March 2004 Archives

Though I worked tonight, I made sure to stay home long enough between shows to see Billy Crystal open the Oscars. Now, after work, I'm watching it again.

Billy Crystal is the King of Comedy. He has an amazing presence and comic sense. The fact that he doesn't do the Academy Awards in consecutive years seems to only make him better, as in "absence makes the heart grow fonder."

I noticed tonight that Billy was getting rim shots during jokes on his opening performance.

Meanwhile, I really did look forward (for weeks) to his opening movie and song. They were worth waiting for... and re-watching.

Helaine went out this afternoon. While on the road, she called. No problem. Later, on her way home, she called again.

Busy! Except, of course, it wasn't.

It seems like yesterday, but it was the end of September when last our phone died. What a helpless feeling. The phone is our lifeline to health and safety in a way that computers or a cell phone can't approach... at least not yet.

I immediately went down to the basement and plugged a phone into the network jack, where the phone line enters the house from the street. Dead. The problem was somewhere outside, and so the responsibility of the phone company.

I am much more upset about the way my local phone company, SNET (actually, they are now a very small part of a very large national company and have dropped SNET for SBC) handles outages like this than the outage itself. It seems as if someone said, "We've already inconvenienced Geoff... why inconvenience us too by sending someone out on Sunday?"

As far as I can tell, nothing at all was done about this problem today. Nothing.

The last time this happened to me, I made it clear that I thought it was wrong for the phone company, once it knew of an outage, to let a line continue to ring busy - as opposed to a recorded "out of service" announcement.

No change. It still rings busy after being reported.

In 2004, to a child with an elderly parent, a phone that's busy for hours means the possibility that someone is ill... or worse. If my parent's phone was busy for hour after hour, I'd call the police to check it out. This is an uncaring policy which must be changed.

Though you can see the status of your repair on-line (a feature I found to be worthless and wrong back in September) you can't report the outage online. Nor can you easily even get the number to report the outage! Their website lists 611 for residential repairs - a number that won't work if you're using a cellphone to make the call, or if you try to get someone out-of-state to make the call for you (as I did today - contacting a friend in Florida via Instant Messenger).

We still have no cell service from the house, but at least our current phones allow you to call 9-1-1 using another carrier's towers. That service is only available about half the time. The rest of the time the phone is looking for a Cingular tower that's not there.

The current automated estimated repair time is 01:00 PM Monday.

We got a call around 10:00 AM from a phone company technician. A squirrel had eaten through a few lines taking down 3 family's service. After 19 hours, we're back.

In other techno news, I woke up this morning to emails from my dad and others telling me my website had disappeared. In its wake was this lovely page saying, "Please contact the billing/support department as soon as possible.¹" It is not from the "How to Win Friends and Influence People" playbook.

Here's what happened. I had been experimenting with a program to produce tide tables. It runs a 'daemon', meaning a continuous background process. I have just found out, that's against my terms of service. The fact that this program used nearly no resources seemed to be besides the point.

It has been removed. I have been reinstated. Life's never simple.

Hey - at least I was able to call them to begin clearing it up.

¹ - After sending an email to hostforweb's tech support, they have changed the message to be less draconian. A quick and correct solution.

The two NASA robots continue to poke around on the surface of Mars. We are explorers - even robotically. The difference between these explorers and a Columbus type explorer is what they're looking for.

Back in the 15th Century, man was looking for a shortcut to goods he could use. If the trips were successful, spices, gold and other treasures would come back on a triumphant return. At the moment, nothing's coming back from Mars.

Today's explorers have a somewhat more ethereal goal. We're looking for signs of life, the origins of life, the origins of our universe. It's heady stuff. It's exploration in the abstract. Unlike the 15th Century, there may be no practical payoff.

Today the AP reported; "Mars rover Opportunity has found evidence that the Red Planet was once wet enough for life to exist there, but the robot has not found any direct traces of living organisms, NASA scientists announced Tuesday.

Of course, the next step will be to look for signs of life. But (with apologies to George Harrison) what is life? It's not a stupid question. If you're thinking people, insects, plants, you're way up the ladder from where scientists will look. In fact they will be looking for incredibly simple forms of life - forms so simple, that to me, it's difficult to separate life from simple chemistry.

A few years ago I went to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston to look at ALH84001, the Allen Hills meteorite. Some scientists believe this chunk of Mars, which through an unbelievable confluence of events ended up on Earth, holds fossilized evidence of Martian life. But the fossils are so simple, the life so rudimentary, that most lay people would yawn and turn away. That's how I feel about its fossils - though the story of how it got to Earth and how why scientists know to go to Antarctica to find meteorites is more than a little fascinating.

Over the next few months, NASA will probably use the results of this incredible engineering triumph to try and fund more missions, and people will start talking about searching for life. Just remember, it might not mean what you first thought.

This email flew in tonight

Since I am the entire geofffox.com team - I know it's bogus. But this is so cleverly done (and I'm sure it's a virus). What could scare you more than hearing your email has been cut off!

The term to describe this is "socially engineered." The email is so compelling, that even otherwise savvy computer users will open it - and get infected. Amazing.

We're getting our first tastes of spring... and it tastes really good. Since the beginning of February, the strangle hold of winter has diminished. Precipitation has been sparse. Temperatures have gotten warmer.

A few days ago, moments after stepping out of the shower and while still in a towel, Helaine called me to the front door. She beckoned me outside to experience a mild day. It was great. And, she didn't even lock the door behind me.

This morning, on the front steps, I looked down to see the first plants of the new season poking through the still frigid ground. Most of the snow on our lawn is gone, though not all. Within the next few weeks the leaves should start budding on the trees.

Meanwhile, down in Florida, they played baseball today. I heard a partial Mets score on WCBS while taking my shower.

The biggest difference in our local environment is in the sunshine. There are more hours to enjoy it - significantly more. The Sun itself shines from a higher angle in the sky, cutting through less of the atmosphere, producing a somewhat different color than winter's illumination.

When Ivy was alive, she'd look forward to this time of year and the corresponding solar position in the fall. As the day went on, she'd chase the sunshine, which warmed patches of carpet and marble. During the summer the sun was too high and didn't come in through the windows. During the winter, when the Sun was significantly lower, it was blocked and of no use to her.

I looked at my car this afternoon and wanted to take it to the car wash. That's a warm weather reaction.

I thought of taking down the top and riding in the fresh air. When I first got a convertible, I did that in December. The 'actual' temperature got the better of me today, so it stayed down. But with the heat blasting, and seat warmers turned on, I might give it a shot next week.

There is still the threat of snow. Helaine reminds me of the April when we paid Frank to do the Spring cleanup in our yard and plow - all in the same week.

