Simple Randomness

Unnaturally Warm in November

Honestly, I’m loving the weather here lately.  And I’m lovin it!  Normally by this time of the year it is quite a bit cooler, but we’ve been in the 50s and it’s been really quite nice.

Ha, maybe it’s global warming or something .  Has anyone noticed that the news seems to have backed off that topic in the last couple of months.  Thank goodness!

Anyway, how is the weather where you live?  Has winter settled in yet?  It’s crazy, but I’ll bet that it’s just the calm before the storm.  Give it another week or so and I’m sure that the winter storms will come raging in and make their stay for a while.  i guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

First Major Snow Storm for Winter 2008

So Winter is officially on its way. Today we had our first official snow storm here where I live in Utah.

It was bad enough that I had to go about 40 mph all the way in to work (I usually go 75-80 mph on the freeway). The roads were completely covered with snow, and whenever I went through an underpass I’d realize that I wasn’t even close to inside my lane!

I’m honestly not very excited about winter this year.  Maybe it would be better if I can possibly find some time go to skiing, but I’m not sure where I’ll find the time to go do that!

Is anyone else out there excited for Winter?  Did you get hit with this storm?

Winter is On It’s Cold Way In…

I’m still somewhat amazed, but we had snow on the ground on Sunday.  Snow!  And it’s barely October!

It’s crazy because it seems like I was jsut barely writing on the blog about snow.  In fact, I think I wrote about it a couple of times last winter.  So I guess pretty soon we’ll be getting back into my writing about snow season.

But really, snow isn’t all that bad.  Sure it’s cold and wet, but you can sure do a lot more in snow than you can in the rain!  I mean seriously, can you ski in the rain?  Can you mold rain into a ball and throw it at somebody?  Can you make a man out of rain?  NO!  So yeah, snow is pretty cool.

Ok, if you can’t tell I’m a little brain dead today.  Maybe it’s the cold weather getting to me.  Maybe its the fact that I’m not going to be wearing shorts anymore, and that has me a little depressed.

Does anyone else go through that?  It’s weird, because every fall there comes a point where I feel weird because I don’t wear shorts anymore.  Then there’s a point in the spring where I feel weird putting shorts on because I’ve been wearing pants for so long.  Strange…

The Weather is Officially Annoying Me

I was all excited to go for a nice walk this weekend with our new jogging stroller, but now I’m wondering if that will even be possible. Why you may ask? Because we got another inch of snow last night!

So now it’s about noon and the snow has all melted away.  Maybe I should just move to San Diego where I hear the temperature is much more stable year round…but then again I’d have to pay for the higher gas prices and everything else for living in California…nevermind!

I guess in the end I just wish the seasons would behave.  I really wasn’t expecting to see an inch of snow in mid April.  And I thought that we were all suffering from Global Warming!  If that was the case, why would I see snow in April?  Who knows, who knows.

I just hope the weather stays nice so my wife and I can start jogging again.  I’m really looking forward to that!

The Calendar was WRONG!!!

So I mentioned about a week or so ago that according to the calendar it was the first day of Spring.  Well man was it off!  I really wasn’t expecting to wake up to snow yesterday, but nevertheless when I looked out the window there was 1-2 inches outside.  Not cool…

Now if that wasn’t bad enough….this morning was more like a blizzard!  Really cold wind, icy roads, and there was even a small pickup turned upside down in a ditch.

Whatever happened to global warming?!  LOL, not that I believe in that whole thing anyway (at least not that it’s all man-made), but I sometimes have to wonder when its still this freezing cold and it’s almost April!  But maybe this means tha we won’t have a 110 degree summer.  Shoot, at this rate we’ll probably have snow in July!  I swear, its like the hemispheres are reversing.  It was weird enough when I lived in South America to have Christmas in the middle of the summer.  I think I’m having relapses….

Spring is HERE!!! Or at Least the Calendar Says So…

On a lighter note (compared to my last post), the calendar officially says that Spring is here!  Yes Winter has finally left the land and we can expect to hear all of the birds start to chirp and all of the flowers start to come out!

I wish it was that simple…

Seriously…who decided that you can just put a day on the calendar and say that it’s the first day of Spring?  Did someone expect that nature would just comply?  Well, obviously not.  Last I heard we’re supposed to get more snow in my area this week.  Not cool.

But then in other parts of the country I hear that the Spring floods have already started….oh goodie!

