| Author | Message | ||
     Crusty |
It’s Cold Today Today is trash day, so I just put my trash out. Since I was outside, I shoveled off the 2 inches of snow that fell last night on my deck and back stairs. I was outside for maybe ten minutes tops and I can honestly say that one degree Fahrenheit (-17 Celsius) is freakin’ cold to me. And it’s supposed to get a lot colder this weekend along with another foot of snow. I really do hate winter; but you already know that. The trouble with being snowbound or coldbound or whatever you want to call it is that I start to run out of things to keep myself occupied. I can only play computer games for so long before they get really old. TV mostly sucks. There are three shows that I watch fairly regularly, but that’s it other than the Weather. I watch the Weather Report most evenings, but I try to time it so I don’t have to watch the News. When I watch the News, I get either pissed off or depressed. Plus, I think that all the news reporting is pretty slanted. “Control the information and you control the people”. I’m not a big Conspiracy Theorist, but I really don’t trust everything that’s presented on TV as news. I’m tired of all the movies in my personal library. I’ve watched them all more times than I care to admit. You know, it’s kind of funny. Sometimes, a TV channel will show a movie that’s in my Library and I’ll watch it; even though it’s been cut and I have to put up with commercials. Hey; Good News! I just looked and the Outside Temperature is up to three degrees F (-16C)! The forecast says that it’s going to make it all the way up to 11 F (-12C). Yesterday, I made an offer on the bike I want from Guido. I hope he takes it. It would be a win-win for both of us. If he decides not to, I have a couple of other irons in the fire. The salesman from High Octane Harley in Billerica is pretty aggressively chasing my business. I made the mistake of looking online at a new Sportster 1200 T that’s pretty much set up the way I want, and clicking the button for more information last Sunday night. I’ve gotten three calls and two e-mails in the past few days saying he wants to get me “into a new bike in that Superior Blue that you like” I don’t really want to go in hock for the 60 or 72 months it would take for me to get affordable payments, but a new bike does have its appeal. Then, there’s Craigslist. There’s an ’06 1200C for short money. I’d have to change the bars (it’s got those stupid Apehangers on it), the exhaust (it’s been wrapped with black heat tape) and change the forward controls for mid controls. But it does have the 4 ½ gallon gas tank, which I like, and it’s painted a semi flat grey color that looks good. I guess I’ll just wait a couple of days and see how it goes. Tonight it’s supposed to go down to five below zero F (-21C); then we’re looking at a foot of snow tomorrow along with a week of low temps near or below zero. La-De-Freakin’-Da. I’m listening to a couple of Randall Leonard CDs. He’s a New Age pianist that nobody has heard of, but I really enjoy a couple of his albums. It’s very soothing music and it’s become a frequently played item at this time of year. Terri found one of his CDs years ago at the Eliot Church fair, and it kind of grew on us. He’s not as good a pianist as George Winston, but his music doesn’t have that “depressed” air that some of George Winston’s works hint at. My diet has been going well. I’ve lost 14 pounds since Christmas, If I can just keep doing what I’ve been doing, I’ll be back into my 38 waist blue jeans by the time I hit the road. That’s what I hoping for, anyhow. It’ll be interesting to see how my weight goes once I start traveling. While I suspect I’ll continue to lose weight, I won’t know until I actually get out there. On a positive note; the days are getting longer. It’s light enough at 6:30 in the morning to be able to distinguish color, and the sun doesn’t go down until 5:15 in the afternoon. Spring is coming; I just wish it would hurry the f**k up. | ||
| 86129squids |
Me too! Decided to go to the doc-in-a-box to get a 'scrip for a persistent sore throat, plus, last night at work my eyes (with soft contacts) felt like they had paste in them. Doc says I got pink-eye. Nurse gave me a giant horse shot of antibiotics in my ass, just got back in from the pharmacy where they took a Benjamin (!!!) from me for the meds. Top it off, I can't work tonite or tomorrow, right there I'm out $500. Otherwise I feel fine, dammit!!! Oh well. Redbox gave me a free rental, my honey is fixing up a chicken and veggie casserole, at least the sun's been out (still DANG cold, down in the teens again here tonite), things could be worse. Crusty- got any good used bookstores nearby? You might benefit from a couple hours of browsing at one... | ||
| Hootowl |
65 here in spring texas.  | ||
| Aesquire |
Been outside all day started at minus one f. Eleven now and dropping like a rock. Books..... the author John Ringo just finished a zombie apocalypse series. First book, "Under A Graveyard Sky" Not my favorite genre by a long shot but Ringo knows guns and it's been very entertaining. ...... and mostly warm weather in the books, which is nice for Feb. Fair warning, adult language and subject matter by a military conservative slanted author. Violence. Lots. But when a character pulls out a pistol when her shotgun goes empty...... she drops her Saiga and goes to her HK. ..... and it has the right number of rounds in the magazine.... Ringo's characters tend to slaughter to music, so you will get some listening tips......plus a few laughs when the zombies swarm a Voltaire concert. Should start a cabin fever book thread. | ||
