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Weather

Weather
Snowmaggedon: The Day After
02.05.11 | Permalink | 1 Comment

So the snow and ice finally melted, and I went to the store today. So did everyone else. I hate people.

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Should I start blogging more? I dunno, seems like a good idea. I’m starting up work on the novel again, maybe the occasional blog post will help me keep on track. The novel stands at 7,000 words, many of them the right ones, and I got far enough to know that I can carry this through to completion. Whether it’s worth doing, that’s another question.

The big problem so far is that this book, like so many, has a beginning, a muddle, and an end. I have some good scenes planned out, but many others that are basically “the hero and his sidekick go talk to Suspect B.” Perhaps I’ll need to flesh that out a bit.
Weather
Begun, The Revolution Has
03.26.08 | Permalink | 5 Comments

A follow-up to my recent global warming post: apparently, an army of robots deployed throughout the world’s oceans have begun reporting back, and they’re saying that the oceans aren’t heating up as expected.

Sure. That’s what they’re saying. Here’s what I think is happening: the machines are trying to kill us. Up on the land they’re working tirelessly to spew more carbon into the atmosphere, while their undersea agents lie without remorse, dooming the human race to extinction.

You want more evidence? A friend of mine woke up the other night to find that his heater and air conditioner were running at the same time. At first I thought they must be fighting (“Too hot? I’ll show you too hot!”) but then I realized that they were working together to eliminate us.

Or it could be that, right now, scientists are better at gathering this data than explaining it. That’s one reason I’ve been skeptical of global warming. As Clarke’s Fourth (or Lesser) Law explains, “For every expert there is an equal and oppsite expert.” So much of the climate change hype has amounted to, “Trust us! We’re scientists!”, but these appeals to authority haven’t convinced me.

I’d rather believe our machines are out to get us. Now I’d better publish this before my computer turns against afsd09yhanomn;asdfaf …..
Weather, Work
Ice Ice Baby
12.01.06 | Permalink | Comment?

So this week we had an outbreak of severe weather down here in Dallas. A cold front rolled in at about five o’clock on Wednesday, just as I was leaving work, and I have to say it looked pretty damn impressive, with sooty black clouds blotting out the sun in just 15 minutes our so, and the temperatures dropping a good ten degrees in the hour it took to get home.

On Thursday I got up at the normal time and headed in to work. It quickly became apparent that half the workforce decided it was too dangerous to drive that day, and the other half made sure to be extra careful by driving 60 miles per hour in the fast lane! What the hell is wrong with these people? It was over seventy degrees on Wednesday, no way the ground was going to freeze. I didn’t see enough ice on my 40 mile commute to make a glass of tea.

For some reason people down here have an irrational fear of water in its solid form. When people see a white patch on the road they’re like (cue Jessica Rabbit voice), “Oh my God it’s ICE!!” If they don’t see any, they’re like, “Oh my God it’s… BLACK ICE!!!”

So work was slow yesterday. When some sleet and snow started to fall around lunchtime my boss came around to say that the person on call (me) would need to stay at a local hotel. “But you know it’s not going to freeze!” I said.

“Yeah,” he replied, “but if you get a call and can’t make it in, you’re in trouble.”

I’d been tipped off that this might happen and had an overnight bag in the car, so I sucked it up and stayed.

When I came out this morning, it was forty. No ice to be seen. Only… BLACK ICE!!!
Weather
Early Show
04.18.06 | Permalink | Comment?

One hundred and one degrees. That was the temperature yesterday out at D/FW Airport. April 17th seems a bit early to be hitting the century. The earliest I can remember is May 31st.

On the other hand, it didn’t feel quite that hot. It takes a couple of summer months for parking lot concrete to reach the “molten” phase. And the temperature was no higher than seventy at 5:30 this morning. Still, the sun is laying the serious beat-down on all us Texans. I hope it’s like traffic – if it’s bad early, it will be better later. Or not.

Thank the Lord we had our air conditioner fixed last week, otherwise I would be melting like the Wicked Witch of the West. And of course, all the stuff I planted last week cried out in terror, and was suddenly silenced.