Snow Days

Tuesday 11 January 2011
1111

That’s right, it’s 11:11 on 1/11/11, kind of a cool date (FWIW, I also remember 12:34 on 5/6/78).

So, welcome to the “Sunny South” . For the second day in a row, Fort McPherson is closed along with almost everything in Atlanta due to snow and ice.

When I heard yesterday morning that the post was closed, it was a bit hard to believe. I had been out cleaning the ice off my Jeep getting ready to go in when someone told me the news. I went and looked online, and sure enough, it was closed. I made several phone calls to see if this really meant the military personnel weren’t going in, and didn’t get any answers or get any calls back. So I guess they really weren’t there.

Being from Michigan, it was kind of hard for me to appreciate how a little snow and ice could completely paralyze a city, but they just aren’t prepared for it down here. They don’t have the equipment such as plows and salt trucks to handle it (at least not in sufficient quantities), nor are the people used to it. This makes driving in icy conditions especially perilous. One person I talked to who’s been here awhile but was originally from Minnesota advised me to “get to high ground, stay put, and watch, because winter driving here is a spectator sport”.

To be fair, conditions are pretty extreme. Even in Michigan I’ve never had such a thick layer of ice on my car. You’d be better off with ice skates. It was quite a job just to walk to the restaurant next door. When I went there to eat, I thanked the people for being at work, and they told me that the restaurant was putting them up at the hotel. Ditto for the people here at the hotel – they are just staying here in empty rooms rather than driving back and forth to work.

All the news is about the weather, and I have to say that I’m not sorry to be here instead of on the road – it looks like driving would be quite an adventure.

If I had more to do at the office I might go in anyway, but my computer still wasn’t working when I left on Friday, and there won’t be anyone there to help me get it working. So I can’t even sit and read files about my new job. There would be literally nothing for me to do. So I’m trying to keep busy here preparing travel vouchers and doing other admin tasks.

I’ll be glad to get to work – it seems strange to be sitting here weather-bound after all the times we went to the field in extreme winter conditions in Germany back in the 1980s…the Army is supposed to be able to operate in weather like this but I guess the city of Atlanta can’t.


Mood: Cabin Fever
Music: Clicking keyboard