Friday, January 21, 2005

Another winter storm, another run on anything white in the grocery store.

It's predicted that the DC area will be getting eight to ten inches of snow tomorrow. A decent amount for these parts, to be sure. If we get the high end amount, or even a little bit more, it could take two or three days for the region to dig itself out.

Looking ahead to next week, the prediction is for a warming trend, with temperatures in the high 30s on Tuesday and mid 40s by Wednesday. So at the very, very worst, even the most cautious Washingtonian would only be snowbound for four days. Surely there's no need to stock up on supplies for this "weather event," right?

Wrong. I was just at the Safeway downstairs in my office building, and the lines at every checkout were five people deep, and each one of those people had a cart full of bread, eggs, milk, and toilet paper. And it wasn't just folks who you would expect to be trepidatious about going out on snowy roads. There were plenty of young, able-bodied men and women with multiple packs of Charmin and dozens of eggs.

It's been over twenty years since I first moved here. You'd think by now I'd be used to this seasonal insanity. Yet here I sit in slack-jawed wonder at the immense overreaction a few snowflakes can cause in the nation's capital.

Posted @ 1:25 PM

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Wednesday, January 19, 2005

A quick prescription from Doctor Jack in the event you find yourself suffering from a case of the inauguration blues tomorrow: the songs of Roy Zimmerman. In particular I'd recommend the tunes "America," "Homeland Security," and "Defenders of Marriage."

Take at least two and call me the morning of the '08 Iowa Caucus.

Posted @ 11:24 PM

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Friday, January 14, 2005

Anybody who's read this blog for, oh, more than a week probably knows that I consider myself to be a nerd, and I'm proud of it. But could this supposition stand up to rigorous testing (i.e. a random 'Net quiz)? I put my nerd street cred on the line, and here's what I got...


After taking it, it's clear that this quiz is more about science, math, and computer nerds than sci-fi, theater, comic book, or other media-based nerds. If those things were taken into account, I'm sure I'd be well into the 90th percentile.

Delving further into this vein, it turns out my loserness is even lower than my nerdiness...


Whew! That's a relief. Not that I think of myself as a loser, but we all worry about that from time to time.

So I'm not a nerd, and I'm not a loser. Does that mean I'm simply a normal, well-adjusted person?

It must. Internet quizzes can't be wrong.

It might take me a little while to get used to the idea that I'm just a regular, upstanding member of society. If I'm not a freak, then who and what am I? And what am I gonna do with all these action figures and Spock ears?

I'll just have to take comfort in the fact that I'm sitting at home alone on a Friday night taking silly quizzes and posting them to my blog. If that doesn't earn me a modicum of geekiness, I don't know what can.

[First quiz gacked from Airy Nothing]

Posted @ 9:02 PM

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Monday, January 10, 2005

I'm tempted to rename this place the House of Convalescence. So far, 2005 has been more about reaching for fresh Kleenex™ than making a fresh start.

Since ringing in the New Year I have nearly recovered from one illness and contracted another. It's been four years since I had a bout as bad as this.

Hmmm... four years ago. I think I see a trend. If a Democrat gets in the White House in '08 and I don't spend the holidays laid up, we'll know the cause of the Great Cold Trials of 2000 and 2004.

Posted @ 9:19 AM

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