| Strokizator |
Well now I really feel like a whiner. I've been complaining because it's in the mid-70's all week but that just means that it will be over 100° sooner than normal and we're officially in our fourth year of drought. I'm getting tired of no water and the wacky politics that goes with it. | ||
| Reindog |
It was 84F in San Diego today. No water? Drink beer. Wacky politics? Indeed, but lane splitting is allowed. | ||
| Aesquire |
Zero f when I got home a few minutes ago. Snow squall with high wind tomorrow up to twenty f. Sunday into the minus range, more snow..... at least no zombies unless you count drivers. I almost had an "on purpose" car crash today. Impatient idiot went to pass a school bus while it was discharging passengers. I cut him off. Would have rammed him into the opposite snow bank if need be. Lots of pain in the butt paperwork if I'd had to but less than dealing with vehicular homicide. Don't tell the boss. | ||
| 86129squids |
 Good on ya, Aesquire! | ||
| Airbozo |
Got up to 80 in parts of the Bay Area today. Records falling all over the place. I am also not looking forward to the water restrictions again this year as we head into yet another drought (unless some miracle march rains come in) (not sure about Fresno, but we are in year 7... We got 8" of rain at my house last weekend and nothing since. Almost washed out the project I am working on =for the SO's 50th. She gets a new Swim Spa if we can afford the fines for filling it... It is nice to be able to ride all the time though... | ||
| Aesquire |
Squids, it's not that I'm awesome... ( In my own mind, sure..  ) It's something I see a lot with professional drivers. I can't speak for anyone else, but when I have to drive all day I get bored and analyze the patterns. Look up "traffic waves".. http://trafficwaves.org/ These bozos do experiments to fix traffic flow. I'm too busy to do that, but you can find me in traffic from above pretty easy. I'm not in a clump, I'm not tailgating, I'm in the free space between packs of upset drivers angry because the guy in front wants to go slower and the guy behind wants to go faster. I also get where I'm going in less time. With much lower blood pressure. I've seen others do the school bus dance. Delivery trucks, ( all companies ) on the ball citizens, even tow trucks & Semi's. I admit it takes a certain amount of willingness to just make trouble and deal with the results. I believe we've discussed Sheepdogs before. I'll deal with the paperwork to save a child's life. This is one of those situations where the police are 100% on your side, even if they have to yell at you for making a move they would prefer no one have to make..... besides, they hate paperwork too. | ||
| Aesquire |
Oh, yeah, I'm in a University town, so I've been in multiple studies...( poor grad students ) One guy did a study on various sports. Golfers, Bowlers, Soccer players... and he decided to throw in Hang Glider Pilots. Blew all the curves. After he did the study, he told us how our scores on "complex task attitude" were not believed by his professor. So we showed up at school and 2 of us set up our own gliders, side by side, ( no notes or manuals ) and each deliberately, and secretly, made one error. ( missing safety pin, loose wing nut ) The student & prof watched & timed, then we pre-flighted the OTHER guy's aircraft, and both found the "error". Total time van roof to flight ready, 20 minutes. Kid got an "A". Remind me to tell you about the study of martial artists..... I Luv messing with soft science teachers. | ||
| Sifo |
I've seen others do the school bus dance. You should see it from the driver's seat of the school bus. I'm amazed, almost daily, how so many people have no clue how to deal with a school bus. Suddenly all rules of the road go right out the window. Some will do ANYTHING to get past the bus. Others will stop and not move until the bus is gone. It's kind of funny most of the time, but can be very frustrating too. You would be amazed how often people completely ignore the red flashing light and flashing stop sign sticking out the side of the bus. Happens to me just about daily. Sometimes you get a whole string of cars. It becomes very real when kids that you see daily are at risk of being hit by some jackass in a hurry. | ||
| Aesquire |
Sub zero this morning, with high winds and wind chills in the killing range. Also I spent $175 the last 2 weeks getting the driveway plowed, and may need another shot by Monday night. Keeping from cabin fever by posting internet news here for the snowbound, and reading different books, depending on mood, position, and whim. ( 3 are on Kindle, 2 hardcover, and one in audiobook format in car and computer... ) Oh! the timer is beeping, time to check the Turkey roast. | ||
| Court |
No better here in Manhattan. Although I've been getting meow snow during the week up in the Hudson Valley. Wind blowing between buildings here today is downright dangerous today. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Aesquire... read "Old Man's War" by John Scalzi. | ||
| 86129squids |
