It's quiet...

[sinanju]

As a result of Portland's "snow emergency" (by which I mean an inch or two of snow, admittedly over a little ice) yesterday, the Portland Public Schools are closed today. Which means, since we follow the schools, my employer is closed today. So I'm at home.

My poor wife did have to go to work today. Which, as she tells me, "Is why I get the big money." I, on the other hand, work for a non-profit. They don't pay as well, but there are compensations. One of which is a much greater likelihood of getting snow days (when they happen, which isn't every year)--I don't think my wife has ever gotten a snow day. If so, only once, maybe twice.

She took the bus in, rather than try to drive. It was a lot less difficult than she feared it might be. The bus was in sight when she reached the bus stop and mostly empty. (As opposed to so full she had to wait for the next one, or just moving out of sight, as is often the case.) Driving tomorrow should be fun. All the traffic will have churned up the snow on the streets and the frigid weather should make sure it turns into ice tonight. Whee! And a forecast of more snow on Wednesday. (Which I will take more seriously, since I didn't believe for a moment that we'd get snow this weekend despite the forecast...and I was wrong.)

I've built a fire in the woodstove in the living room to save on using the gas-fired furnace. I haven't built nearly as many fires in it as my lovely and talented wife, but I managed. It's going very well now and it's quite warm by the stove. Not so much over here at my computer (by a window). But success is mine! Kinda. The thermometer says its 64 degrees inside, and 28 degrees outside. Not so bad, but a little chillier than I like. But give it some time and the woodstove (and ceiling fan) should warm the house up a bit more.

Twoson, who braved the ice and snow and dark last night, towing his computer on a sled behind him, only recently returned from an overnight LAN party at a nearby friend's house. I imagine he didn't get much sleep. My first clue is that he's lying as dead on the sofa in front of the fire....

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[2-son.livejournal.com]

Doing a bit of rereading and looking back on that night, I have to say that the fact that we where snowed in only made the whole night more fun. I wouldn't have dared taking the computer anywhere in anything but a car, due to the risk of it dropping, but towed behind me on a sled, its weight was already settled against the ground, and the snow provided it a smooth ride.

We stayed up all night building gigantic space ships and blowing each other to pieces, raining nuclear halocaust on each others' precious, resource-providing planets, making secret agreements behind each others back, and in general having a great time and laughing ourselves to death.

Still, my most vivid memory of that night was the trek towards my friend's house. All bundled up against the snow, I was mostly warm and comfy. The chil air actualy felt good, fresh. The snow blanketed the ground, muffling the echoes that would normaly ring off of every hard surfacewith any sound of significant volume. It was quiet as a grave yard. I found myself thinking back all the post-apocalyptic movies I'd seen, the books and comments I'd read, imagining that the snow where instead ash, and that I was thus bundled in fact in some feeble atempt at protection from residual radiation. The sled behind me didn't carry my computer, but my supplies. Canned food, firewood, blankets, ammunition for the revolver I imagined tucked into my jacket. Then my friends showed up, meeting me half way for the rest of the walk. If they're out there, who else might be? Sharing my goft of imagination, we began the treacherous journey through the ash-covered streets of the abandoned suburbs, constantly wary of rabbid animals, or worse, radiation-deformed mutants hungry for human flesh.

And then we got inside, had a cup of cocoa, linked up our computers and killed the crap out of each other.