Right now there's no snow in our future that I can see. A few more weeks and we'll be home free.

I love the Spring.

I'm on my way to Chicago tomorrow morning for a few days. It's work related, and though it's not nefarious, I don't think I can talk about why I'm going.

Hopefully, on my way home I'll say it was valuable. Right now, I'd rather not be going. But, I'm going with an open mind.

As I packed, I thought about how much of home I was taking with me. I'm taking a laptop. The hotel, right in the center of the city, has high speed Internet access in all rooms and Wifi access from the lobby. Still, I double checked to make sure my modem would work should it be necessary.

I have grown addicted to email, to writing in this blog, and the web in general.

I'm also taking my cell phone. This is such a recent change in our societal norms. It used to be, if you were in Chicago, you were in Chicago... and difficult to find. With cell phones, I'm a local call, no matter where I am.

Earlier this year, while I was visiting my family in Florida, someone called from work asking me if I could be in early to be in a tease. I explained I was on the golf course in West Palm Beach.

I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing. But, it's my choice to take the phone, so I must be leaning toward good.

I'll also be taking the digital camera, plenty of memory, and a cable to move images to the laptop. Since I've never really spent any time in downtown Chicago, I'm looking forward to getting as many shots as I can. Right after I get home, the camera is going to the hospital for a pixel that's always on.

Chicago's most recognized landmark is the Sears Tower. But, to me, nothing says Chicago more than the succession of bridges over the Chicago River. I remember seeing that image every week on The Bob Newhart Show.

Considering I won't be home until midnight tonight, I'm leaving awfully early tomorrow. I'll be leaving the house around 7:00 AM for the shlep to Bradley. At the moment fog and rain seem probable. In Chicago thunderstorms might show. By the end of the weekend, there's the chance of snow.

I've gotta remember to pack my open mind.

A few weeks ago Elizabeth McGuire of Hartford Magazine asked me to respond to some thoughts from the news director of one of my competitors. I thought you might like to read the finished product.

Six O'Clock is just too early to get up. That puts me on the outs with most of America. I've always been a night person - even as a kid. Now, as an adult working second shift, it's even more ingrained.

It had been foggy on the drive home from work last night and there was still a smudge in the air as I set out this morning. I-91 is normally lightly traveled during my works hours. That is changed at 7:00 AM. There was traffic but it moved smoothly up through Hartford and then into Windsor Locks where Bradley International is located.

It was an opportunity to tune around through morning radio. My friend Bob Lacey, who I met my first day in radio in October 1969, is syndicated, so I tuned around looking for "Bob & Sheri" out of Charlotte. Other than a few days spent in Charlotte itself a few years ago, I hadn't heard them.

The show is great - woman friendly and FCC friendly. I caught a segment with an improv comedian from Florida. It was funny, thought there was probably more in studio laughter than he deserved. Studio laughter is important because it telegraphs to the audience that you're funny. I'm serious. It creates a shared experience when you're listening to the radio alone. As much as we hate 'canned laughter' or sweetening on sitcoms, it's tough to watch them without it.

I found Bob and Sheri on "The Beach" from Long Island. As I drove north the signal faded around Meriden. Bob will be glad I finally listened.

I parked the car at a remote lot and started to pull my bags as the cell phone rang. No matter what I do, no matter how I set it, the cell phone reverts to the same ring... the sound of an actual bell. Most of the time it's in vibrate only mode, but in the car, out of my pocket, I need the noise.

It was Helaine calling. She had been looking online and United didn't have a flight with the number I had. Not only that, they didn't have a flight to Chicago at my time! I told her not to worry... though how was I to know?

At Bradley I approached the United counter and was greeted by a large man with a huge bandage on one finger and that same arm in a sling. He was a fan, greeted me by name, and helped me get what I needed. I always hope at that moment of recognition the words, "and we're putting you up front today" will follow. It did not. But, he was very nice and the boarding pass process went smoothly.

I'm not sure what happened with my flight number... and seat assignment. My boss, also traveling today, and I were supposed to have adjoining aisle seats. Instead, we're both in the middle, deep in the upper teens on a flight other than the one listed on our reservations. The flight is overbooked by two.

There is a pecking order to seat assignments. Most casual flyer's don't know this, most business flayers do. The seat I'm in is normally reserved for someone's aunt who flies once a year. Frequent fliers, of which I am currently not, are on the aisle and by the windows and much closer to the front.

The girl, sitting to my left, quickly fell asleep, leaning her head against the bulkhead and her butt toward the armrest. I wish I had retractable elbows. Though both of my 'neighbors' are slim, I'm really jammed in. This must be horrendous for someone who is large.

I had casually checked the Chicago weather over the last few days. Originally it looked like thunderstorms might coincide with my arrival. I remember circling Bradley a few years ago as a thunderstorm crossed the field. The pilot came on the PA system and said a thunderstorm was there and, "we don't do thunderstorms."

Now, the forecast had changed. By the time I left Connecticut, the front had already crossed through Chicago. In the terminal, with my boss and two others from our sister station in Springfield, I mentioned that it would be a bumpy flight and probably a rough landing (winds were predicted to gust at 50+ mph).

As I write this, we're in the middle of the bumpiness. The plane has been shuddering as if we're on a very rough road. A few minutes ago, the pilot came on the PA again, illuminating the seatbelt sign at the same time and telling the flight attendants to sit as well. It's tough to type when the keys are moving away from your fingers.

He didn't know if the turbulence would be light or moderate. I extended that for him as I listened to include severe. So far, the turbulence has been far short of that.

Soon we'll be in Chicago. With no checked luggage, the trip to the hotel should be easy.

My experience in Chicago is very limited. Years ago I had been here briefly for my niece's bat mitzvah. There was no traveling into town - I stuck to the 'burbs. This trip will be very different.

Our bumpy flight let up for a while, and then we headed groundward. I had my headphones on, listening to air traffic control. As Chicago's tower gave out landing instructions, the wind gusts hit 37 knots or 43 mph.

When the wind blows that fast, it is never steady and it's hardly ever directly down the runway. I watched as our wings bobbed up and down. Flying slower, preparing to land, a plane becomes less aerodynamic. This was a difficult landing and the crew up front was earning their pay.

We had met up with our two counterparts from Springfield. No one had checked bags so it was directly to a cab. The three of them climbed in the back while I took the front passenger seat. The seat itself resembled my apartment as a bachelor (minus the mushrooms growing through the bathroom floor).

Our driver was a round faced man with lots of facial hair and a ready smile. After deciding which Hyatt we were at, we were on the road.

I snapped a few shots through the window. He could see I was a little obsessed, so when I saw a car alongside with a particularly apropos license plate, he rolled my window down so I could get a better shot.

