Olympic Fever

Josh and I aren't big sports fans. The only televised sporting events we regularly watch are the Super Bowl and the Cal-Stanford football game. But when it comes to the Olympics, you will find us glued to the TV for hours. So when Josh was invited to watch the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Vancouver games at the Canadian embassy on Friday night, we couldn't pass that up.

It took us forever to get there, as the Metro was only running every 15-20 minutes, even during rush hour -- and at one point we were squeezed so tightly into the train that I was having flashbacks to riding the Tokyo subway with my parents when I was 13. We weren't sure what to expect, but it turned out to be a huge event with hundreds of people. After going through security, we were herded to an outdoor plaza with the TV broadcast projected on a giant screen and guys on snowboards doing tricks on a trampoline. Next to that was a large tent that appeared to have food and drinks, but there were so many people crammed in there that we forged on in hopes of finding more food inside. They had a room set up with Wii playstations where you could play the new Mario Winter Olympics game -- and, thankfully, a bar area with fruit and cheese. A sign lead us down a series of corridors to what must be the cafeteria, where they had another bar, more food, and several big-screen TVs set up. We managed to snag some seats at a table, and were able to watch most of the opening ceremony from there while we snacked on sliders, pasta, and some Canadian treats: Nanaimo bars and poutine. Neither of them are particularly good for you, but boy are they tasty!

Since the Metro was closing early, we had to duck out before the ceremony ended, but I did snap a couple photos with my phone on the way out (I didn't bring my camera). They had some cool ice sculptures outside, including this bar. Of course, Josh couldn't resist...
We also ended up with some neat souvenirs -- official Olympic mittens! The Canadian Olympic team was wearing these in the opening ceremonies -- as were Wayne Gretzky and the other athletes who carried the torches. They are lined with fleece -- very toasty!
With all the snow and wacky work schedules, we never got around to making plans for Valentine's Day, so we spent most of the day watching the Olympics. Not very romantic, but we enjoyed the opportunity to just relax...

Today our friends Jason & Elizabeth brought their stir-crazy kids over to play in Josh's snow cave. It turned out neither of them was that interested in it, so their mom played in the cave instead.
We ended up having a big snowball fight, which was fun for everyone, including 2-year-old Patrick.
His mom tried to photograph the proceedings while dodging snowballs from her husband and daughter. I soon gave up on taking photos and joined the fight.
We had brunch at a nearby restaurant and then had another snowball fight on the way home before they ushered the kids into the car to get them home for naps -- just as it started snowing. Fortunately, this afternoon's snow was just a dusting, so it didn't add much to the massive piles of snow that we're still trying to dig out from. Fingers crossed that we're done with major snowstorms for the winter...

Broken Record

Wednesday's 'Snowverkill' storm dumped another foot of snow on the area, and set a new record for the snowiest winter in DC history. The old record of 54.4 inches was set in 1899. So far this winter, National Airport has received 55.9 inches of snow -- and the winter is far from over! Most of the major mid-Atlantic cities have set new records -- and these are all cities that normally get less than 2 feet of snow in an entire season.

Washington D.C. Dulles Airport, VA - 75.0"
Old record: 61.9", Winter of 1995-1996

Baltimore, MD - 79.9"
Old record: 62.5", Winter of 1995-1996

Wilmington, DE - 66.7"
Old record: 55.9", Winter of 1995-1996

Philadelphia, PA - 71.6"
Old record: 65.5", Winter of 1995-1996

Atlantic City, NJ, 49.9"
Old record: 46.9", Winter of 1966-1967

You'll notice that 95-96 was a pretty snowy winter as well. That happened to be my very first winter here, so I've definitely compensated for the 25 snow-free years I lived in California. Of course, back then I lived in an apartment with a bunch of friends and didn't own a car, so there was a lot more fun and a lot less shoveling...

Anyway, back to the present. I entitled this post "Broken Record" because a) we broke a record (duh), and b) the weather forecasters are saying -- once again -- that we may get MORE snow on Monday. Most kids in the area haven't been to school since last Thursday, so some school districts have considered canceling the President's Day holiday on Monday so they won't have to make up as many days at the end of the school year. However, depending how much snow we get Monday, the schools may have to close again on Tuesday. It's a mess!

