City of Seattle: EPIC FAIL

The following account is going to seem very unusual to most of you, but I promise that it is true. Last Saturday night, there was about 1 inch of snow in the Seattle area. By Monday morning, many of the streets had ice on them due to the fact that they had not been plowed, sanded or salted. The temperature was not expected to rise above freezing that day. Nevertheless, the Seattle School District decided to open on a 2 hour delay. They did the same thing on Tuesday.

On Tuesday night, a considerable snowstorm hit the Puget Sound area. However there was not a single snowflake in Seattle. Furthermore, the ice on the streets had melted and they were clear on Wednesday morning. The School District's response? Seattle Schools were closed on Wednesday. That's right, closed. No snow. Perfectly clear streets, but the schools were closed because there had been snow elsewhere in the area.

Finally, on Thursday morning, Seattle got the snow. It started around 4:30 AM and snowed all day. Wednesday night, folks from the Seattle Department of Transportation were on the news promising to give full attention to major arterials and bus routes. Well, on Thursday morning at 7, I was waiting at a bus stop to get home after a night shift. I waited for two hours. Not a single plow or sand truck came down THE major bus route in Seattle. Nor did I see evidence of plowing anywhere except on a bridge on the way home. A major arterial near my house has still not been plowed--24 hours after the storm. (It was sanded, however, last night). Of course Seattle Schools closed down for the holidays--better luck in January.

The only bright spot in this sea of incompetence was King County Metro. Once the bus finally arrived, our driver expertly picked alternate routes to finally get me home. The streets looked like the route for the Iditarod. I would have said that it would be impossible to navigate a full, articulated bus from downtown Seattle to my home. Our bus driver was heroic. All along the route, I saw transit personnel clearing streets, blocking intersections to prevent bus/car accidents, and assisting busses stuck trying to make it up hills. So, my hat is off to King County Metro.

To the rest of the snow (non)-response: You fail. The city fails, the school district fails, and the state fails. I know this area doesn't get a whole heck of a lot of snow, but you guys can do better than this. Seattle is not Mogadishu--it's supposed to be a semi-modern city. It's definitely time for a change in the leadership from the top down.

Another storm is supposed to hit tomorrow night. Another opportunity for local government to showcase its breathtaking ineptitude.

Work, Religion, and Life

I'm still going to the Methodist church that we joined a couple of years ago. It's good because there's no specific pressure to conform to any specific dogma. I can continue to explore spirituality on my own terms without fear that I'm going to be judged arbitrarily. The church provides a good social network as well.

We had a superbowl party and they handed out some half-price tickets to a place in Oregon called Cannon Beach. We went there a couple of weeks ago, and it was awesome. The weather was uncharacteristically good for February. We spent a lot of money, so I'm going to be looking for some overtime to pay down our credit card. With the abysmal economy lately, things are tight already, but we're doing okay.

It took some getting used to the new work site, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. There are a lot of movie buffs there, so I've been renting movies to kind of catch up. I didn't really watch a lot of movies before. Turns out I'm enjoying them.

I've also been doing a lot of reading, as usual. I've been enjoying some books by Brian McLaren, and have been reading a series called "Warriors". My daughter turned me on to this. It's about cats. It's for middle-grade readers, but I enjoy it anyway.

Take care of yourself.

hi

Well, I was going to move this blog to a different site, but I changed my mind. People want to be able to post comments, and I want them to be able to do it, so I'm leaving it here. I'm going to use this one more often as well. I'll also be checking in at intoinfinity.com as Shards, and UberChristians as Speculative. These three places are where I'll be on the web for the most part.

Been pretty busy with work. One assignment just ended and I have jury duty this week. Thursday night I start my next assignment doing fire watch on a ship in a drydock. I hear we get free coffee, so it should be great!

The Bhagavad Gita

One of my favorite sacred texts is the Bhagavad Gita. It is probably the most popular Hindu text.

I recently read Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation by Stephen Mitchell. I'd recommend this one, especially if you haven't ever read the Gita before. It was at my local library and may be at yours, too.

Or you can read a version online here.

I have also had Eknath Easwaran's translation recommended to me, and I have read part of the third volume of his Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living. This 3 volume set contains Easwaran's commentary on the Gita.

I highly recommend the Bhagavad Gita to anyone interested in spirituality, meditation, or metaphysics.

What's Been Going On

It's been awhile since I've been here, or been with the Infinite Ones.

I've been listening to C2CAM regularly and doing a lot of reading. I just finished Emma by Jane Austen. I've also just finished reading a new translation of the Bhagavad Gita which was pretty good.

We are now the new den leaders for my son's Cub Scout den and are involved in leading the Jr. High youth group at church. Add to that work, and taxiing the kids around to different stuff, and you basically know our life right now.

I still get in some time for reading and a little writing. I'm reading Bram Stoker's Dracula right now, and it's great.

As I do each year, I'll be filling out a bracket for the NCAA tournament today. I haven't watched a whole lot of basketball this year, so it will be interesting.

Take care.

Props to the Infinite Ones

Just spent a lovely evening over at Into Infinity. It's a forum where many things are discussed and people get together each night for Coast to Coast AM. There are several forums like this, but this is the one where I feel most comfortable.

I hadn't been there in awhile, but that was no matter. I was made to feel right at home. It's a good spot and you should visit it.

The Resolution of the Violin Saga

I believe we have finally resolved my daughter's violin issue. We took the old, beat up violin back to the store from where we got it, and came home with a brand new, shiny, Stentor Student violin. She's had it for about a month, now, and has played in two concerts with it, with no problems.

A funny little story, though. One of her orchestra conductors asked, rather skeptically, what kind of violin it was and where we got it. When we told her it was from the music store the school recommended, and she said that it was fine. So, it kind of makes me wonder how much she really knows about the whole thing, especially since several leads she gave us on good violins didn't pan out.

Incidentally, one of our daughter's classmates is still using the First Act violin she had at the beginning of the school year, and it's working just fine.

However, I am glad we switched. Now, everybody's happy (her main orchestra teacher didn't question the violin at all--the one who did is primarily a brass player, and what do they know anyway :P) and the new violin looks and sounds great.