White Death ’08

The fury to which this city gets itself worked up regarding winter “storms” still amazes me. Hour by hour coverage, early morning news stakesouts along the major freeways, newscasters sticking rulers in snow (to measure an inch and a quarter!!). It’s almost laughable.

I grew up in “the snow belt”–where, for most of the winter, there is at least three to four inches of snow on the ground. To me, if you can see the grass through the snow, then really? It didn’t even snow.

This morning, after much hullaboo and many dire predictions, I woke up to see actual snow on the ground. But, I could also see the grass through the snow. And with temperatures expected to warm up throughout the day, I decided I would be going to work. I had things to do, and working at home with a toddler is difficult to say the least. I knew I was probably going to be in the minority, but seriously: It wasn’t.that.bad.

However, there was one thing that years of driving in the snow couldn’t prepare me for: having a snow plow dump a big pile of snow on my head. Yep, it happened. How? My parking lot is downtown, underneath a bunch of bridges. This morning, I was walking to work when I heard a loud rumbling overhead. I looked up to see clumps of snow and ice falling toward the earth–and onto my head.

So, I made it work this morning. But I can’t say I looked so good.