Real Life and What's Happening...

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Damn, we didn't get that here on the SE end. We had a lot of power bumps Sunday into Monday morning, but I don't think we lost any power (if we did at my place, it was back on before I got home). At least it got warmer today, and other than a lot of slush, my trip to work was way better than the last two days were.
 
Snow and freezing weather is pretty unusual in Portland isn't it? I had an aunt who lived there, but haven't been there since the 80s. The weather always seemed quite similar to the SF Bay Area, but we were usually there in the summer.
 
Snow and freezing weather is pretty unusual in Portland isn't it? I had an aunt who lived there, but haven't been there since the 80s. The weather always seemed quite similar to the SF Bay Area, but we were usually there in the summer.

It gets cold in winter, and lots of rain, but one snowstorm a year started around 2016 iirc. I moved out here in 2014, and the only bad thing is how they deal with it. Unlike NY which has a budget and planning for such storms, Portland and the surrounding towns don't. Thankfully it got up to around 48 today, so that helped clear the roads a bit. While it won't all melt (I remember last year some small patches hung around until April near me), the worst part is over. We got 10 inches, but compared to the 26 my sister said they got in her area outside NYC earlier, and the crap Texas and other states are dealing with, we're doing pretty good.
 
It gets cold in winter, and lots of rain, but one snowstorm a year started around 2016 iirc. I moved out here in 2014, and the only bad thing is how they deal with it. Unlike NY which has a budget and planning for such storms, Portland and the surrounding towns don't. Thankfully it got up to around 48 today, so that helped clear the roads a bit. While it won't all melt (I remember last year some small patches hung around until April near me), the worst part is over. We got 10 inches, but compared to the 26 my sister said they got in her area outside NYC earlier, and the crap Texas and other states are dealing with, we're doing pretty good.

Yeah, in many ways getting snow where it is rare is much worse than where it is frequent.

When we moved to our current house it snowed about 1/4" that first winter. Very unusual because we are near the coast, so once or twice a year there might be a dusting on the surrounding hills but very unusual down here in town. Well we moved from the Sierras where we could get 3-5 feet of snow in a day. So my son comes home from school (6th grade) because they closed the schools. He was like WTF is wrong with them, it was already half melted by the time I got home. At my old school they didn't close the school even when the snow was up to my neck.
 
Yeah, in many ways getting snow where it is rare is much worse than where it is frequent.

Exactly. Some people I work with don't get when I laugh at their complaints about the snow. Until I explain the one snowstorm we had in NY where it was up to car roofs, and you could literally walk across it (as it was hard) from our porch and stand on my sisters car. One of the main problems is until about a year or two ago, Portland would not put salt down anywhere. The place I work at would have a company put deicer on the road, but it's useless if it's covered with snow. And literally no one has tires for this weather here. People put chains on them. A little extra cash for the right tires would help all these people in SUVs, Trucks, etc. I saw so many slipping all over the roads the other day. Sure the people with cars will still be screwed (or at least a good portion of them), but all the people with hardier vehicles could actually do stuff. The worst thing is people whining about it. I had someone tell me it was too much to get all weather tires, but they bitched because they missed two days work because their tires can't handle the road conditions after it snows. SMDH.

When we moved to our current house it snowed about 1/4" that first winter. Very unusual because we are near the coast, so once or twice a year there might be a dusting on the surrounding hills but very unusual down here in town. Well we moved from the Sierras where we could get 3-5 feet of snow in a day. So my son comes home from school (6th grade) because they closed the schools. He was like WTF is wrong with them, it was already half melted by the time I got home. At my old school they didn't close the school even when the snow was up to my neck.

NY was never that hardcore, but at least with 6 hours of the snowfall ending there were sanitation trucks out plowing and laying salt. And people would start to dig out on their own. Where I used to live, a neighbor had a blower he drove. He'd do his house and the ones on either side of his, then do my house and the ones on either side of us (as he knew all of us, he did that to help out). Then we just had to shovel the driveway and walkway from the porch to the sidewalk. Saved my back a lot of pain lol
 
Yeah, in many ways getting snow where it is rare is much worse than where it is frequent.

Amen to that! I remember being in a place where snow was a very rare occurrence. One time, I was going down the expressway after a storm and there was a car spinning in the middle of the expressway. Not going anywhere, just spinning like it was on a lazy susan. And another time, school buses were stranded on the expressway for a long time in traffic. And power would always be iffy because of above ground lines.

