December 2003 Archives

Click here, or on any photo to see my album of photos from this trip.

Lots to talk about as we finish our three days in New York. But, before we get to the day, a little housekeeping.

First, there's the question of Internet access. The Millennium Broadway doesn't have high speed access. In this day and age, that's inexcusable. I knew it coming in. The location was our most pressing concern. Still...

The first night, I used dial up and got a fairly decent speed. I haven't used dial up regularly in a long time. I don't want to get used to it again.

The Sony Vaio laptop I brought along had a WiFi 802.11b card in the PCMCIA slot, so I tried to see if it would find anything. Zip from the desk. I moved the laptop to my lap and sat by the window. With all the buildings surrounding our hotel you'd think there would be some activity... and there was.

Using Netstumbler, I started looking at what I was hearing. First, most of the activity is concentrated on channel 6, which is in the middle of the band and probably the default for most access points. It was for mine (though I've since moved it).

Much of the traffic is WEP encrypted. That's smart. There was a cluster of encrypted AP's, all with ID's that made me think they were owned by Bertelsmann Music Group. There were other encrypted transmitters and, a few that were open and in the clear. They just weren't very strong.

Thursday evening, I was able to send and receive my mail using an AP that identified itself as Apple and then a cryptic series of digits. Probably an Apple AirPort. I sent myself an email through that AP to see the actual IP address. It was routed using road Runner, which is the time Warner cable modem service.

When the weather turned rainy on Friday, I was no longer able to connect to Apple or any other in the clear AP's.

Over time, we grew to dislike our little room. It never really seemed clean and had some stains in strange places that weren't right. The bathroom floor always seemed dull, even after the maid had visited.

I still don't know how a hotel becomes 4-star. Is it self assigned?

Finally, I made an interesting discovery, looking at our window on that rainy Friday morning. There were weeds and moss growing on the top of an air conditioner unit. I am unsure if this unit is associated with the hotel or an adjacent building.

Now, with all this said, it's on to Friday. It was a rainy day - the antithesis of Thanksgiving. Thank heavens the parade was yesterday!

Helaine and Steffie wanted to do some shopping and go to lunch before we headed back to Connecticut. We left the hotel and headed toward Macy's. Being a good weather oriented family, we were prepared with the proper outerwear.

Macy's isn't too long of a walk, so we headed out to Broadway and then downtown, toward 34th Street. As you leave Times Square, Broadway is a monotonous series of cereal box office buildings with first floor storefronts. It is an area without much charm.

Macy's is located in Herald Square. I'm not sure how it got its name. It might be a similar story to Times Square, in that there was a New York Herald (which, by the time I was growing up was the Herald Tribune, and whose Sunday supplement was New York Magazine).

Macy's is probably unlike any other store you've ever seen. Its two buildings cover a full city block with 10 stories and over 1,000,000 square feet. Above the 4th floor, the metal escalators give way to wooden ones that must be fifty years old. The store is beautifully decorated for Christmas.

Since Macy's attracts so many shoppers, it also attracts its fair share of everything else. By the time we got there, there was already a TV crew with a microwave truck from one of the local stations. I also saw a reporter/photographer team from a Spanish newspaper and a long photographer from Women's Wear Daily.

There were also protesters. I'm sure this isn't isolated. Macy's was being picketed by animal rights activists, who themselves were corralled into a small pen, shouting about animals being killed to make fur coats. Outside the front entrance, a lone woman railed on about Macy's policy of racial profiling and how they had a prison in the basement. If she was changing hearts, it was impossible to see. No one seemed to pay her any mind.

As Helaine and Steffie went shopping, I walked through the area. It's not a really thriving shopping district, though there is a lot going on. The area holds Penn Station, Madison Square Garden, and The Empire State Building.

Across from Macy's, in a microscopic triangular shaped park, Yahoo had set up four laptops with wireless Internet access and was extolling their shopping site. Everyone I saw who entered their little promotion won a hat... except me.

I met the girls at the base of the down escalator, and we left the store and hopped on the subway. We were heading to Greenwich Village to Jekyll and Hyde - a theme restaurant with a SciFi/Horror bent.

Getting off the subway at Christopher Street, we headed into Sheridan Square. Up ahead was a theater that has been the home to the long running "Naked Boys Singing". Hey, it's Greenwich Village - don't be surprised.

I had actually been at either Jekyll and Hyde or the restaurant next door back in the mid-60's when Bob Weiss' family took Bob and me to see Jean Shepard do his live Saturday night broadcast on WOR. For a kid who idolized Shep, that was an incredible experience. I wonder what happened to bob. I probably haven't spoken to him since 1966 or '67.

Maybe I was a little tired, and ready to go home, but Jekyll and Hyde was not that great for me. I had a pretty good turkey club tortilla wrap, while around us, figures mounted on the walls came to life. At the same time, some jerk at an adjacent table made loud cell phone calls. Across the way, a little girl was celebrating her 4th birthday. I wonder if Jekyll and Hyde would cause her nightmares to help remember the day?

We hopped the subway and headed back north. While I looked at the "Rodenticide" sign, Steffie had a 'wildlife' spotting on the tracks. Obviously Rodenticide only works so long.

By the time we returned to the hotel to pick up the Explorer and head home, it was nearly four. I reached for the claim check... but it wasn't there! We did find it, in my coat which had been left in storage with the bellmen.

The trip home was pretty easy. The day after Thanksgiving may be busy at the stores, but it's less than pedestrian on the Connecticut Turnpike. Manhattan to our house took a little less than two hours.

During our stay in New York, I took nearly 500 photos. On Thanksgiving alone, I snapped nearly 1 GB worth of images. We all had a great time. Our anniversary will go in the books as a happy one. The Macy's Thanksgiving Parade will be a lifetime memory.

As I type this, early Monday morning, Priceline has just sent me a survey, asking about my hotel. I told all.

Click here, or on any photo to see my album of photos from this trip.

This has been a pretty good weekend for me at the tables. I placed well in a bunch of $11 one table tournaments. We are down $27.40 since we started in mid-August. We have been up as much as $10 and then down nearly $150.

Though I was hot this weekend, Helaine is the better, more consistent player.

I watched a little poker on ESPN this afternoon after the Eagles game. They were poker pros... guys at the final table of a big tournament... and some were playing foolishly.

The more I play, the more I realize discipline is paramount. As conservative as I've become, I'm still a long way from where I want to be. You collect in tournaments by losing less, not winning more.

I was sitting here at my desk at home, doing nothing (a common occurrence) when the phone rang. It was Jim Vicevich from WTIC radio (and formerly every TV station in Connecticut). He was in a small pickle and was wondering if I would fill in on his radio show tomorrow.

This is like asking Christina Aguillara if she'd like to look a little more tawdry. Of course I would.

So, tomorrow I'm on from 10 AM to noon on WTIC - 1080.

This is a classic radio station; one of the few remaining dominant AM stations left. At one time, its morning show was the highest rated in the country!

I wonder if I was really his first choice? To quote Bob from the furniture commercials, "I doubt it."

Overnight, the temperatures had been predicted to fall... and they did. Before dawn a small and light band of snow showers passed over parts of Connecticut. That was a surprise, but so little snow that 99 out of 100 times it would make no difference.

The ground was still above freezing and so the snow melted. But the temperature was falling, and so before it could evaporate away, that light coating of snow became a coating of ice.

The flurries persisted, covering the ice with snow.

All of this was under 1/8" thick and yet it was enough to gum up the works through much of Central Connecticut - including where I'm going, to be on the radio.

I'd better get moving, even though it's earlier than I anticipated.

With the light snow, and numerous traffic accidents, I left about 20 minutes earlier than I anticipated to get to the radio station. Helaine always worries in bad weather, so with clear pavement under my tires, I called while on Route 40, approaching I-91.

I told her things were fine, but as I was saying that the traffic stopped. I'm not talking about a slowdown; the traffic totally halted. It took about 45 minutes to go from the top of the entrance ramp to the bottom! Take a look at the photo on the right. The road is totally free of snow, ice or any moisture - but no one's going anywhere.

Meanwhile, the clock was ticking. I was in touch with the producers at WTIC, letting them know of my plight. But I wasn't alone. Tens of thousands of motorists were stranded too in a multitude of tie-ups and road closures.

By 9:20 AM my fate was sealed. After speaking with the traffic reporter, Mike the producer decided that I'd never make it to WTIC in time to be on the air. By this, he didn't mean I'd be late - he figured I'd miss the entire two hours.

This had never happened to me. In all my years of driving in to work, going home for dinner and coming back, I had never missed a broadcast.

I guess as the weatherman it's doubly embarrassing. Truth is, this was such a confluence of unlikely weather events that given the same situation tomorrow, I'd sill miss it.

Here's one more reason for me to dislike winter. It looks like there's a major winter storm heading toward the East Coast for Thursday/Friday/Saturday.

Fine.

Except, the ETA (a computer model) brings in loads of moisture at temperatures that imply snow, while the GFS (yet another model) scoots it just our our south.

One of the models is dreadfully wrong. Actually, both could be dreadfully wrong. The question is, will I be gleefully right?

I got a call from Pat Seremet at the Hartford Courant yesterday. She had heard how I missed my shot at WTIC. The weatherman, unable to attend because of weather. Now that's news!

I've attached her story to the link below.

Let me explain the use of the term "Perfect Storm." In order for us to have had this teeny bit of snow stop a significant portion of the state, everything had to fall in line in exactly the right order. It was an incredibly unlikely set of circumstances. If any single thing would have changed, we wouldn't have noticed the snow at all.

It's the holiday season. Time to buy gifts. Is there a better way to buy something than with a credit card?

Our credit card of choice is affiliated with Southwest Airlines. As we pay for food and gas and gifts, we accumulate free airplane trips. And, since we pay off our bill each and every month, these trips cost no more than the yearly credit card fee. It's a great deal.

It's a great deal for the bank too. They get our yearly fee and make a cut on everything we buy. And, since we charge a lot, they get a lot.

There's just one problem - the bank that actually issues the card and runs the program has cut it off three times.

It's not like we're bad people... this card has never had a late payment. And, we haven't even been in the same neighborhood as our limit. Our problem is, we've used the card too many times in a single day.

I know - you thought they encouraged you to use the card. I thought that too.

Yesterday, as I'm told, our card was used 14 times. None of these purchases were extremely large. We charged a $230 airline ticket, some groceries, a gift or two or three. You get the idea.

To the bank, this looked like the pattern a thief would use. So, they flagged the card, and when Helaine tried to buy something for me online - delivered to our own address - the bank refused to accept the transaction.

I guess they're entitled to do this, but here's what bothers me. They cut us off and never told us. All they had to do was make a call. Mr. Fox, did you make this purchase? We found out when we tried to buy something.

