Snow Blind

There has been a lot of talk about snow in the last couple of days. It seems like as soon as the meteorologists predicted the possibility of a little wet snow for Thursday evening, the talking heads on every newscast have tossed that four letter word around like a hot potato.

Snow has become a four letter word, hasn't it. Just the mention of it, starts to freak people out. The weathermen get a chubby when they see it in the forecast and the news anchors repeat it over and over trying to scare the shit out of us.

This is New England. And, as far as I can remember once you have a few bare trees there's always a possibility of a few snow flakes. At what point did we start fearing snow like we did polio in the '50's? The newscasters are the ones breeding this fear. By Tuesday, they were all into it. "There's SNOW in the forecast!", "Yes, folks, we are going to have SNOW in October!" I think they are tying to send some people into shock. Drive by a supermarket and I'm not sure they haven't succeeded.

A rush on the stores is a byproduct of the snow scare. The snow word is bantered about and people are immediately out to stores for milk, bread, candles, batteries, shovels, as though they may not be able to make to Shaw's for a week. When did New Englanders become such pussies when it comes to snow?

Yeah, its snow. But, its still October! Whatever we get will no doubt melt before it hits the ground. If it does stick, it won't last through the next day. Why are we freaking over less than an inch of snow? Just wait until January, then we'll see some hysteria.

A Blog! What was I Thinking?

As anyone can clearly see from the entries on this blog and the dates involved, I haven't exactly been a fountain of literature here. I started this page while in a whimsical mood, thinking I would make periodical entries commenting on things I come across in my daily travels.

I thought the title would kind of speak for itself. I certainly think of life as one hell of a journey and I feel I've not exactly traveled it in 1st class. Steerage seemed appropriate. I probably would have gotten along quite well with the folks who traveled in steeerage back in the days of the steamships.

Anyway, I thought I would be writing interesting observations as I travel life's highways. Obviously, so far I have failed in that endeavor. So, it's about time I man up and get on with this thing. Or, just call it quits and crawl away as the little lightweight I may be.

So Busy

Not a single post since February. God, what an incredably busy life I must be leading that I can't take the time to jot down a few lines to all the followers of this blog.

Actually, could I get back to this. I just noticed there is a show coming on that I wanted to watch.

Who has the Time for THAT!

Don't you just love it when your flying along Route 128 enjoying a little sunshine after all the snowstorms and all of a sudden a sheet of ice and snow lifts off the roof of the car in front of you. There you are wondering if this thing is going to slam into your windshield. If there is a good amount of traffic, you can't do much to avoid this frozen projectile. Except to bitch at that asshole that did nothing to clean their car off.
Part of owning a car is to make sure it is safe on the road. When did people start forgetting about being safe for others as well. There's a lot of idiot's these days who go out after a snowfall and clean a space on their windshield barely enough to peek through then drive off into traffic. They don't have the time to clean off the six inches that coats the rest of the vehicle. So, screw the people behind them on a highway. A lot of people just don't give a crap about the other drivers around them. They want to get where their going and cleaning the car off is going to take up too much time.
I only hope all these bastards have to make a sudden stop sending the snow off the roof and into their windshields. That'll slow them down.

Hardy, Har, Har.

We have really been getting slammed with old man winter here in New England. We are on a scheduled track of at least one snow storm a week. Most weeks have an extra bonus storm thrown in as well. Yes sir, we are getting snow of historical proportions. But, life doesn't stop for us, work goes on, we have orders to complete and deadlines to meet. We drudge through this snow and sleet because we are hardy New Englander's. We can take what Mother Nature throws at us.
Of course, a few government offices have to close down just to lessen the traffic out there. Then, yes, the schools have to shut down. No sense having kids and teachers out there. Besides, there's one or two snow days every year, right?
Well, wrap your minds around this little factoid, you hardy New Englander's - today, February 2, 2011, is the first day in 12 years that the city of Chicago has closed schools on account of weather. I would imagine they have had a few flakes of snow in those 12 years.

Cheer for Beer

I recently came home to find a package on my doorstep. I knew I hadn't ordered anything of late, so I was a little curious as to what this might be. It was clearly addressed to me and the box had some weight to it. Well, I was quite pleasently surprised to open the package and find a 12 pack of beer.
A one page promotional flyer in the box told me this was sent from a Beer of the Month Club, but no other indication as to why I recieved this prize. Then, my wife tells me that we had recieved one of those email Christmas cards from and old friend back before the holiday. She said that in the email he had mentioned to keep an eye on the mail, we would be receiving something. I went back and took a look at his email which I admit I didn't really read at the time. Sure enough, he said something would be coming by post and it would be something aimed a little bit more towards my tastes.
I have to say, this was beautiful gesture on his part. I immediately emailed my friend, John, to thank him. He sent back a reply saying it was a just a little something thanking us for putting him up when he passed through these parts a few years ago. Well, the beer has been great. Some nicely crafted microbrewed ales from both New Hampshire and Colorado.
So, this 12 pack on my door step has prompted John and I to once again correspond. We have also connected through Facebook which also allowed me to connect with other mutual friends. See what a wonderful thing beer can be. Beer can bring people together. Of course, I've always had a great admiration for the benefits of beer, but this little episode is a reminder of what beer can do for us. I plan to enjoy more beer. I hope others will as well.