Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Snowverkill and Swimsuits

You may have heard that here in Philadelphia and other parts of the I-95 corridor, we're having a little weather today.

Following December's Snowpocalypse (23.2 inches officially at National Park, NJ -- substituting for Philadelphia International Airport) and this past weekend's Snowmageddon (28.5 inches), the current mess that started last night needed a name. My friend Mark mentioned that it was being referred to as Snoverkill. I added the "w" and made it my goal to see Snowverkill as a trending topic on Twitter. Sure enough, it happened today, at least nationally; I haven't seen it on the Philadelphia list of trending topics, although we do have #ushouldntbeatallstar and #shooturself...

My front steps and a path along the sidewalk in front of my house have been shoveled three times -- my neighbor did it early this morning sometime; I did it a second time around 11 am while there was a lull and just a short coating was on the ground, and a third time around 5:30. In between my two shovelings, over 7 inches of snow fell, and it's still coming down. Less than two minutes after I shoveled the ground was covered again. At 6:45 I measured outside my door -- another two inches already! That would make at least 15 inches in my neighborhood, although it could have been more since early this morning there was a period where the snow mixed with/changed to sleet and rain, which tamps down the snow. (We're under a blizzard warning but the winds haven't been quite as strong as anticipated here, so it may not be officially called a blizzard yet.)



As of 7 pm the current total at the "airport" for this storm is 14 inches, and for the winter it's 70.3 inches. We've had more snow this winter than in any winter since they began keeping records in the late 1800s. The piles of shoveled snow are getting so high, I have no idea where any more can fit. There are early rumblings about more snow on Monday, although that storm may not hit or may be weaker. And perhaps worst of all, the local Fox station preempted TMZ for continuing snow coverage -- I know, I know! It's snowing! I can see it outside by looking out my window!

However, there is some good news. I did get mail today. This not-yet-too-old red-blooded American male got the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue today.

There's a program through US Airways where you can redeem Dividend Miles for magazine subscriptions and things like that. I've already used some to extend my Entertainment Weekly subscription, and want to use as much as I can, since I don't have enough for a plane ticket and aren't planning to earn any more miles. After my last experience flying US Airways I am trying to avoid them. So I used some miles recently to begin getting Sports Illustrated -- just in time for the Swimsuit Issue.

What a shame (insert sarcasm here) that I am of the wrong sexual orientation to truly appreciate it. A bunch of women in tiny bikinis frolicking on a beach just doesn't do it for me. Although at this point, the beach-frolicking part is definitely appealing, so perhaps I can use my imagination and enjoy it after all.

And isn't it...interesting...that SI doesn't put out a separate issue featuring scantily-clad men (maybe the guy shown below in a thong). It's okay for men to treat women as sex objects, but not the other way around. God bless good old-fashioned American hypocrisy!

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