Yesterday was sunny with a high of 40, so we did see a little melting, but with all this snow it could be in the 80's for a week and still not get rid of all of it. With all the melting and re-freezing, most houses have some serious icicles hanging from the eaves. The McMansion two doors down looks particularly menacing.
Icicles are often a sign that a house is poorly insulated and losing heat through the roof, which is probably why so many of the older homes in this neighborhood are covered with icy spikes. However, this house was just built last year, so you'd think that wouldn't be an issue. I'm glad I didn't hire this builder to renovate my house! You'll notice there are hardly any icicles hanging off our roof. The few spots where we do have them are near the solatubes and skylight, which create small patches of uninsulated space in an otherwise tightly sealed envelope.

Josh has done most of the shoveling in all these storms, but asked me to clear the snow off the front porch. You'd think after having to brush all the snow off after the last storm I'd bring in all the cushions from the porch furniture before the next one -- but no. So yesterday I had to do it all over again. Fortunately, they are all covered with Sunbrella fabric, so the snow and water just brushes off, but I did have to shovel a couple inches of snow off the porch, too.
When I was done, I hung out in Josh's snow cave, which is even bigger now as he had to pile all the fresh snow from the driveway on top of it. If Josh had been wearing his snow pants, we could have both easily sat in there together with room to spare.
Here's Josh wishing he could hang out in the snow cave with me.
Our street has been plowed, but only enough for one car to drive down it at a time. There's a huge mountain of snow at one end and a massive berm at the other, so even if you could make it out of your driveway, it would be tough to turn onto another street once you got to either end of the block. So even though our car is clean and the driveway is shoveled, we probably won't be trying to drive anywhere for a while.
We took a quick walk to see how the neighbors were faring. Josh has likened the sidewalks to a hamster habitrail. There's a wall of snow at least 2 feet high on either side, and very limited options for getting across the street. It's pretty challenging to wade through knee-deep snow, so if you hit a patch of sidewalk that hasn't been shoveled, you have to detour onto the street. As of yesterday afternoon, most of the streets in our neighborhood had not yet been plowed. We're not sure why our little street gets priority, but we're certainly not going to question it!
We both worked from home yesterday, so after being cooped up in the house with our laptops for most of the day (except for a brief afternoon shoveling session), we decided to walk to one of our neighborhood restaurants for dinner. We weren't the only ones who had that idea, because just about every restaurant we passed was packed. The first one we went to had a 30-minute wait for a table, so we went to a more casual place across the street with only a 10-minute wait. I guess the fact that our neighborhood is Metro-accessible and has several covered parking garages makes it a prime destination for those suffering from cabin fever, even if they're not within walking distance. I was actually looking forward to the peace & quiet of our house by the time we walked home.

I normally work from home on Mondays and Fridays, so I had a dentist appointment scheduled for 10 am this morning. I briefly considered going into the office afterwards, since Metro was supposed to resume their above-ground service today, but decided I'd rather spend the commute time working, as I had a lot of work I needed to get done early in the day. Josh headed for the Metro a little after 8 am as he was expecting an important FedEx delivery at the office. He called me at 9 am to say that the station was so crowded he couldn't even get to the platform, let alone on a train, so he was heading back home. I called the dentist's office and explained that based on Metro and traffic reports there was no way I could get downtown in time for my appointment, so I had to reschedule for mid-March. After weighing his options -- cab, driving, trying Metro again later -- Josh hopped on his bike and finally reached his office a little after 10 am.

I'm glad I decided to work from home today. I got a lot done this morning before most people probably even made it into the office. According to the Washington Post, the morning commute was a "nightmare." Not only was the Metro completely overwhelmed, but a train derailed downtown shortly after 10 am (right near my dentist's office). Fortunately, no one was seriously injured, but it caused even more delays on the already overtaxed system. Meanwhile, poorly plowed roads and huge piles of snow apparently made driving just as frustrating. One of the partners Josh works with, who lives about 10 minutes from us, said it took him 2 hours to drive to work today. (It normally takes Josh 15-20 minutes on his bike!) Another partner gave up halfway there and went back home.

Telecommuting beats the pants off commuting any day of the week -- but this week in particular, it was a godsend.