My suspicion is, it's cheaper for them to wait for the customer to contact them, or use the clerk at the store. For me... for my wife... this is astoundingly embarrassing. This time it was a mail order purchase, but the last time a clerk at the grocery store said to Helaine; "That happens to me when I go over my limit." Great.

As a public person, I try and protect my public image. Now this bank gets to sully it, for no apparent reason. I have received every excuse known to man from the security department and no apologies.

I am beginning to simmer.

I have two friends in Los Angeles who I've known since college in the late 60's. They are both in 'the business'. It is interesting to watch them operate.

They have both laughed at the fact that I have a job where someone pays my health insurance and I get a salary while on vacation. The fact that I work with a multi-year guaranteed contract astounds them (heck - it astounds even me).

I love to watch them both wheel and deal. I'm probably a little jealous. They're in a world of make believe and pressure, with the hint of glamour.

In Los Angeles, it's not unusual to root against a friend's success. Isn't that weird? Luckily, being an out-of-towner, I can be proud of their successes.

Last night, my friend Paul won at the 2003 DVD Exclusive Awards:

Best Overall DVD, TV Program (including all extra features): The Dick Van Dyke Show—Season One - Paul Brownstein

The bottom line is, not only does he get this award, but he also had the opportunity to work with Carl Reiner and Dick Van Dyke. And, since it's show business, he even has the chance to make some money.

I couldn't be prouder.

Do you like snow or hate it? We've asked Connecticut residents, on TV, and the majority always goes for snow. Go figure?

I couldn't be more opposite. I dislike the snow and nearly everything about it. Sure, in the beginning things look pretty, but then there's the price we pay. Roofs can leak. Cars get stuck or spin out or find something to hit before stopping. Schools and businesses are closed, which costs all of us money in the long run. After a few days, it's that crunchy, charcoal shaded permasnow. And then, there are the scrapers.

If you pay taxes (and if you don't, please email me with your secret), you pay for snow in the cost of road clearing and then road repair. By definition, most snows come when crews aren't normally scheduled to work. So, most snows incur some sort of overtime or bonus pay.

After last winter, Frank who plows at our house, bought a château in the south of France.

Viewers think, because I'm a weatherman, and because my job gets more important when the weather is 'bad', that I like bad weather. Nothing could be farther from the truth. To me, there's more downside to forecasting snow. We make many more predictions, like wind, visibility, actual liquid equivalent, liquid to snow conversion rates, etc, ad nausea.

When I'm wrong, people remember and they're more than willing to let me know. Hey, why not? I put myself up there as someone who can predict the future. When I can't, I should answer for my call.

Because of all of this, I have a very limited perspective when it comes to snow. In the abstract, I revile it. But, once I predict it, bring it on. No matter how painful for me, if I call for 14", please God bring me 14" - no more, no less!

I'm writing this during a break in the action with a major snowstorm hitting Connecticut. There's a Winter Storm Warning in effect now and a Blizzard Warning which kicks in tomorrow morning. I called for 8-14" over most of the state. Please - someone throw the switch at 14, otherwise this system has the potential to bring a whole lot more.

I just took a look at my Google page rank. My home page now shows up at 6 of 10. I was astounded when I went from 3 to 5; this is ridiculous.

Here's how Google explains what page rank means:

The TV station's site, wtnh.com, is also a 6... and they have two full time staffers plus part time help when needed.

My guess is, links earned by posting on Slashdot boosted me. I know a few bloggers have me as a permanent link, and I'm appreciative because that helps too.

I have been looking at the computer models as they come and, and watching the radar in between. I'm wondering if this storm is losing some of its potential to produce snow?

A bad forecast will keep me housebound for a while. There is no upside to being wrong.

My friend John Matthews forecasts in West Palm Beach, FL. At this moment, I am incredibly jealous.

We're in the midst of the storm now. There had been a lull for much of the morning, but now the snow is back in earnest. The latest computer models say we'll get enough snow by tonight that my forecast will come true.

The official meteorological term for this is 'verify,' as in "the forecast verified."

I've attached a visible satellite image on the left. It's very impressive and very unusual. There is an 'eye' to this storm, almost like a hurricane or tropical storm. There are structural differences in this storm, it's not a tropical system. Still the picture is very impressive.

The lead story on Extreme Tech is all about building a computer. Build It: A Speedy PC For $800

I'm certainly not adverse to building a computer. The PC this is being typed on was assembled right here on my office floor from parts I specified. It does everything I designed it to do (though it has incredibly noisy fans to remove its internal heat, and I wish I would have designed that out). And, as a bonus, it actually worked when I plugged it in!

The question is why build... and even if you want to, how much longer will that be possible?

My computer was built to edit video. To that end, I threw in the ATI All-In-Wonder 8500DV video card (on which the DV "Firewire" connection never did work) and a Soyo motherboard with built-in RAID (two disk drives act as one for the faster service necessary for video). The on-board audio conflicts with the video card, meaning I then had to go get another audio card.

It was a great learning experience, but today you can buy machines off the shelf that do the same thing. And, increases in processor speed cover a variety of sins. So a machine not totally optimized for video will still do fine because everything else is so much faster and the disk drives are so much larger.

As I was passing by Home Shopping Network earlier today, they were selling a Gateway PC (I am not a fan of any particular brand. All major computer manufactures are just putting together other people's parts.) with 17" monitor and printer for under $1200. The CPU on their machine is better than twice as fast as mine! If you're interested, here are the specs.

It's tough to build when a speedy machine, pre-assembled, sells for a price like that.