As the expressway let out into a city street he pointed to a McDonald's, taking up what looked like an entire city block. The world's busiest McDonald's he said. Who I am I to dispute that?

Check in at the hotel was easy. I am up, just above the 20th floor. My room with single king size bed is nicely sized. There is free high speed Internet access.

My window looks directly across a courtyard to a boxy glass clad office building. I spent a few minutes looking at the people working across the way, wondering what it was they were doing. I'm sure they spend a significant amount of time looking back at what the people are doing here in the hotel. Use your imagination.

We were hungry and set out for lunch. Walking is the best way to see a city. Hopefully someone will explain it to me, but Chicago's downtown has a very distinct architectural style. There is very detailed masonry seen on many buildings. Often buildings top out with interesting touches, as opposed to a flat roof on a tall building. I'm going to add a photo gallery as there are too many shots to have here on the blog.

We crossed the Chicago River over the Michigan Avenue Bridge. The Chicago River is about as wide as a good sized city street. The natural banks no longer exist. The river is now an glorified canal. If there is traffic on the river, I didn't see it, though the bridges are draw bridges.

Across the river I discovered a Chicago of double decker streets. Again, this is something I am discovering, but it is probably quite well known. By double decker, it is as if someone decided the city was too busy so they built another one on top of the first. There are streets under streets. Intersections exist under intersections with traffic lights and sidewalks and shops. I've never seen anything like it.

While walking in the subterranean world we went past a true cultural icon, The Billy Goat Café. We didn't go inside, but from the outside, it's a little hole in the wall, underneath the main streets, down where the Sun never shines. The Billy Goat is the inspiration for the famous "Cheeburge - Cheeburger - Fries - No Pepsi" of Saturday Night Live.

Our lunch stop was Shaws Seafood. We entered and instinctively headed to a wide open room that is probably unchanged in my lifetime. Lunch was great. It's a shame I'm dieting, because the desserts looked really good - as did the bread.

Tonight, it's dinner at Lawrys The Prime Rib - a world famous steakhouse. I'm looking forward to the walk there.

The real reason for the trip begins tomorrow morning. In the meantime, Chicago has a new fan in me.

Wow. I am just blown away. Years ago, my agent at the time asked me if I would be interested in working in Chicago. I said no. What an idiot!

The city is vibrant. Downtown is clean and full of people. I am entranced by the architecture. There are restaurants and there is entertainment.

Of course the downside is the weather. Chicago is full of weather. It's cold, windy and snows in the winter. Thunderstorms and heat can be brutal during the summer.

And, of course, I am not driving through Chicago traffic as a resident would. The city itself seems very livable - good for me, but not for my wife who is not a city dweller and probably never will be.

My boss and I left our hotel and walked the ten minutes down Michigan Avenue to Lawrys. It's a fancy steakhouse. After a quick sit at the bar (club soda for me - a non-drinker even off the diet) we were ushered into the dining room.

The wait staff is costumed. I'm to sure exactly how to describe it, but our waitress was dressed like a formal maid in a wealthy European home. Though the menu is simple, ordering is not. Certain dishes need to be requested early - like my asparagus and mushrooms.

The main dish is prepared tableside from a silver colored rolling cart. In fact, nearly everything was prepared at the table, including our salads. Al in all, dinner was very good and I'd go back again.

On the way back to the hotel a street saxophonist played the Sanford and Son theme. It was perfectly fitting.

The real stuff starts tomorrow morning at 8:15 AM. That's early for me... even when it's only an elevator ride away.

On a trip, the most difficult thing for me is getting to sleep. No matter what I do, I always find a reason to put it off. So, it's no surprise it was after 1:30 AM CST before I fell asleep. Actually, it would have been difficult to go to bed any earlier as I had a noisy neighbor in an adjacent room.

Good opportunity for some thoughts on The Grand Hyatt. The walls were paper thin - don't like that. On the other hand the bed was very comfortable with good lighting when I needed it (like reading things on the nightstand).

The TV didn't pull from it's cabinet making it difficult to watch while using the computer (which was tethered to the high speed Internet line). The desk and chair at the DSL cable's termination were excellent. The swivel chair was very handy and a nice touch... and it was comfortable .

I had never stayed in a room with the right chair for a desk area and it really makes a difference.

The bathroom was well lit with a good sized sink area. The shower curtain was cloth/plastic and hund from a rod that curved outward from the tub. That's why Sunday morning, when I forgot to tuck it in, the floor was flooded. The water pressure was excellent. The towels were almost large and thick enough (water pressure and towel size/thickness make or break a hotel room for me).

My meetings started early Saturday morning and lasted all day. I am pleasantly surprised that I did get something positive from the trip. Most of the presenters were excellent, but not all. Most of the presentations were correct for the audience, not all.

That's about all I can say. Sorry.

The meetings ended at 5:30 and after a break to wash my face, call home and check email, Kirk (my boss) and I headed over to WMAQ Channel 5, the NBC owned and operated station in Chicago. One of our former anchors, Darren Kramer, is now a weekend anchor there.

WMAQ is located in a brand new facility not far from the Tribune and WGN Radio. The building is an homage to 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the NBC headquarters in New York City. In a plaza in front of the building is a freestanding building containing a single studio with glass walls, like the one the Today Show broadcasts from. That studio is used for the morning news.

The newsroom, and studio used for the Saturday show is on the second flood of the building. The newsroom itself is large and contains a second studio used for Telemundo, NBC's Spanish outlet. We met Darren's co-anchor and the weekend weatherperson and then went upstairs.

WMAQ has three studios on the third floor - and uses none of them. One is leased to Jerry Springer, and I understand taping days for that show are a trip, to say the least. A second studio is used for Judge Mathis, a court show which used to precede our news cast (and provided horrible ratings as the lead-in). More interesting is what's come of the third studio.

It is outfitted like 8H (Conan's studio) in New York, with audience seating. On weekend nights, a live Sinatra tribute is performed (though not broadcast) from there. It's a pretty cool idea. We were in the studio for a moment and the setup and performance going on were very impressive. The room was just right for what was going on.

Dinner was downstairs in an Italian restaurant. I've become pretty good at ordering while dieting. It was Caesar salad as an appetizer and a steak entrée. I passed on the mashed potatoes and carrots but was able to eat most of the vegetable medley that came with dinner. If I'm good, can I have my old metabolism back - please?

Darren had actual work to do (those slave drivers), so Kirk and I turned up Michigan Avenue and walked along. The saxophonist from the nigh before was there. The street was jammed with foot traffic. This is a good sign of a vibrant city. Chicago's downtown is acting as a magnet.

Michigan Avenue has plenty of shopping and restaurants. I saw what looked like upscale apartment (or condo) buildings and a few nice hotels, including another Hyatt.

