This was supposed to be on the bottom of my last post, but for some reason, it wasn’t. So here it is.
And the followup:
Day: January 18, 2011
And now, a meme of random questions, which I got from aiela , who got it from kshandra , who found it on a dusty scroll in an ancient tomb’s gift shop.
If I looked on your bed right now, what would I find?
A pile of crumpled covers, and quite likely a black cat.
Do you go to the bathroom with the door open or closed?
It depends. No one in our house is shy, so I don’t think much on it one way or the other.
Are your clothes ironed?
Not typically.
Sleep on your back or stomach?
Ever since I got the CPAP, on my back. However, without the CPAP, I cannot sleep on my back at all, so for years I slept on my side or my stomach.
Are you a cuddler?
Oh yes. I love to cuddle.
Are you single?
Well, there’s only one of me. This is probably just as well; can you imagine two of me?
Does someone love you?
Several someones love me. I am blessed beyond words.
What were you doing before this survey?
Well, let’s see. First, I was born, and then several years of being an infant followed. Later, I was a child…at some point I went to college. It’s all a bit of a jumble at this point.
What will you do after the survey?
More of the same sort of thing, I imagine. I really don’t expect this to change my life much.
Marriage or living together?
We decided to do both. Being married and living apart would kinda suck.
What shirt are you wearing now?
A blue Geoffrey Beene dress shirt, with the gold and blue tie that goes well with it.
Do you believe in love?
Oh, you can bet I believe it too.
Do you de-label your beer bottles?
Is this like taking the labels off all the canned vegetables, so you never know what you’re having for dinner?
Do you talk about your feelings or hide them?
Mostly I talk about them. People likely wish I’d hide them more often.
Is there something you regret and wish you could take back?
There are many things I regret. But most of the things I regret taught me valuable things, or else moved me to be in a place for later brilliant things to happen. So I’m a bit hesitant to suggest I’d like to take them back.
In retrospect, I don’t regret the things I’ve done nearly as much as the things I didn’t do.
First thing you do when you wake up?
Curse loudly.
What are you excited for?
I’m just really happy to see you.
Do you like the beach?
Without it, we’d all be underwater, and I can’t breathe underwater. what’s not to like?
Who’s the last person you texted?
museinred
Do you hate someone?
No. Life’s too short.
Do you tend to rip the paper off water bottles?
I don’t think the clerks at the store would appreciate that. Even if bottled water *is* a scam.
When you shut off your alarm clock, do you tend to fall back asleep?
My alarm clock is kitanzi , so I don’t ever shut her off. I do sometimes fall asleep again, though.
If you were given the chance to take care of a monkey for a weekend, would you?
My monkey is the only one who has nothing to hide, other than myself.
What is the current advertisement on the side of the screen?
There isn’t an advertisement on the side of my screen.
What are you looking forward to in the next few months?
February, followed by March and April. Then we should probably have a May before going on to June.
When will you turn 50?
June 25, 2020.
Are you ticklish?
At times, in places.
Where do you wish you were right now?
Resting in the arms of a pretty girl.
What song are you currently listening to?
"Beautiful Ones" by Suede
Have you ever passed out from drinking?
Yes, but very rarely. I don’t tend to drive to excess. (ETA: that should have read "drink to excess." Hrm. Maybe I should *start*.)
Do you believe in cheating?
No, I believe in changing the rules of the game.
What time did you wake up this morning?
Around 6:00am
Do you have any cousins?
I have several. I have four first-cousins on my mother’s side, and I know I have one or more on my father’s. I see none of them regularly, which is too bad.
What makes you smile?
A ’52 Vincent and a red-headed girl.
Who was the last person you talked to on the phone?
My doctor’s office.
Are you happy?
Yes, and I know it. *claps his hands*
Are you hungry?
I’m halfway through my sandwich, so less and less by the moment.
What was your dream last night?
I’m afraid that is not suitable for a public blog entry.
Do you like to shop?
