Fired Up! Ready To Snow!

Where do the homeless go for shelter?

Libraries are going to stay open all night, per local news. Police stations, fire houses, and several Park District fieldhouses usually open up too.

@chicago bureau: if you end up stuck in a bar, will they let you stay as long as you keep paying?

T/J: Oh joy, “Downton Abbey” will have a second season next year. I predict that the writers will not bump off the evil you-know-who in the Great War — he’s needed to balance the goodhearted Earl.

@jwmcsame: Non-issue. At the villa with a cup of coffee, a pack of smokes and Ice Hockey variant of Sport on the teevee. (Blackhawks 3:3 Columbus, in case you’re wondering.)

I sorta miss living in areas with adverse weather conditions. Warm and sunny all the time gets boring.

*looks outside*

Disregard my last. I am an idiot. See you at the beach…

@chicago bureau: You smoke, too? Do people give you a ration of shit because they think you should be immune to addictions because you’re edumacated and shit? Pisses me off!

@hunkamonkiman: Heh.

@Dodgerblue: Great question.

@chicago bureau: Good answer.

@Dodgerblue: Speaking of the homeless, did y’all see that Rand Paul wants to eliminate, among other things, Section 8? Not slash its budget — eliminate it. Fuck you very much, Rand.

It’s 61 degrees right now in Ess Eff, was in the mid-60s all day with a crystal clear blue sky and slight breeze. Gorgeous sunset tonight. I have all the windows open and am about to go have a martini on the deck and look at the lights of the City.
/cues Journey, ducks

@mellbell: They can just use copies of Atlas Shrugged to build their houses, or burn them for the warmth.

ADD:
@chicago bureau: Darling, I thought we were getting you to quit smoking too.

@SFL / JNOV: doods… after the day at work (shortened as it was), if I didn’t have a few smokes, I would have choked somebody. Seriously — things at work made me seriously stabby at points.

To answer your question, JNOV: I get some shit about health insurance premiums and stuff, but nothing that I don’t hear from Ma Bureau (who, it must be said, smoked like a paper mill when I was a mere cubicle).

@mellbell: No, I hadn’t seen that. Does he propose building more bridges for the poor to live under?

DEVELOPING HARD: We officially have thundersnow. Visibility about 1/8 mile. And the snow is falling UP on account of winds. Terrifying stuff.

@chicago bureau: I was so close to a lightning strike yesterday driving back from ABQ that I saw the air turn red around the lightning bolt. I saw another strike hit and linger, burning bright for a few seconds.

5 degrees out, -15 with wind chill. Very little snow here, maybe a couple of inches in Santa Fe. Saving the firewood in case the electricity goes out.

@redmanlaw: In the 60s in Santa Monica, but I’m heading back to DC on Thurs and then to Chicago next week.

@chicago bureau: You must have quite a view of the drama from your lofty perch. Did you actually see the lightningsnow that came with the thundersnow?

ADD: Can you see these poor bastards??

My apartment has a rear view of another building – it’s practically an airshaft back there. And I know when a storm is coming because my back wall gets cold, and the chilled air seeps in through the window air conditioner and the old windows. It is cold here, and it chills my bones. Snow is on the way.

@flippin eck: The view is incredible. The Lake Shore Drive mess is about two miles south of here (Belmont Avenue and southwards). Fuck seeing that. I can’t even see Lake Shore Drive at the closest point to the villa — no more than 150 yards away.

AND…. just now, a stuck CTA bus on Sheridan Road, right by my building.

I’m expected at work bright and early tomorrow. Fucked if I know how precisely I’m going to do that.

@chicago bureau: Okay. I’m sorry, but thundersnow is kinda cool.

@Dodgerblue: You think you’re heading to DC and Chicago. Book rooms near the airports just in case. Are these direct flights? If not, book rooms at your hubs, too. Or pack a pillow and a sleeping back. Airport food = YUM!

I’d also like to say that I am QUITE annoyed that airport most seats have armrests now. How are you supposed to stretch out and sleep on them?

@mellbell: ACK! Back to the bottle!

@chicago bureau: Oh, hey! Nice to see Stabby around these parts again.

@chicago bureau: You’re down near the poor excuse for a planetarium thing fountain? I mean, like right off the effin Lake? Jesus, man!

@chicago bureau: Sleep on or under your desk. That’s how we did it back in my day. :-P Actually, we had a cot room and showers and such. Does your place have a lactation room? You can sleep there and play with the breast pumps.

@redmanlaw: Do you have a genny?

NOAA Lies! claims that while we won’t have much accumulation, we will be having ice storms! Yay!

We’re getting the same system too. However, I’m spared the joys of a traumatic 2-3 hour commute as I’m currently “home” based where a snowday will be just another day of work except I’ll also have to shovel on my “breaks.”

Seems saner to me.

Only downside is I miss socializing with coworkers. At least I’ve stopped eating snacks. I gained about 6 pounds the first month I was home based. Lost it quickly, but it was kind of embarrassing as I didn’t eat many snacks at work.

@JNOV: Kinda cool? The thundersnow is hella cool!

I’d gladly trade you the half-inch of *ice* were getting here in Columbus for a foot or two of that snow. Ugh.

@flippin eck: That’s fucked up. I carry a pack with a knife, fire making supplies, tp, first aid kit, paracord, water, space blanket, hat, gloves, cheese, crackers and fruit, beef jerky, metal coffee cup, parka and snow pants when I go outside of city limits in the winter. Sounds like these people needed cold weather bug out bags and tire chains today.

@JNOV: No generator, but we have several kerosene lamps, candles, a Coleman campstove and lantern (both CO producers that can’t be used indoors), emergency hand cranked radio, and two weeks worth of firewood out back. If the shit really hits the fan, I have a Cabela’s sleeping bag that rated to 0 degrees that I use for late fall hunt camps. Also, full pantry, gas grill outside and a stove top coffee pot.

@flippin eck: Yeah, babe! I saw some the other day, and I was like, Whoa.

@al2o3cr: Yepper.

@JNOV: Well, this deposition in DC isn’t gonna take itself, and people need to show up for my hearimg the following week. So I’ll be somewhere.

Brrr! I had to close the front door and put on my socks. Life’s a fucking bitch in Sandy Eggo.

@nojo: Uh huh. You need a bragging intervention.

One last update before I hit the sack: the CTA bus that got stuck an hour ago is still there. Don’t know if people are inside. Wind still roaring, Visibility is virtually nil. By the standards such things are measured with (35mph+ winds, blowing snow, visibility under 1/4 mile) this is now officially a blizzard.

Probs going to get up around 5am and allow myself three hours to navigate CTA to get into work. I’ll make it in on time. Just.

OKAY! We TOTALLY NEED A WEATHER-RELATED STINQUE JAM, like NOW. There are smoke and sizzling sounds coming from the light shining on the flag pole in front of the school across the street from my house. I don’t think this is normal.

ADD: I propose we call it “Snowtorious B.I.G.” I wish I’d come up with that name, but whatevs.

@JNOV: A short?

@redmanlaw: That’s what I’m thinking. I called the popo before I commented. About to go out with my camera.

@mellbell:

Crazier than Ayn Rand wants to cut $500B in 8 mos or so. Some nuggets:

– Indian Health Services: Reduced by 46 Percent
– HUD: Eliminated
– BIA: Eliminated
– Affordable Housing Program: Eliminated
– Commission on Fine Arts: Eliminated
– Consumer Product Safety Commission: Eliminated

pdf of all proposed cuts: http://www.randpaul2010.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Overview-500-billion-cuts-2.pdf

i had to put on socks too–what a bitch!
i needed a shovel to find them, but my uggs are out, along with gloves, scarves and long undies. heading into philahellphia on saturday, then snow york city on wednesday.
JNOV, bloggie–snowball fight?

@JNOV: Next thing you know, he’ll want to cut the National Weather Service. You know, something that actually fulfills a duty that the libertarians say they believe government should do: maintain public safety.

Oh, and I really, really need HUD and the FHA right now for the new house.

Up early to get showered before we lose power. I was supposed to drive to La Guardia to pick up the sister in law but all flights are cancelled. Hooray. We have about 3ft of snow now with drifts going higher. Ice pellets. No thundersnow.

