Arctic Blast

I could not resist a blog about the latest event that has taken place in Texas. Yesterday it was 80 degrees and I was wearing a t-shirt and shorts, and today I took a picture of snow! It really isn't that big of a deal, but the big deal is how big of a deal this is to people here. I tried to wait to take a picture when the snow looked the heaviest, and you can barely see the snow on the cars...there wasn't even enough to stick on the ground, but this is where the story gets crazy.

The news channels were calling this the "Arctic Blast" and with how much coverage there was on it, they might have well given it a name like they do hurricanes, like arctic blast Pedro or something. Seriously, I don't remember seeing this much coverage on a single event since 9/11. From the early morning hours until late tonight, most of the shows have been canceled or been interrupted with emergency updates on the snow situation. One news station showed live coverage of the sand trucks coming into town and they were the "exlcusive" station to be able to follow the sand trucks around the city with live footage of the trucks dumping sand on the streets. The story gets crazier. All schools, major businesses and universities, and pretty much every building (except Lowes of course) in town told employees and students that work and school were canceled. There was not a drop of ice on the roads, let alone enough snow anywhere to warrant canceling anything, but sure enough...everyone was advised to stay home. I couldn't help but laugh out loud when this one news guys was literally bundled up with three inch thick fleece all around his neck and head, heavy winter gloves, and a wind breaker over the fleece. I have really had to bite my tounge because I don't want to be the guy who says "well this is nothing compared to where I am from", but seriously, this is crazy to a point that it is really funny. I had heard rumors about winters here and how everything would shut down, but it is another thing to actually experience it. I can't count the number of times I had to literally dig out my truck with a shovel in Logan to get to school on time, today I scraped the window with a credit card and everything in town was shut down.

I can't wait until after next week because I will hopefully get my wife back from Baylor. She has been on loan to them since she started the internship in August. She is freaking out because her huge seminar in front of all of the doctors and important people in the hospital is on December 7th. This is the biggest part of her internship, or at least the most stressful. She has been working on it tirelessly for months. It is crazy to think about how much students have to do to prove themselves worthy of a good job or certain certifications these days. Joel of course comes to mind as well when I think of that. I am excited for Sunday, I switched schedules with someone for my Sunday night shift in order to catch Cutler in his first start against the Seahwawks, Go Broncos!