What you did today

[Walsingham]

@Walsingham/Nepenthe: Oh hell, I didn't mean to make you all 'Hail to the King' of 'Woe is me' at the moment. By all means, if you have something you need to vent about, do it. It keeps me front ... unconventional stress relief.

 

I know that wasn't your point, man. One reason it's commendable.

 

Had more than 40 texts from one of my exes today. I guess I really could write love letters in the old days...

 

No action on that front. But occasionally it's nice to regard the dusty souvenirs. ...And if any of you work out who I'm talking about and call her a dusty souvenir, we're all dead.

 

Seriously.

[Gfted1]

I have a question about that. How are they plowing the roads with all of those abandoned cars sitting there? I have ideas, I just don't know how they're actually accomplishing it. Then again, I didn't really look into it. I was thinking about it last night before I fell asleep.

 

 

By Tuesday night there were over 700 cars abandoned on Lake Shore Drive (the street right next to Lake Michigan and a major artery for downtown traffic). The were all towed at no expense to the owner and then the plowing could begin. It just reopened this morning.

[Raithe]

.. Was just pumping out a quick batch of push-ups.. and the cat came buzzing round the corner and flung itself at my head like a flying squirrel.

 

When you're halfway pushing yourself up and the furred thing wraps itself around your head.. its a touch distracting.

[Walsingham]

.. Was just pumping out a quick batch of push-ups.. and the cat came buzzing round the corner and flung itself at my head like a flying squirrel.

 

When you're halfway pushing yourself up and the furred thing wraps itself around your head.. its a touch distracting.

 

Proof cats are evil.

[Nepenthe]

@Walsingham/Nepenthe: Oh hell, I didn't mean to make you all 'Hail to the King' of 'Woe is me' at the moment. By all means, if you have something you need to vent about, do it. It keeps me front ... unconventional stress relief.

No, it's more like you're reminding me how well things are here. While I have major angst over research and future employment issues, I'm still pretty secure in having a roof over the top of my head...

[Deraldin]

Back at work today after the third highest snow amount in Chicago's history. The side roads are still a mess but at least the highway is plowed and salted. O'Hare airport reported 20.2 inches of snow.

 

I wish we had gotten that much snow from this storm. Although the roads would probably be in even worse shape what with the city forgetting how to clear them. They're clearing out most of it, but they are leaving about an inch thick layer on the road that is just turning to solid ice.

At least you oculd get out... I had a four foot drift behind my car and couldn't go out yesterday... donno if they plowed it today.

 

I've only had that happen to me once and it wasn't so much behind the vehicle as it was on all sides of the vehicle. Having 4 foot retaining walls on both sides of your driveway is awesome for catching drifting snow.

 

Couldn't even use the snowblower that time because I couldn't get it out of the garage.

[Calax]

Back at work today after the third highest snow amount in Chicago's history. The side roads are still a mess but at least the highway is plowed and salted. O'Hare airport reported 20.2 inches of snow.

 

I wish we had gotten that much snow from this storm. Although the roads would probably be in even worse shape what with the city forgetting how to clear them. They're clearing out most of it, but they are leaving about an inch thick layer on the road that is just turning to solid ice.

At least you oculd get out... I had a four foot drift behind my car and couldn't go out yesterday... donno if they plowed it today.

 

I've only had that happen to me once and it wasn't so much behind the vehicle as it was on all sides of the vehicle. Having 4 foot retaining walls on both sides of your driveway is awesome for catching drifting snow.

 

Couldn't even use the snowblower that time because I couldn't get it out of the garage.

Well, for me it was becuase of the blizzard creating drifts behind every car downwind. In my lot every car on the south side of each row had a fairly hefty drift behind it.

[Nepenthe]

You guys ever heard of shovels? That's what we use here...

[Deraldin]

You guys ever heard of shovels? That's what we use here...

 

We have 4 snow shovels. 1 per person.

[Calax]

Where am I supposed to store a shovel in my itty bitty room?

[Nepenthe]

Where am I supposed to store a shovel in my itty bitty room?

 

Trunk or use a trenching tool instead.

 

This was more directed at the people claiming it's necessary to use a snowblower to get a little bit of drift snow from behind your car. If you have a snowblower, put the shovel in its place and sell it.

[Malcador]

Is annoying when you've a large driveway and sidewalk to shovel. Or if you want to clear a laneway for you and your neighbours.

[BicycleOfDeath]

A train derailed yesterday in Duluth, MN. I spent my night cleaning that up and repairing the track. It was great. Can't sleep. Work tonight. Leave back home @ 4:30am. I might actually ask to leave a bit early. Anyway, the derailment. What happened was is a newish train crew were heading North. There's a curve before the bridge. The cars were 'empty' limestone cars. By 'empty' I mean they were supposed to be but some limestone was left in because it was frozen. It was frozen on the side of the car that was on the outside of the curve. Train went around the corner, and because of the weight distrobution, quite a few cars derailed. Two of them completely disconnected and went off of the bridge. There's a road down below, but the cars didn't land on that part.

