Heat induced mess

This mess waited for me when I got back from last trip.  It took me awhile to figure out what it was.  Syrup?  Chocolate? Blood?  Or *gasp* WASTED COFFEE?!?!?!?!

Then I figured it out.  It wasn't coffee (thankfully), and I haven't owned syrup in years.

Apparently it go so hot in my apartment while I was gone that the candle (last lit for Thanksgiving) melted from the bottom up, began to collapse on itself, and drained on to my window sill.

Maybe traveling in the summer isn't such a bad idea.

Relative weather

I just got back from a quick trip to Phoenix.

This morning I left my hotel and stepped into the 50 degree weather. I smiled and enjoyed the nice, warm conditions. I avoided the previous day's rains and emerged into a sun I haven't seen in weeks.

I get to my meeting and start chatting with the folks who are already there. They live in Phoenix. And what's the first thing they remark about?

How frigid it is.

As appalled as I once by that reaction, I have to wonder: Is this how people in Chicago and Buffalo feel when I complain about the Seattle snow?

I miss my Forester

It's waiting for me at Masterpark near SEA.

On Monday night I landed at the St Louis airport for a business trip. The St. Louis airport is actually growing me. I'm not sure that's healthy.

I headed out to the rental car shuttle and thought, "The weather is actually not bad." Here's a hint -- NEVER THINK THAT.

The 18 degrees wasn't too cold and there was just a little snow/slush on the ground. Hertz put me in a Ford Edge and I was on my way.

And the snow and sleet began to fall ever thicker as I got on the highway.

And hour later, I made it too my hotel, fighting against the allure of snow hypnosis.

The following morning it was still snowing. And sleeting. And icing. I stopped at a Hardee's to order a ridiculous amount of fast food breakfast sandwiches. I got back to the car, and the windows I had just cleared in the hotel parking lot were now covered with a thick coating of ice. I don't think I've ever seen that much ice accumulate that quickly on auto glass.

The whole storm experience was pretty surreal. And it's still snowing now.

The front wheel drive Ford Edge isn't the best vehicle for the snow. The traction control light flashed much of the way, and the car did wiggle at on ramps and left turns. It's okay, but it reminded why I like my Subaru so much. At least if something does go wrong, the Edge has some size. There's quite a bit of car there.

I am impressed with the general skill of St Louis drivers. Most people I saw were driving sensibly in the snow -- they slowed down, allowed extra following distance, and moved smoothly.

As I write this, I think, "It's too bad this isn't more interesting." But the more I think about, the less I want my snow driving stories to be interesting.

And so, to all of you dealing with winter driving conditions across the country, Good Luck. May your experiences be as dull as mine.

Storms over Minnesota

Last Tuesday when I few into Minneapolis, we had a bit of delay. Here's why:

We had to circle the airport for about 45 minutes due to these thunderstorms. They weren't letting anyone land.

We got lucky, though. One of my colleagues was due to land at MSP at about the same time. Unfortunately, they had a longer flight and had to divert to Iowa when they started to run low on fuel.

Stormpulse: Hurricane tracker with historic data

The above image shows the path of David -- a category 5 hurricane that traveled the length of the east coast in 1979.

It's the first hurricane I remember being aware of. New York would often get the remnants of storms, but this one was different. In the days leading up to the storm, the new casters were advising everyone to take precautions. We put giant masking tape Xs on our windows because that would allegedly keep them from breaking in the storm. The city was filled with Xs on glass. We were warned about tornadoes in Manhattan. School was canceled for the day of the storm.

By the time the storm reached New York City, it had weakened considerably. I recall a lot of rain and wind, but no major damage in the area. It was barely a tropical storm.

The Caribbean did not do as well. David is blamed for more than 2,000 deaths there.

I bring this up because I just found Stormpulse. It's a fascinating site with huge amounts of data and easy to read map. It includes hurricanes and tropical storms going back to the 1850s. You can look up the storm track and stats for any hurricane in that time. It shows the position, time, and wind speed throughout the lenght of the storm.

You can even look at all the storms from a particular season. Here is the 2007 map:


Wondering where Ike went? Here is is.

It's a fascinating, interactive, and data rich site for anyone interested in these amazing and dangerous storms.

Weird Al at the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe, WA

It was wet. Very wet.

Last week, my GF and I saw Radiohead at the White River Amphitheater. This week, we basically did the opposite.

On Tuesday night, my GF and I went to the Weird Al concert at the state fair. Al puts on a great show.

