| THIS IS A READ-ONLY ARCHIVE FROM THE SORABJI.COM MESSAGE BOARDS (1995-2016). |
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I started working at a different Fred Meyer, yesterday being my first day. Same position. I now work at the highest volume one-hour lab on the left coast. So that's a little something, but not the thing that really makes me happy today. Which is.... (Drumroll please) SNOW! Billions of tiny white flakes blanketing my city! Bicycles and tires, cars, trees, the road and sidewalk are being tucked in for the night. The flakes soften the streetlights over the freeway and I can finally appriciate the christmas lights on inside the house across the street. Three hours ago kids were playing basketball outside but now they've got their mittens on and are making snowballs. I'm going to find my longjohns and go for a walk and sing. This doesn't make me better in a long shot but it's days like this that make me remember that it's not the end of the world. Sometimes I need a little reminder. |
Yay! |
It stuck! Whoohoo! Now I'll just have to get up the energy to get a new front tire tomorrow and life will be sweet! |
Mortality realized In dirty grey slush. |
last month. It's like a normal October day out there. this is bullshit! where's my winter?! |
Seriously? Portland doesn't really get snow. We get rain and ice and hail but it rarely is damp enough when it's snow temperature. October is when it starts to feel like winter around here, and when I say winter, I mean the rainy season. I think the snow brought the mice in, or at least more active. Nobody's seen rodent evidence in the house for months, but I've seen two mice running in the past half-hour. I shrieked. "Eeeek!" the first time and "Oh!" the second. |
Even with the snow, bike is by far faster than riding the bus. Soft snow and slush are okay, but it's a good idea to avoid ice and packed snow. I took roads that were either fairly busy or dead when I could. Most residential streets I couldn't handle well on my way home (the way to work they were great, powder piling on my boots). |
. A co-worker who lives out of the valley was a bit late today because his car wouldn't start. It was 32 below zero and they got two feet of snow over the weekend. . My beloved VW Rabbit didn't make it through Christmas. Just as I pulled up in front of my father's house in Billings, the clutch made this horrible crunchy noise and sent the electric willies travelling through the pedal and up my back. This was Christmas Eve. . The rabbit had a weak cylinder and some other problems that made the price tag for clutch repair higher than the value of the car. It made me sad. . My girlfriend and I got a car together. (she didn't have one) We skipped two decades of automobile history and got a 2000 Jetta (Diesel again). I must say they've done some pretty incredible things with vehicles in the last twenty years. |
Still riding a bike to work. |
. It's warmed up to about -4 now. I haven't seen anyone on a bike yet today. The building's got the hugest icicles all along the edges. |
When I went to school they never closed because of the heat, we didn't have any air conditioning, or the cold, except if the boilers went up. In the winter when it was cold we stayed in side. In the late spring we roasted. |
January 5th and it finally fucking snowed! it snowed!!!! it snowed!!!! it snowed!!!! it snowed!!!! it snowed!!!! it snowed!!!! school gets cancelled at least twice a year. Always because of ice and freezing rain and no-one being able to drive. |
The cold makes it feel a bit like a desert. There were the tiniest flakes falling on my way to work, almost too small to see. Too dry to stick, they'd fly across the pavement in patterns; my coworker Annalie called them spirits. Rumors are flying: more snow or possibly even freezing rain. Freezing rain is what scares me the most. With the cold and the wind I can ride my bike but if it gets icy I have to take the bus. Which means leaving early and waiting outside in the cold, stationary. The wind is coming from the Columbia gorge, pretty much a straight shot from the Canadian plains. When I was in high school we'd feel the winds pretty well (particularly my senior year, crossing the parking lot for Economics in the Agriculture building) but that was the far east end of Gresham, only about four miles south of the gorge opening. We've had storm warnings for the last five days at least. Between the wind and the cold and my crash I just want to stay inside. There's work tomorrow though, with four miles between. |
. It's clear that the folks who designed and built these apartments are not from around here. My front door is metal. When I walk by it, I can feel the heat void. An icy hand grasping at anyone who passes. The outdoor pool still has water in it. There's nowhere to plug my car in. Wimpy heaters are going all the time. . I have to drive to Whitefish and pick up my girl tonight. Highway 94. Deadliest road in Montana. |
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. I'm happy for your snow, Pez and Wisper. . It's too cold to snow now, but we're supposed to get some tonight, so it should be warming up some. |
No snow, not even rain, no precipitation of any kind, which would be nice. I could got for weather in the 50's with a killer thunderstorm right now. |
