Jeez, I'm jealous. Everybody else is getting all the good winter. The East Coast got a nice snowstorm yesterday. All day long yesterday my friends out there were sending me pictures. Taunting me. I think there's a snowstorm down south of us, even.
At least we have snow on the ground here. And it's cold enough—but we've gone a record amount of time without a day below zero. North Carolina has better snow right now than we've gotten so far all winter. North Carolina. It's not fair. Although I don't envy them the shoveling.
(There's a TV commercial on in Wisconsin right now that shows a city street buried in snow, with cars struggling to move and bundled-up citizens trudging against the wind. The voice-over says, "In Miami, it's 85 degrees and sunny right now." Then a pause. Then: "I pity the poor souls.")
Speaking of shoveling, I might have told you about my mental index of how lazy we Americans can be. Previously I had a little game of watching people waiting for parking spaces in the parking lot at the grocery store—I was always interested to see how many spaces people would "save themselves" by hunkering down waiting while a closer parking space opened up. For years the record was four cars, which I saw several times. It was a record I imagined would never be beaten. Then I actually saw a woman—thirtysomething, fat but able-bodied—sitting and waiting for a spot that was two cars in from the next available free spot. She was literally idling her car next to an empty parking space while she waited for the closer space to open up. By waiting, she saved herself maybe 16 or 20 feet of walking. It wasn't even cold or raining.
How lazy can you be? No longer a rhetorical question. Not much lazier than that. Kinda made the game no fun.
So then I started noticing how little snow it took for some people to get out their snow-blowers. That quickly became no fun too, as I'd see people here and there firing up their snow-blowers for, say, three inches of dry snow. Snow you could almost clear with a broom, never mind a shovel.
Well, that one got beaten all to crap the other day too. We had basically a dusting of maybe half an inch of fluffy powder—you could almost see the color of the asphalt through it—and I actually saw a woman cleaning the snow off her driveway with a leaf blower.
If you're snowed in, stay warm. And don't feel sorry for yourself. Well, you can a little, if you were inconvenienced. But don't forget to enjoy it, too. I'm jealous.
Mike
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Featured Comment by politovski: "Greetings from NC! We are currently ~12 degrees here in Waynesville. As for snow, check this out:
"Nothing like nine inches of fresh powder just outside your house."
Featured Comment by Steve Rosenblum: "My favorite is the person who does the 'waiting for the closest parking space' thing when they have arrived at the fitness center where they (presumably) have come to exercise. Even better are my patients who after successful coronary bypass surgery are completely without symptoms and attend cardiac rehab classes faithfully three times per week to get the beneficial effects of exercise, but then ask me to sign the DMV form to get a handicap parking sticker so they don't have to walk more than a few feet into a store. When I point out the contradiction to them they say 'But, Doctor, I have a heart condition!!' "
Featured Comment by DF: "When I was in college, my girlfriend would always work to convice me to find the closest parking space, and it drove me batty. After dating for several months, things came to a head. Upon entering a very busy mall parking lot around Christmastime, I began the impossible task of finding a 'close' parking space with her comments getting more and more frustrating. After 20 minutes of torture, I drove to the very farthest parking spot that I could find from the mall, and I staked my claim. There were plenty of spots closer, but none were 'close enough' for her, so I decided to make a point and choose the farthest. That was a long 10 minute walk to the mall, and, needless to say, that was the last Christmas we spent together!"
Mike comments: On such small foundation stones is compatibility built. I trust if you and she were compatible in other ways, you would have taken to dropping her off at the entrance and parking the car alone!
Never heard of a leaf blower used on snow before. Next time, try and get a video of it. :)
I've noticed that waiting for parking thing at malls too. It's mystifying, considering that once they get inside, they'll be walking for miles.
Posted by: Robert Roaldi | Thursday, 13 January 2011 at 09:44 PM
I'm truly shocked by your report of the lazy parking. It just simply wouldn't cross my mind to do as the fat but able-bodied woman did. I'm not sure we're quite there yet in the UK, but it's certainly true that what happens in the US tends to come across the Atlantic in a couple of years. Certainly, Britons use their cars for all sorts of short trips when a generation ago people would have walked. Perhaps the forthcoming econalypse will teach us all to use our feet again.
I love cold, clear winters. One of my favourite holidays ever was doing the Haute Route ski tour across the top of the Alps in simply beautiful conditions in the early 80s (I was a young and fit soldier way back then - doing it now would probably take me twice as long, but some added maturity would mean I would enjoy it over twice as much).
Posted by: James | Thursday, 13 January 2011 at 10:22 PM
Please have some of that snow sent my way.
In the only country with four clearly distinct seasons (a widespread belief here) I miss having in Tokyo what I can identify as a winter. Since winter always included snow before I moved here, it seems almost like I endure a 4-month early March.