As we continued down Michigan Avenue, a brightly lit building stood out. It was the Water Tower (and as we approached and I could see the corner) the Water Works. I am told these were two buildings which survived the Great Chicago Fire. They nicely set off the rest of the area, including a vertical mall across the street.

I mentioned this in an earlier post, but Chicago does seem to have its own architectural style. I'm not educated in this, and maybe someone reading will know the full details, but the city has a distinctive architectural character that I had not seen before. Also, many of the buildings are bathed in projected light, including the Wrigley Building - right on the river adjacent to the Michigan Avenue Bridge.

We darted into Borders. Bookstores are treasures for travelers or others with too much time on their hands. I'm an addict when it comes to computer books and magazines and was able to come home with a magazine specializing in digital photography.

With an early call for Sunday, we turned back toward the hotel.

I decided to program my cellphone as my alarm clock. There's something about hotel clock radios that I don't trust. Saturday morning I woke up before my alarm. Sunday morning, I was jolted awake by the sound of my cellphone vibrating on the table next to me.

The Sunday morning sessions started at 8:30 and I almost made it on time. Everything went well until I leaned back and spilled a warm cup of coffee on my pants! Up to the room to change and I was back in the swing of things.

We were originally scheduled to leave about 6:30, losing an hour on the way and arriving in Hartford late. Tonight, with snow on the way, late wasn't going to be good. Kirk call United, found out they wouldn't let us make changes over the phone with our USAir codeshare tickets, and that there might be some seats on the 1:15 PM non-stop home.

The taxi to the airport was uneventful as was security. Well... let me take that back a little. With security today, you have to disassemble yourself as you're screened. My watch came off and joined the cellphone, coat and small things in one plastic tray. The bag from my laptop was in another. Yet another had the laptop itself. Finally, my rolling carry-on bag. At least I didn't have to remove my shoes. Still, after security I had to put myself together as if I were some sort of huge kit.

The podium agent wasn't sure we'd get on - so we sat at the gate area and waited as the entire plane boarded. Still no word. Finally, the go ahead.

So, I'm writing this from, yet another, very bumpy flight - this time on my way home.

Later tonight, or tomorrow, I'll post my photos. Most were nighttime shots and need a little Photoshop enhancement to brighten them up.

I've already told Helaine I'd be open to going back to Chicago with her. I hope it's sooner rather than later.

Much to the displeasure of those around me, I love taking photos. Maybe love is too small a word. Once, on a trip, trying to rush me along, Helaine called out, "Enough Ansel."

I've posted a sampling of my Chicago photos in the gallery section of the website. If you have a high speed connection, try the slideshow feature in the upper right hand part of the screen.

Finally... if you'd like to read my series of Chicago entries, in the order they were written (as opposed to the blogging norm of most recent first), I've set up a page just for that.

Since returning from Chicago, I've been catching up on the news. One of the recurring themes today is the question of whether Martha Stewart's attorneys failed her?

There is an implication that good lawyering should achieve the desired result, no matter what the cause of action. We, unfortunately, live in a society that believes the goal of a well presented defense is to allow someone to be unaccountable for their actions. If that's the criteria by which the Stewart verdict is being judged, the critics are right.

But, isn't the whole idea of competent counsel, a fair and just result?

It is in the selfish interest of the accused (if guilty) to get an unfair and unjust adjudication. Hey - if it were me, that's what I'd want. That's not what's in the best interest of our society - and our court system is supposed to be operating in the best interests of society.

Maybe it's time we reassess exactly what it is lawyers do. Is a lawyer who can get a guilty client 'off' any different than a trainer who supplies an athlete with steroids that can't be detected?

In a fair and just society, the question shouldn't be about what Martha Stewart's attorneys did, but what Martha did herself.

It's snowing now, as I write this entry. There's little wind, so I can watch the vertical path of the flakes as I look out the window.

My lawn is white as are the tree limbs. Some buds have started to form on the trees out front - and they're covered too. The street and my driveway are wet, not white.

The bad news about March is, it can still snow. It was the middle of March that saw the greatest snowfall ever recorded in the Northeast, The Blizzard of '88 (1888 that is).

Since the ground is warmer and the Sun higher in the sky, even a cloudy day can heat up road surfaces enough to melt what comes down... unless the snow is heavy and sustained. Then all bets are off. The snow preps the blacktop until it's cold enough to allow accumulation.

We're not there yet, and I don't suppose we will be.

Still, these are giant economy sized flakes. Down on the lawn, the little piling up there is good packing snow - perfect for snowballs and building forts. There's just too little of it to do anything.

This is a cruel snow, since it follows a tease of warmth. Being sick of the cold, I was ready. And now, at least temporarily, my hopes are dashed.

Yesterday, Los Angeles and San Diego went into the 90s. San Fransisco broke a long time recored getting well into the 80s. I'm jealous, very jealous.

Can't we have just a teeny bit of global warming?

The last time I wrote about Intern Jayne Smith was during the summer when she helped out with Emmy award judging. Jayne had been a college intern in meteorology at the TV station and spent a few semesters in the Weather Center.

She's a very nice girl. We were very happy that she was always available to be Ivy's companion when we went out of town. She is shy and quiet... maybe too shy and quiet.

It has been very tough for her, a degreed meteorologist, to find her first job. First, you need a tape - which she made at Channel 8. But, without experience her taped work was always a little on the edge (As it should be for a beginner. If it were too easy everyone would do it).

She'll be great, but she needs to work regularly, under deadline, on camera, show-after-show.

After some very disappointing and drawn out turndowns, and over a year of looking, she has finally been offered a job and will move, sight unseen, to Bismarck, ND. It sounds very scary.

Luckily for Jayne, Bismarck is the perfect place to go. She'll be working with some stable, nice people, used to working with beginners. There won't be the same pressure in Bismarck that there might be in a larger market. She'll have the opportunity to forecast nearly every kind of weather from heat waves to tornadoes to blizzards.

My first job was at WSAR 1480 in Fall River. MA. I remember it like it was yesterday... even though it's about 35 years ago. It's likely Jayne will remember this job forever too.

She'll be great.

This blog is non-partisan. I don't favor one ideology or candidate over another. I work in a newsroom, which is supposed to be balanced and objective. So, even as the weatherman, this seems like a reasonable policy.

On the other hand, I am not blind. I am watching the 'dance of the candidates' as the 2004 presidential campaign gets under way - long before either convention. I can't remember as early a start. With the insatiable appetite of cable TV news, we'll soon be sick of it all and anxious for November 2nd, so we can just put all the petty sniping behind us.

