Scenes from the Storm

I’ve documented my blizzard experience in photos.

Here’s the link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=629146&id=598225120&l=a48805a49a

Fully narrated, of course. Enjoy.

Storm Update – Day 2

After making a night out of it at the office it looks like I will be here once again today. Many roads are completely snow covered and even the short drive from here to my house (less than a mile) isn’t worth the risk right now.

Fortunately the planned live shots for this morning have now turned into phoners, so that is a relief. It’s been quite a night. After being unable to get into my own driveway and retreating to the office I wasn’t sure what to expect.

The highlight of the night was definitely the pizza from Hoops. My gosh that was good. Nice to have pizza on demand within walking distance of one’s workplace when one is stranded in said workplace during blizzard conditions.

Tried catching a little shut eye afterwards by sleeping across the two chairs in my office. You can imagine how well that worked out. I think I got a half hour of sleep. Better than nothing 🙂

Spent some time in the Communications Center while I was stuck at the office overnight.

All kinds of calls were coming in to our staff, with reports of stranded motorists throughout the area. Not good. In addition to trying to clear the roads, plow drivers joined law enforcement personnel in trying to assist these folks. These people work hard.

It’s not getting any better outside. Should be another interesting day around here. Hope you’re staying warm and safe, wherever you are.

As for me I’m thankful for heat, thankful to not be outside, and thankful for those three slices of pizza that are waiting for me in the fridge. Here’s to another day in paradise.

Storm Update

This thing is legit. Before I go any further – stay off the roads unless you absolutely have to drive. Whiteout conditions are being reported in numerous locations. It’s bad out there. Stay home. Trust me on this one, you don’t want to be driving tonight or tomorrow morning.

Me? Well it’s my job to let people know not to drive, so of course…I drove…to one of the local television stations here to do a couple of live interviews in their studio.

I’m finding the similarities to my hurricane reporting experience are increasing with this storm. I stood on the beach while 74mph winds blew around, telling people to not be out and about during Charley. Now I am urging people not to drive in this blizzard but in the process driving to the interview location. It requires one to look past the obvious surface level hypocrisy and just kinda understand, I suppose. Hopefully everyone out there understands 🙂

Anyway I wasn’t able to make it up the station’s driveway entrance this evening and as a result wound up parking across the street. From there I proceeded to run up the driveway through the snow and wind to the building. Safe to say I must have looked fairly ridiculous (I was wearing the orange safety vest and everything.) Ah well. Safety first, people.

Made it back to my neighborhood after the early evening live shots, only to find that I couldn’t get into my own driveway. Yeah. It’s awful outside. It looks like the office will be my home away from home tonight.

The upside to this? The only business of any kind open anywhere near the office is none other than Hoops Pizza – conveniently located right across the street (see: no driving required) and home to some ridiculously tasty pies. I’m salivating just thinking about it. Time to eat. Phoner at 10 and then out in the cold for live shots at 5am tomorrow…assuming I can get there.

Be safe everyone.