The show is mostly newer material (from the last 15 years). The only songs he did form the early 80s were "Yoda" (to the tune of Lola) and the classic "Eat It" (to the tune of Beat it). I would like to have heard more stuff from that era. It has such classics as "Dare to Be Stupid," "Like a Surgeon," "Nature Trail to Hell," and "One More Minute," but it is just a two hour show.

Every few songs Al would take a few moments off and show clips from Al TV, where he "interviews" celebrities and edits in their responses from other interviews. The clips were often hysterical, but I didn't go to a concert to watch video. I would have preferred more live Al time on stage.

At the same time, he did need to take the breaks because he must have done about 10 costume changes. The way he adjusted not only his look, but the look of the band, throughout the show was impressive.

This was a highly geeky show. Which makes perfect sense since this tour is really the "White and Nerdy" tour (yes, I did get the White and Nerdy hoodie). How geeky was it?

During "The Saga Begins" he had 8-10 Storm Troopers on stage (two of them appeared to be scout troopers) and the band it self was dressed up as Jedi. There was also a Darth Vader on stage. The storm troopers adopted action poses. It was awesome.

The crowd naturally went wild when Al rolled out on stage for "White and Nerdy" on his pimped out Segway. Because it's a Seattle crowd, they also went wild for "Smells Like Nirvana". "Amish Paradise" and "All About the Pentiums" were also big hits.

For an encore, Al did "Albuquerque."

So it was a good show.

I would have like to see Al interacting with the audience more. That may be tough with all the costume changes, but it would definitely have improved the show. As it was, Al didn't really connect with the audience. He did a great job performing for us, but it was more like musical theater than a show the audience can be part of.

He didn't talk to the audience between songs like I would have expected. There was little about it that screamed "This is a live show!" When I saw Billy Joel in a significantly larger arena in Vegas there was more interaction.

At this show in particular, that would have been more important. I mentioned earlier that it was wet.

The show began at 8:00 PM. The rain began at 7:15 PM. It started as a drizzle, and then grew. Did I mention this was an out door show? All but the cheapest seats were in the open. The rain came down, and people stayed for the show. They sang along. They clapped. We were all soaked to the skin after 2.5 hours in the rain.

I'm not blaming Al for the weather. And at the end, he did thank the fans for sitting in the rain for the show. And, sure, he mentioned Monroe, WA a couple times, but there was very little of that. He can be a great story teller, but he didn't do that.

A great concert isn't just about the songs; it's about the context the artist puts them in. It's about the stories the artist tells. It's about the way they not only perform the music but present it.

And at this show, there was just too much of a fourth wall in place.

I'm sure the crowd wasn't quite what Al would have liked either. We weren't as rowdy and exuberant as some of the shows he's done, I'm sure. Then again, we were cold and wet, and getting colder and wetter by the minute, and yet we stayed. And we sang. And we had a great time.

In summary, I would like to see some of the older material, and I would like Al to talk to the crowd more. I'd like him to spend less time showing videos. But it was still a good show, and I would definitely go again (probably with a poncho).

And the traffic situation was a hell of a lot better than the mess that was Radio at the Whiteriver Amphitheater.

If you are a fan or close personal friend of Al, go to the show. Enjoy the songs and sing along with them. And celebrate your nerdiness.

And the next time he comes to Seattle, I'll be there, too -- rain or shine.

Cold Snap in Seattle

When I was a kid, I always wanted the house to be warmer, despite my father's complaints about all the Iranian oil we were consuming. But things are a bit different now.

I enjoy the winter weather (what little we have of it) in Seattle. In the six years I've lived in my apartment, I think I used the heater once. For most of the winter, the indoor temperature is between 55 and 63 degrees, and I'm quite pleased with that.

"Don't you get cold?" you might ask. Well, I have sufficient personal insulation, and I can easily supplement that with fleece and thick socks during the day when I'm working.

In the evening, I can pull over a couple of blankets on the couch and watch TV. When it's time to go to bed, I can simply crawl under five or six layers of assorted quilts, comforters and afghans. If it gets really cold, I'll close a window.

That's not a bad way to spend a few months. Unlike the summer heat, I can actually do something about the January chill.

My GF also likes her apartment chilly. Which is good, because her apartment is often 5 degrees colder than mine. Tonight, after dinner, I could actually see my breath in the air. So how do I keep warm down there?

Simple. That's where we have the Nintendo and Guitar Hero. Spending a couple hours trying to 5 star Slow Ride and Barracuda on Easy (I know, I'm pathetic at this game) is enough to keep anyone warm.

So I'm hoping that in a couple weeks Puxatawney Phil has a major panic attack and slips into unconsciousness. That should get us a few more nice months.