 

I was part of the crew that had to replace the rail that was destroyed in the process. Lets just say it's one of those things that everything went wrong. We ended up replacing the rail twice. The bridge is going to need a complete overhaul because the car wheels dug into the ties on the bridge. I have pictures, but they're pretty pixelled due to the low light conditions and it was from my phone. They're on my Facebook and you can also just do a web search of "Train Derailment Duluth, MN".

[Enoch]

Where am I supposed to store a shovel in my itty bitty room?

 

Trunk or use a trenching tool instead.

 

This was more directed at the people claiming it's necessary to use a snowblower to get a little bit of drift snow from behind your car. If you have a snowblower, put the shovel in its place and sell it.

I think you may be underestimating the last few decades' super-sizing of the American homestead. Snowblowers are pretty common in modern American exurbs full of 3500 square-foot homes with multiple-car garages and 100-foot driveways. (And, given the physical fitness of many Americans, they can be pretty necessary in big storms.) Even in more reasonable neighborhoods, there's usually at least one person on a given block who has one, and they become the envy of their neighbors when the snowstorms come.

 

(For my part, I live in an old neighborhood with small houses and lots. As a somewhat-doughy but reasonably healthy 30-something, I dig.)

[Hurlshort]

I live in sunny California, so I have no idea what you folks are talking about.

[Serrano]

Spent some time mastering the Imperial Guard faction in DoW2 Retribution. I really like them, they basically revolve around defensive structures and artillery strikes or masses of squishy infantry backed up by a giant tank. I didn't think it was possible to make an army that felt totally different from the other 5 but Relic have succeeded spectacularly. I'd have to recommend this to anyone who liked DoW2 and Chaos Rising.

Edited February 4, 2011 by Serrano

[Nepenthe]

Where am I supposed to store a shovel in my itty bitty room?

 

Trunk or use a trenching tool instead.

 

This was more directed at the people claiming it's necessary to use a snowblower to get a little bit of drift snow from behind your car. If you have a snowblower, put the shovel in its place and sell it.

I think you may be underestimating the last few decades' super-sizing of the American homestead. Snowblowers are pretty common in modern American exurbs full of 3500 square-foot homes with multiple-car garages and 100-foot driveways. (And, given the physical fitness of many Americans, they can be pretty necessary in big storms.) Even in more reasonable neighborhoods, there's usually at least one person on a given block who has one, and they become the envy of their neighbors when the snowstorms come.

 

(For my part, I live in an old neighborhood with small houses and lots. As a somewhat-doughy but reasonably healthy 30-something, I dig.)

Not so much underestimating, as somewhat poking fun at it. In this neighborhood a ~400 sq. foot. one bedroom apartment with a small balcony costs 260 000 euros, minimum. Clearly, a trenching tool/small shovel is what people use to dig their cars out.

 

A garage spot (heated) can be 300-400 euros a month. A lot of people shovel...

 

Or, you could say that i'm not so much poking fun at it, but being mildly envious of the whole situation.

[Calax]

I live in sunny California, so I have no idea what you folks are talking about.

You live in the sunny PART of Cali... move to tahoe and you'll see.

[Hurlshort]

I live in sunny California, so I have no idea what you folks are talking about.

You live in the sunny PART of Cali... move to tahoe and you'll see.

 

People live in Tahoe? I thought that was just a place people go to for vacation?

[Calax]

Well, they live in Placerville, Shingle Springs, Cameron Park, and Rescue, all of which get snow every so often

[Walsingham]

Spent some time mastering the Imperial Guard faction in DoW2 Retribution. I really like them, they basically revolve around defensive structures and artillery strikes or masses of squishy infantry backed up by a giant tank. I didn't think it was possible to make an army that felt totally different from the other 5 but Relic have succeeded spectacularly. I'd have to recommend this to anyone who liked DoW2 and Chaos Rising.

 

I'm simply not signing up to any more Relic stuff after waiting more than two years to a fix to their lazy ass NAT negotiation protocols. I kknow it was probably THQ's fault because I've always had **** customer service from them, but ultimately Relic choose their publishers.

[Walsingham]

Bad backs are so freaking weird. I just bent down to put on my shoes and my back went out so bad I only realised it had happened because I couldn't work out why I was yelling like a wounded ox. Now I'm stuck in a chair, typing this, and wondering when the hell it will stop cramping so I can go meet my friends...

 

No idea how long this will last. Expect more tedious bulletins as I get bored.

[Walsingham]

Watched some Hill Street Blues, and let things subside. Now got my shoes on and heading out.

 

In a weird way, it was kind of a wild ride.

[BicycleOfDeath]

Woke up after sleeping in a bed. Just made some hot chocolate.

[Malcador]

Woke up, watched Arsenal blow a 4-0 lead (thank you very much, English referees) but United lost, so it's evened out. Now to decide whether or not to do Perl, C++ or Java.