The Supreme Tradition of Spelling Bees

The government in Washington opened today but with a two-hour delayed start. Taking into account the 4-hour early closure on Friday, that beats the old record (as far as I remember) by six hours.

Government workers get paid when the government shuts down for this kind of thing, bjd. There are lots of them, and they vote.

I don't know how I would get to DC if I had to. My street is still impassable except for brave people with four-wheel drive, and only one of the commuter train lines is operating, and on a reduced schedule.

I looked at those photos, Vinny and they made me very sad.

My street was plowed before sunrise on Thursday morning, a mere 6 hours or so after the second snowfall finally ended in my part of town. I left early, as soon as the sun rose to beat the crush. It took me almost twice as long to get in. This afternoon I left an hour early and it took me more than twice as long to get home. Most every major and not so major road has many choke points where most or all of a lane is lost, sometimes suddenly. Backhoes, front loaders, and Bobcats are out in full force, sometimes with dump trucks, to push snow all the way to the curb and/or remove it entirely.

It was a mistake to have the federal government offices open today. Even though a lot of people stayed home (most every public school system was closed again today), the crush of so many people in such a narrow space made for r e a l l y long commutes this morning. Also, there was a scandalously small number of subway cars available to all the people who were trying to go to work today. A derailed subway train in (or rather under) the city did not help matters at all.

My mockingbird was back next to my kitchen door today for the first time since the snow of last weekend. The warmth of the house had apparently melted a clear spot on the ground. Now I feel guilty for not having thought of shoveling a spot for him, but I guess he managed somehow without my help.

Vinny, Peromy,
Are they showing "The Day After Tomorrow" at the movie theaters in your area?

Did you see this from Jay Leno?

"The Saints won [the Super Bowl American football championship] 31-17 over the weekend, and there was a huge snowstorm in Washington with over two feet of snow. So it's true what people say, that the Saints would win when hell freezes over."

First Dutch gold medal at the Olympics. Sven Kramer, 5K speed skating.

Peromy: can you work from home at all, or are you forced to go into the office?

My mockingbird was back just now and this time didn't seem to be bothered by my presence in the kitchen, although perhaps he just hadn't noticed. He was busy finding things to eat (apparently) on the ground where I had cleared the snow. I had to open the fridge, though, right next to the sliding glass door, and that spooked him.

Not yet, Loscar.

Nutrax, it is true. Oh no!

Shilgia, that's nice about the gold medal.

Also, I could work from home if I get set up to do so. But I live fairly close to the office so I can just drive in. These monumental snowstorms prevented me from doing so, and I had a cold this week anyway, so I wasn't up for working until Friday anyway.

Aaaargh! I can't believe it. it's snowing again. Friday we had snow again -- and we don't need a lot to snarl up traffic and make a mess. It's just about 0°C out there, so it might melt if it warms up a few degrees. This is definitely highly unusual for this area. I saw pics of snow in Rome on Friday too.

This is just going to feed skepticism about global warming.

This is just going to feed skepticism about global warming.

It already has. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the US Senate, asked "Where's Al Gore now?" A guy on NPR said that he also pointed to the ice cubes in his glass of scotch as evidence against climate change.