Today's mistake

This morning I thought I sent the following text to Dan, one of my best friends from college who got married today:
"I just wanted to tell you I'm thinking about you today. I hope your day is perfect. Sorry I can't be there."

Unfortunately, I sent it to my coworker, Dan by mistake.
Fortunately, I didn't send him the follow up message which said:
"I look forward to spending time with you and your new bride soon!"

Oops!

A perfect dinner

Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, turkey kielbassa and blue cheese on a bed of spinach..... consumed while watching highlights from the olympics including Lindsey Vonn's gold medal ski run. Perfect.
Lonely
but perfect.

Two New Experiences

Two new experiences in the last 24 hours.
1 - I went to an NBA game for the first time last night. I got free tickets from work so Robin and I went to the Wizards/Nuggets game. It was a lot of fun.... including light-up pom-poms and pulled pork nachos. Yummy!
2 - Today, I registered a car and got the tags and the whole nine yards. I don't think I've ever done that before. I don't really know where the tags came from on my last car. My parents must have taken care of it for me or something. Anyways, so, yes... as of today, I am the proud, conflicted owner of a car. I know it will both complicate and simplify my life, but for now, it is a necessary evil. I guess 5 years was all I could take. So long to my proud carless ways and so long to my diminished carbon footprint. Don't worry, Metro! I'll still take you at least two days a week. And, Metrobus - you'll still be my best bud to get around on the weekend. Yes, I've taken a new transportation lover, but my friends ever you will be.

Hyla admits she was wrong

Ok, so it is possible that I was wrong. Last week, I declared somewhere (that I can't seem to locate right now) that "it wasn't like we would be snowed in for a week or something!" Um, let us take stock. The University closed last Friday at noon-thirty and is reopening tomorrow morning for the first time all week. Public transportation, and especially buses, have been all but stopped for most of a week. The only places I've gone this week have centered around provision gathering, snowfun (concentrated in the first few days before that got old) and efforts to prevent going crazy. So, yes, I suppose that every 120 years or so DC gets hit so badly that we really are snowed in for a week.

I am SO looking forward to going to the office tomorrow. Not so much looking forward to the trudging, but at least resuming my life!

Real-time Window Snowcast: Snoverkill

It's that time again! Time for real-time snowcasting from my window. I'll keep you up to date on whether this is a storm worthy of the name Snoverkill or whether it was truly a dissnowpointment (Thanks to Colleen for the editing suggestion.).
Tuesday at 4:22pm - Flurries have begun. It feels a bit surreal to me to see it snowing again with so much snow still on the ground. Also, there is a UPS truck stuck out front. Hopefully, the four people currently working on it will get it out before the new snow starts to accumulate!
10:15pm - Flakes got bigger. Hyla went to cook dinner and watch half of Malcolm X. Flakes disappeared.
Wednesday at 8:00am - Flakes have returned. I can hardly see out the window. Lots of confused looking flakes blowing around out there.
9-ish am - I heard on the radio that there is a blizzard warning in effect. It's hard to tell accumulation since there was lots out there already, but I'd guess about 5-7 inches so far.
1:38pm - According to DCist, my coworkers, a friend from my school cohort, and my screen, it's a blizzard out there. Apparently, there were whiteout conditions earlier and now it's really blowing around while some snow is still falling. Apparently, the feds have already called off for tomorrow. Craziness.
2:20pm - Just heard that the roof collapsed on a Smithsonian storage facility. Fortunately, all the artifacts are safe! Whew - this live blogging thing is consumptive!
3:54pm - Snow seems to be mostly subsided. Only flurries at this points. There are some wicked icicles hanging off my neighbors' roofs, though. Also, a Diet Coke shortage is impending. Why didn't I buy more yesterday!!??
5:30pm - Snow is steadily waning. Hard to tell at this point if it's snowing or just blowing around. And (drum roll please...), it's official! As of 2pm today, this is the snowiest winter on record for DC ever. Well, at least since they started recording in 1884. We've officially received 54.9 inches of snow this winter which breaks the previous record of 54.1 inches. And, remember that back then, they measured up in NW DC where accumulations are usually higher than the current measuring point on the river at National Airport. Even more impressive! (I hate to say this out loud, but there are rumors of more snow on Monday.)

Here We Go Again!

Well, apparently, we're stuck in some kind of crazy pattern where God has his finger stuck on the "Snow" button for DC. For the third time in ten days, we're expecting a snowstorm. Let's restore perspective a bit. The average annual snowfall for DC is 15". Last year, I don't even think we ever got any accumulation. At least, none that I recall. And, our total snowfall this season is at 45" already. And.... drumroll please....
--The National Weather Service has just put out a warning calling for 10-20" tomorrow!
DC is NOT equipped to handle this. I'm on snow day #2.5 tomorrow and I'm betting I won't see my office until Thursday, at least. Also, the name "Snoverkill" has been bandied about. I love it!

But, don't you worry! I'll keep you up to date. Snowcast will not let you down!
More soon ... and who knows, maybe one of these days, I'll post something non-snow related!