Josh and I were invited to watch the Olympic opening ceremonies at the Canadian embassy this evening (well, Josh was invited -- I'm his "and guest"), so we will be trying our luck with the Metro later today. Hopefully it won't be so bad as we'll be going against the commute, but we still plan to give ourselves plenty of extra time to get there. Wish us luck...

White-Out

Everything ground to a halt today as yet another winter storm wreaks havoc on the already overwhelmed DC area. Snow started falling late yesterday afternoon, but the worst of it arrived this morning with heavy snow and gusty winds of 30 mph or more. According to the National Weather Service, Arlington has already received nearly a foot of snow from this storm. Temperatures have fallen into the 20's -- with wind chills in the single digits -- and we are under a blizzard warning until 7 pm. Everything is closed today -- the government, schools, offices, airports -- and mail and trash services have been suspended. The Metro is only running underground, and all bus service has been suspended. Essentially, all we can do is hunker down at home and hope our power doesn't go out.

Did I mention the single-digit wind chill? The Weather Channel says it currently feels like it is 7 degrees outside. Yes, seven degrees. So I hope you'll understand why the only photos I have were taken from inside the house. I did open the front door briefly to get these two shots. The front porch was entirely covered with snow, and you could barely see across the street.
This one was taken through the family room window looking out at the back yard. Both the picnic table and the birdhouse appear to have a crown of snow greater than their own height.
Believe it or not, they are now predicting we might get even MORE snow on Monday! It could be a long time before people are able to get back to their normal work/school routines.

If you are curious to see more photos of DC's epic 'Snowmageddon,' check out the Washington Post's collection of user-submitted photos. There are some great snow sculptures!

Hope everyone is warm and safe, wherever you are...

Snowverkill

'Snowmageddon' dumped about 2 feet of snow on us Friday and Saturday -- quite a bit more than the 16 inches from 'Snowpocalypse' back in December -- and now we are seeing the first few flakes of 'Snowverkill.' That's right, yet another major snowstorm is threatening to drop an additional foot of snow on the area tonight and tomorrow. This is going to be a messy week!

But first, a recap of the past few days...

Friday, after making our way through the world's longest express checkout line at Whole Foods -- apparently even panic shoppers can't afford to buy more than 15 items there -- we hunkered down at home with our laptops and alternated between working and watching the snow accumulate. Josh did some pre-emptive shoveling late that night and saw our neighbor's giant magnolia tree shed a limb onto the power lines. There were sparks, and the lights flickered, but fortunately we didn't lose power.

It was still snowing next morning when Josh went out for a second round of shoveling -- he also shoveled our elderly neighbor's sidewalk and front walk because he's that kind of guy.
The snow was very sticky, so everything was weighed down with white stuff.
Here are a couple shots of the house from Saturday morning.And here's the view down our street before the plow came through. For some reason, our tiny 1-block street is one of the higher-priority residential streets in Arlington, so it has been plowed several times over the past few days while most of our friends and neighbors are still waiting for their streets to be plowed for the first time.
Our neighbor's bamboo does not do well under the weight of wet, sticky snow. Good thing we don't have any wild pandas in our back yard.
Our neighbors across the street invited several of us over for cocktails on Saturday evening. It was a welcome respite from shoveling and hunkering down indoors. Even though everyone's sidewalk was shoveled, it was still quite an endeavor to get across the unplowed street. It was so nice to get out of the house and socialize with other people in our stocking feet that we stayed much later than we intended to. Fortunately, another neighbor shoveled a path across the street, which made it much easier to get home.

Sunday was clear and sunny, but cold. The snow looked very pretty, but was blinding if you weren't wearing sunglasses.
Our neighbor's magnolia tree shed so many big limbs that the fire department put yellow CAUTION tape around their house so no one would walk under it. Fortunately, none of the limbs landed on their house, car, or power lines, but that could still happen tonight or tomorrow as the wind picks up. Hang in there, tree!
We had an impressive amount of accumulation on our picnic table in the back yard. I like how the snow piled up on the backs of the chairs!
Josh cleared the snow off our car and shoveled out the driveway -- which was no small task. He piled all the snow up in the front yard...
And built himself a snow fort! The neighborhood kids were very impressed -- as were their dads. Josh said he was going to hide in it and throw snowballs at unsuspecting passers-by. I guess all this snow brings out his inner 12-year-old.
Sunday evening we took a cue from Saturday's event and invited a bunch of neighbors over to watch the Super Bowl, since everyone's original plans had been canceled due to the snow. Despite being thrown together at the last minute, we had quite the spread of snacks and drinks, thanks to contributions from everyone who came.

