First sighting of the year

Feed Sift

Five things I felt like sharing...

-1-

Two Kinds of Loyalty (Seth Godin)

-2-

Ignorance is not an opinion (Dilbert)

-3-

First Sighting of the Season

Oh, the weather outside is frightful....

Ok, there it is... first sighting of 2011.  Saturday, Nov. 5.  If past experience tells me anything, Accuweather will continue to keep it on day 15 of the 15-day forecast for several more days, and then it will slowly move forward on the prediction and then just before it gets here, it'll turn to rain.

Previous first sighting that I noted on here (living in Washington this will probably be a thing I do):
2010 - Saturday, Nov. 13
2008 - Wednesday, Oct. 22 (hey! that's today.  a few years ago.)

Yes, I am still rocking Accuweather version 3.x.  And will continue to do so as long as at all possible.  Accuweather versions 4 and 5 stink.  Boo!  (So why keep Accuweather?  Accuweather doesn't get it right every time, but it's right far more times than it's wrong which is the complete reverse of Weather.com, at least back in 2006 when I last did as close as I was going to get to a scientific survey of the two.)

Odds and Ends 82

A snowy ten.

1. LAST PERSON BLOGGING -- It's Snowing . . . Yay?

2. INHABIT -- Turning Downtrodden Detroit Into a Farm Town Could Revitalize It

3. CROSSCUT -- Seattle's live-work spaces: Commuting is such a breeze

4. MASHABLE -- The Problem That Keeps the FCC Chairman Up at Night

5. SETH GODIN -- Watcha Gonna Do With That Duck?

6. SEATTLE TRANSIT BLOG -- Ridin’ Dirty: An Enlightening Journey on America’s Intercity Bus System

7. KLOUT -- What's Your Twitter Influence? - interesting.

8-10 - Videos after the break... Misuse of a microwave, a squirrel misjudges a jump, a bicyclist doesn't -- repeatedly.

Odds and Ends 73

-1-

LAST PERSON BLOGGING -- Don't Let It Snow, Don't Let It Snow, Don't Let It Snow!

-2-

LIFEHACKER -- Web2PDF Lets You Browse the Web from Your Email

-3-

MASHABLE -- Ask.com: The End of an Era for Search

-4-

NEW YORK TIMES -- In Case of Disaster, Carriers Stand Ready to Airlift Aid

-5-

SETH GODIN -- Organizing for Joy

-6-

ABOUT FOURSQUARE -- KLM surprises travelers to see ‘how happiness spreads’

-7-

CROSSCUT -- How Seattle is exporting its poor people

-8-


ENGADGET -- MacBook Air battery shown to last two hours longer when browsing the web sans Flash

-9-

INHABIT -- BMW Unveils Brand New Plug-In Hybrid Sports Car

-10- VIDEO

Infectious fun. Ah, the power of a good song to change a baby's mood. (We could get Rachel to go to sleep by turning on "Phantom of the Opera" really loud. When Ben came along, his screaming could often put her to sleep. Nothing puts Ben to sleep, though.)

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

First Accuweather sighting of the year

Winter Wonderland Again

Spent the afternoon indoors at the mall walking off some great Zoopa. Had tried to park in the parking garage in case rain was in our future. Little did we know that it would be snowing - heavily - when we came out. We were quite surprised. I don't know whether or not to shovel tonight, but I think I should. Forecast is for rain, but it's also saying the RealFeel will be 24. I'm thinking it's going to stay snow for awhile and that we'll get another icy freeze tonight.