I've been thinking about the candidates and watching poll numbers over the past few days. Who is vulnerable? Why are they vulnerable? Why is Kerry already head and shoulders ahead of the president (though it is so early that poll any numbers are meaningless)?

It won't be long before President Bush starts looking to work around his negatives. It is my opinion that he will see Vice President Dick Cheney as a liability.

Again, this doesn't represent my opinion of Vice President Cheney or President Bush. But, I see the vice president's association with Halliburton as a huge target for the Democrats. They will try and paint Halliburton as representative of everything bad with this Republican administration and use Cheney's prior association (he was its president) to drive their points home.

Here's my prediction. When November comes around, the Republican ticket won't be Bush/Cheney. The Vice President could find any number of reasons, from health on down, to graciously bow out.

There are a number of Republicans with squeaky clean reputations that come to mind... like Colin Powell or Rudolph Guiliani. Either of those two would more benefit the president's re-election bid.

I mentioned this tonight to a number of people I work with, and most said it sounded reasonable, though not likely. I called my dad in Florida and he said it was an idea he had thought about, and accepted, a few weeks ago.

If it happens, remember today is March 10, 2004. If it doesn't happen, it was my dad's idea.

Here's something I've noticed after all these months of writing. No matter how hard you like, how much you try, you can't get all the errors off a page. I envy those who write and have an editor.

Each entry here is written and rewritten and then run through a spell checker. Then, usually, I read it again (the exception is when I write at my desk at work where I don't have a spell checker that can be used on this site). I always find, and correct, errors.

Yet when I go back in time and look at something that's been online for months, I can usually find more errors!

There is one thing I'm curious about, having seen itself manifested dozens of times. It would seem our brain thinks in sounds and not spelled words. For instance, in the paragraph above I had originally used 'town' where I meant 'time.' These are two words that are similar in sound.

There's probably already research germane to my discovery - but to me it's a revelation.

Maybe there's a good freelance business for someone who will proofread and edit the online work of others?

This comes to me from my friend Paul Brownstein. It might be my all time favorite email, and says a lot about why I love Southern California:

It's been two and a half weeks since I began dieting and so far, so good. I was so distressed about my weight when I began, that I couldn't look at the scale to note my starting weight. The best estimate is, I'm down 11-12 pounds and that's a huge difference.

Within the first few days, my suits started fitting better. Of course the fit of my clothing was the original signal to me that it was time to lose a little. Today, Helaine told me she could see I was thinner.

I'd like to lose 15 pounds more (which would take me back to what I weighed 20 years ago), but that will take a few months. I'm willing to make that commitment. I never thought I'd have the willpower to diet, but it's not that bad. It's just that once I get to my goal, I immediately return to being a carb loving, pigging out, hog.

That's stupid. Unfortunately, intellectualizing the problem doesn't make it go away.

Of course, once you begin eating the way you did before your diet, you will move back toward your pre-diet weight. No diet can immunize you against your own bad habits as you move forward.

In the past I had been a strict Atkins adherent. This time, it's a cross between Atkins and South Beach. I suppose I've just used South Beach to introduce a few foods I had never used before... but I'm still closer to what Dr. Atkins prescribed.

I like Atkins because the weight that comes off, and comes off right away, is from fatty places, like your belly.

There are two foods I've discovered on this trip through the diet that have really surprised me. The first is a chocolate fudge bar from Klondike. The fudge bar is excellent and I'd enjoy it even off the diet.! It uses Splenda for sweetening. I've tried Splenda in coffee and didn't like the taste (nor do I like any artificial sweetener in coffee). It's a different story in baked goods. Helaine made a flour free almond pound cake, sweetened with Splenda, and it's really good.

The second surprise is the new Atkins wraps at Subway. I've had the chicken bacon wrap with ranch dressing, and it's really good. Allegedly it is has 8 grams of carbs, which is acceptable. Packed with veggies it's more filling than I'd expect from its size.

This past weekend in Chicago I was able to keep dieting even though it was all restaurant food. Once you realize what you can and cannot have, it becomes easier. I have yet to crave for the things I shouldn't be eating so far.

I'm still never taking my shirt off at the beach. America continues to be safe in that regard.

Every night, on my way home from work, I head north on I-91 and then cut west for a few miles on State Route 40. Route 40 is a beautiful little gem of a road. As it wends its way between North Haven and Hamden, you pass by hundreds of yards of exposed rock face. The geological history of Connecticut is out in the open, and to a non-geologist like me, picturesque. At least once or twice a year students come by bus or van, stand by the side of the road, and examine the rocks to help their classroom work.

It is a wide road with nice shoulders, large separation between opposing traffic and very few cars. In my 13 years of traveling this road I have never seen a police officer with radar or laser gun... until last night.

As I crested a hill, approaching another car in the right lane, I saw a darkened car on the right shoulder. Moving closer, I noticed what looked like a roof rack. I tapped my brakes. At that very instant my radar detectopr went off. That's about the time the car I had been approaching noticed. Too late for him. Twenty seconds later he and a State Tropper were on the grass.

One of my co-worker, passing by a few minutes later, was sure it was me. He's seen me pass him by loads of times.

There's really a larger problem here. This is a beautiful road, built for speed, with an unreasonably low speed limit. It's never higher than 55 mph, and drops to 35 mph before the road ends at a traffic light. That 35 mph limit is lower than the non-divided highway you're forced on!

How do roads get speed limits? I have no clue. It just seems that this one is inappropriately low.

I feel bad for the guy who (probably) got a ticket. I'll be going slower and keeping my eyes open wider tonight.

I've written, on more than one occasion, about my camera and the obsession I have for taking pictures. I've taken over 6,000 since getting my Fujifilm Finepix S602Z. In fact, Sunday is the first anniversary of its purchase. Which brings us to today's little quandry and journey.

Sometime in the last month, my camera developed a very small problem. One pixel, the smallest photo element it resolves, became stuck in the on mode. So, in every picture, there is one miniscule red spot. If I didn't tell you about, you would never see it within a picture. Since I post process nearly every picture in Photoshop anyway, it was easy to work around. Still, once I noticed it, it was tough to dismiss.

I discovered the problem is February, and since the camera has a one year warranty, I wasn't too worried. That is, until I couldn't find my receipt.

I called Bangalore, India (I didn't know that's where I was calling at the time) to speak to Circuit City's support folks. About 10 days later the receipt appeared in the mail, having been mailed from an office in the states.

I wanted the camera for my Chicago trip. Unfortunately, after I returned, I forgot all about the camera's illness. Yesterday Helaine asked when I was sending it in, and I got a box to prepare it for shipping today.

When I went to finish the project I noticed the one year anniversary of the purchase is Sunday. I couldn't get it to the repair depot before Monday! A quick phone call verified my concern... If it wasn't in today, forget the warranty.