@Dodgerblue: Fuck the BBC. They leave us with that fucking cliffhanger?

I doubt that the Earl of Grantham will make it past the Somme. The Abbey will become a hospital. Cora, Countess of Grantham, will be on the Lusitania. Lady Sybil will enter politics and there could well be a hunky chauffeur in her future and parties in Bloomsbury. William is for the high-jump but only after the scullery-maid becomes pregnant with his child. Thomas, is also headed for that big period gay bar in the sky but only after he’s had the chance to betray someone else. Matthew, the new Earl of Grantham, will soldier on but will be badly injured only to be nursed back to health by Lady Mary. Will they ever marry? Will she ever be able to confess to him her secret shame? And WTF was up with all of that set-up with the poison powder at the very beginning? I suppose all we can do is wait. Fuck! This is worse than Queer as Folk.

Santa Fe schools closed today, probably because they didn’t want kids going out in -2 F degrees. Hardly any new snow, maybe a couple of inches. Any word yet from Chicago?

I woke up to see…Jack Shit not Jack Frost

We got the wind. We got the cold. We didn’t squat for snow.
We = the Toronto Area

@ManchuCandidate: That’s cuz you’re living in the fucking Arctic Circle. Soon we’ll see your picture on milk cartons. You’ll be clinging to a tiny floating block of ice.

@Dodgerblue: Okay, Buckaroo Banzai.

@baked: Absolutely! Our ice melted for now (still piles of old plowed snow and slush). Good, cuz I gotta walk a few miles and get shit done, and I don’t want to break a hip.

@JNOV:
No one looks for somewhat ugly middle aged males.

Chi-town reporting in. About 20ish inches on the ground and it’s still falling. It’s now more lake effect snow rather than snow from the storm system and it’s actually falling straight down since the wind has finally died. Because of the incessant, strong wind all night, the accumulation is really strange–bald spots with barely any snow right next to feet-deep drifts. I’m still in PJs drinking coffee spiked with Bailey’s, but later I’ll go out for some photographic documentation.

Our snow catastrophe has fizzled and I bet Delta is feeling foolish they cancelled so many flights.

It is 34 degrees and windy as fuck here in bowels of Hell.

@ManchuCandidate: Put on a polar bear suit.

1. You’re not somewhat ugly, mmkay! That kind of talk makes me twitchy.

2. What qualifies as “middle-aged” now? Dodger know what qualifies as “old.”

@TJ/ Jamie Sommers /TJ: I so love you!

@flippin eck: Hope are all safe, and yes please photos! Love your photos. Which reminds me…

WE NEED A SNOWTORIOUS B.I.G STINQUE JAM, DAMMIT.

And it’s about time time I made the fucking blurb.

@Benedick: Indeed. They’re pooping themselves.

@JNOV:
I’m 40 now that’s pretty middle aged, I think. Don’t feel it though… yet.

@ManchuCandidate: 40 is the new 40.

@ManchuCandidate: I am not middle aged, unless I die at 88. Okay, maybe I am, but following that reasoning, I could have been middle aged all my life, so fuck that middle age crap. I’m not playing.

I will be a senior when AARP starts beating down my door.

@Benedick: Yeah.

@JNOV: I’m about to turn 50, and I want my senior discounts, dammit.

@Mistress Cynica: You’ll get a series of AARP invitations, and astonished looks from everyone you know. The discounts will have to wait ten or fifteen years.

@nojo: The astonished looks. After the boy scout tries to help you across the street or before?

@nojo: @Benedick: Astonishment is right. A bunch of people are going to have to pay up on bets that I’d OD before now.

@Mistress Cynica: We’re all so proud of you.

@Mistress Cynica: EXACTLY! And happy early birthday, My Mistress!

Does Denny’s still give everyone free food on their birthday? We went to Denny’s last summer, and let me tell you, their cuisine ain’t what it used to be.

@nojo: Oh. But you’ll be part of America’s Biggest Lobby!

@Mistress Cynica: Collect!

Snowpocalypse update.

It snowed more in the morning than evening. I just spent an hour and a half shoveling a foot and a half’s worth of snow from my driveway.

@ManchuCandidate: Not bad for an old man.