The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Snowstorm! We usually get to have at least one snowball fight per year on campus, but this year we got a demolition derby.
Right at rush hour, the whole area was hit with a massive snow dump. Normally, the technique for snow driving in Seattle is to just avoid people with BMWs or Mustangs. But that’s impossible in Redmond; especially since we’ve hired so many new people in the past 2 years. People from California don’t like AWD Volvos and Audis, so they go flinging around like pinball marbles on a snowy day.
It’s no exaggeration to say that I saw more accidents today than in my entire life prior to today. I saw at least 8 crashed/stranded BMWs including some spectacular live-action wipeouts, and got rear-ended twice. I even held a five-car pileup from moving into the intersection; my trusty XC “is nice”. Nobody told the buses to park, so the route home was littered with abandoned buses blocking traffic. Everyone seems to have been surprised and gotten into the most awkward circumstances before realizing that they couldn’t drive, so there were cars everywhere sitting helplessly like stunned rabbits.
I live 9 miles from the office, and it took me 3 hours to get home. It would have taken 4, but I parked my car and walked the final 2 miles; getting home at almost the same time as my wife, who left an hour earlier than me.
The freeways were already choked off when I made it home, and shortly after, the Seahawks game finished, letting out 70,000 more people to jam the freeways. And the roads are getting worse; not better. I guarantee there are thousands of people who aren’t going to make it home tonight — they’ll either pull over and sleep, or drive until morning to make the few miles home.
November 28th, 2006 at 8:54 am
It was 70 here yesterday
November 28th, 2006 at 10:28 am
60 degrees in Detroit!
November 29th, 2006 at 10:09 am
I’m living in downtown Minneapolis now. It’s approx 20 degrees here today which I hear is pretty normal for this time of year. I haven’t seen snow here yet, but I imagine it’s less than I remember getting in Michigan. Thank god there is a skyway connecting almost all of downtown, I can walk indoors to work every day and avoid inclimate weather any time it gets bad. It typically takes me about 10 minutes to walk the 2 blocks west and 6 blocks south outside, and about 20 minutes to wind through the habitrail known as the skyway… IMO one of the most brilliant things they city has to offer.
December 1st, 2006 at 10:46 am
I guess the great lakes are digging out now, though
December 16th, 2006 at 7:49 pm
[...] Someone in Microsoft’s back yard must have really made her mad, and we’re still feeling her wrath. I thought the snowstorm two weeks ago was bad, but this is worse. Thursday night, hurricane-strength winds and rain ripped through Oregon and Washington, toppling trees, causing floods, and leaving millions without power. Power at the Microsoft campus came back on throughout the day today, but the majority of employees here are still without power at their homes. [...]