For hobbyists, like me, there will always be the allure of building the 'perfect' screaming machine. But, I suspect within the next few years that won't be possible either.

I remember in high school, a friend of mine bough a Model "A" Ford and restored it to running condition by hand. What he couldn't get, he modified. Now, there's hardly anything on a car you can fix or modify on your own.

Computers are going in that same direction. There are a number of reasons, but the most significant seems to be intellectual property rights. My computer is capable of copying DVDs... even copy protected DVDs. I can do all sorts of other things that upsets other rights holders too!

Just as printer manufacturers have added chips to try and thwart aftermarket ink cartridge manufacturers, PCs will be 'smarter' (really more restrictive) in what they let you do. The quaint concept of 'fair use' will go out the window, because manufacturers now understand how easily their hard work is ripped off.

Will future versions of Windows be built so it only works with 'trusted' hardware and software that can be more closely controlled? My opinion is, yes. Sure, a computer could be run on Linux or some yet-to-be-designed operating system, but that would deprive you of much of what's available today.

I'm not sure where the 'sweet spot' is, balancing the rights of those who produce with the rights of those who use. I suspect that PC's wouldn't be where they are today... capable of doing what they do... if the restrictions to come had existed earlier.

I have noticed a new trend recently. Some of my spam is non-English!

Xenophobic? Not exactly... well, sort of. The web runs mostly in English, and since this is where the "money * people" equation gives the highest result, it is where commercial email is aimed.

Over the past few days I've received email with Chinese characters (which my Linux machine does a better job with than my Windows machine) and today Russian. Granted, because I'm using popfile, and because I seldom see anything but the subject of my spam mail, this might have been going on for a while without my noticing.

The Russian mail looked interesting, with a photo of a man and well formatted Cyrillic text. I ran it through Babelfish to get the general idea.

Here's the Babelfish translation (it's tough to follow):

It seems to be something political, something about 'apple', something about governance in Russia. It's not a happy note. There are probably too many idiomatic phrases to be translated this way and get a reasonable understanding.

So, I sent the spam to Alex Moskalyuk. Alex is a tech guy with a blog. We ran into each other on the net after he linked to one of my stories and then added my blog as a permanent link on his website... which is partially in Russian. He wrote a review about "Secure Programming Cookbook for C and C++", which is linked on the front page of Slashdot. Very impressive.

Here's Alex's read on the message:

So, now you know about my Russian spam, and a little bit about what's going on in Russia. Thanks Alex.

The December 5-7 storm is over. From late Wednesday on, my call was pretty close (before Wednesday it looked like rain to me), which will remove me from clinical depression for the time being. Mind you, I wasn't perfect - a bit low in some spots - but most of the state got what I called for, and the duration of the storm certainly lived up to expectations.

The Connecticut DOT tallies the snow at each of their garages. That's the chart on the left. Click it for a larger, readable version.

I am not writing this from Lincoln Financial Field. I did not take Amtrak to Philadelphia. I assume my friend Barry is sitting home and not at the game either.

It's a real shame, because I wanted to go to the game. But, it was not to be. Even though the snow stopped overnight, there was no reasonable expectation that my train would be able to hold to its schedule. It would originate in Springfield, MA and then move south through Hartford before getting to New Haven's Union Station.

The Eagles game is the glamor game in the NFL today. The Eagles and Cowboys are both contenders. A win by the Eagles assures them a playoff spot with 3 more to play. An Eagle loss would give them both the same record, but put Dallas ahead by virtue of 2 head-to-head wins.

Here in Connecticut, the game wasn't shown on TV. Instead, we got the Giants and Redskins. Even parents of players on those teams wanted the Eagles game!

Helaine and I sat and listened to the game on the PC. Three weeks ago, I subscribed to the NFL audio package, and it's pretty good. Our feed is from WYSP with Merrill Reese (who I worked with 23 years ago) and Mike Quick.

All the commercials are removed, leaving dead air. Believe it or not, you miss the commercials. The silence spoils the flow of the game. Actually, the commercial pauses hurts the game at the stadium too.

Happily, the Eagles won big... big enough that I've already heard two sportscasters on two separate networks call it a rout.

Barry has invited me. again, two weeks from today. It's tough to resist.

As I was sitting in front of my Pixo AT700 17" LCD Monitor, white smoke began to pour out! Oh my God.

I often leave with the monitor turned on.

Back to Staples tomorrow.

I'm positive that when I was escorted out of college (I originated the "Accelerated Dismissal Program" at Emerson College), I mumbled something about never taking a test again! That was such a good idea. I should have stuck with it.

I have just finished taking my two finals for this semester at Mississippi State; Severe Weather and Statistical Climatology. I had a very good average in Stat Climo, so went a little light on the studying. My thought was, there was enough padding to hide a bad final and still get an "A". Let's hope I was right.

In Severe Weather I needed to do really well in order to get an "A", thanks to a poor showing on my midterm. This test wasn't too bad, though the instructor used contingent answers. So, in essence, many of the questions were two questions and you had to get them both right to get credit for either.

The break point for an "A" is so high for me in that class that I worry something as simple as a typo could be my undoing. In my first year, I got a number of questions wrong because my mouse was in the wrong spot when I clicked. That surprised me then.

I also had trouble with questions that used double, or sometimes, triple negative concepts. Things like: "which of these isn't true," and then the examples contain negative ideas. I'm sure the instructor didn't want the questions to be too easy, but this seemed to value semantics and syntax over a deeper understanding of the syllabus.

I am now on Winter Break. I know I'm married, with a child, and over 50, but doesn't this entitle me to go to Cancun or South Padre Island and do body shots?