What's meow snow? | ||
| Aesquire |
Now in my Amazon cart. I'll get the paperback, since it looks like something I want to hold while I read. Also, a blanket recommendation for Esther Friesner's "Chicks In Chainmail" series. A series of comedies picking on, and celebrating the Brass Bra stereotype of the Female Warrior in fantasy fiction and art. There was a short lived, one season wonder, tv series called "Cleopatra 2525". Done by the creators of Xena, Warrior Princess and The Adventures of Hercules, it is set in a post apocalyptic world where Cleopatra, an exotic dancer from the 20th century, who fell into a coma during breast augmentation surgery, then frozen, was thawed out for spare parts, rescued and joins the Resistance. In one memorable scene, Cleo is given new clothes and seeks to accessorize... when chided for he concern for her appearance, "You're very concerned about your appearance, aren't you?", her response is "Like those exposed midriffs of yours are functional." | ||
| Court |
Haha....... Supposed to be "more" ..... But spillcheek and I continue our tussle. | ||
| Crusty |
Well, this last bout has left us with an official 14.6 Inches of snow. A little bonus is that the wind is howling and the temperature is presently 3° F, and it's supposed to drop to -10° tonight. The wind chill is supposed to be close to -50° tomorrow morning. I'm tired of winter. | ||
| Aesquire |
Every year I swear I'm going down to Punxsutawney with a club. "Groundhog Day" is one of the great movies though. Over analyzed by religious scholars and pundits for years. http://www.nationalreview.com/article/228088/movie -all-time-jonah-goldberg | ||
| Sagehawk |
Hootowl: are you actually in spring , texas? | ||
| Ratbuell |
3 here now, too (Maryland). "Dangerous" wind chills. Snow coming tomorrow. I've blocked the grille (completely) on my 01 Ram diesel...still won't warm up, warmer when I unplug the block heater the garage than when I get 5 miles down the road. So, I ordered a cold front mask today (hard to find one for an '01, but Geno's had one). Also ordered a block heater cord for the Jeep Ecodiesel - comes with the heater, but no cord. $15.95 from Geno's. The heat pump hasn't shut off...but it's a nice 69 degrees in the living room  | ||
| Etennuly |
Every year I swear I'm going down to Punxsutawney with a club. I'll go with you.....but not to club a victimized ground hog, anybody there with a top hat gets it!  Looks like we are going below zero for a couple of nights in East Tennessee. Not much of a good thing. Most stuff made more than ten years ago is insulated for down to 10F and not much more. Short blasts of cold are tolerable but if we hang there for a several days at a time things will fail. The biggest potential problem is ice/sleet/rain taking out trees and electrical power. Insulation standards for new stuff has been getting better here over the past couple of decades, more so for cutting back on air conditioning use/costs than for heat, but it benefits both ways. TVA has been doing a pretty good job keeping up with growth. Twelve to fifteen years ago we had voluntary summertime 'brown outs' due to a/c demands. | ||
| Court |
>>>>Most stuff made more than ten years ago is insulated for down to 10F I was made LOTS more than 10 years ago and . . . . well, I'm not insulated for it.   Oh . . and how would you like to be the parks worker who left the Bryant Park fountain running . . . .  | ||
| S21125r |
-14F this morning in Metro Detroit... When I turned the ignition switch I swear my truck said "you want me to do what?" | ||
| Etennuly |
I spent my first twenty some years in NW Pa and W NY state. I worked at a ski resort for four winters making snow and running lifts. When the temperatures went to zero we were outside all night keeping the equipment going. Then I could not do it anymore. I had obtained minor frost bite in my fingers and feet several times. Since then when they get too cold they loose circulation and sting until I get them warmed up, or let them freeze to numbness(and that sucks). I wish I had some pictures of that. On a still clear night at five below zero, when you walk on the snow and it squeaks under your boots, blowing a two foot diameter column of water and wind ninety feet up into the air made some really cool rainbow effects in the slope's night lights. | ||
| Etennuly |
We have had about a half inch of ice in the past hour. Many wrecks in the area so far. The ice is coating everything. Tree limbs breaking will likely be a problem a little later this afternoon. Snow expected on top of this this evening. | ||
| Crusty |
I think I'll move to some Equatorial region. Screw winter. Micronesia sounds interesting; so does Fiji. | ||
| 86129squids |
My GF has dual citizenship, USA and Dominican Republic- if we could do the needed research, she might very well be partial heir to a plantation down there... Gotta look into that! | ||
| Etennuly |
27F degrees and raining. Expecting four inches of snow on top of that. Ice in now about an inch deep on the ground and driveway.  The wife just called to tell me she may have to work a double shift as a customer service manager at Wally World. Very few employees have been able to show up for work there today. Plenty of customers though. Funny how people can't go to work because of the foul weather but they can manage to go shopping at Wally World!  |