I Got What I Wanted

Well, I had wanted snow. And I got it. And now, again this morning, I got it again. Though after the last bout, not as sure I want it. Accuweather failed me, didn't really suggest we'd have much. But I already shoveled an inch or so off of the driveway, sidewalk and street in front of my house. (Steep hill, doesn't get plowed, dangerous, jerks on sleds out at all hours cursing and being loud despite the sledding park half a block away.) Am trying an experiment this time... after I shoveled the driveway, I laid down two tarps. Doesn't come close to covering the entire driveway, but if it works, will keep the area closest to the garage clear of snow and compact ice.. just shovel off the top layer and then peel back the tarp. If it doesn't work, it will freeze, become brittle, break and I'll be left with lots of pieces of blue tarp to pick out of my lawn this spring. Which my HOA will hate since we're not supposed to have tarps visible covering anything.

My new cube has a window and it's on the second floor so I can see the tops of trees right outside my window. They look very cool covered in snow, but I didn't bring my camera, so can't snap a shot.

First Sighting of the Season

Accuweather's predicting snow during the evening of Oct. 22.
(It won't snow, it'll disappear off the forecast before we get there.)

Goofy Weather

It won't. But it's crazy that this kind of stuff is still appearing on Accuweather. (Weather.com, too. But in an informal experiment last year I tallied up how many times Accuweather.com was right and how many times Weather.com was right. Can't remember how Accuweather.com did, but Weather.com was always wrong.)

Blogger Complaint.. why can I not just show this at actual size? Why must you shrink or enlarge it and then refuse to just display the actual size? Annoying!

Too Early

I did not want to get up this morning. For some reason, the little one was up a few times during the 5 am hour asking for a "nose wipe" and telling us her "tummy was rumbly." Now the nose wipe she can typically take care of herself, so not sure what's up with that. The rumbly tummy is because she consistently refuses to eat more than a few bites at dinner. So we usually leave a small bowl of saltines and a sippy cup of water on her dresser at night. But I guess we forgot last night. Lori was gracious to get up with her each time. I was prepared to get up the second time she came in, but Lori was up like a flash.

It's snowed a little bit outside. When I first looked at 3, all of the non-street areas that I could see were white. When I looked just now before coming downstairs, my neighbor's pathstones were visible, little round dots intersecting his yard. I guess that means that it's not very deep. I can't tell what condition the steep street is in, I'm guessing slippery and icy. I hope I have time to shovel my side of the drive before I leave.

But that all depends. My mother-in-law is still staying with us. I've stayed quiet on the whole situation on here until now. Anyhow, the relevance? Lori has to park her car outside because the mil says that her car might not start if it's parked outside. Not a request, just a declarative statement that she made - she gets to park in the garage. And she leaves first each morning, going to a class that will hopefully make her more employable. (Since sitting on our couch, venturing out of the house occasionally to get new books from the library, for the past five months hasn't landed her a job.) Which means that she has to move Lori's car before she can leave. If she moves Lori's car to the street, then my side will be untouched and I can shovel it quickly. If she moves Lori's car to my side of the driveway, I'll then have to move Lori's car and the snow will be compacted and unshovelable. We shall see.

I really debated trying to go back to sleep this morning, even going so far as to set my second alarm. But after 10 minutes of laying there, I realized that was a fruitless pursuit. Instead of going back to sleep, I was feeling guilty for not riding and thinking of how the commute would take longer and it would be too cold to do laps before work and that I was not making any progress towards my goals by sleeping. I really should have made a goal of sleeping more per night. That would have been a better goal than losing weight. And I think I read somewhere about sleeping more can help you lose weight. I should just give up exercising and try to get 10 hours of sleep a night and watch those pounds just roll off.

Yeah. Right.

Insane in the Big Rain

We had a little bit of snow on Saturday, we tried to drive to Everett but were forced to turn back because of the snow, including a rather dangerous trek through Seattle get from the 5N to the 5S, and then lots of rain Saturday night and Sunday. But drier Monday and much drier today.

Not so for other parts of the area. My parents had nine inches of snow by Sunday and then amazing rain.

The WSDOT put up this amazing slideshow of the flooding that have hit other nearby areas. Insane.