No snow, not even rain, no precipitation of any kind, which would be nice. I could got for weather in the 50's with a killer thunderstorm right now. |
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laugh away, eri. but holy fuck is it cold here. someone needs to remind the weather gods that this is texas. you know, like really close to mexico and shit. i guess we shouldn't complain. it's been a gorgeous, warm, sunny winter so far. i was white water kayaking in 78 degree weather just last saturday. but still. it's fuckin cold. i'm wearing a long underwear to work, top and bottom and blasting the space heater. i've been wearing a wool coat, wool hat, scarf, and mittens the past 48 hours. |
Now, here at work, I have to wear a fleece overshirt just so I don't freeze my ass off. At least the server room in the warehouse is the right temp. :) |
Work'll be fine, just a matter of dressing warm for the ride over. Layers: Beanie (handknit, bright jewel green).Undershirt, work shirt, dance jacket, hoodie, scarf, sweatshirt. Costume gloves, socks. Long johns, pants. Socks, boots. I forgot to wear my long johns yesterday for the bike ride and had to stay on low gears to keep my legs moving fast enough to keep warm. Luckily a coworker gave me a ride home. Now I'm going to walk to the library and get some breakfast, as a test run before waiting for the bus in a couple hours. |
See the three on I-5 immediately north of the red circle that says "See 'A'"? Click on the upper two. These are each about a half-mile from my house. I called in. Walking in the stuff isn't bad but with the freezing rain forecast for later I'm not willing to go to work. No slush today. Too cold. The snow clumps together and looks like extremely unappatizing breakfast cereal. |
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i want some snow. |
It's down close to freezing again. I have been cold all day. I am just saying it isn't "let your car warm up for a half hour before you leave for work" cold. Last year someone killed themselves by doing that and not opening the garage door, and died from the carbon monoxide. There are stupid people everywhere. So far this winter has been unseasonably warm, but now, damn, Texas is making up for lost time. And there is NO INSULATION in any of these buildings. We can shut the apartment up tight and still feel titty hard on cold air going thru here like a breeze on a summer day. It sucks. I do want it to warm up here, no snow, no ice, no sleet. I don't even own a real coat anymore. I just wish it were a normal Texas winter, with slightly warmer weather, and thunderstorms. But it's dry and literally freezing cold. |
do you want it? those trees are actually old, unmanaged bushes, some kind of juniper or something. they used to go all the way down to the ground so that the porch was all enveloped in dusty, juniper gloom. my neighbor says they look like they got a bad haircut. there was also a row of 10 or 12 holly tree-bushes down the left side, all of which were as tall as the juniper-things. it was a wasteland of dried holly leaves, juniper scales and cat shit until i razed the whole stand. i can just imagine some idiot sonofabitch back in 1935 feeling mighty satisfied with their choice of shrubbery. holly is jolly! you can see the last remaining stump over there defiantly bushing out and flipping me and my chainsaw the birdie. you just wait 'til spring, demon evergreen. |
my friend tarn got married on friday, and it was the second hottest day in canterbury. I will post a pic or two, once jamie gets off his ass and emails me them. |
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snow. pretty to look at from a safe distance. nice to visit on rare occassion. but i would rather die than live in a place where it snowed. |
. Sometimes. |
I walked to the library yesterday and they had signs up saying they were closing at three. One of the librarians said that it hasn't been this cold in Portland since '80, before I was born. I think I've got black and white film in Grandpa but I think I'll go out and take pictures anyway. Who knows when we'll have a snow like this again. |
Going to the library again. I'm hoping that there's places open for food and coffee (Fresh Pot, while it's at least a half mile from everywhere else that I'm going, has a mean cup that gives me the jitters. Warms the cockles.). |
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it's not the snow that evil, it's the cold. but snow = cold. |
jesus fuck. I'm old. |
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and i say that not because i dislike being outdoors when its cold. if youre prepared, its not that bad. however, seeing as how i live in a region with essentially 2 seasons, when it does get cold and bleak out nothing is more inspirational to get a pot of soup going with a James Bond movie marathon while groping your significant other under a blanket on the couch. its hard to get 'cozy' in July in otherwords. |