Severals years ago, I lived across the border in Kanagawa prefecture, and during the rare snowstorm I could make a couple of hundred dollars in just a few hours cleaning snow from neighbors' and local shop owners' entrances, driveways, and sidewalks. Word spread that I would do this because I had done it for my wife's aunt. Never mentioned a price, but folks always paid 5-10,000 yen. In fact, they insisted.
During the rare snow in much of Tokyo, many sidewalks remain mostly untouched until the snow melts. You walk at your own risk. The leaf blower idea might go over well here, except, being in a southern climate, Tokyo snows are too wet and heavy.
Posted by: David H. | Thursday, 13 January 2011 at 10:24 PM
Leaf blower? Genius.
My teenage son thanks you.
:^)
Posted by: Bill Millios | Thursday, 13 January 2011 at 10:43 PM
Jeez,are you being wistful in the darkroom rejuvenation too.
Posted by: fred | Thursday, 13 January 2011 at 10:48 PM
It's nice here, just north of New York. The kind of winters I remember from childhood - big drifts, lots of shoveling. I don't remember the lower back pain, though...
Posted by: Seth Glassman | Thursday, 13 January 2011 at 10:48 PM
You don't fire up the snowblower for three inches of snow because you're lazy. You do it because it's fun!
Posted by: Peter Popp | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 12:05 AM
That's it.. time to move to Japan and shovel snow for camera money!
Posted by: Avi | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 12:33 AM
I live in central Florida (Dover, just east of Tampa) and it was 29 degrees this morning when I left for work...I may need to find a good stiff credit card to clear the frost from my windshield if this keeps up! No snow yet, but it could happen... I took this photo in the field behind my house last year about this same time, and I could have duplicated it this morning:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26317521@N00/4262994628/
Just thought you'd like the facts, it sure isn't 85 degrees down here!
Posted by: Jim Allen | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 12:33 AM
When I worked up north it was common to have three feet of snow or more by Hallowe'en.
Here in Victoria we actually had snow for a day but fortunately it's gone now!
Mike.
P.S. Yes, when I was a resort property manager the leaf blower was used on the walkways more than once. We also had shovels, the snowblower, the tractor with the snowblower and the 4x4 with plow blade...
Posted by: Mike Nelson Pedde | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 12:54 AM
Yeps, and when snow melts due to rain, rivers crash their banks.
http://blogger.xs4all.nl/stomoxys/archive/2011/01/11/638995.aspx
Not nice if you live next to the river in question.
Greetings, Ed
Posted by: Ed | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 02:02 AM
From down here it seems that Garrison Keillor gets all the best winters in your part of the world.
The folk in Queensland, Australia are experiencing a summer not to be forgotten--the worst floods in 36 years. It's as well climate change is a myth (!) or they be doing it even harder.
Regards - Ross
Posted by: Ross Chambers | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 02:42 AM
You may know of record floods inundating the centre of Brisbane, the third largest city in Australia.... I live in Central Victoria, 1500k south, and have just recorded the highest rain event-- 185mm over four days ... since I started in 1978, Does anyone still believe that climate change doesn't exist????
Posted by: Bruce | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 05:16 AM
... and another thing, two years ago, we were in the grip of an incredible drought, culminating in a day of 46.2 celsius ( 115 F)and 73 people dead in the worst fires ever to rip through our area.
Posted by: Bruce | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 05:21 AM
Parking lots can be a lot of fun when it comes to watching human behavior. I wish I had thought of watching how many spaces a person will wait for. I did notice, that people will take a space closer to the building over one further from the building - even if the space they chose was farther from the entrance.
If you need a new parking lot game, watch how many people look for a 'drive-thru' spot so they don't have to back up.
Posted by: Paul Van | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 06:17 AM
Also, regarding parking spaces...
I once saw a study that demonstrated that the difference between the closest and furthest parking space in a mall or grocery store parking lot was dwarfed (*dwarfed*) by the average amount a person walked within said mall or grocery store. The results really made those that get feisty over a given parking space really look foolish.
Since reading the study, I've decided that life is too short to wait for a parking space. If I see a space way in back, I take it. By my measure, the study is correct: the distance I walk to the store or mall is much less than the distance I walk within the retail space...
Posted by: Will | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 06:35 AM
My neighbour was cleaning his car off with a leaf blower the other day. I went into the garage for something, and was thinking 'What is that noise?'
Posted by: scott | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 08:03 AM
Ross x 2. The worst floods are in Queensland, but Victoria and Tasmania just coped a pile of unwanted water as well. How about some nice summer floods, we got plenty to spare.
BTW, really liked the 'Center vs Fringe' article, nice advice to remember.