Snowcast final report

Well, it's debatable how much we actually got. I think a final estimate of 2 feet is more than reasonable, but there are places in the area that reported 36-40 inches. Definitely not a snowpointment! I already heard that the University is closed tomorrow so no work for me! Ok, in actuality, I'll probably work most of the day because I have my stuff with me and can work from home. But, I can at least sleep in and take it easy!

It was an absolutely gorgeous walk both to and from church last night. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea. The picture quality on some of these isn't great, but I wanted to give you an idea of what a the streets looked like last night ... and these were the "good" streets! More pictures on flickr momentarily.

Above: lumps formerly known as cars

Above: 3rd street NE, taken at the intersection of 3rd & F

Real-time Window Snowcast Update

It's time to start keeping track. Check back here regularly for updates!
Location: 15th & D, NE - Capitol Hill

12:30pm - Snow has been falling for about an hour. Steady, but fine snow. No evidence of sticking.
1:30pm - Still steadily snowing. Still fine flakes. Possible sticking on neighbor's steps, but may be remnant from earlier this week. Overall, no conclusive evidence of sticking.
3:06pm - Flakes are varying in size, but still fairly light snow. The first evidence of accumulation has appeared. There is officially a "skift" appearing outside my window right now. Snow is now beginning to stick to the tree in my neighbor's yard.
4:55pm - It's that really beautiful stage right now! Each branch of the tree is highlighted with a line of snow and everything is looking festive and wintry! Still firmly in skift territory, though. Time to finally quit working. We were dismissed at 12:30, but I was working from home so I ended up working all afternoon. yuk! More soon!
6:31pm - Just discovered a flaw in my window snowcast plan. Um... it gets dark. It appears to still be snowing and we may be around the 1-2" mark. Updates may be scattered until it gets light again... and while Hyla sleeps!
8:39pm - Ok, it is getting GORGEOUS out. The snow is thick and wet and everything is getting just gorgeous. The trees are just hanging full of snow! Winter is a pain in the city, but I really DO miss winters with lots of snow. Sigghh. My best guesstimate at the moment is 3-4".
10:30pm - Snowmygod! Operation Window Snowcast is being compromised. This snow is sticky! And, it's choosing my screen to stick to. After taking drastic measures (read: plastering my face up against the window), I've come to the conclusion that it is CRAZY snowing out. Huge flakes (I think) and current guesstimate nearing 6 inches if not already passed. It looks like the prediction of an inch an hour is coming true for now.
Saturday
11:49am - Wow. This is no joke. The snowdrift on my windowsill is a good 8 inches, but above that I can see the pile of snow everywhere outside -- and it is huge! We're definitely over a foot, but at this point, there's so much white that it's hard to tell exactly how much there really is. That poor tree in my neighbor's yard looks like it can hardly hold up the snow anymore. It's really sticky snow so there is 6 inches or more on its branches. I'm going to go to church as long as it isn't cancelled so maybe I'll have more exciting info then!

My snowcast

So, the entire DC metropolitan area is freaking out. I've heard predictions of 12-18, 18-24, even 40-60 inches (!! -- I'm truly not joking on this one, but it wasn't the most reliable source, mind you.) And, so, I thought it only fair to bring some reason to the table, for you, my few, my faithful, my dear-dear readers.
Factors for consideration in Snowcast:
1. Snow may start falling as early as 10am Friday and continue until 10pm Saturday. I do recognize that this is a crazy long time for snow to fall, if it, indeed, does fall continuously.
2. The temperatures are predicted to hover right around the freezing mark. Now, any good mountain girl knows that those temperatures make for a good, heavy storm. However, that also means there's a possibility that it will rain and freezing-rain for many of the hours of the storm.
3. People (and governments) in the metro area are crazy when it snows. (This one is for free and does not necessarily affect my snowcast.)

My Official Snowcast:
Either:
1. World ending Snowpocalypse: 26-30 inches of snow, requiring two days to clean up, snowman building, and at least one snowball fight in the District requiring police intervention.
2. Snowpointment: A dissapointing 6-10 inches of snow resulting from 2 hours of snow followed by 12 hours of rain/freezing-rain, followed by another few hours of snow. Along with this comes the terribly annoying sound of freezing rain that is likely to go on most of the night. Snowpointing, for sure.

Check back here for updates!!

Today's score

Awesome scenery thanks to beautiful thick snow on every branch this morning: +4
All the snow falling off the trees by noon: -1
Productive and relatively non-frustrating workday: +1
Not getting into my favorite kickboxing class even though I got there 15 min early: -2
Getting a pass into spinning class to try something new: +1
Not getting into the spinning class because someone must have snuck in and there weren't any bikes left: -1
The tv on the treadmill not working: -1
Realizing I was pushing the wrong button: +1
Getting a ride to and from work today: +2
Losing the war against the vanilla oreos: -2
-------------
Today's total: +2

Civil Rights and Snow Days

Two Things I'm pondering today:
1. Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the first sit-in. I was truly flabbergasted when I heard it on the radio yesterday morning. It just seems impossible that it was only 50 years ago. I guess that really put it in perspective that just 50 years ago segregation was alive and well. Or, at least alive. I suppose the chronological positioning of my birth has a lot to do with it. It does restore my faith in humans a bit, though, just to think that we are capable of making this much progress in just 50 years.
2. It is snowing again. Will it snow enough to get a snow day? I sure hope so!