So, early this afternoon, I hopped in the car and drove to Enfield. Connecticut is a very small state, but I live in the far south and Enfield is all the way north - over 60 miles in each direction.

I found Precision Camera Repair without too much trouble (only one wrong turn). It is in a low slung building in an office park, across from Enrico Fermi High School. I parked at the end of the lot and walked past one glass door with an arrow pointing to another glass door. Looking inside the first, I saw men, sitting at work benches, working on cameras. Curled tubes on each bench probably supplied compressed air. This is demanding work where dust... and bad eyesight, aren't very helpful.

Once inside the lobby, I looked into an office with four women sitting in separate cubicles. The cubicles met at a center point - sort of like the spot where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah meet. A young woman in the back section saw me and stood up to walk my way. She was pretty, and was made more so by the fact that she was wearing a formal dress... as if she were going to some nighttime affair.

It would later turn out that she worked a second job, as a deejay. She was at job number one, but dressed for job number two.

She took my camera, typed a few pertinent notes into a computer, and gave me receipt. She said they'd mail it back to me.

Meanwhile, for the next 15-20 business days (why can't they just say 3-4 weeks?) I will be without my camera. I still have an older Casio QV-2000UX - but it's just not the same.

There is a way to check the status of my repair, using their toll free number. Like a sick friend in the hospital, I will call to see how my camera is doing.

I nearly forgot this... and I wish I would have captured it with the camera.

On my way through Enfield, I passed a sign which advertised "Comedy Night" at the local VFW. There would be food and drink and lots of laughter. Headliner TBA.

Headliner TBA! Now that's advance planning and an incredible amount of trust.

I have two desktop PC's in this room. The first - the one I'm typing on now - is a box I built myself after spending weeks pouring through every computer publication and website known to man. The other is an older, slower machine they were throwing away at work. It has hosted at least 10 different flavors of Windows and Linux and is constantly in a state a flux.

The CPU - the brains behind the computer - is an Intel Pentium II-300. By today's standards, it's old and slow. Here's the dirty little secret - if all you're doing is word processing and web browsing, it's perfect.

Shh, don't tell.

It is my auxiliary machine and I do use it a lot, sometimes for photos and video, so it would be nice if it were a little faster. Last night I found what I hope will be the solution to this problem.

Tiger Direct is advertising a motherboard/memory/CPU/cooling fan combo for $99.99. That's an unbelievable deal and will give me a spare machine that's faster than anything else here.

If you're not a computer geek, a motherboard is the circuitry that ties together the computer chip (CPU) and everything else. Different motherboards have different functionality. This is pretty much a Swiss Army Knife, with video, audio, network connections and a host of other features right on the board. Previously, these demanded separate cards.

Usually, video on the motherboard isn't my favorite way to go. It's is often slower and less well thought out than stand alone video card which plug into a slot on the board. Since I'm not a game player, and video speed isn't paramount, it's a very small trade off.

This motherboard uses an AMD Athlon XP 2400+ CPU. When most people think of computer chips, they think Intel. This AMD is a virtual work alike. Other than cost (AMD is cheaper) I can't see any difference - and I've been using AMD chips for years.

The plan is to remove the motherboard from the auxiliary machine and replace it with this one. The case, power supply and disk drives will remain the same. Everything should just plug in.

It really is very close to getting a brand new machine for $99.99. Of course that $99.99 is after rebates, but I'll be diligent.

Earlier today, having already decided this would be a fun/good thing to do, I went to a local computer show in an elementary school gym. I couldn't have matched this deal for less than twice the price.

This is a project I'm looking forward to. Ripping a computer apart and rebuilding it is something you don't get to do every day. Hopefully, when it gets booted for the first time it will understand my angst and go right to work. Otherwise, I will be forced to threaten it with water. PC's are scared of water.

Sometime on Monday the little counter on the bottom right of this website will spin past 99,999 and move into six digits. It's my website, and I am impressed. I never thought there would be anywhere near this much traffic.

However, let's keep this in perspective. Compared to a large commercial site like Google or Yahoo I'm not even a rounding error. This site has so little traffic that it easily shares a computer with dozens of other small sites (and my server is in Chicago).

For a one man operation with no promotion, and no draw other than a look at what I'm thinking on any given day (not much it often seems) 100k since July is livin' large.

To define terms, each time a full page of this website is viewed the counter goes up one. This page counts as one. If you go back and look at a single archived entry, that's another one. Looking at a full screen of thumbnails in my gallery is one more. And, if you click on any of them to get that single image in a larger view that is yet one more.

There are other counters at work on the site. Most of them operate behind the scenes on the management pages.

This is the 400th entry in my blog which started on July 4, 2003 (you can see the titles of each with links by clicking here). The combined text and images here take up 285 MB. This website has spit out a little less than 15 GB of data, enough to fill 20 or so CDROMs. There have been 56,000 separate visits to the site. If you count each individual file that's called on, each image, style sheet, table and text files, you will be just short of 1.5 million hits!

This site is fully indexed on all the search engines, but gets the most traffic, by far, from Google. The largest number of referrals come from people entering the name, "Scotty Crowe," John Mayer's road manager who I had written about... and who doesn't appear on other sites often enough to move me from a prominent showing on Google and Yahoo. In 2003, Scotty was only number 2, just behind "giblet gravy," a term I had used in a context that probably wasn't be searched for.

There are other Geoff Fox's listed on the Internet - many others. But, I am the number one result when you Google my name. I'm also high on the list for 'dissed' and, of course, Scotty Crowe.

Each day, between 350-450 of you visit, looking at about 2 pages per visit on average.

There is a certain amount of exaggeration when you see all these numbers. Some do nothing more than reflect the Internet equivalent of a wrong number, as people come here by mistake. Others are reflecting robots and spiders and crawlers from search engines like Google, Yahoo and now Microsoft. Still more, less than 10% but significant, are from me... looking for errors and proofreading my work (I spend a lot of time spellchecking and proofreading my work and mistakes still get through all the time).

Actually, I often stay away from the public pages, lest I run up the counter.

If I told you how much this endeavor has cost, you'd probably be surprised. The main software is Movabletype, which is free. Same goes for Gallery, my photo gallery software and GrADS which produces the meteograms. All the software on this site is freeware.

Renting my little corner of cyberspace is also pretty cheap. I paid $100 for one year of webhosting, which provides the destination when you type http://www.geofffox.com. For that $100 I get 350 MB of space, more bandwidth than I can use, and the ability to control my mailboxes and truly be the master of my own domain! Owning geofffox.com is another $20 (I also own tv-cd.com).

Please accept my thanks for coming here and helping me stay motivated. I have become somewhat anal - posting virtually every day. I am surprised, gratified and a little scared when I think you've spent a time reading what I have to say.