frozen carlocks are a big problem for me and my old car. I got smart and started keeping a hairdryer in the garage. No more scraping and swearing, and the door makes this really satisfying *CRUNCHCRACK!* noise when it thaws. Very loud. Like I've broken it's arm. ----- Last night i overheard the new housemate arguing with his parents on the phone. Turns out he's got a grade point average of less than 1.7, and has been kicked out of school. Flunked out. Whatever. He was taking some form of business. (He's a good kid but that pot wasn't going to smoke itself) Renting out rooms keeps rent cheap, but it really sucks ass. He wants to move out asap, but first he ows us a new housemate, or $876 dollars to buy out of his lease till May. We told him to try WalMart, one month of full-time work should cover that. He's only 18, some kids just can't handle being on their own. He's not ready. And they all end up living with us. The rest of what he said on the phone was too highschool, i would have giggled but he'd know i was listening. "No dad, i'm not going back to school in the fall, i'm gonna work for a year and then go to Europe!!" of course you are.......everyone is.... Where do kids in Europe go to find themselves after highschool? "No mum, I'm not going back to school in the fall, I'm gonna work for a year and then go to Ohio! I'll take odd jobs while backpacking across the midwest! " I see now why my parents let me go on a school trip to France when i was 16. Get the "Europe" out early. |
Two rolls of film (the first, the black and white, detached from the canister inside the camera which was practically frozen closed. The second roll, with hope, should turn out. 100 asa color. I'll rewind it while I'm thinking about it. The last picture is of a big sign that says "ice cream" behind an ice-covered fence), the library was closed and the coffeeshop closed right as I walked inside. The record store next door, however, was open so I purchased a Thelonious Monk album. "Let's Call This" definately warms one up. Very few cars out, a lot more people walking than I would have thought, but the wind has died down and it feels much warmer than it's been the last two days. People are friendlier, it seems, in so called hard times. To see someone outside, another warm and breathing soul is a relief. Yes, Antigone, you're old. Nyah nyah nyah. I saw a flyer for a sewing circle tonight so I'm thinking about venturing out again in a couple of hours. |
. It's weird that everything closes up when it gets cold and icy in portland. . The traffic is just a little bit lighter here when it gets all slick and supercold. I think it's just that some people's cars wouldn't start. The big yellow plow trucks rumble around, tossing sand in the intersections. Sure, it probably saves lives, but it makes the snow all dirty and ugly. |
Right now almost everything is covered by a sheet of ice almost two inches thick. This is different. This is new. What the fuck happened?!?! There's a ton of people (particularly in North Portland) who don't drive at all. Bikes aren't great for ice, even mountain bikes. The buses, which normally run every 10-30 minutes (depending on the route) have no schedule at all. Those people who do drive are lucky if they can pry their wheels out of the iced over snowbanks. Nobody in Portland prepares for snow. That's something you get in the midwest, or the northeast but not here. We have the grey days and constant rain. No snow. No. I'd never seen a snowplow before last week when I was biking home from work. "What the heck is that thing?" and finally realized the answer when I got home. A. Snow. Plow. A foreign concept. "What? We actually have those things here?" Apparently up until the '70s or so, snow was a fairly regular thing in the winter. Heck, I remember playing in it at least every other year until I was ten. We haven't had any real winter weather in eight years. |
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I don't mind occasionally visiting the snow....it reminds me of how glad I am not to be living in it anymore. Yesterday at work the heater wasn't working, the pilot light was out.....well, I could've fixed that, but no, they wanted to have a professional come in to do it...and the didn't show up until it was time for me to leave work, so it was basically 30 degrees fahrenheit inside the place all day....I was freezing my ass off, and my hot tea was cold in less that 3 minutes literally. I was really pissed off at the "no pants" rule, meaning we have to wear skirts and dresses and I was freezing and sick to boot. Then again, as soon as I find something better I am out of there anyways....called me stupid for something I wasn't even trained on....kiss my ass. The only thing I did that was stupid was agree to work there in the first place....I'll find something better. |
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. A "no pants" rule. So they guys have to wear skirts too? . I need a big sign that says: "NO PANTS" with "the management" underneath in real small letters. . A friend gave me a sign for christmas that says "Damn you, Red Baron!" |
It's all drippy now but my seat and tires are still covered by inch thick layer of solid ice. There's an old playground sign in front of the house "No adults allowed unless accompianied by children." I should go see if the laundromat's open. Somebody started their laundry but it's still in a washer half-filled with cold water. As there's mud on half my work clothes...... Yeah. Oh. Hi Hal. |
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The ice was melting all night, falling off the trees and gutters with sweeps and pops. Could hardly fall asleep. I moved my bike into the basement last night so it could melt. There's a midnight mystery ride tonight and I don't want to miss it. |