Posted by: Rob Young | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 08:23 AM
Along the lines of your TV commercial, Pharyngula links to a poster for a conference in San Diego:
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/01/cruel_san_diego.php
Posted by: KeithB | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 09:30 AM
Nice to know you like snow. So far here in Pennsylvania, its been nice smaller snow storms that leave a picturesque look to the area. Nothing like last year with 52 inches in one storm and 48 inches a week later. Ploughing the driveway (it's long) in those conditions really inhibits the photography.
Posted by: Jim | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 09:57 AM
Hey, the leaf blower idea pales in comparison to using your riding mower to mow the snow down and blow it away... Saw that tried once in my own drive. It did not work too well, so what can I say. Made a hell of a cloud though...
Posted by: Ed Kirkpatrick | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 10:11 AM
At this time of year, sometimes the closer space is waited for not to avoid walking, but to get out of the cold faster. 2 spots is still ridiculous.
Posted by: David Bostedo | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 10:17 AM
Mike,
I won't taunt you with the record setting recent "snow monster" here in Snowy South Bend, though for those interested I have several posts on my framing blog, here: http://frame-notes.blogspot.com/
You'll need to scroll down.
The only problem with shoveling, is it leads to another winter tradition: Ibuprofen, Breakfast of Champions.
Posted by: Bron Janulis | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 10:18 AM
Hey, why just lazy Americans? Sure, we may be, for the most part, more overweight than our European brothers. But laziness is rampant the world over. Try living in Italy with their afternoon "pausa" and where everything shuts down on Sundays. Over there they make fun of us Americans for working too much.
Posted by: Eric Ford | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 10:47 AM
Hey, if you can clear snow with a broom, then you can clear it with a leaf blower; makes perfect sense to me.
Now, if we could just get a big enough heating element in the leaf blower so it could clear ice, we'd have something!
Posted by: David Dyer-Bennet | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 11:18 AM
When I was in college, my girlfriend would always work to convice me to find the closest parking space, and it drove me batty. After dating for several months, things came to a head. Upon entering a very busy mall parking lot around Christmas time, I began the impossible task of finding a "close" parking space with her comments getting more and more frustrating. After 20 minutes of torture, I drove to the very farthest parking spot that I could find from the mall, and I staked my claim. There were plenty of spots closer, but none were "close enough" for her, so I decided to make a point and choose the farthest. That was a long 10 minute walk to the mall, and, needless to say, that was the last Christmas we spent together!
Posted by: DF | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 11:22 AM
Will: that is by design. Supermarkets lay-out their products so the most-popular are furthest from the door so you have to oogle everything else in stock en route.
Posted by: Tim | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 11:39 AM
I saw some of the most beautiful snow this past weekend in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan. I was there for a wedding and we got 20 inches of the powdery stuff. There is one tragic thing to note though - I just saw that the lodge we stayed at, Big Powderhorn Lodge in Bessmer, burned to the ground yesterday. I hope the business is able to recover from this because it was a great place.
Posted by: Mark Johnson | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 12:08 PM
I like to park out on the fringes because the idiots who can't roll their carts 10 feet to the nearest corral at least won't roll them into my car!
Posted by: Roger Engle | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 12:19 PM
Mike, I tend to fire up the snow thrower for 3 or more inches of snow. Even with the cost of gasoline going up, it's cheaper than the heart attack waiting for me at the end of an idiot stick in below freezing weather.
(While exercise is good for us elderly folks, shoveling snow ain't exercise, it's work. Also it gives me the chance to be a good guy - I generally do two other neighbor's properties after I'm done with mine. Sometimes three, if the old fella that lives next door and I ain't feudin' at the time).
Like Mr. Sinatra said, "You die your way, I'll die mine".
:-)
Jim
Posted by: Jim Hart | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 12:53 PM
Doctors who hand out handicapped parking stickers to the elderly and those who can walk, and who can climb in an out of jacked-up SUV's and massive pickup trucks make me sick. My wife was in a car accident 17 years ago, and needs hand controls, a wheelchair, and a ramp van to get around. I cannot count the number of times she's been effectively shut out of the one or two handicapped parking spaces by some senior citizen who has a placard, and who pulls not a ramp space,right next to a standard handicapped space, and saunters into a store. Let me say it again: doctors who hand out "handicapped" stickers to those who can walk without difficulty make me sick.
Posted by: Derrel | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 01:20 PM
Years ago my fishing buddies and I would
grab a six-pack and our folding chairs
and park ourselves next to a public boat
launching ramp on the opening day of the
boat season. Watching brand new boat
owners launching their craft was hilarious.
When a grizzled pro would launch his boat
with finese, we would stand up and cheer.
When a rookie, in front of his wife and
kids, screwed up by submerging his rear
wheels in the water and burning his
brakes 'till they smoked, we could only
shake our heads. We had too much compassion
to boo. People watching beats TV watching.
