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Monday, January 24, 2005
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For LOTR Fans' Eyes Only...
SO HILARIOUS!
But given the size of the file, I am not sure how long I'll be able to keep this on my site. So enjoy it while you can.
Disclaimer: I didn't create this. I found it here.
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9:24 PM :: link ::
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Saturday, January 22, 2005
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USA Today Story on Raleigh 'Snowstorm'
National Coverage of our Embarrassing Overreaction:
Inch of Snow Throws Raleigh into a Tizzy
Next up: Southerners Complain of Frigid Temperatures (just kidding)
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7:03 PM :: link ::
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Friday, January 21, 2005
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How long did it take you...
This is the question everyone here in the Raleigh area has been asking about the inclement weather gridlock we had on Wednesday afternoon. Here are some of the stories I heard:
It took one coworker 8 hours to get home -- she left the office around 2pm.
My boss drove 5 hours, then parked his car and walked for another hour to get home.
One friend who is an elementary school teacher spent the night at the school with about 100 students. Dinner and breakfast were served to the students who had to stay there.
Another friend left work early -- at about 1:30 -- and it took him 6 hours to get from RTP to northeast Raleigh (near Knightdale).
Our Sales Director stuck around the office until midnight -- waiting for the traffic to clear -- and got home 20 minutes later.
The meteorologists predicted more snow and ice for this morning. When I woke up, the ground was a bit wet, but that's all. This time I'm glad the weather folk were wrong.
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9:28 AM :: link ::
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Thursday, January 20, 2005
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A Little Snow Creates Big Problems
Local News Story
Flurries began around noontime yesterday. It started out looking like the dusting we had on Sunday morning. The thin white layer turned everything into an attractive winter wonderland for a few hours.
But yesterday, the snow just kept on coming. It was supposed to only last maybe an hour! So, why did I trust the meteorologists?
Well, from my cube's bird's eye view of traffic on Falls of Neuse, I could see that gridlock had set in by 1:30pm. No way was I going out in THAT anytime soon. We all figured it was because too many people panicked too early and had to get home immediately. It should die down soon, or so we thought.
Well, time rolls by and there's no improvement. So, at 4 o'clock I decide to head out on my way. I decide NOT to take Falls of Neuse, since it's backed up like NHL trade negotiations. Still, it took me an HOUR to get a tenth of a mile. I thought I'd be in my car all night. And I started to get some familiar pain in my bladder.
I took my normal route to work because I figured it'd be less populated than the major thoroughfares. I was right, but the hills on that route made it especially treacherous. There were trucks and SUVs that would periodically slide on the ice, wheels spinning. I have to admit that my heart was racing watching this occur. I thought that if they caught traction, woe to anyone in their resulting path!
Well, something had to be done about the pain in my bladder. And I believe it was causing me to think about driving in a foolish manner -- the way I saw other people behaving. There was a point where we were traveling slower than usual (stopped), and there was a convenient stretch of woods on the shoulder. Well, I won't go into detail, but the guy in the truck behind me yelled, "hurry up -- I've got to ____." As I would tell my daughter, he had to go #2. When I finished, I told him, "It's all yours!"
Well, another hour later, and I was another two-tenths of a mile down the road. We're making progress, albeit painfully slow progress. Then I see the reason for the bottleneck ahead -- the steep hill. Nobody was coming our way, as I suppose people were too smart to try to head downhill in a ton of steel down an icy road. So vehicles going uphill were pointed in varying directions -- and most of these were small pickup trucks, back wheels spinning wildly.
I made my way around the other cars, slowly inching my way up the hill, never breaking and never going faster than what would just barely get me moving forward. Once I got around that obstacle course, it was fairly smooth sailing -- the kind of sailing a turtle or a snail might perform. The rest of the journey took me less than a half hour.
All the while I was praying -- praying for my safety and the safety of those around me. Praying that nobody did anything extremely stupid. Praying for the kids that I heard about on the radio that had to spend the night at their elementary schools.
Well, I made it home, and in what I would regard as record time. I heard of it taking friends 6 hours to get home -- but their normal commute is much longer than my usual 15 minutes.