The worst I've had since I moved was one time I couldn't get home during the storm, so had to wait it out at a hotel, and power was off for close to a day.
 
Cars can do OK in snow if you know how to drive in it... Weight in the right place helps. I got through a storm in a VW Squareback because before the days of front wheel drive everywhere, engine in the back for the win... I did a freeway at 50-60 MPH in a blizzard in my Saturn wagon, I only slowed down when I had to pass the slow moving cars. Same Saturn got to the coast along 26 in snow, though on the other side as we were just about out of the mountains we played snake in the road on a patch of ice.

I'm up by the Terwilliger curves though below 500' elevation (I think about 400') so we get more snow. But this storm hit different parts of Portland differently. North and East I think got more snow, we got more freezing rain. Sunday night I didn't sleep well after my wife woke me up because I was snoring so bad. There was a constant symphony of cracking limbs and ice falling off trees and skittering across the hard surface below.

But yea, Portland doesn't get much snow. I feel like Raleigh NC actually got more snow, and more freezing rain. I was looking for a list of significant snow storms in Portland, but you can't really find it because of the recent (since 2002) storms, only one makes it into the top 10.
 
Yeah in the PNW a number of the major cities only get snow every couple of years at best. It doesn't really make a lot of sense to have all this idle equipment to handle major storms when they happen maybe once every 5-10 years. You just shut down the city for a few days and it warms up and rains. Nature does it's thing and you have some snow days. For example this storm probably dumped the most snow on our house in over 10 years. It was all melted 2 days later. Why do all sorts of elaborate things when you can just pause for 2-5 days and it's fine again.
 
Cars can do OK in snow if you know how to drive in it...

Which most people here don't seem capable of doing....

Yeah in the PNW a number of the major cities only get snow every couple of years at best. It doesn't really make a lot of sense to have all this idle equipment to handle major storms when they happen maybe once every 5-10 years. You just shut down the city for a few days and it warms up and rains. Nature does it's thing and you have some snow days. For example this storm probably dumped the most snow on our house in over 10 years. It was all melted 2 days later. Why do all sorts of elaborate things when you can just pause for 2-5 days and it's fine again.

Except not everyone can afford to just pause. I know I can't. It also doesn't require a lot of equipment when you mainly need detachable plows (which is hardly a big investment)

still, we're doing a lot better than Texas is
 
Except not everyone can afford to just pause. I know I can't. It also doesn't require a lot of equipment when you mainly need detachable plows (which is hardly a big investment)
The trick is if they have enough trucks... They did plow Taylor's Ferry at some point, when I went out this morning it was clear it had been plowed. In Raleigh I saw them using those big huge highway graders to plow streets... I don't know if Oregon pulls any tricks like that.

Back in Massachusetts even side streets would get plowed at least once during the storm if not multiple times. The plowing would keep you up all night. But there it's worth having enough trucks to do the job. Heck, when I was little, they even had cute little plows to do the sidewalks... But I'd say Massachusetts gets a storm every once in a while that overwhelms the system. I don't recall how often we had multi-day shutdowns. I do remember the Blizzard of '78 where the STATE shut down for several days with stay at home orders. Part of the problem there was they actually ran out of places to PUT the snow they cleared. Also consider that in Oregon (and North Carolina) we get way more freezing rain storms that places with more snow. It's hard to keep a road clear of ice, especially if you can't scrape to pavement. Once the ice gets away from you, you're gone until the ice thaws... I can only think of one or two times growing up in Massachusetts that there was enough ice to even begin to cause problems. Now another difference in Massachusetts is that it's worth private individuals having a plow for their pickup. And those folks do sometimes get recruited to do some of the street plowing, or at least they'll do their own street...
 
Jeezuz things look challenging in the USA at present - factionalism, pandemic, economics, and now even the weather is getting bloody tricksy.

Keep yourselves warm and cozy over there

It's a good excuse to stay home for more rpg time :thumbsup:
 
Jeezuz things look challenging in the USA at present - factionalism, pandemic, economics, and now even the weather is getting bloody tricksy.