Hell - I don't even drink. What kind of college student am I?

Within the past few days two of my friends have had significant career achievements that I wanted to mention.

I wrote about Paul, who I've known since 1969, winning a DVD award. Now, I have a photo to prove it. That's Paul Brownstein with Dick Van Dyke (Paul calls the project the DVD-DVD) whose commentary, along with Carl Reiner's, had more than a little to do with Paul's win.

I also heard from Marcia Mule. Before I go on, let me tell you you're mispronouncing her name. It's Mar-see Mew-lay. Much better!

Marcia, and her partner, are producing a new series on Bravo, "Celebrity Poker Showdown." There's a subject near and dear to my heart. In the first episode, the two best players left early, beaten by a lucky hand. Unfortunately, the two best players were fairly big names, David Schwimmer and Ben Affleck.

Still, the show held my interest, though the poker was far from well played. Alan Pergament wrote a nice article about Marcia and the show in the Buffalo News.

I know Marcia because she was one of our producers at PM Magazine/Buffalo back in the very early 80s. I remember how nice she was then, and how nice her parents were. Back in those days, when I was willing to appear on TV without a shirt (I don't even shower without a shirt now), Marcia's family used to let us use their pool as a location. Those shoots were wonderful.

Marcia and I spent too many days in too many Dodge vans in too much Buffalo snow. I am glad that her production company is getting work and hope she's making huge money and becoming very happy.

I submitted another story to Slashdot, which was accepted and published over the weekend. I like Slashdot, because I think I understand the audience I'll reach. In this case, the story was about do-it-yourself weather forecasting and the tools available on the net.

I mentioned GrADS, software I use to produce weather graphics, and a few government sites. Bright and early Monday morning, I got an email from the GrADS site telling me they had be slashdotted!

"Slashdotted," describes the effect that follows having your web address published on Slashdot. All of a sudden, thousands of geeks from around the world are pounding on your site, trying to see what's so interesting. In many cases, the sites just stop working or crash under the incredible traffic.

The folks from GrADS were actually happy. Their goal is to get their projects and software recognized and used. This got them a little closer.

I knew what would happen if I exposed my site to the barrage, so I linked to a single graphic... a small chart showing forecast conditions in New Haven, CT. It's something so esoteric that no one would have it but me. That one graphic got well over 5,000 hits.

If I would have linked to a full page, with photos and text and links, my site would have gone down under the strain. I also might have exceeded the 6 gigabytes of throughput I pay for (and never use) each month.

I grew up in a small apartment, in a development of 2,300 apartments, in Flushing, Queens, New York City.

There is no one who grew up there who really thinks of it as New York City. Sure, you vote for the mayor and go to New York City schools, but it's a bus and subway to get to Manhattan... and it's Manhattan that's called "The City."

Queens, and its sister borough Brooklyn, are both on Long Island. Yet when we'd venture to Nassau County, we'd say we were going to "The Island."

Flushing in general and Queens in particular have an inferiority complex - some of which is well deserved.

Our apartment, 5E, was tiny. For my sister, our parents, and me, we had two small bedrooms, a microscopic kitchen, dinette, living room and bathroom. There was no closet space to speak of.

The apartment, with only a northern exposure, had no direct sunlight. My bedroom window looked out on a fire escape, which overlooked a huge parking lot. In the distance I could see the Throgs Neck Bridge.

As a child, before air conditioning was allowed in the apartment complex, we'd leave our windows wide open in the summer, hoping for a breath of air. The slow, lumbering, propeller driven planes of that age would rattle the building while taking folks much higher in the social strata to La Guardia Airport.

We weren't well to do. In our section of Queens I never knew a doctor or lawyer or professional. These were working people, many union craftsmen, some laborers.

Anything we kept that couldn't fit in a closet was moved into position along the wall of the single hallway that connected our rooms. My mother had a sewing machine, and it snuggled against the wall where the hallway met the dining room. It didn't seem like the walls were closing in - they actually were, as we accumulated more stuff.

Still, we did accumulate things over time. I believe my folks were adverse to throwing anything away. Helaine tells me I still have some of that pack rat mentality.

This is a really long way to go to tell you what I just did... and I apoolgize. I cleaned out the email folders on my computer. For me, that was a painful decision and process.

I don't like throwing anything away.

First, I backed up all my messages to a DVD-R. There's now 3.5 GB of penis enlargement ads, Nigerian scams, viewer mail and important correspondence on that disk, and I have no idea if I could re-import it if necessary! Still, I couldn't do what followed without that first step.

I wiped out everything in my deleted folder that was put there prior to July. It wasn't too much - NOT! I have just deleted 38,660 messages. There are still over 9,000 left in the deleted folder.

Tomorrow (I'm getting tired right now), I will purge my sent messages. I guess I'll, again, arbitrarily pick a date a started chopping. The sent folder has 14,788 messages.

Why do I save them all?

Every once in a while, I'll look for an email to find an address or remember what someone had said to me (or vice versa). Over time, as with apartment 5E, the walls have started to close in. My computer became more and more sluggish when I had to load the deleted folder. Often, it wouldn't let me directly read what I had searched for, because the database had used so much memory.

Like my folks, as the boxes piled up, I worry that I've thrown out some gem. Hopefully, it won't be a rude awakening.

This was a good week to see my name in print. Nothing earth shattering. I didn't cure cancer... again.

