OT - Not Off-Road, but Close

[whateg0]

It's been stated before, but just in case anybody doesn't know, meteorologists have got it so easy - nobody expects them to get it right, and they have no trouble living up to those expectations!

A couple weeks ago, they predicted much ice during the ice-storm that moved through the mid-West. Most of it went to north of us, so we just got a bunch of rain. Then end of last week, expected like a foot of snow, and ended up with about an inch.

This weekend, they predicted 2-4 inches. Officially, Wichita's had 6.5", though our neighborhood has had more than that, even considering that it's been drifting. We have a 3.5' drift in the back yard. (I even dug a tunnel under it, but couldn't fit in. ) There are major thoroughfares that still have 2' deep drifts.

Here's a couple of pics. I took them for a friend in Singapore, where they don't have snow - although they do have a 30-or-so foot tall steel snowman.





Dave

[Rocky D]

Thanks for reminding me why I love San Diego!

[Broccoli1]

Thanks for reminding me why I love San Diego!

I'm in a T-shirt

[whateg0]

I'm in a T-shirt

So was I!

...and a flannel shirt, and a coat, and gloves, and stocking hat, and boots.

Dave

[JimDon]

The weathermen here in the Green Bay area have been flappin' their gums all day long about that storm hitting us about 2 a.m. Sunday. We'll have to wait and see if they are right or not. Usually, if they predict snow for the area, I'll just guess it will be none at all or an inch. I think I'm right more than they are. I think they just like to hear themselves talk. Hey, how about a job where you're wrong more than 50% of the time and they still don't fire ya? What a life.
Jim Don

[villemur]

Here in New Hampshire I've got 18 inches of snow on my roof, and the weathermen are saying big rain is coming tomorrow. I would have gone up to shovel, but the pitch is a little too steep, it's slippery, and it's a long drop. Wish me luck. I was at my folks today helping them shovel their roof. They had major ice dams and the water had backed up and ruined one of their ceilings. But ain't all that white stuff purty...

Reminds me of Jimmy Buffett's "Boat Drinks":
"I gotta go where there ain't any snow
Where there ain't any blow
'Cause my fin sinks so low
I gotta go where it's warm "

Dave, have you been to Singapore? I'm heading over there on January 4th for a week (work trip). It'll be my first time there. We fly to Chicago, and then from there it's over 22 hours until we finally touch down in Singapore. I wish they could perfect suspended animation like in the movies.

[usmcpop]

We haven't had visibility that low around here since the Yankees shelled Richmond in the Civil War.

[whateg0]

We do have a weatherman locally who is usually right. His forecast usually goes something like this.

"Expect 10-12 inches of wet snow tomorrow with temperatures dipping into the upper 20s. However, I can't rule out a chance of heat wave or mild weather."

How can he be wrong?

Dave

[whateg0]

...Dave, have you been to Singapore? I'm heading over there on January 4th for a week (work trip). It'll be my first time there. We fly to Chicago, and then from there it's over 22 hours until we finally touch down in Singapore. I wish they could perfect suspended animation like in the movies.

Actually just got back from my first trip to Spore the week before Thanksgiving. I spent just over a week there. Flew out of Wichita on a Thursday evening and arrived at 12:30am Saturday. Then stayed until the following Sunday. My trip was business also, training our regional service centers there on maintenance of some equipment. I flew back at 7am and arrived at 3:30pm on the same day. I ended up flying back on Sunday because it was about $1200 cheaper to stay an extra day. Even the added hotel and food wasn't that much. I really liked it over there, as a place to visit. Not enough room to live there, though. It's very clean. Even their subway (they call it the MRT) is spotless. Taxis are kinda funny. The ride to work every day varied in cost from $9 to $25 depending on which cab I got into.

A couple of things to be aware of...

My Visa CC did not work there at a cash register, but I was able to access my money at an ATM. I spent about an hour on the phone with my bank's customer service / bank card department trying to figure that out, and ended up just getting cash everyday to pay for everything. I have another Visa CC, but it doesn't have a high enough credit limit to be very useful. I did try it, though on a small purchase, and it worked. After I got back, I talked to some co-workers who had also been to SE Asia and experienced similar problems.

If you are relying on taxis for transportation, be aware that if it rains, well, good luck. Your best bet in that situation is to call the cab company and request a pickup. If you are trying to hail a cab, you'll be waiting a long time. As long as the weather is okay, though, it shouldn't be a problem. Oh, wait - forgot - monsoon season is now.

There is quite a selection of local cuisine. But there are a lot of Western foods there, too.

Most people are at least somewhat fluent in English, but it's not quite English as we know it. It's loosely based on the Queen's English, as GB occupied the island for many years, and the influence still exists. They call it Singlish and has a lot of local words incorporated. Most there also are fluent in Mandarin, and switch back and forth when they want to. It was a bit confusing sometimes. I did not have any trouble communicating, though.