Keep yourselves warm and cozy over there

It's a good excuse to stay home for more rpg time :thumbsup:
That's Texas not the US as they are so often proud of mentioning. :hehe:
 
The go-to SSD for pimping 70 and 80 series Thinkpads is the OCZ RC100 and by Hastur they're difficult to find. The outfit I ordered one from emailed me and said they didn't have any in stock. They're also an unusual configuration, a 2242 form factor two lane NVMe interface. Nobody seems to make two lane SSDs any more except one other outfit I found one on and bought off Ebay.
 
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Jeezuz things look challenging in the USA at present - factionalism, pandemic, economics, and now even the weather is getting bloody tricksy.

Keep yourselves warm and cozy over there

It's a good excuse to stay home for more rpg time :thumbsup:

our entire continent didn't light on fire and we don't have teddy bears trying to inflict STDs on us, so I feel like we'll make it.
 
Hey, c'mon you cheeky buggas!

I was sincerely expressing my concerns!!!

Did not realise that Texans aren't Americans, heh heh. The News is filtered down here!

For the record, we definately had a lot of burning bushes last year, but in comparison to the population, only a few people were affected by them.

But yeah there is a problem with STDs in the Koala population, we think it started after the last US Navy Ship docked in Townsville heh heh :grin: :thumbsup:
 
Not me! I know this is dumb! Stupid southern fears....(I was born here, which doesn't mean I like where I live.)
I put this forward in the good natured way of ribbing between friends. Texas has a lot to be proud of like every other region in the US. Pretty much all real countries have lots to be proud of. Even the imaginary ones manage some impressive things like those illusory kangaroos and platypuses.
 
It doesn't matter how good of a driver you are or how good your tires are on ice, it sucks.

here are some pics from down my way in Southern Oregon During some of the weather we can get.

Look at that heavy, wet snow.




On the I5 rollercoaster.


finally, around where I grew up on the North Umpqua, looking at Mt Thielsen near Diamond Lake.
 
Exactly. Some people I work with don't get when I laugh at their complaints about the snow. Until I explain the one snowstorm we had in NY where it was up to car roofs, and you could literally walk across it (as it was hard) from our porch and stand on my sisters car. One of the main problems is until about a year or two ago, Portland would not put salt down anywhere. The place I work at would have a company put deicer on the road, but it's useless if it's covered with snow. And literally no one has tires for this weather here. People put chains on them. A little extra cash for the right tires would help all these people in SUVs, Trucks, etc. I saw so many slipping all over the roads the other day. Sure the people with cars will still be screwed (or at least a good portion of them), but all the people with hardier vehicles could actually do stuff. The worst thing is people whining about it. I had someone tell me it was too much to get all weather tires, but they bitched because they missed two days work because their tires can't handle the road conditions after it snows. SMDH.



NY was never that hardcore, but at least with 6 hours of the snowfall ending there were sanitation trucks out plowing and laying salt. And people would start to dig out on their own. Where I used to live, a neighbor had a blower he drove. He'd do his house and the ones on either side of his, then do my house and the ones on either side of us (as he knew all of us, he did that to help out). Then we just had to shovel the driveway and walkway from the porch to the sidewalk. Saved my back a lot of pain lol

I used to enjoy driving my Landcruser in the snow, big, slow and very sure footed (er' sure tired?). Was always fun to roll past the chain control and see the looks from the drivers with expensive SUVs (with cheap street tires) wondering why the CHP was letting a POS truck roll right on by.
I always stopped at the chain control, because when there is a policeman standing in the road I thought that is what you are supposed to do. Finally one day the officer just asked, why do you even stop, you have a tank, when you have to stop, we won't be out here, there will just be a barricade, go. :grin:


Cars can do OK in snow if you know how to drive in it...

Yeah, this seems to be the problem. So many drivers don't get "slow down" for conditions. It's dry, 80mph, its raining 80mph, its snowing 80mph, it is foggy with 5 feet of visibility 75mph. :argh:

Yeah in the PNW a number of the major cities only get snow every couple of years at best. It doesn't really make a lot of sense to have all this idle equipment to handle major storms when they happen maybe once every 5-10 years. You just shut down the city for a few days and it warms up and rains. Nature does it's thing and you have some snow days. For example this storm probably dumped the most snow on our house in over 10 years. It was all melted 2 days later. Why do all sorts of elaborate things when you can just pause for 2-5 days and it's fine again.

Caltrans here has some removable plows for some pickups and dump trucks. I think they get used more for knocking rockfall of the roads, but they will keep the major roads open the couple times a year there is enough snow to need that.

