Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Snow Nice, Commute Bad! I stayed at work later to avoid the commuting madness that resulted from today's snowfall.  The only part of the recent spate of winter weather I hate is driving in it.  The most memorable part of my commute was hearing the following quote during the traffic report on 88.5 WAMU.  "We took the time to do the math, and the Washington area has cumulatively 35 miles of backups in and around the Beltway.  That's more than half of the total distance of the Beltway. Back to you."  Nice informative traffic report that I found extremely useful.  10:25:41 PM    comment []  trackback []

Short Cuts I am at the office early today--a combination of copious amounts of caffeine this morning and unexpectedly being out of the office yesterday. Run to your nearest grocery store and stock up on bread, milk, and toilet paper! Today's forecast is for some snow. Nothing big, just 1 to 2 inches, but presumably enough to cause some problems for the afternoon commute. Must like one of DaB's previous posts, I am a huge fan of cold weather, and I was getting pretty annoyed about the fact that this winter was mild. I like my seasons, as it reminds me that there is a constant cycle of renewal. And, snow is just plain cool (as long as you do not have to drive in it). As I am eating my morning "Breakfast of Champions," I am watching the local morning newscast on WJZ. I like to get my traffic and weather just before I head out of my humble abode. In the short 10 minute span I watched the news, I saw three advertisements for the coverage of former Maryland State Police Superintendent and Baltimore City Police Commissioner Ed Norris' release from federal prison in Atlanta: "Coverage at 4, 5, and 6 PM!" Hasn't Mr. Norris repaid his debt to society? If so, why must he continually be dragged through the muck for a few ratings points? Another thing, would news be this bad at WJZ if Jerry Turner and Al Sanders were still alive? Methinks the pursuit of the almighty dollar in local broadcasting has wrought forth a palpable decline in the quality of local news. According to NPR this morning, my alma mater, Boston University, is at the heart of a controversy involving a lab accident. The University is awaiting federal approval for one of two labs that will allow for research on viruses such as Ebola. My only hope is the new lab can find some way to make the dining hall food I suffered with better. Another blurb I heard on NPR mentioned that former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean is vying for the head of the Democratic National Committee. YEEEEAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!! Lots of chatter in the blogosphere about the new method to reduce comment spam. I first saw mention of it at Scripting News, and Dave has a recap here. I think this is will certainly help in reducing the spam, but it is not the last shot fired in this battle. The other cool thing about this solution is the cooperation among all of the major search engine types: Google, Yahoo, and MSN. See, they can all just get along. Yesterday, I sent off an email to Crablogs.com to add my blog to the blogroll. Just think: More people will have access to the inanity I spout forth here. Time to get working on some projects at the office. 7:46:05 AM    comment []  trackback []