First, in the New Haven Advocate, Colleen Van Tassell (certainly a member of the 'all name' team, and a favorite of mine) wrote:

It's true. When it's cold outside I try and remind people to bring outdoor pets in. My sense is, it's more of a feel good thing than anything else. Most people keep domestic animals inside, and those who don't probably can figure out when it's cold enough to do otherwise.

Still, if one puppy is sleeping on the rug because of what I've said, it's worth it.

My second mention was from Joe Miksch in the Fairfield Weekly (and probably to the other papers in that group, including the afore mentioned Advocate).

Again, I'm thrilled to be mentioned. But, I've got two very small bones to pick.

Joe calls me "avuncular." Let me look in the dictionary, because I believe that means 'uncle like.'

Yup

Couldn't he have said, "Viewers of New Haven's WTNH know Geoff Fox as the studlike, high-energy weatherman." OK - studlike is a little over the top. Pick your own adjective. I'm not choosy. But avuncular makes me sound old.

Actually, it makes me sound like I seem and act old, which is different than actually being old. It is worse.

On to number two. I asked Al Roker for Macy's Parade tickets and he said he didn't have them. That's not being stiffed. Al has been very nice... very generous to me - that goes a long way in my book.

There are a variety of reasons I like Al, not the least of which is, he's very talented, both on and off the air. There are few other people lucky enough to have a natural likability that translates so well on TV.

I last saw Al at The White House. How's that for place dropping!

We, along with TV weather people from around the country were invited to hear Vice President Gore speak on global warming. I spent most of the day with Al, Craig Allen from CBS and Irv "Mr. G." Gikofsky of WPIX.

There are a few things from that day that really stand out. Two had to do with Al.

On that day, he had a digital camera - the first I had ever seen in person.

Each of us also had an audience with the president, Bill Clinton. The president stopped Al and told him how he had watched him do the weather from the White House lawn that morning. And then, the most powerful man in the world proceeded to engage Al in a few seconds of small talk. Not bad. I was impressed.

The other major remembrance of that day has to do with Irv Gikofsky. He's been on New York City TV for at least 20 years, always as "Mr. G." He was with us in line as we approached the president.

The way it works is, you fill out a card with your name, it is handed to a Marine guard, and then as you approach the president, you are announced.

So, it was, "Mr. President, Craig Allen." And Craig approached the president. "Mr. President, Al Roker," and Al went forward. "Mr. President, Geoff Fox," and I was on my way to shake his hand and say something totally insipid.

Finally, it was Irv's turn. The Marine guard lifted the card to read it and said, "Mr. President, Mr. G."

I wanted to hide under the furniture.

I specifically set out to find this photo? Does anything strike you as unusual?

How is it possible that none of these grown ups wears glasses?

I remember my eye doctor telling me that at age 40, nearly every adult needs reading glasses. Many others need lenses for distance vision.

I think we're looking at a clear case of vanity trumping the natural aging process. I'm not saying that no one's not wearing contacts, for instance... just that no glasses in this crowd is more statement than chance.

I have written, probably too much, about winter weather and the problems forecasting it. It is my job to predict the future. I accept a salary to do it. I take responsibility for my forecasts.

If I am wrong, I get called on it - and I accept that. It is absolutely fair to do that, since I claim to be able to predict the future.

Sometimes, my forecasts are 'fighting the tide'. I'm trying to get my opinions out, yet I'm being drowned out by other, divergent forecasts. I think that's what's going to happen tonight.

There's a Winter Storm Watch for all of Connecticut, except the immediate coast. That means 6" or more of snow is expected. But, I don't think it's as simple as that. And, I don't think 6" will fall.

Because of the track, I think we will see snow, but it will be followed by sleet (possibly freezing rain) and then plain old rain on Monday. As soon as snow turns to sleet, freezing rain or rain, the accumulations are held down. And, once temperatures go above freezing on Monday, and rain continues to fall, much of the snow will washed away.

I'm not saying it's going to be pleasant outside - because it won't. But, right now my opinion is outside the norm and it will take some effort to make sure it's heard.

By the way - should I be wrong on Sunday, I will leave this post up. Making bad forecasts painful is a great motivator to be right!

About a week ago, in quick succession, I won 2 - $11 Sit and Go poker tournaments at pokerstars.com. I was feeling good. What a sap! Too much confidence is a bad thing.

I haven't played all that much, but I haven't won at all this week! Not once. As of this morning, our stake is below $100 - down $150 from where we started in August. Helaine has played too, but the bleeding is coming from me.

Any time you play a game of skill and luck, luck will win out from time-to-time. You go in with two high cards, catch two pair on the flop and still lose to some schmo who stayed and played 10-2 off suit and hit a flush on the river with the 2!

It happens. Even though I was beaten by a 10-2 off suit, I still want everyone with a 10-2 to play as much as they want. Over time it's a loser.

Not all of my losses can be contributed to luck. I sense I have started to 'slow play' good hands a little too much - hoping to get more in the pot. The downside to slow play is often you give your opponent enough time to make a hand and beat you.

And I have let myself go into hands I shouldn't have. My brain knows when in doubt, fold. My fingers don't always follow. The value of discipline in poker is underrated.

These little, single table, tournaments aren't won by winning as much as they're won by not losing.

The online casino I play poker at is loaded with tournaments. Usually I play one table affairs where the last three standing cash out. But, that's not the only way they're dealt.

Every day, there are open tournaments. Pluck down the entry fee and you're in! Some are free - with a cash prize. Others are satellites, qualifying you to play in more expensive tournaments without paying any more money. When it comes to these massive tournaments, I never look above the $1 or $3 level. It's just a way to kill time.

