jonathan.bare.to

In 1996, before I lived in Philly, the region was socked by a winter storm
with an intensity never seen before in recorded history. In that storm in
Janury, 30.7 inches of snow fell officially at the airport. It was hailed
as "the storm of the century."

Fortunatly, we're now in a new century. This January, we have a storm
which could come close to riviling the '96 storm. When I was outside
earlier, I would guess there was easily more than 20 inches of white
powder in areas where it had not been blown around. And it's still snowing
heavily.

Here's a bunch of photos from the past few hours...

href="http://www.wunderground.com/wximage/viewsingleimage.html?mode=singleimage&handle=jlb76&number=27"> src="http://www.wunderground.com/data/wximage/jlb76/27-thumb.jpg"
width=107 height=80 border=0> href="http://www.wunderground.com/wximage/viewsingleimage.html?mode=singleimage&handle=jlb76&number=26"> src="http://www.wunderground.com/data/wximage/jlb76/26-thumb.jpg"
width=107 height=80 border=0> href="http://www.wunderground.com/wximage/viewsingleimage.html?mode=singleimage&handle=jlb76&number=25"> src="http://www.wunderground.com/data/wximage/jlb76/25-thumb.jpg"
width=107 height=80>

href="http://www.wunderground.com/wximage/viewsingleimage.html?mode=singleimage&handle=jlb76&number=24"> src="http://www.wunderground.com/data/wximage/jlb76/24-thumb.jpg"
width=107 height=80 border=0> href="http://www.wunderground.com/wximage/viewsingleimage.html?mode=singleimage&handle=jlb76&number=23"> src="http://www.wunderground.com/data/wximage/jlb76/23-thumb.jpg"
width=107 height=80 border=0>

Right now, as I type this, ice pelets are quite loudly hitting the window.
I'm happy I'm not outside adventuring as those would probably really hurt.

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Posted by jonathan at 04:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm really happy I'm not driving or walking around Bethesda, Maryland
right about now. At 4 AM, the weather conditions were...

Freezing fog?!? That has got to hurt. Kind of reminds me of the Fog
Monster of Old Londontown (or something along those lines) from one of the
classic Dangermouse episodes. Oh, eck... Oh, eck!

In yet more weather related news, we're in for up to a foot of snow in
these parts in the next 24 hours. Less than what the kindred will see in
Bethesda, but still enough that hopefully there will be no work on
Monday. Woo... snow day!

Kind of makes me wish I lived in a real house so I could go to Home Depot
and be one of the people buying snow blowers they show on the local news
every time there's a storm.

Posted by jonathan at 04:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

src="/images/drive-by-snow-small.jpg" height="90" width="70"
align="left">I wonder if the airlines (in this case, American) are
purposely cancelling flights which they might otherwise, if they were
still making boatloads of cash, because of bad weather.

That's my guess. American Eagle cancelled just about all of its
Philadephia-Boston flights today, including mine. Thanks Don Carty! Well,
I'm not sure what I expect for a $170 fare. I'm sure not getting dinner,
booze, a hot towel, and a movie. I'm just thankful when flight attendant
on these Embraer Regional Jet flights smiles and at least pretends to be
pleasant. I'm also happen when I get there on-time and on the right day...
Yeah, as if!

Anyway, back on topic, yeah, it snowed today. We got around eight inches
here in the near-Philly 'burbs. Other areas south and east got more, some
got less north, northeast, and west of here. Woop dee doo. That up there
is a photo from early this morning looking out my window (it's a car going
by, the shutter speed was really, really low).

So, that's my story. I'm going to Boston tomorrow instead. Of course,
there's snow predicted for Monday, right about the time I'm scheduled to
come back. That happened to me once before. We did racetrack circles
somewhere over Allentown for three hours while they plowed the runway in
Philly. The flight is usually an hour. I sure hope that doesn't happen
again. :(

Posted by jonathan at 11:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

So I wanted to buy a book from Amazon.com. The book costs $24.47. The book
is all I want. I add it to my shopping cart and right there on the screen
is the message, "Wait! Add $0.53 to your order to qualify for FREE Super
Saver Shipping." The minimum for the fres super saver shipping is $25.

Yeah, um, what does Amazon.com sell for 53 cents? As far as I can tell,
not much.

$5.29 for The Simpson's href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/toys/B00005MNRK/ref=pd_ir_t/002-8093099-9502427">Bleeding
Gums Murphy action figure.
$9.99 for the href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004OCJG/qid=/br=1-6/ref=br_lf_k_6//002-8093099-9502427?v=glance&s=kitchen&n=289851">OXO
Two-Piece Peeler/Parer set
$5.99 for the biography " href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000645W7/002-8093099-9502427?v=glance&s=books&n=45">The
Prince of Tennessee: The Rise of Al Gore"
$3.49 for the href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005OU5M/qid=1044573585/br=2-1/ref=br_ts_slwth_th_1/002-8093099-9502427?v=glance&s=electronics&n=172746">Conair
Big Button Telephone
$6.59 for the href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004S201/qid=1044573871/br=1-5/ref=br_lf_hi_5//002-8093099-9502427?v=glance&s=hi&n=553922">Ames
Eagle Grass Shears

Maybe if they sold gum I could get free shipping. Instead, I think I'm
going to buy some new music. Thanks Amazon! :p

Posted by jonathan at 06:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I don't often get so excited that I temporarily lose my mind (shut peanut
gallery). But that was not the case on Friday after work when I went to
the grand opening of the Krispy Kreme doughnuts store in Springfield,
Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

It's only the second KK store in the Philadelphia area and it's just five
minutes from my house! The bad thing is that I'll probably weigh in at 600
pounds by the end of the month.

Still... DOUGHNUTS DOUGHNUTS DOUGHNUTS DOUGHNUTS! WOO HOOOOOO!

Now excuse me while I gorge myself in some deep-fried dough drowned in
frosting...

Posted by jonathan at 12:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

It does not seem possible that 17 years ago this week, as I sat in my 4th
grade classroom in stunned silence when Mr. Tisler, my teacher, announced
NASA had lost contact with Challenger. So much has changed in our world.
So many lessons learned from that accident. So much has been made by the
combined efforts of the world in creating the International Space Station.

Our lives, our country, our world may be so different now than they were
in 1986, but the shuttles flew again and kept flying. They launched
satellites, the Hubble space telescope, and the significant structure of
the ISS. They have performed countless science missions. They have kept
the crews of more than 100 flights safe.

But yesterday, I awoke to the tradgic news of the loss of another of the
orbiter fleet. Columbia was the first of the shuttles to orbit the Earth.
But she was too young to go so soon. Too young was her crew -- seven
astronauts who braved the harshesd environment man has ever lived and
worked in.

Columbia's future, with budget cutbacks and massive cost overruns of the
ISS construction, was uncertain. This could have been her final flight --
but it certainly should not have ended this way. Sixteen days in space on
what NASA officialls called a remarkable science mission. With the
combined efforts of the Columbia and ISS crews, never before has so much
science taken place in space at one time.

Before ISS was a reality, a second catastrophic shuttle accident might
have spelled the end for the fleet. Today we have the ISS to support and
build; we must go back. Space is our legacy. The men and women with "the
right stuff" might not make it to Mars, or even back to the Moon, anytime
soon (though hopefully in my lifetime) but we will return and we will
honor the memories of all those who have died and sacraficed for our
legacy.

Godspeed Columbia and her crew.

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Posted by jonathan at 06:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)