There are a lot of massage places there. Ask any sailor about an Oriental massage, if you need any further explanation. I never made it to that part of the world when I was a Sailor, but there are plenty that have. It's really kinda funny, actually. There are so many things forbidden there, but in the Geylang district, prostitution is legal. (No, I didn't.)

Are you going to have much free time? Where in Spore will you be staying? It seems most people either stay in the 'CBD' (Central Business District - get used to three letter abbreviations there) or somewhere in 'Orchard'. The 'CBD' is where the bulk of financial business is done and where the government works. The Orchard district is the main shopping district. It's funny that whenever I visit a city for the first time, everybody says, "You really should go to ..., the city's shopping district." And every shopping district is just like every other shopping district.

On the Friday and Saturday before I left, I went with one of our local employees and got to see some of Spore, as the locals see it, which, to me was much more interesting.

Sorry for the long-winded brief.

PM me if you have any questions about it there. (I guess I could've done the same, huh? )
Dave

PS - The plane ride there isn't too bad, depending on where you're seated. Also, if you can avoid sleeping much on the plane, it will minimize the jetlag. I slept a total of about 1 hour on the way over and about 40 minutes on the way back. Jetlag wasn't too bad that way. We also had almost no turbulence, except for about 20 minutes of up and down right after they handed out the second meal and drinks. Fun!

[greywynd]

Between the snow we got some time ago, followed by rain, then a foot of snow last weekend, I could tell I needed to take a look at the roof of my shop. (Had ice dams forming, forcing water back and causing a leak, but since it's not insulated, it was easy to spot where.)

Got up on the roof, shoveled off about 6" of wet snow, then realized I had between 3 and 4" of ice on the entire roof.....fortunately it was just mild enough today that I was able to get under the edge of it, pry it up, and break it into chunks without damaging the steel roof.

It was a workout for a couple hours! Tomorrow's job is to get into the shop and clean up the ice/water and check for damages

[unisaw57]

Here in New Hampshire I've got 18 inches of snow on my roof, and the weathermen are saying big rain is coming tomorrow. I would have gone up to shovel, but the pitch is a little too steep, it's slippery, and it's a long drop. Wish me luck. I was at my folks today helping them shovel their roof. They had major ice dams and the water had backed up and ruined one of their ceilings. But ain't all that white stuff purty...

Reminds me of Jimmy Buffett's "Boat Drinks":
"I gotta go where there ain't any snow
Where there ain't any blow
'Cause my fin sinks so low
I gotta go where it's warm "

Dave, have you been to Singapore? I'm heading over there on January 4th for a week (work trip). It'll be my first time there. We fly to Chicago, and then from there it's over 22 hours until we finally touch down in Singapore. I wish they could perfect suspended animation like in the movies.

Manchester ! I'm just over the line in Hooksett, off of Hackett Hill Rd.
I HATE freakin winter !!!!!

Brian

[whateg0]

I was up that way (well, within a couple hours anyway) earlier this year. I had to visit a customer in Andover, MA. I don't know how you up in New England do it. I remember visiting Philly a few years back and thinking between the roads that don't go one direction for more than a 1/4 mile and the snow and ice in the winter, I don't know how you get anywhere you want to go.

I almost had to make a short-notice trip to Kittery a few months back, too.

Dave

[villemur]

Dave, thanks for the info on Singapore. We're staying on Orchard Road, and I believe that our host will be picking us up each day, so I shouldn't have to worry about taxis (I hope). I'm a computer geek, and we're purchasing some global software that's being written there, so we're going to spend the week working with the programmers. Our host was telling us that his favorite food is fish heads, so I'm looking forward to trying that . He says that he likes the eyes and mouths the best (how do you eat a mouth?).

I'm with you on the shopping - I find that the world has gotten so small that I can buy the same stuff anywhere. I tried to buy my kids some unique gifts in Taipei this past summer, and I might as well have been shopping at Toys R Us here in the US. However, I am looking forward to having a Sinapore Sling in Singapore.

Unisaw57, I'm glad to hear that there are some other folks here from New Hampshire. Good luck with the rain tomorrow, instead of worrying about it I'm going ice fishing!

[Brianstick]

In our area the weathermen can't even predict what's coming down the street. You're better of going outside and looking up at the sky.

[stevinator]

I got a pair of tubbs snowshoes and believe it or not I have used them.We get that kind of weather too.It's been foggy and 40 here for 2 days and tonight it is raining off and on knocking last weeks snow down but it will be 19 by am and 19 for a high tommorrow.2-4'' is supposed to be on ground also.I hate that because you can't see the ice underneath for squat.I have a body shop friend down the street.Business is Boomin.