Tonight, I entered a $1 tournament along with 1167 others. Someone was going to go home with over $250 on a $1 bet. Most would get nothing.

The game was Hold'em, no limit. Each player gets $1,500 in chips and plays from there.

I set my computer up with the tournament table over the 'lobby'. I positioned the screen in such a way that I could watch the countdown as players started getting knocked off.

For the first few minutes it was slow. The first out in these tournaments is usually on the first hand... and usually someone who will later say, "Bad cards don't kill you. It's good cards that will do you in." My guess is, a lot of players retiring early are doing so with a pair of aces that didn't hold.

I watched the numbers ratchet through 1,000 and then 900 and 800. I was playing well but always below the middle of the pack moneywise.

The ante rose every fifteen minutes and there'd be a spurt of players tapped out. "Conservative," I kept saying to myself. Not losing is more important than winning.

By the time we got down to 250 players, I was looking at what the tournament paid. Yes, the winner gets paid well, but it's like falling off a cliff after that. By the time you're at number 10, you're down to $10.52.

I didn't care. I wanted to make money. How much wasn't important.

The numbers continued down. 200, 150, 130, 120. I looked at my stack. I had enough to break 99, where the payouts started, if I just sat and folded. I wasn't getting anything to play anyway.

110, 109, 108, 107... the numbers were moving slower. No one wanted to be the last out before getting something. 106, 105, 104, 103. It struck me that I'd have to do something stupid at this point to get blown out.

102, 101, 100, 99, EUREKA!

A text message flashed on the table. At this point, all the tables would be synchronized. We'd play hand for hand. God forbid someone would play s-l-o-w-l-y and make an extra few cents.

There were prize breaks at 81 and 61. I blew by both and had nearly $30,000 in chips. And then, it happened.

I went in with a good hand and met up with a spectacular one. I lost, all-in, to a pair of Aces.

After playing 3:15, I finished 50th!

I had outlasted 1118 others and had won... this is going to sound so stupid... I won the grand total of.... hold on, here's the email:

I have no clue what 53.02 tournament points gets me. You can be sure, however, it's not as good as that $1.92 net profit! Ah, the sweet smell of filthy lucre.

After writing about Sunday's weather on Friday, I have been back to recheck my sources dozens of times. Everyone continues to yell "SNOW" at the top of their lungs. Based on the methods that have served me well over the past few years, I continue to think the changeover will happen before the big snow amounts are on the ground.

How long will it stay snow before mixed precipitation and rain take over? That's the $64,000 question!

Of course, it can stay all snow... in which case I'll stay as well hidden as I can.

The snow is coming down. If it's going to change to a liquid form, it's certainly taking its sweet time. My thermometer reads 24.6º.

Down to our south, at La Guardia Airport in NYC, the temperature has risen 4º in two hours; at Kennedy Airport 5º over the same period. At Kennedy, the snow has turned to rain.

I would guess we have 4-5" on the ground already. Though currently in a lull, there's more where this came from!

With all this in mind, two photos from today. The first was taken out my front door, looking across the street at a neighbor's house, beautifully decorated for Christmas. The second, taken by my friend Peter Mokover (who somehow manages 5 weeks every winter in Hawaii) is of the Home Depot on Maui.

Where would I rather be? You make the call!

I am so jealous of Peter and Elisa, in Hawaii. Even so, I am posting some of Peter's photos to a gallery of his own, on this site, so that eating my heart out will only be a click away.

At 4:45PM, as I was typing a now erased entry to this blog, the power went off. Interestingly, and I've noticed this over time, the outage didn't happen in an instant as happens when you flip a switch. The power flickered and fluttered and - poof - it was gone.

So, with the snow flying, and outside temperatures in the 20's, we were plunged into darkness.

The first thing I noticed was our alarm system showed a fault. Since the alarm has battery backup, I just reset it and it was fine. Second, an older cordless phone in our spare bedroom started chirping every 20-30 seconds. It was complaining that it could no longer hear its base station. I'm sure this was a great idea when it was designed into the phone, but it's a royal pain whenever the power goes out.

Helaine had been online, playing poker. Judging by the fact that I haven't received any email, her hand must have been folded and folded and folded and she finally 'blinded out.'

Steffie started rounding up candles. By the time she was done, there were nine of them, sitting on the coffee table, providing enough light to study by. In the photo on the left, the little post-it note sign says, "Festival of Lights."

I called the power company and listened to their recorded message. There had been another, earlier outage, in the area around my house. Dispatching crews was treacherous in this weather. After being on hold for over 15 minutes, a new message was added, acknowledging the new problem that included my house. I hung up the phone.

Upstairs, I found an old Sony Watchman battery operated TV. The batteries still had a full charge, though I can't remember the last time it was used.

This is the kind of thing authorities tell you you're supposed to have in just this situation so you can receive emergency information. Helaine used it to watch the Cowboys and Redskins.

The reception was awful After a while she gave up on watching and listened instead.

Our heating system is based on hot water bringing warmth to air handlers in the basement and attic. In a situation like this, I worry about the system freezing and the pipes bursting. Luckily, we were back in business with the power on in around an hour.

It's possible I'll hear what caused the outage tomorrow. Judging by the weather, car vs. pole is always the most likely scenario.

I'm not going to lie. There were times this weekend when I thought my forecast was a bust. I heard big numbers from a ferocious storm. Where did I go wrong?