Since I'm in the midst of a diet (doing very well thank you), I thought this would be a great time to join Helaine at the supermarket. Maybe... possibly... in this carb conscious time, there are new foods for me to eat.

Fat chance!

I am a very lucky man. My wife spoils me like crazy. She does virtually all the shopping for me. It is unusual for me to be in the grocery store with or without her. I am probably qualified to get that surprised look President Bush (41) had at a grocery convention years ago, when he saw scanners for the first time.

At times, while Helaine was going back for something she had forgotten and I stood silently and motionless next to the shopping cart, I felt like a lox. I wanted to pull out my cellphone and pretend I was calling my wife for advice, as so many other men there were doing. Being in a supermarket and not being in motion makes you stand out.

I had read, on the South Beach Diet, that brown rice and certain non-flour pastas might be OK. When I looked at their carbohydrate counts, I knew they weren't for me. In fact, many of the items I looked at had reasonably low carb counts, but only at the expense of portions sized for a flea.

The Klondike Fudge Bars I have taken a liking to weren't available. Helaine had stocked up - but we're hoping this is an anomaly, not the sign that they're gone.

I realized one more very important thing as I watched Chantee tally up the bill. When you eschew bread, pasta and other carbs and replace them with protein, you're going to pay a lot more for a bag of groceries.

There's snow in the forecast for tomorrow. In some ways I'm glad I'm on vacation... in others I'm not. It will be interesting as it unfolds.

Today, the Sun is beating down on bare ground and pavement. This time of year there is significantly more heat energy than a month or two ago. When the snow begins, the first few inches - maybe more - will melt on contact.

After a while, if it snows heavily enough, the ground will cool and snow will stick - but it takes a while and it's a very tough call with little guidance. Any forecast in this regard, from anyone, is more guess than skill.

There's one other interesting piece of this puzzle. If you look at a cross section of temperatures through the atmosphere (that's the box on the very top of the graphic), you'll see a significant area of temperatures above freezing starting at around 850 MB (near 5,000 feet) and heading up a few thousand feet more. That means a period of sleet, which also tends to keep accumulation down.

With each additional variable in a forecast, you increase the chance for error. As I said... in some ways I'm glad to be on vacation.

I swear by Popfile to rid my inbox of spam - but it's failing me now as spammers are getting more crafty. Within the past few weeks, messages that look very 'spammy' to the naked eye have been buzzing through Popfile. It was easy to figure out how.

Popfile compiles a 'corpus', a list of words that normally do or don't appear in my emails. Spammy words are likely to get an otherwise nice mail kicked out.

These new emails take a paragraph or two of text (it looks like AP wire copy or something similar) and inserts it in the message. The text is so long, it overwhelms the spam content.

The really sneaky part is how this long text is displayed. Unlike the ad copy, these innocuous words are displayed in the smallest possible size. It is so small that the letters aren't even formed. It's just a blur of small smudges. I had to copy it into a text editor to see what was really going on.

It's my guess that Popfile will be strengthened to fight this new scourge. And the spammers will come up with something else. It seems to be a never ending saga.

Here's the part that I totally don't understand. Hasn't everyone who wants Cialis or Viagra, and is willing to blindly buy on the net, already gotten it? I've gotten thousands upon thousands of solicitations for this kind of drug. I understand why someone wouldn't want to go to their doctor or pharmacist to explore this problem, but the numbers can't be this great.

Then there's the question who is going to ingest a substance that comes from a website which has to spell Viagra, V1@GR@ and falsifies its return address?

The products sold using spam have changed greatly over time. Bootleg software and prescription drugs seem to be the hot items at the moment. Many things I might have seen advertised a year or two ago are gone.

The quantity has also changed. Since January 6, 2004, 61% of my email has been spam (and that doesn't count the untold thousands of messages I filter out before they get to my mailbox)

It all boggles the mind.

Blogger's addendum - This morning, another similar spam came in. Here's what it looks like:

A new head start for elite women, a new course and an Olympic year couldn't stop Meb Keflezighi from making it the same old story at the Gate River Run.Keflezighi, of Mammoth, Calif., became the first man to win four consecutive River Run titles, catching Colleen De Reuck on the Hart Bridge and outrunning Abdi Abdirahman to the finish to win by 2 seconds on Saturday."It was a fast pace from the early going and Abdi gave me a run for the money," said Keflezighi, 28, who finished in 43 minutes, 10 seconds, to win $15,000, including a $5,000 bonus for being the top finisher.De Reuck, of Boulder, Colo., led most of the race after being one of 25 elite women to get a head start of 5 minutes, 16 seconds, longer than the 5-minute planned advantage because of technical problems. The head start was instituted for the first time to add drama to the race. De Reuck, 39, said she knew her split times were not fast enough to hold off the men."At least for the first 7 miles, I was just trying to secure the [women's] lead," said De Reuck, who finished first among the women in 49:02 and took home $10,000. "When I heard [from spectators] they [the top men] were there, I knew they were going to fly down the bridge."But the men's leaders really made up most of the time on the bridge incline, cutting a 40-second deficit in half.Race officials said the finish was one of the closest in the 27 years of the River Run, but did not have records available to confirm where it ranked.A clock problem caused the extra advantage for the elite women, but USA Track and Field men's championship liaison Mark Zenobia said the problem would have been more damaging if De Reuck had finished first overall and by less than 16 seconds.Race officials said they had to be certain the start was done properly because the race is the U.S. 15K championship. The event had 7,601 finishers, a River Run record.Abdirahman, who finished second last year by 28 seconds, said he ran a strong race but was not happy with second."I thought I might outkick him, but ... he had a little more surge at the end," said Abdirahman of Tucson, Ariz. "I wish I had another 50 meters."Catching the women was not important. I knew I would catch them, but I didn't get the bonus, so it didn't matter."But Keflezighi, a late commitment to the race because he was recovering after qualifying for the Olympics in the marathon last month, said he didn't think he would have caught De Reuck without the 25-year-old Abdirahman pushing the pace.Keflezighi beat the record of Todd Williams, who won three consecutive titles from 1994-96.Race director Doug Alred said the extra 16 seconds made the race more exciting and he might adjust the equalizer bonus based on the field next year.De Reuck pulled away from Sylvia Mosqueda by 25 seconds in the fourth mile and won by 1:06 over the fellow marathon trials qualifier."I felt OK for the first mile and a half," said Mosqueda, a Los Angeles resident. "But right around 3 miles, my legs were like lead. I didn't feel like I was racing; I felt like I was running."Tatyana Pozdnyakova, a Gainesville resident who won the Los Angeles Marathon on March 7, finished third among women (50:15) and first among Masters women -- ages 40 and older. Pozdnyakova, 49, won the $50,000 challenge bonus in Los Angeles where women received a 20:30 head start in the 26.2-mile race. Dennis Simonaitis, 41, of Draper, Utah, was the top men's finisher in the Masters division. He finished in 48:31.Kim Pawelek, who finished 10th among women (52:54) and is also going to the marathon trials April 3 in St. Louis, was the top women's finisher from Jacksonville. Zepherinus Joseph was the top Jacksonville runner (23rd, 48:34) and is awaiting word on whether he will be representing St. Lucia in the Olympic Games at Athens.One of the worst runs of his career probably helped Dale Earnhardt Jr. save his season.A week after he nearly was parked for running too slow, Junior zoomed by Jeremy Mayfield with 15 laps to go and sprinted to an easy victory Sunday in the Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
He also won the season-opening Daytona 500."Last week was as bad as it ever gets," Earnhardt said. "But we didn't get on each other too bad, and we stayed pretty focused."Rookie Kasey Kahne was third -- his third straight finish in the top three -- and Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman followed him across the finish line.Defending series champ Matt Kenseth, who had won the past two races, rallied from a lap down to finish sixth.At Las Vegas last Sunday, Earnhardt started 26th and quickly drifted to the rear of the field at the start. His Chevrolet was so far off the pace that NASCAR warned his crew he was right at the minimum speed.After eventually finishing 35th, Earnhardt and the team spent Thursday testing at Kentucky Speedway. Just as their session was ending, they hit on a setup that worked, and Earnhardt was fast all weekend at Atlanta."We went testing, and we're going testing this week," Earnhardt said. "We're going to test, test, test, until we lap the field."I'm determined and devoted to running like this every week, no matter what it costs."He qualified seventh and stayed near the front, then dominated the latter stages. He passed Mayfield's Dodge for the lead with 60 laps to go and held the top spot until the leaders made their final pit stops under green.Mayfield came in with 26 to go and his crew changed four tires in 14.3 seconds, then Earnhardt followed three laps later. His stop was nearly a second faster, but he came back on the track in third, behind Mayfield and Johnson.With 20 laps left, Earnhardt drove by Johnson on the inside and set his sights on Mayfield. He didn't take long.Junior ran up high in Turns 1 and 2 to get momentum, then swooped underneath Mayfield down the backstretch, moving into the lead with hardly a struggle."We had a great car to start with, but it just seemed as the race went on, the tighter we got," Mayfield said of his car's handling. "Dale Jr. and those guys got ahead of the track and we didn't."Kenseth started 30th and was up to 13th after 15 laps, and eventually got to sixth before the first pit stops. But he made a rare mistake, spinning his Ford as he came into the pits, and dropped a lap down after a drive-through penalty.He made up the ground during the second caution for oil on the track, because he was the first lapped car behind the leader, and got his fourth straight top-10 finish to start the season.Kenseth leads Tony Stewart by 82 points, with Earnhardt another eight points back.

And, here's what those little lines say:

I get ads from a lot of companies I've done business with. This is different than spam, and I don't mind. I'm hoping most of them are above board and if I asked, I'd be removed. It is a guilty pleasure to look through the ads in search of something I now want, since I only now know it exists.

I was looking through some stuff from Overstock.com when I ran into this. It's an ad for a book on Microsoft Flight Simulator. Please compare Overstock's price with list.

Oops.

The snow started lightly a few hours ago. Now it's really coming down. A quick peek at the radar shows there's no let up in sight. I had suspected it would take a long time for there to be accumulation on the road surfaces - and that still looks right.

Even so, it's depressing to know that Spring is only a few days away and it's still snowing. Not only that - it might snow again this week!

Where are these people who tell me they love the four seasons? Maybe they're talking about Frankie Valli and his group from the sixties. I can't see how they're loving this now.

At the time when I should be getting out and sniffing the fresh air, I am in the house, wondering whether we need gutter heaters. I was hoping to play golf this week. Who am I kidding?

Earlier in the week, I had asked a friend for a favor. He said "As long as you don't even mention the word "SNOW" any more - for the rest of the winter - you're all set."

What now?

This is a seminal moment in the life of a springtime snowstorm. Once it starts accumulating, as long as the precipitation doesn't turn to rain or sleet, it keeps accumulating. This is regardless of air temperature.

Our goose is cooked. A quick look at some computer guidance and the radar says we have hours to go.

The final totals will be below, or on the low side, of most predictions. It will still be unfair for mid-March!

In today's ShopTalk, a daily newletter for broadcast journalists (and those who sit in the same room with them), Alan Mendelson of KCAL wrote an interesting letter:

This is a subject I've thought about a lot. So, I responded:

This essay was written for the New Haven Register and will be published Friday March 19, 2004 in their Op-Ed Section.

Spring arrives Saturday morning at 1:42 AM. It's about time. I can’t remember a winter trying my patience more.

In case you've been hermetically sealed for the last four months, let me summarize winter '03-'04 for you. It snowed 6,000 times. We saw the mercury drop to 80° below zero with a wind chill of -200°. During this winter, the wind blew greater than 35 mph for all but six minutes... and during those six minutes we had sleet. There are now four body shop owners in Connecticut who are richer than Bill Gates.

Each autumn, as I begin to dread the annual suicide plunge of the leaves, some well meaning soul will seek me out to tell me how, "I just love the four seasons." Where are they today? Bring 'em on! Maybe they're really talking about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. It's possible. They certainly weren't fondly anticipating what we just went through.

We get winter, and the other three seasons, because of a quirk of cosmic fate. The Earth tilts on its axis in relationship to our orbit around the Sun. That tilt brings us varying lengths for our days, varying intensity of warmth from the Sun, and all the weather we can handle.

I have friends in California who look at winter pictures from here in Connecticut and remark about how quaint and beautiful it is. It's easy to use "quaint" when you've never watched your car's forward motion through the passenger side window, as you pirouette gracefully down Whitney Avenue. They are in California, where school is cancelled for rain, for heaven’s sake!

Quaint is not a word used by those who pay for plowing and heating oil, who live in a place where you can't put plain water in your windshield washer tank, and who consider, during any given storm, whether gutter heaters might be a good idea.

It could be worse. The sneaky secret in astronomy is, winter is our shortest season. Summer lasts 94 days while winter is only 89. Unfortunately, winter packs 94 days of grief into that more compact package.

Now, the countdown begins anew.

I will relish the days of spring and the warmth of summer. And then, sometime in August, there’s the realization the inevitable is drawing closer.

If, in that shoulder season, someone should ask me about Global Warming, I will look serious and concerned - but in my heart of hearts I’ll be thinking of Frank, my plow guy, in his Lexus.