The Trouble With Kids

When you have kids, you're expected to act like an adult. Or at least you feel like you should. But, I'm sorry. It's snowing big, huge fluffy flakes. And I've had Jingle Bells by the Barenaked Ladies* on repeat as I jump up and down like a hyperactive child who found a stash of halloween candy. The good thing is that Rachel is happy to jump up and down with me in pure, sheer joy.

*Lori picked up "Barenaked for the Holidays" a few weeks ago. I wouldn't have thought to grab it, but it's a great listen.

Ouch

Found this on Dan's blog. You'd think it never snows in Portland. It doesn't even look that steep.

No Mo Snow

Most of the city is free of snow, and in some places, you even see patches of dry road by midafternoon. The temperature has risen to the upper 30s. That's still quite cold if you ask me. I haven't been getting much walking in and it's killing me. I think it's contributing to how I've been feeling a little more tired than usual.

I just finished Max Lucado's "When God Whispers Your Name," a nice inspirational book. It's not incredibly taxing, mentally, but it's a great reminder of how God's on our side. Some nice stories, some simple challenges. I really enjoyed it and am recommending it to my family.

I've now started "Why Johnny Can't Brand" which is a really good book, though I feel a little bit adversarial towards the writers. I don't know what it is, but I almost feel like they must be jerks. I've never felt this way towards a writer and it's an interesting thing to feel considering how much I feel like I'm learning from the book. Fast Company also came in the mail and so I read a lot of that last night after devouring an entire episode of Newsweek, which is surprising to me because I have about 4 or 5 Newsweeks on my nightstand that I've maybe read an article or two in each, if that. There's also "Blue Ocean Strategy" that's due back at the library soon and "The Experience Economy" that Joseph Pine was kind enough to send me a copy of. Somewhere there's also a Consumer Report and a Reader's Digest to read. Lots and lots of reading in my future.

On Jan. 1, 2006, we went to a neat church in Arcadia, Calif. that was just starting. It was meeting at a Dave and Buster's in a conference room. The people there were all really nice and welcoming. I came away from that morning with a study guide that helps you to read through the entire New Testament in a year. With two hours to spare, I did finish on Dec. 31, 2006, and thought I might as well do it again. The more I read, the more I can learn. Sadly, it's halfway through the month and I haven't yet started it over yet. I know I can get caught up, there was a long period during the move where I wasn't really regular last year and still got it done, so I'll get it done again.

Had a nice, unexpected guest for breakfast this morning. (After today, the link may have moved on, so I'll just say now that it was Rachel, up really early.)

Oh, the weather outside is frightful

but I've got some place to go, so let it rain, let it rain, let it rain.

I'm a big fan of snow. I enjoyed skiing in college and hope to re-learn in the next few years. I've enjoyed seeing it here. But as I sit here on the exercise bike, I can see huge flakes continuing to fall in our back yard. There's probably 5-6 inches on the top of the garbage can. Not sure how much is new, but it's coming quite steady. I don't want to make this a "six" day weekend -- I stayed home on Thursday, working a full day and Friday, working a half day. But it's coming down harder and harder as I type, adding snow and slush on top of lots of ice that never went away after the last snow storm. People keep telling us that this is unusual. Perhaps they mean to say that it's not what you can normally experience living here. It is really beautiful, but unless they close the office in the next 15-20 minutes, I gotta drive in. And I'm really not looking forward to it. Though the more difficult task would be the drive home.

Rain and weather in the 40s predicted for later in the week.

Beware the Superphish

According to CNET, there's a new software package. Costs about $1,000, but it's really slick. You tell it which site's visitors you want to steal from and hit go. It creates a page that looks just like theirs. If they sign-in, they are passed to the legitimate site without even knowing they've just had their identity stolen. If they mistype their address, it displays the correct error message so you can try again. Really sophisticated, so stop clicking on e-mails supposedly sent by your bank.

In other news, we were snowed in today. Didn't really go anywhere. It's amazingly deep.