As it turns out, I didn't. As always, this wasn't a bullseye, but it wasn't all that bad. Read what I was expecting from Friday and then, see what we got.

It was colder than I expected, so the precipitation stayed snow longer. The changeover did hold the accumulations down and kept almost everyone under 6"¹, which is the normal threshold for Winter Storm Warning. Click here to see a chart of snowfall amounts from the Connecticut DOT.

Right now, nearly all of Connecticut is at or above freezing.

We are one day closer to March. I couldn't be happier.

¹ - This is the second storm in a row where Meriden has had significantly more accumulation than surrounding areas. One more and it becomes untrustworthy to me.

² - The automatic sensors at Waterbury/Oxford Airport haven't worked properly in years. This reading should report precipitation, but doesn't.

Last night was Monday Night Football and the Eagles versus Miami, in Miami. Helaine is actually the bigger football fan in the family, but we're both Eagles fans. Years ago, I was a season ticket holder - a distinction I wear as some sort of badge of honor. I sat through an Eagles 4-10 season!

I think we're both a little worried, because the Eagles have played so well. As an Eagles fan, and I'm sure this applies to most teams, you're always waiting for that boneheaded move that squanders it all. Yet, that hasn't happened.

The Eagles started the season losers. Donovan McNabb, the quarterback, was ineffective as a passer and non existent as a rusher. And then, the team jelled. All of a sudden, they could do no wrong.

Tonight's victory against the Dolphins is sweet, but I'll swear we're being set up for disappointment somewhere farther down the road. That's the Eagles fan in me talking.

Here's the problem - you're hungry but you don't want to do any cleaning. There's some fresh, cut fruit in a bowl... but not much. So, you eat all of it, save two little pieces, and put it back in the refrigerator.

You've gotten the fruit and the bowl isn't ready to be cleaned, yet. That will fall to the sucker who eats the two little pieces.

Interestingly, Helaine asked I post this. Mission accomplished.

This is the (hopefully) last in a series of entries about my cell service. If you'd rather read the whole series from the beginning, click here.

Hold your calls, we've got a winner... or more succinctly, we've eliminated most of the losers. I re-signed yesterday with Cingular for National GSM service.

A couple of notes and observations are in order. This took an unbelievably long time. I'm not talking about yesterday at the store - which did take forever - but my decision making process. The cellular carriers make this maddeningly difficult.

First and foremost, you have to read each and every thing that you're being offered and not offered. The cell companies know what they're offering (well, sort of) but most of us don't. While I was in the cell phone store yesterday, I watched customer after customer move up to the desk, like lambs to the slaughter. The salespeople offered and sold plans and conditions that weren't understood by the customers. And, the customers, with little choice, signed on without much thought.

In my case, this is a $2,000 commitment - 2 years of service for the three of us - and I wanted to be sure everything was acceptable... or as acceptable as possible.

Most customers don't know the difference between GSM or TDMA or CDMA, but these distinctions can be very important in deciding what you're getting. The companies offer beautifully named national or regional networks, and then never disclose what these networks are... or are not. The maps I've seen continue to paint a nearly seamless blanket of coverage, which isn't true.

The company that actually runs the Cingular store needs to reconsider the paper flow through the store. Forms had to be filled out by hand and multiple phone calls made to get my account set up. It's 2003 - these forms should be computer generated and authorizations automated. I was in the store for nearly 2 hours. Some people, who waited in line while I was being taking care of, left.

As I wrote earlier, when a plan says no roaming fees, that still doesn't mean you can use any signal your phone can hear. It used to be, if you were out of range of your plan, your phone would latch on to whatever it heard, and you'd pay for that privilege. But "no roaming" doesn't necessarily mean that call is now free. It often means that call can no longer be made!

The best example is here at home. My phone shows a very, very strong signal (probably from T-Mobile or AT&T). If I try to make a call, the phone says "Emergency Only" and spits me back to the main menu.

As far as I can tell, I now have a comparable number of minutes, nights beginning at 7:00 PM, some sort of national coverage (though still no coverage here at home) and three new phones for a little less than I was paying. And, I extracted 3 free months of service, 2 of the 3 phones, and a waiver of the activation charge by getting on the phone with the Cingular company agent (thanks Kendrick Alexander) and asking for it (the folks in the Cingular store don't really work for Cingular).

Helaine and I got LG G4010 phones. They are incredibly small with a stubby, fixed antenna. I have been pouring through the manual, looking for a way to use my company's voicemail with this phone. That means adding a pause during the dialing sequence. As far as I can tell, you can't do it. If that's true, this would be the first cell phone I've ever seen that can't perform this function.

If the manual wasn't translated from some other language into English, the person who did write it should be ashamed. It is disorganized and confusing.

Steffie got a much fancier Samsung S307. It has a color display and more toys. I was proud because she wanted it and was willing to part with her own (hard earned) money to get it.

There was another company I had considered going with. Oh heck - it was Sprint. I didn't go because of what I considered the very high cost of the phones and higher cost for monthly service. But really, the clincher was their move a few years ago (quickly rescinded) to charge for calls to customer service! To me, that showed a corporate culture that didn't value the end user the way I want to be valued.

I would be 100% happy with Cingular but for one small problem. There's no service here at home. Judging by the folks at their store, Cingular thinks it has coverage here. They recently put a cell site at Quinnipiac College, less than 2 miles away. But, it is blocked to me, and most of my neighbors because of Sleeping Giant Mountain. If they would have moved the site off campus, they could have killed two birds with one stone - putting coverage on campus and into this area and I'd be really smiling.