Yes, this is officially a Random Griping… I think that we should just judge the seasons by when they seem like the season is what it should be.  Maybe we can nominate an official ‘Season Declarer Man’ that will watch for the real signs of a season and make a national announcement.  Then again, scratch that idea.  The government is getting too big as it is ;-).

Getting Anxious For Spring to Arrive…

I have to admit that I’m officially to the point where I’m getting sick of winter and want Spring to come. I think I mentioned before that I tend to go through this cycle each year where for the first few weeks of a season I love it, then I’m ready for it to be over. Well I hit that point with Winter about 2 weeks ago.

I think the turning point for me this year was the insane blizzard that we had last week that knocked our power out for 8 hours. I know that only having the power out for that long is short compared to other outages that have happened around the country, but it was enough for me to think “OK, time for Spring!”

I can also say that I think I enjoyed winter a lot more when I used to go skiing a lot. Honestly I think it’s been 4 years since I went skiing. Too bad too cause I really love to go skiing. But since I now have 2 kids and a lot of other things going on I just don’t seem to find the time to go. I know I know…priorities right? Maybe next year I’ll make skiing a priority again!

Snow Snow…and More Snow!

It’s been 12 days since our last major snow storm. The last time I wrote about it I mentioned that tons of people were sliding off the road. I’m happy to report that this morning as I was coming in to work I didn’t see a single car that had slid off the road! Maybe people are finally remembering what they need to do to drive in the snow.

Except for this one guy who tailed me for about 3 miles!!! Grr… I know that a lot of people would say, “Well, just slam your brakes, let him rear end you, and collect the insurance money.” Sounds like a great plan, but here are a few reasons why I never even really think of doing that:

1. It’s cold!
2. I don’t want to chance actually getting injured
3. I don’t like dealing with insurance companies
4. Snow is cold
5. It was 6am in the morning…need I say more?
6. With the roads that slick, I’d probably get hit by another car when I got out to assess the damages
7. Have I mentioned that it was cold?!

So while I’m sure that if I did get rear ended I could collect some money for it, I think in this situation the cons definitely outweigh the pros. You may have a different view on the idea, but that’s mine. So please, don’t tail people when the roads are slick. You might not be behind someone like me. You might be behind someone that actually wants to collect insurance money .

What is the Connection Between Snow and Oranges???

So I was eating an orange this morning, then I looked out the window and watched the snow come down.  This made me wonder, “Why is winter the season when we eat the most oranges?”  It seems kind of ironic if you ask me.  When I think of oranges, the LAST thing I think about is snow.

Oranges remind me of Florida.  And when I think of Florida, I think of nice, sunny, beautiful days at the beach or something like that.  So when I’m eating an orange and thinking about driving very slowly so I don’t die, it’s almost depressing.

Maybe we eat oranges in the winter in order to give us hope that in the near future we’ll have nice sunny days again.  No beach unfortunately cause I live in Utah, but at least nice sunny days.  But I can also see how this could be a very very depressing thing.

Another question I have about oranges is when did Santa start handing them out?  Are oranges supposed to represent happiness and cheer?  If so, I must say that I worry about those people that suffer from SAD (seasonal affectivness disorder, or whatever it stands for.  You know, seasonal depression) because I bet everytime they look at an orange they almost break down and cry.  Ok, maybe not, but you get the idea.

Well, either way someone is going to have a problem.  So, I’ll just keep eating my oranges thinking about those sunny days in a couple of months when I won’t have oranges to eat.

Dashing Through the Snow….And Spinning Off the Road…

So today was probably the second big storm of the season here in Utah.  And once again while I was driving in to work I noticed at least 5 cars that were spun out on the side of the road.  At least this time I didn’t see any damage to my complex .

I thought it might be a good idea to give all of you a few safe driving tips for driving in the snow.  Granted, I am no professional driver or anything, but most of these should be common sense.  But then again, is common sense isn’t all that common it seems.  But hey, I can even include myself in that sometimes.  Anyway, I digress.  So here are some tips:

• Drive slower than you think you should be.  Its better to get there let than not get there at all.
• Don’t hit your breaks on the freeway!!!  You wanna spin out?  Hitting your breaks is a great way to lose control.
• Keep good distance from other cars.
• When turning, give yourself plenty of time to make the turn in case you wheels get spinning

Ok, this is definitely not an all inclusive list, but if everyone would keep these simple things in mind I think we’d see a lot less accidents on the road because of snow.  Granted, sometimes things just spin out of your control and there isn’t much you can do.  But those situations are normally the exception.

Happy Safe Snow Driving!