No particularly. I like buying things, but that’s not the same thing.
What side of the heart do you draw first?
Whichever side is closest to me. You get the same amount of blood.
Can you dive without plugging your nose?
I actually misread this as "Can you drive without plugging your nose?", which made me wonder where on Earth this survey’s author lives. I mean, I thought the smog in Atlanta was bad…
What color is your razor?
What colour is my what? I have no idea what you are talking about. (The only razor I use on a regular basis is Occam’s. You’ll have to ask him what colour it is.)
What is your blood-type?
I think it’s A+. I’d have to find my little card to be sure.
Who would you want to be tied to for 24 hours?
Goodness. Um…"I’m afraid that is not suitable for a public blog entry."
What is a rumor someone has spread about you?
Why? What have you heard?
How do you feel about carrots?
I’m not sure I feel anything about them. I think they’re tasty, and I enjoy eating them, but it’s not like we have a relationship…
How many chairs are at the dining room table?
Three at the moment.
Which is the best Spice Girl?
I could be happy the rest of my life with a cinnamon girl.
Do you know what time it is?
Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care?
At some point, I’m going to talk about GaFilk. But right now, I want to talk about ice and snow, and Atlanta, and how the two cope with each other.
As many of you have heard, we had a spot of weather over the weekend of GaFilk. Planes were grounded, roads were closed, and entire counties were shut down. This predictably leads to folks who live in more northern climes, who are used to this sort of thing falling on their heads throughout the dark months of the year, to make incredulous, snickering comments about those wacky southerners and how they can’t handle a little snow. And you know, I forgive you, because you don’t really understand any more than folks who live down here understand the way weather works up there.
(People who actually live here making sanctimonious comments about how they don’t see what the fuss was about can go **** themselves. No, seriously, go take a long walk off a short pier, you insufferable, self-important pinheads. But I digress…)
There are a number of factors which contribute to Atlanta having fits over a big snowstorm like this. The first is that they are relatively rare. I’ve lived in the north Georgia region for twenty years, and I can count the number of significant snowstorms on my fingers. I can count the number of snowfalls of this calibre on one hand. Even when the perfect conditions occur to create a major winter storm, its usually only a couple of days before things are back to relative normalcy.
But in truth, the real reason folks up north deal better with the winter is not because they’re more hardy, or more accustomed, though both of those things contribute. No, what folks in other parts of the country have that we lack is infrastructure. In New England, or Minnesota, or other places where this sort of thing happens all the time, you can’t afford to just stay home until everything melts. So you make investments in things like salt trucks, and snow ploughs, and shovels and rakes and implements of destruction. You get special tires, or chains to put on your tires for extra traction. You expect that frozen stuff will fall from the sky, and you make arrangements to get it off of the roads and your own driveways. These things all contribute to being able to keep going when everything is frozen.
Atlanta has almost no winter infrastructure, and what little it has has been largely depleted by recent budget cuts. According to an article in the Atlanta Journal-Consitution:
DeKalb has two plows and 10 salt spreaders. Cobb has six spreaders and no plows. Fulton has seven salters and no plows. Gwinnett has 18 spreaders and six plows. The city of Atlanta has 11 plows.
In comparison, Charlotte, which suffered citizen anger from slow response several years ago, expanded its fleet to 36 plows.
There was also (noted in that same article) a woeful lack of coordination between state and local officials, and the end result was that very little was deployed to get the roads clear. This prolonged the situation for days, to the extent that major highways were still in poor condition four to five days after a storm.
If you want to have a discussion about how folks could have prepared better for a large winter storm they knew was coming, that’s a discussion that is worth having. But given the lack of both history and infrastructure, don’t be so quick to judge the people of Atlanta for how they dealt with the icy roads. The only safe sane, and sensible thing to do was stay home as much as humanly possible until sun and warmer temperatures made things more passable.
(For a more amusing take on Atlanta and the weather, enjoy this video posted by Megan McGlover, which made my day when I first saw it last night: