Surviving Snopocalypse 2009

On Friday I scoffed at the initial predictions of record snowfall as apocalyptic news sells ad space well in this region. Even as it was still coming down Saturday morning, I didn't think it would continue, but it did until late Saturday night. Fluffy and dry too, but the ground was still above freezing so it made the roads very slushy. Nellie's was open Saturday and Sunday nights, and I was delighted to learn Sunday evening that Federal government was closed Monday. I'll have to give props to the OPM for not trying to test road capacity in this area before closing down in the middle of the day like they did in the former administration. Otherwise people just spend 2 hours stressing out driving to work and back again, and otherwise spend the work day stressing about getting back into their cars. We just don't have enough snowplows to go around here, and people simply don't know how to function in the snow here, so just call off the whole day.

I made a point to sticking to my commitment to hike over to TJ and Rob's place Saturday night, and I saw so much foolishness along the way I was totally exhausted from judging people by the time I got home. People in high heels walking in the slush, driving front-wheel Dodge Neons around the city, walking down the middle of the street amongst sliding cars. I mean really, where is it that you absolutely have to drive to in such weather? You never shoulda left home. All toilet paper and eggs jests aside, there's a lot you can do in your snug home, so you should stay there when it's snowing, or else walk to where you have to go. Don't burden city services just so you can go to your foodie party.

British Lions rugby legend Gareth Thomas came out publicly in a moving article this weekend. While he is still an active professional athlete, he has high hopes with continuing his career while being out. His teammates have known about it for at least three years and apparently don't give a shit. U.S. gay athlete poster child and former NBA player John Amaechi predicts he will have a hard time, but comparing U.S. basketball to U.K. rugby attitudes is like comparing apples to apricots in my opinion.

We'll see how it goes. After being on a gay rugby team for 10 years I can assure that people get over it. In fact we only get a few instances of homophobic slurs anymore each year. "The Gay Team" or gay players are yesterday's news in our league, a tired topic, next subject. And it's hard to tell whether an opponent would have said that if they knew the team was gay or not. Did the slur just come out of their mouth because they say that crap all the time, or was the gay thing at the forefront of their thoughts before they said it? You never really know. The funny thing is we're now about half gay, and it's the straight guys who often get the slurs. It's great outreach for giving a non-homo audience some perspective!

Anyway, here's to hoping [again] active U.S. athletes have the balls to come out while they're in the midst of their career. I believe it's becoming less and less of an issue, and once somebody does it, more will follow. Somebody in baseball, football or basketball just has to step forward and do it [during their career]. If you have the strength to persevere with your training and athletic development, you also have the strength to be who you really are. Once that is done the two will complement each other and you'll be a better person.

I'm going to see 'Avatar' in 3-D tomorrow. I've heard great things about it and it will be nice to stare at Sam Worthington for an hour as well. He's also going to star as Perseus in the remake of 'Clash of the Titans'. It seems Gerard Butler set the bar for teeth gnashing in swordfighting flicks, since you now must gnash your teeth as much as possible while wielding a sword. P.S. I'd kill for a high-res .jpg of Sam Worthington's woofy neck scruff if any of you come across better pictures. [ fingerbang ]

On Saturday during the snowstorm I heard some scratching noises from the skylight, and looked up to see a few starlings drinking melted snow water from our roof skylight. Despite all the precipitation, birds have a hard time finding reliable sources of drinking water when it snows and freezes, but like the skylight starlings, they find a way.