Wisconsin

After an uncharacteristically mild January, today we had a Snow "Event" to remember. It actually started yesterday evening and by this evening the storm had dumped a foot of snow. At times, it was spectacular - the first time I have experienced lightning and thunder during a snow storm.

Many people didn't turn up at the office, everyone claimed they will be connected in via VPN. For the many who I am sure tried, you have my sympathies :) . Our VPN wasn't meant to handle such traffic.

Schools, malls and even the UW had shut down for the day. I did get to work and actually managed to get a lot of pending stuff done. I was driven to and from work by my car (a 4 cylinder engine encased in a low-height lightweight fiber chassis). The steering wheel was indeed a wheel but nothing more. My car felt like an unbridled horse, except it was more like a duck - yes, that's right, an unbridled duck. I was sitting on the duck, making steering actions and constantly puzzled by why I am moving in certain directions - sometimes multiple directions all at once.

I saw many people on cross-country skis on the roads. The kids and the more enterprising dogs were having quite literally, a field day at Elver Park. There were not many vehicles on the roads, and there was a proportional reduction in the jerks driving around in SUVs (or is it SUVs driving around in jerks).

Apparently, even (Hard-Core) Wisconsinites haven't seen a storm like this in more than a decade - they make it sound like it's an honor. Super-cool air will be moving in from Canada soon. Oh yes, It is indeed an honor to have such visitors from the North.


QOTD

The desolation of winter
Passing through a small hamlet
A dog barks
-- Shiki