.
Tonight, it is snowing.
(minor typo fixes)
Posted by protected static as random at 5:41 PM UTC
Last night, getting ready for bed I had to remind myself not to set the alarm clock, that it wasn’t going to be Monday when I woke up, that I didn’t need to go to work – I just couldn’t shake this feeling that it was Sunday. Eh. Okay. Not a big deal…
And then the doorbell rang at 8:30 this morning. Still somewhat confused (definitely under-caffienated), I shrugged on a bathrobe and headed for the front door accompanied by the dogs who were doing everything in their power to let me know that it must be Monsters! Monsters I Tell You! at the door. I was expecting a delivery, or maybe a trucker asking me to move our car so he could get into a neighbor’s driveway. Nope.
It was The Boy’s piano teacher. D’oh!
“Hi! Did you forget I was coming?”
No… Whatever gave you that idea?
I suspect it’s gonna be that kind of weekend. There’s the signpost up ahead…
Posted by protected static as random at 9:06 AM UTC
For a while now, I’ve wanted a ruggedized cell phone. Motorola makes some good ones, including some that are JIS7 compliant, ie. you can submerge it under 1 meter of water for 30 minutes and it’ll still work. Drop it from 2 meters onto concrete repeatedly, and it’ll still work. And, I’ll admit, I like the way they look… Screw that svelte Razr – gimme something that looks like it comes from the set of Aliens.
The problem has been that Motorola has only produced these phones for one carrier (and only that one carrier) while our household happens to use another. You can crack the software that locks you in to one carrier; you can then plop your SIM card in and use it without skipping a beat on your existing contract. As you might have guessed from the use of the term ‘crack’, this is in a legal grey area, particularly with the advent of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) which prohibited the circumvention of any kind of software protection.
Oh yeah, and it is also legal to crack ‘abandonware’ games, ie. games that lack hardware, or where the publisher is no longer around, but only for ‘archival’ purposes. Still, a not entirely unreasonable turn of events. The Copyright Office could have issued a broader decision, but they could have definitively shut the door on such practices as well…
…as it were. This puts a whole new spin on ’stuffing’:
In practice, though, [the Pilgrims] did not typically enforce death for sex. In fact, only one person was put to death for a sex crime in the colony, poor Thomas Graunger, a teenage farm boy who, perhaps flush with the surge of hormones, turned to those he knew best. His story could make you look at the Thanksgiving turkey in a whole new way.
Governor William Bradford recounted the tale:
“He was this year detected of buggery, and indicted for the same, with a mare, a cow, two goats, five sheep, two calves and a turkey … He was first discovered by one that accidentally saw his lewd practice towards the mare. (I forbear particulars.) Being upon it examined and committed, in the end he not only confessed the fact with that beast at that time, but sundry times before and at several times with all the rest of the forenamed in his indictment.”
Gobble, gobble. *ahem*
We’re having ham, ourselves. I forbear particulars.
Posted by protected static as random at 2:50 PM UTC
The weather today took a decidedly Midwestern turn this afternoon: thunder & lightning, w/ bloody big bits of hail thrown in. The temperature drops to where other places would get snow flurries, and BOOM! Thunder. Lots. Full story (and source of the above photo) is here. And many thanks to Kristina for yoinking the photo in the first place. And K, frogs I could deal with – it’d be the lice and boils I’d have problems with…
Posted by protected static as random at 6:14 PM UTC
No, we aren’t discussing hardware. This morning, The Boy went to Taekwon Do and was awarded his first ’stripe’. Of the 5 or 6 white belts present for testing this morning, he was the only one to pass – and he’s on Cloud 9 about it. And, well, he should be. He’s been working really hard at class, on the specific techniques as well as (and perhaps more importantly) the discipline, and it’s starting to pay off.
Because it can take so long for the beginning kids to meet the criteria for a new belt, one of the cool things this school does is award unofficial stripes to the white belts – the school tests them and add bands of colored tape that follow the same color progression as the real stripes. In addition to technical prowess, they also use this ’stripe’ system to reward good sportsmanship, courtesy, and other fuzzier elements essential to the sport.
It’s totally unofficial, totally meaningless in the larger scale of things – and totally worth it. They represent achievable milestones, and they’re immediately reinforcing for the kids. It isn’t a Dodo bird prize (“At last the Dodo said, `EVERYBODY has won, and all must have prizes.’”) – the stripes aren’t automatically awarded – but they mean so much to the kids as they work towards the much harder goal of the next belt.
Good job, Bud.
Posted by protected static as random at 12:17 PM UTC
Since I know none of you could possibly know about any software companies in this area who might have long-awaited product releases forthcoming, I won’t bore you with the details of my current project at work. Suffice it to say that it’s a little bit of a twist – I’m providing research for a writer, and together we’re producing the developer-oriented online training materials for the afore(non)mentioned product. (I’m positive you wouldn’t have heard of it. Nope. Not at all.) Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by protected static as programming at 10:25 PM UTC
As of yet, no group has taken responsibility for this act. Authorities suspect that the nature of information itself contributed to the massiveness of the detonation.
“Information is deceptively stable under most circumstances,” said an unnamed official from the People’s Central Computing Authority, “but under certain conditions, it quickly moves beyond anyone’s ability to control.”
“When facts combine with rumor, opinion, and outright speculation, anything can happen, ” said another unofficial source. “This incident demonstrates the need for stricter controls on the public availability of certain kinds of information.”
A spokesperson for Stewart Brand, originator of the phrase “Information wants to be free”, was unable to provide us with a statement from Mr. Brand in time for the publication of this article.
Posted by protected static as geek, humor at 9:15 AM UTC
