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[greenkoolayd]

there was a foot and a half of snow by noon and it hasnt stopped snowing since then.  i am fucked in a way that i do not like.

[schnitzelbank]

I am one of those idiots slipping around and falling on my ass because I do not have real boots. My old ones wore out and I never got new ones... oh well.
my big nike hightops are doing OK, though... better than the converses I used to wear, those things had zero traction.

I have YakTrax. They make the trek uphill in the snow to buy ingredients to appease angry weather gods possible. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to crack eggs over my head, wrap myself in toilet paper, pour milk over the balcony, and jump over a sterno can with bread mashed into my toes three times to ensure the return of the sun. 

[wombat]

Where I grew up, we saw snow and we thought:

"Oh yeah. THAT'S why the property values are so low."

On NPR today, they read all kinds of letters from people in cold places who were complaining about how much coverage the storm in DC was getting, all going on and on about how much snow they have where they live.

Well, yeah. That's why WE have the sense to live HERE and not where you dopes live!

[CortJstr]

I have YakTrax. They make the trek uphill in the snow to buy ingredients to appease angry weather gods possible. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to crack eggs over my head, wrap myself in toilet paper, pour milk over the balcony, and jump over a sterno can with bread mashed into my toes three times to ensure the return of the sun. 

I got a pair of those, too. I put them on on Sunday then discovered that all the sidewalks around here were already shoveled down to bare brick so they were unnecessary.

[littlefallsmets]

Please say they play Yakitysax from little speakers on them.

[Drygioni]

YakTrax? Pfft.

Try these bad boys on for size

[JorgeFabregas]

I think those would put a cramp on my walking style.

Or tear up the sidewalk.

[Drygioni]

I think those would put a cramp on my walking style.

Or tear up the sidewalk.

Yes

On the other hand you can walk up the side of buildings and stomp people like a mofo

[side_show]

On NPR today, they read all kinds of letters from people in cold places who were complaining about how much coverage the storm in DC was getting, all going on and on about how much snow they have where they live.

Well, yeah. That's why WE have the sense to live HERE and not where you dopes live!

Or:  That's why weaklings live where they live.  

I was in Banff this winter, with mountains everywhere, watching a herd of about 100 wild elk.  I was looking at all the impassible, massive mountains of the Rockies, and it made me realize the serious strength and endurance it takes to be Canadian, and it brought me to a new place, where I want to relish the challenge of life in the elements.  There's an entire community of snowmen on my street this year.  I wore ice cleats almost every day last winter to walk to and from work.  We get every kind of weather where I live (apart from hurricanes, though there are tornadoes).  It's really not an issue to adapt to varied conditions, although as a species humans are lazy, so it's more of a mental obstacle to deal with things like winter, heat, etc.  It's embarrassing to see people complaining about minor inconveniences, because 1) we're tougher than that, and those of us who live with it all the time know this is so, and 2) it's really not that hard to come up with solutions to overcoming the challenges, so grow up and deal with it.  We're probably the most resilient species on the planet, yet we act like we're made of glass or something.  So sucky.

Regardless, I wonder how many people actually choose to live where they live, regardless of location.    It seems to me many people have little choice as to where they live.  I live where I live because I was born here and all the people I love live here.  Other people live where they do because it's where the work they can find is.   If I were to choose, actually choose to live where I wanted to based only on my own desires, I'd probably live on a private island with a handful of my favorite people.  An island of the sort where I could be totally self sufficient based on growing seasons and the availability of giraffe and maybe some chickens I'd raise.  There's a lot of things preventing me from doing such a thing on financial and personal levels, to the point where such a desire is basically a dream.  So I take what I get, and find joy in the resiliency of myself and those around me.

[wombat]

Well good for all of you who live in places that own enough snowplows etc. Some of my neighbors didn't even own shovels and they were selling out as soon as they trucked them in so you couldn't get one for love or money. Someone I know even ordered one on Amazon hoping for a miracle that the delivery would get through (it didn't). If you resilient Northerners can explain how they can clear five foot drifts with their kitchen implements, I'm sure they'd be glad to know.

[jay-ell]

Well good for all of you who live in places that own enough snowplows etc. Some of my neighbors didn't even own shovels and they were selling out as soon as they trucked them in so you couldn't get one for love or money. Someone I know even ordered one on Amazon hoping for a miracle that the delivery would get through (it didn't). If you resilient Northerners can explain how they can clear five foot drifts with their kitchen implements, I'm sure they'd be glad to know.

See, yeah. I mean, I grew up in the North, I lived there long enough to know how to handle snow and ice. But it's a whole different ball game in a place that doesn't get real winter weather often enough to invest the community's resources in dealing with it. When I go to Ohio at Christmastime and there's three feet of snow on the ground, you bet your ass I get in the car and drive around if I feel the need. But when we have 2 inches of ice on the roads in Raleigh and there's neither salt nor snowplows down, I keep my ass home -- not because I'm lazy, but because I don't want to wreck my car or get dead.

The "hunker down and let it melt" philosophy drives me crazy, but quite honestly it doesn't make sense for the city to buy a bunch of snowplows and have them sitting in storage 360 days a year. My Northern relatives, though, REALLY don't get this, and tease me about getting soft down here. Which, you know, gets a little grating after the first fifteen years or so.

[Carlos del Vaca]

The "hunker down and let it melt" philosophy drives me crazy, but quite honestly it doesn't make sense for the city to buy a bunch of snowplows and have them sitting in storage 360 days a year.

PREACH.  I wonder how many people wandering around bitching about NoVa/DC/Maryland's inability to plow their streets the first day after the snow, also rail against taxes at every opportunity.  Doesn't make much budget sense to supply the public works department with equipment to deal with a 100-year storm, when those storms only happen, you know, every 100 years or so. 

It's like the Tea Party protestors who complained when Metro wouldn't supply them with extra service.

[Arachno-capitalist]

Those of you not in The Snow Zone may not have this phenomenon, but Ive noticed every single time its about to snow, the news does a reel interviewing people rushing the hardware store for hundreds of shovels. What do these people do, throw out their shovels every time theyre done? How many times do people in the NYC metro area need to buy shovels?

[wombat]

Those of you who live in Southern California and/or are not old enough to own homes, maybe don't realize that, for one thing, snow shovels break eventually under hard use, so even people who were prepared in advance might find themselves without.

As far as the idea of clearing entire sidewalks with a baking pan or even a gardening shovel, I'm going to assume that's a joke.  I laugh too when NC shuts down for two inches of snow, but I am perfectly well aware that it's because it doesn't make sense to expect them to clear it with a baking pan.

[wombat]

Well I wish YOU lived on the end of my block Ash, because obviously you'd have tunnelled a route through the ten foot pile of snow that has been deposited on the corner by the plows and I'd be able to cross the street without walking in the middle of traffic.

But you don't, and so I have spent the week doing stuff like carrying pugs back and forth from a hotel down the middle of the street because we had no power for three days, and I am still waiting to see if the Tech Staff ever gets back from Utah where he has been stranded since last weekend. So, yeah, it's not really funny anymore.