Fraize Dotcom

Yes, I know. Once again, my blog is all but silent and the only thing I can talk about is the weather! Right now, it’s snowing outside to beat the band. The news says 1 to 3 inches with a quarter-inch of ice mixed in. It’s not supposed to stop all day, and the stuff is so heavy and thick on the ground, that 3 inches just seems way too conservative an estimate. It’s really coming down.

In the meantime, my parents are flying back from Reno via Denver. In a word – unlikely. Both Denver and Dulles airport are both enjoying frozen stuff.

—

Last night I went to GameStop and picked up Crackdown. This XBox 360 title is Grand Theft Auto turned on its ear. You play a genetically engineered cop set out onto the streets to take down the crime lords in “Pacific City.” As you fight, your strength, agility and skills with a gun and car improve. I’ve taken down about 4 of these mini-bosses, and the game already seems a little repetitive. I’ll give it a bit more.

The forecasters were swearing up and down that all the precipitation was going to be in the form of rain that would accrete into an inch or more of ice. That much ice would cause the biggest trees to snap, taking powerlines with them. As cold as it is, with power out, it would get very very cold inside our house. The forecasters predicted that most of the rainfall would occur before 6am.

However, it wasn’t nearly as bad when I woke up this morning. Looking out, I saw no trees bent over. I heard no ominous creaking or snapping. The snow outside looked a little deeper from our bedroom window, but that was it.

The local weathermen were all backpedaling at Ludicrous speed. “Well,” they exclaimed,”we lucked out. All that rain turned into sleet, and accumulated as ice pellets, which are easier to shovel, and didn’t stick much to trees.”

A couple of radio deejays have been spearheading an effort here – if a weatherman is as wrong as they all seemingly were, they need to sacrifice a finger. Put that pinky on the block and chop it off. Maybe then, we’ll get a little bit better at forecasting. Then again, they may start hedging a bit too much. “Well, we could get a foot of snow… or maybe it’ll be 70. Film at eleven.”

No, I’m not talking about me. I’m talking about the snow and icy precipitation that’s covering the DC area right now. Looking out my living-room window, I see that every surface has about an inch of snow on the ground.

It’s not much snow, by any measure. In fact, many schools in the area are still opening on time. On the local news, most of the roads look clear, but wet. The problem with going to work today, though, is timing.

If I tried to get to work, the hour I normally spend in the car on the way in would likely be fine. I’d get to work on time, but around noon, the light snow is expected to change over to ice and freezing rain. That would both turn my hour drive home into a treacherous affair, probably lasting quite a bit longer. Lost productivity becomes a real concern. I can sit here on my couch, and get 95% of my work done, so why bother going in at all? Happily, ThinkGeek agrees, and implemented a liberal leave policy for today.

So, right now, it’s pretty, but when the ice starts to fall, the branches will start to bend and snap, with splintering trunks sounding like gunshots. I’ve got my camera at the ready!

It’s SuperBowl Sunday, 20 minutes until kickoff, and I’m sitting in my local Panera sandwich shop, enjoying the peace and quiet of a slow night. I could honestly not care less about the game. I am only dimly aware of the teams. I don’t think I could name a single player.

My neighbors committed the sin of buying a brand-new plasma, unpacking it, and putting the giant cardboard box out on the street so all the neighbors can be jealous.

I have just realized over the years that it’s just a ton of hype, manufactured for maximum product placement, and advertising possibility. The actual effort of the players, and the majesty of the game is lost in the commerciality of it all. Hell, every year, a greater portion of viewers of the Super Bowl are only watching the commercials.

Do I think I’m better than those of you who are watching the game? Not really. I’m sure you’ll have a good time, high-fiving your friends after a great play, swilling beer and stuffing Macho Nacho Grandes down your throats. I hope you enjoy yourselves! Me? I’m content to stay in, drink coffee, write some code that’s been bugging me for a year, and remain detached. Tomorrow, everybody will be talking about the game, and the great commercials. I’ll be getting some work done.

By the way, the code I’ve been writing is the first honest-to-God code I’ve written in almost a year. It’s amazing how much my skills have atrophied in such a short time. I’ve forgotten so much syntax, it’s crazy.

It’s some reporting software that I’ve been thinking about for a while. Our database is hidden behind layers of security such that I can’t directly call complex reports. So, I’m writing a scaffold that will manage generating those complex reports by using our web-front-end to execute canned reports, scraping the result set and graphing the results. It’ll be totally cool when I’m done.