George Broussard called it “Snowpocalypse Dallas 2011” as he tweeted a photo of his backyard, which was covered with a dusting of fine, fresh snow. Broussard, a senior figure in modern video game design and president of what used to be 3D Realms, has been someone whose exploits I’ve followed since the 1990s…and whom now I find myself living within a stone’s throw of. (It’s a small world after all.) Being a native of Michigan, however, if this is the Snowpocalypse, then I’m probably not going to have that much trouble with north Texas winters.
In fact, if it hadn’t been for all of the ice, this weather event would have been little more than a picturesque curiosity. It began last night as we headed to bed: rain, followed by gusting winds that dashed the downpour against our upstairs window. Then the rain turned to freezing rain, and as morning neared, transformed into something that the locals call “thunder sleet”. The result was a near solid inch of hardened ice on nearly every surface, and it was that ice that resulted in the shutdown of nearly everything in the Dallas metroplex.
We may not have our own home here yet, but I am equipped to work from the place where we’re staying, so that’s what I did. It was the perfect day to stay indoors and telecommute while airy, cotton-like snowflakes swirled around outside and transformed the landscape into something that, while treacherous, was a pleasure to behold.
Meanwhile, we continue to wait for some word from our mortgage lender as to whether we are to be allowed to purchase the home we expect to live in for the next chapter of our lives (and perhaps a good deal longer besides — who’s to say). I called in to check up on things this morning and learned that we’d probably hear back from underwriting either tomorrow or Thursday. Until then, we wait with bated breath. I can only hope that my unusually high credit scores afford me a margin of luck as my entire financial history is scrutinized, and that the end result catapults us forward to meet our goals head-on, rather than backwards to the bottom of this ladder that we’ve already scaled nearly to the top.
I’m still debating whether to go into the office tomorrow or not. I lean towards “not”, as today was the first opportunity I’ve had to work from home since we left Naples and I rather enjoyed it. Plus, the ice certainly isn’t going anywhere and the various school districts in the metroplex have already canceled Wednesday’s classes in advance. Tomorrow night my boss and his family (whose house we’re staying at) have tickets to the Cirque du Soleil show that’s here in Frisco, but as the performance tonight was canceled due to weather, we’re not sure they’ll be going. If they do, Apple and I will have the night to ourselves for the first time in a while — that would be fun.
Otherwise, it’s been a typical pattern of work and dealing with various paperwork issues related to our change of venue from Florida to Texas. I’ve been enjoying some of the spoils of my boss’ incredibly vast TV and movie collection, playing the newly-released Dead Space 2 on my Xbox 360 and making repeated excursions to Red River Motorcycle Trails for some fun with power toys. I’ve mostly tried not to think about (what could be) our new home too much, although in a brazen and direct violation of my usual anti-jinxing behavior, I’ve been collecting user manuals for the house’s various appliances, fixtures and systems in hopes of coming out ahead of the curve. You know…just in case.
More later.
It’s really great to have the option to work at home. My boss closed the office today, so we’re all technically “working from home” today.
We had what looks to be about 8 inches of snow, and it’s blown and drifted in some unusual ways. It’s not snowing now, and the wind has died down, so unless there’s another wave out there, looks like we’re in pretty good shape.
Yeah, in retrospect it would have been good to work from home for another day…it’s frickin’ freezing in the office! But everybody else is here, and the conditions outside aren’t expected to get any better until Saturday at the earliest. It hasn’t snowed since yesterday, but the problem is that every road surface in the whole metroplex is covered with an inch thick of ice. Only the intersections and bridges have been salted so it’s verrrry slow going out there.
I rode with David into the office today and it was funny how empty the parking lot was. The upper deck parking (which is normally the only public option) was closed because it was completely frozen over. As an alternative, they opened the normally-reserved lower deck to everyone.
There are planned rolling blackouts going across DFW now because of the load on the power grid. Apparently it’s the coldest it’s been here in 15 years and people are really cranking up the heat. Also, there’s a little thing called the Superbowl in town that is likely drawing a fair amount of power over at Cowboys Stadium.
Glad to hear your power hasn’t gone off (and hopefully won’t). Stay warm up there and enjoy working from home!