All said and done, after seeing what I saw, I am becoming one of those 'better safe than sorry' people. Next time I'm leaving work early or not at all. At least we have vending machines and clean 'facilities' in the building.
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7:49 AM :: link ::
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Monday, January 17, 2005
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Florida Vacation Recap
We've been back in town for a few days now. The transition from vacation is pretty rough, as you can probably imagine. Ideally, a day at home is best for recuperating from the strains of traveling. But that's a day from my vacation bank.
So things are pretty much back to normal. We finally took down our Christmas decorations and stored them in our attic (we love having an attic!) on Saturday. We got the chance to visit with some friends. Then Sunday afternoon was time to relax a bit.
Back into the work week, but it's a much better transition than Wednesday was. Many people have the day off, which makes the part of my job that deals with customers easier.
So, on to details about the trip -- in short it was good, but not all that relaxing.
Rewind to Vacation minus 2 days. That Monday morning, I met with my cousin to transfer the title of the gold van over to myself. Everything went smoothly. Now we are proud owners of a Chrysler Town & Country minivan. On my lunchbreak, I decided to use my Best Buy gift card to pick up the latest Sixpence CD, a 'Best of' with new and hard-to-find tracks. I put the CD in, and it didn't take.
Long story short, we were back at Best Buy that night to purchase a new car stereo -- and splurged on some XM radio. Tuesday we had it put in (it took them all day b/c of the post-holiday rush) and Wednesday afternoon we were on the road -- rockin' to the beats. I tell you -- long trips will never be as excrutiating with more space (imagine 11 hours in a tiny sedan) and entertainment.
We stayed overnight at La Quinta in Savannah. Emily Anne doesn't like sleeping in her pack-n-play, and likes new sleeping locales even less, but she managed to go down within about 30 minutes. The next day was a leisurely drive down I-95, and we arrived in Melbourne shortly after lunch.
The next couple of days we hung out at Meg's parents and got some good gaming in (mostly Circus Flohcati, but also some Medici and Dschunke). We also ate well, much to the dismay of my waistline.
On Saturday, Meg and I snuck away to Orlando during Emily's morning nap.
We hung out at Downtown Disney Saturday afternoon and evening. We caught 'Meet the Fockers' at the theater, looked through the amazingly large selection of titles at the Virgin Records store, ate some overpriced goodies at the Candy Cauldron, and bought some souvenirs to bring home to the little one.
On Sunday, we took the shuttle from our resort (not as nice as the name sounds, but adequate and with a GREAT location) to Epcot. We spent the first few hours in the Land of Tomorrow, on various rides and exhibitions.
The second half of the day was spent in the different countries. We had lunch in Morocco, had our pictures taken with the 'cast' of Aladdin, watched an amazing acrobat show in China, rode a boat inside a pyramid in Mexico, had a tour of France, ate chocolates in Italy, was entertained with history in America, and had a buffet-style dinner in Norway.
And to top off the day, there was a fireworks/pyrotechnics/video show in the middle of the pond that was absolutely fantastic.
By the end of the day, we were completely exhausted.
On Monday, we drove back to Melbourne where Emily was VERY excited to see us (Meg's parents were, too, but they were having a lot of fun with their granddaughter).
We also got the chance to have dinner at Don Pablo's with good friends from college that night -- friends we hadn't seen in a couple of years, not to mention their 8-month old that we hadn't met yet.
On Tuesday, we drove the entire 11 hours back. It wasn't miserable, but Emily was definitely not digging the enormous amount of staying-in-one-place.
Then it was back to work -- about 60 emails and almost a dozen issues that needed immediate attention (thereabouts).
But it's good to be back. Next time, I vote we seclude ourselves in a mountain cabin.
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4:40 PM :: link ::
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Tuesday, January 04, 2005
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Short Sleeves in January
We've been having unseasonably warm weather here lately. Highs have been in the 60s and 70s. So, how have we celebrated this wonderful weather? Well, we went to the local park once, and....
WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!!!
Really, we are. We're leaving tomorrow. See ya later!
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1:30 PM :: link ::
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