Monday Josh and I both worked from home. We were running low on milk and eggs, so we ventured out to Safeway in the late afternoon, only to discover that they had no milk, eggs, meat, or produce, and were low on many canned goods and frozen foods as well. I've never seen so many empty shelves in a supermarket! One woman took a photo of her son standing in the empty produce section with an exaggerated pout. We picked up a few other things we needed and stopped at Giant on our way home. Their supply truck must have made it through, because they were well-stocked with milk and eggs. Yay!

Monday evening we were supposed to give a presentation about our renovation project to our neighborhood civic association, so I packed up my laptop and we trudged through the snow to our community house. Unfortunately, (1) we didn't have the right adaptor to hook my Mac laptop up to the projector, and (2) only 5 people showed up for the meeting, so we decided to postpone the presentation until the March meeting. I hope we get a better turnout next time!

Today I was planning to go into the office since I had a 4 pm meeting, but the weather forecast said the snow was going to start at noon, and Metro announced they may close their above-ground stations (including the one by my office) early if the snow started accumulating on the tracks. I called a co-worker who lives nearby to see if I could get a ride with him, but he said he planned to head home around 3. So, I ended up rescheduling the meeting for next week and working from home. Of course, it is now after 5 and we've only had a light dusting of snow so far, so I probably would have been able to get home just fine on the Metro, but I guess it's better to be safe at home than sorry and stranded in Silver Spring, MD.

Now it's looking like the brunt of the storm is going to hit us tomorrow, with heavy snow and strong, gusty winds. I imagine most people will be working from home, and the government and schools are likely to be shut down for the 3rd day in a row. The Washington Post has dubbed this storm 'Snowverkill,' and if we get the 7-14 inches of snow predicted, the total snowfall for this winter will be nearly equivalent to my height. Enough already!

Snowmageddon!

This has been an unusually snowy winter here in the nation's capital. The average annual snowfall for Washington, DC is 16 inches. This winter, we got more than that just during the month of December! Another 6 inches fell on Saturday -- the day of the CotY Awards -- which was topped with an additional 6 inches on Tuesday night. Tuesday's snow was very sticky. Josh took a couple photos while he was taking out the trash.
Even though it was well past sunset, the light reflecting off all that snow made it seem abnormally bright outside.
We woke up Wednesday morning to a winter wonderland...
It was warm enough Wednesday and Thursday for the trees to shed all that snow, but not for long...

Today we are hunkered down for what could be one of the biggest snowstorms in DC history. It started snowing mid-morning and is expected to continue through tomorrow evening, at which point we may have another 16-30" of snow on top of the stuff that's still on the ground from the past two snowfalls. The Washington Post has dubbed this storm "Snowmageddon" and everyone has been encouraged to stay off the roads and be prepared to "shelter in place" for a few days. Most people are working from home today after rushing to the grocery store last night or this morning to stock up on essentials.

Fortunately, I did a substantial grocery run on Monday night, and we've got enough stuff from Trader Joe's in the freezer to tide us over for several more days, so I didn't see the need to do any panic shopping. We did walk over to Whole Foods this morning to get some fresh fruit and veggies and a few snacks for the Super Bowl, and it was mobbed but manageable. Despite being a California girl at heart, I guess I have a fairly cavalier attitude towards snowstorms because even if the roads aren't plowed for a few days, we can still walk to the Metro, 3 grocery stores, 3 drugstores, and dozens of restaurants from our house -- so unless they are all forced to close, we aren't affected as much as people in the 'burbs who are dependent on their cars.

I imagine a lot of Super Bowl parties will be canceled this weekend, and my friend Paige had to postpone her son's 7th birthday party, which was going to be tomorrow afternoon. This is probably a good weekend to get to know your neighbors if you don't want to go stir crazy.

I'll report back after the storm ends with some photos and final snowfall totals.