I put this forward in the good natured way of ribbing between friends. Texas has a lot to be proud of like every other region in the US. Pretty much all real countries have lots to be proud of. Even the imaginary ones manage some impressive things like those illusory kangaroos and platypuses.

Texas is proud of their 6 flags, but they should remember that it took 5 tries until they found a country that would keep them (even the Republic of Texas kicked itself out). :hehe:
 
It doesn't matter how good of a driver you are or how good your tires are on ice, it sucks.

here are some pics from down my way in Southern Oregon During some of the weather we can get.
Those road pics don't look so far off what Portland streets looked like, just maybe more snow in some of them...

And yea, ice is a killer. That blizzard I drove the Saturn in, I wasn't going fast until I got out of the freezing rain and into dryer snow, so nice pack snow on the highway. I think others had also driven in the left lane, but not so many to make ruts. The right lane with all the slow cars was two ruts. And maybe I was a bit crazy... But my tires never slipped. I was motivated to get home. By the time I considered it may have been a good idea to pull off and find a motel, they were probably already all full, and that was pre-cell phone for me.

But I pay attention to the road conditions and adjust speed accordingly.
 
Another thing to consider with snow on the roads is that snow when the temp is going just above and below freezing over and over (like it does down here) partially melts then freezes then partially melts then freezes over and over and we don't get fluffy snow, we get slush and just thick sheets of ice.

If it is consistently below freezing it doesn't quite do that.

Also just seriously, no salt trucks, no snowplows, they aren't worth the cost in most Southern states, they would literally be gotten out for a couple of days a year. (Though with the climate change it might be time to start considering it).

(The problem in Texas is actually related to a lot of other things, like the fact that their power grid is isolated from the national power grid to avoid having to adhere to federal regulations, so it can't purchase power from neighboring states to make up for the issues it is having).
 
My wife is on lockdown at the college she works at because there's someone at large in the building with a weapon. I'm sitting at home feeling like I should be able to do something, but I can't.
How often does this happen, and was it an actual nutter with a weapon as opposed to someone just overreacting?
 
My wife is on lockdown at the college she works at because there's someone at large in the building with a weapon. I'm sitting at home feeling like I should be able to do something, but I can't.

Good lord I should read where the thread actually is rather than responding to stuff a page back. Glad she is ok. That is scary.
 
My friends bought a house in Pennsylvania and are living there full-time, but they still have some time on their Chicago lease and still have some stuff in their apartment here, so I go by every once in a while to check their mail and water their plant. Last night, I managed to lock myself inside their apartment!

Locked the deadbolt when I came in, and when I went to leave, it would not budge at all! And I had inadvertently left my keys in the entryway which has a locked door to the street, so I couldn't go out the back door, because without my keys I wouldn't be able to get into my own apartment.

I called my friend to see if there was some trick to the lock, but she didn't have one and everything she suggested I had already tried. Then she suggested taking the lock apart and told me where to find a screwdriver, so I opened that drawer... and found it completely empty. No tools at all. Her BF had already brought them to Pennsylvania.

So she called her Chicago landlord, but he was out of town and wouldn't be back until this afternoon. So it was looking like I would have to spend the night, call in to work this morning for a Personal Day, and stay until the landlord could come let me out. Around this time, I got very conservative about using my phone because I didn't have a charger there.

Fortunately, I checked my messages one last time before I was going to go to sleep, because my friend had texted the suggestion of using a butter knife in place of a screwdriver. Tried that and.... it worked!!! Sweet, sweet freedom!!! Was able to disassemble the lock, let myself out, and reassemble it into a functional lock.

Their apartment is pretty nice and I don't mind hanging there by choice, but being unable to leave really sucked! And I didn't have stuff with me that I would have needed like daily medications, etc., because it was supposed to just be a quick stop.

So I'm really happy it turned out the way it did!
 
Also just seriously, no salt trucks, no snowplows, they aren't worth the cost in most Southern states, they would literally be gotten out for a couple of days a year. (Though with the climate change it might be time to start considering it).

You don't need actual snow plows or salt trucks. NYC, where I used to live, doesn't. They put plows on Sanitation trucks, and have salt dispensers they can attach to them. Plenty of trucks can be fitted with plows. Hell, people were using them last summer here to dig trenches to help slow down the wildfires.
 
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