More Mayhem

While Pisco contemplates the finer points of theology and religion this morning, I'll take a more mundane approach to life. (I don't think or write as eloquently as Pisco does, so I'll try to corner the market on banalities and let the grown-ups handle things that are actually important.)

Walking to the bus stop this morning, I watched a car bobsled down the ice covered hill and sideswipe another car. Bonus: The car that got hit had just been involved in a different and unrelated accident. So it was like a 2 for 1 special. It made for a interesting change of scenery from the frozen crow sticking up like a lawn dart, hub cap, belt and dog poop I usually pass to the bus stop. Fortunately, no one appeared to be seriously injured. VDOT seriously needs to get to plowing or salting or something because the entire street was a 4 lane-downhill sheet of ice. I digress.

Of course, I missed the bus by that much, and the next bus was late. But what really has me intrigued is what was going on with Metro this a.m. They were single tracking trains through the 3 busiest stations on the Red Line due to a "sick" customer. Metro took great pains to make sure no one stood on the platforms on the 'closed' sides. Every 30 seconds or so they announced loudly that everyone needs to be on the opposite platform. I didn't feel like wading into the mosh pit, so I took a slight detour on the Green Line. Finally, 2 hours after I left my house, I make it to work. At the price of $4.00, that's like seeing a matinee show at the discount theater! Thanks WMATA!

As a side note to metro, if your "sick" customer forces single tracking in 3 stations, "sick" isn't the appropriate term anymore. Critically injured, awaiting medivac, or radioactive are all better descriptors for what's going on. Passengers don't need to know everything, but a little more information might keep everyone calmer and more collected. Otherwise, we're going to be thinking "Unless the "sick" person hosed 3 stations down with toxic waste, there's no need for this."

Tricksy Sneaky

You've really got to keep an eye on those hurriwhos these days. For what seems like the billionth time this season, I've went to sleep and woken up to discover that a small tropical depression has marshalled it's forces and become a hurricane. Of course, this pleases me because I'm all about the edutainment. But it's also a bit scary that storms are intensifying this rapidly. I'm sure if hurricane Hermione or whatever the H-named storm is hadn't been so close to shore, it would have gotten stronger.

I am waiting patiently for depression #8 to form into a nameable storm. Because then we'll be that much close to seeing my namesake becoming a hurricane. Granted, for those of you that know my real name, the name will be misspelled ... but I can deal with that. I'm hoping it becomes a massive nasty evil storm that takes out everything from South Carolina to Mississippi.

Monster

Have you seen the latest satellite images of Hurricane Dean? That thing is gigantic! I'm don't know the exact measurements of the Yucatan (and I'm too lazy to go look them up). I can say that I've lived in the Yucatan. I know firsthand that it takes a LONG time to drive from Merida to Cancun -- about 7 hours at roughly 60 mph. My point being that the Yucatan is big. And Hurricane Dean is more than covering the entire landmass of the Yucatan. This storm is going to tear that place up.

Double Swirl Fun

I was seriously beginning to think that my edutainment was going to suffer this year. But then out of nowhere, the Atlantic kicked it into high gear. We've currently got Tropical Storm Dean (soon to be Hurricane Dean) playing out near some islands. It may even make landfall in the States. Then as a bonus, out of nowhere, Tropical Strom Erin just popped up in the Gulf of Mexico. Apparently, Erin's aiming to take out parts of Texas.

I was making due with the antics of Hurricane Flossie -- who has been downgraded, but is still intent on causing some damage to Hawaii. It's just not the same when they're over there in the Pacific. I like my storms to be from the cold, nasty waters of the Atlantic. And now there's 2! Hooray for edutainment!!

Oh, and why is it that any time the media reports on a hurricane said hurricane is 'swirling' towards something? They always 'swirl,' although sometimes they do 'churn.' I think someone needs to send the AP a thesaurus.