Posted by: paul logins | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 01:36 PM
I'm just looking forward to Monday, when I could plausibly wear shorts again. This below 70 during the day thing is just not acceptable anymore.
(This after growing up throughout Wisconsin.)
Posted by: Josh Hawkins | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 01:43 PM
One of my favorites is the 24 Hour Fitness here in San Diego, Point Loma to be exact. There's a set of escalators that take you up to the entrance.
Posted by: Chad Thompson | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 02:02 PM
Well...my brother and I, when hearing/reading something like this, always mention what we call the "80/20 rule". 80% of people are just stupid/dumb/ignorant.
For instance, when we get behind that person who sits at a red light waiting to turn right when it's been "Right on Red" for decades, one of us just says "eighty-twenty rule".
The percentage split is debatable, but you get the idea.
Posted by: Blake | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 02:05 PM
I had a client a few years ago who complained regularly about the hassle of 1 hour plus traffic jams sitting in her car to get to her gym where she could work out. I pointed out the irony but it went about 2 feet over her head. Oh, and she was quite a senior person at her company.
Posted by: Ian Loveday | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 02:10 PM
I told my daughters that I really only wanted one present for Christmas.
A flame thrower.
I live at the bottom of a 200' driveway with a 6°, 4° and finally 8° incline. Rear-wheel drive car (company car, can't get a 4WD) and all I want is just a little bit of not hacking away at 4 AM at the 2" of ice that I have to clear away before I can drive to work. Was that too much to ask?
Didn't have to be a big one, just enough to lay down 150 ft or so of jellied gasoline to reduce that digging-out process. I could get up, squirt that driveway (made of solid stone blocks, so no tarmac to melt...) up and have time to take a shower, have some breakfast, maybe catch some news before heading out to work.
But no, they got me some tea instead. Next time, I'll have sons. They'd understand...
:-)
Posted by: John F. Opie | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 02:11 PM
In regions that have "winter", people frequently dress for their car. They're too lightly dressed for the outside, too heavily dressed for inside, but about right for their car.
And, if you're dressed too lightly for the outside, the amount of walking outside may be much more important to you than the total amount of walking.
Posted by: David Dyer-Bennet | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 03:13 PM
I'm about to leave Les Trois Vallées after a week holiday here, and we could definitely use some of that snow (and cold weather)!!!
Pak
Posted by: Pak-Ming Wan | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 03:32 PM
At work I always park in the furthest spot from the entrance. It forces me to walk further (which I consider desirable).
Waiting for a parking spot at the grocery store only makes sense to me if there are none.
Posted by: mwg | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 03:42 PM
I'm too lazy to park close to the door. Why battle and squeeze into a small spot and wedge my self out the door to shimy along the car. It is so much easier to whip into a distant spot hop out and slam the door. (PS I'm skinny and drive a compact.) I've never understood the value of all that work to be close to the door.
Posted by: Brian White | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 04:57 PM
Paul,
I saw a video of a sailor who hauled his mainsail standing on his dock, allowing the boat to get underway by itself, and then when the cockpit passed him he stepped right into it and off he went. I wish I could find it to link for you. Slickest thing you ever saw, much cooler than my description of it.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Johnston | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 06:49 PM
Mainly rely upon bus and metro here and no snow.
But your advice on driving the girl friend to the door first and walk your way is a good advice in general. But somehow I missed that approach when reading the story. I reflected the reason is that "normally" there is other games in play. For example, the lady would try to convince whether this is the man that will do thing for her in the rest of her life, good or bad. If you cannot even park in the wimp ...
Posted by: Dennis Ng | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 08:48 PM
Oh, bugger that for tuppence! You try pushing a cart full of linens over snow what's like in that photo above. Lemme tell ya, pal, it gets real old, real fast.
And lazy? Lemme tell you lazy: How 'bout the touron who drives right past a sign that says "NO PRIVATE VEHICLES BEYOND THIS POINT", blocks a fire lane in doing so, to offload luggage into their tent cabin, when they could have parked right BY the sign! "But I was just going to unload my stuff..."
OK, so that's more a problem of overdeveloped sense of privilege than lazy.
Edie
"Kvetching" is my middle name.
Posted by: Edie Howe | Friday, 14 January 2011 at 11:41 PM
It's been rain and earthquakes here in San Jose. A few nights of sub-freezing temps--I have to defrost my windshield to drive home from work, rather than vice-versa. I was born and raised in the Midwest and remember those winters well!
Posted by: Daryl Davis | Saturday, 15 January 2011 at 05:25 AM
Not just in America, Mike:
Was shown this photo the other day:
http://www.dumbblog.com/2011/01/04/laziness-is-universal/
Posted by: Rod S | Saturday, 15 January 2011 at 02:59 PM