What's more current than the weather?

[infinite monkey]

Well, took the hot bath. It helped. Water in bathroom is fine. However, I just tried the kitchen sink (which worked fine about half an hour ago) and there is no water coming out. Burst pipe somewhere I guess.

I wonder if I will ever get anything close to a break. Maybe one month where everything on earth doesn't suck. I've been holding it together all this time, but it never ends.

I'm so freaking tired of everything.

[glatt]

Open your kitchen cabinets if they aren't already open. Let some "warm" air into them so the pipes thaw a little.

[infinite monkey]

Yeah, they're open. I put a little heater near it. I wonder if the loud POP I heard was a pipe, though. I've been hearing cracking poppy noises all day: just figured it was the elements trying to break everything into pieces outside. But then I realized: Oh yeah, it's me. Why the hell would I be immune to any crap that wants to cruise on into my world? [/self-pity]

[glatt]

This cold weather really sucks. (And it hasn't even hit here yet.) I hope you don't have a burst pipe somewhere.

[Griff]

Schools are closed for tomorrow due to COLD. I have a meeting that is still on I believe.

[glatt]

So windy. The lights flickered a couple times. I'd prefer it if the power doesn't go out. It's kind of important for heat.

[Griff]

Yeah, with the wind this cold could be a killer. The Binghamton District only transports kids who are more than 2 miles from their school so this closing was a no-brainer.


Event: Wind Chill Warning
Alert:

...WIND CHILL WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO
7 PM EST TUESDAY...

* LOCATIONS...ALL OF NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA AND CENTRAL NEW YORK.

* HAZARDS...DANGEROUSLY COLD WIND CHILL VALUES AND STRONG GUSTY
WINDS.

* WIND CHILL READINGS...BETWEEN 25 AND 35 BELOW ZERO.

* WINDS...WEST 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 45 MPH POSSIBLE.

* TIMING...LATE TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY. THE COLDEST WIND CHILL
VALUES WILL OCCUR TUESDAY MORNING. THE STRONGEST WINDS WILL
BEGIN THIS EVENING AND CONTINUE THROUGH TUESDAY BEFORE
SUBSIDING TUESDAY EVENING.

* TEMPERATURES...BETWEEN 0 AND 10 BELOW ZERO TUESDAY MORNING...
RISING INTO THE SINGLE DIGITS FOR HIGHS TUESDAY AFTERNOON.

* IMPACTS...DANGEROUSLY COLD WIND CHILLS WILL POSE A RISK FOR
FROST BITE AND HYPOTHERMIA FOR ANYONE OUTSIDE, EVEN FOR A SHORT
PERIOD OF TIME. THIS IS LIFE-THREATENING COLD FOR THOSE NOT IN
SHELTER. IN ADDITION, STRONG WINDS COULD DOWN TREE LIMBS, CAUSING
ISOLATED POWER OUTAGES AND ALSO MAKE TRAVEL DIFFICULT FOR HIGH
PROFILE VEHICLES.

Instructions: A WIND CHILL WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN WINDS COMBINE WITH BITTERLY COLD TEMPERATURES TO CREATE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS CONDITIONS FOR EXPOSED SKIN. THE WIND CHILL WILL BE COLD ENOUGH TO CAUSE FROSTBITE IN ABOUT 15 MINUTES OR LESS...AND COULD LEAD TO HYPOTHERMIA IF PROPER PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN. IF YOU MUST GO OUTSIDE...REMEMBER THAT SEVERAL LAYERS OF CLOTHING WILL KEEP YOU WARMER THAN A SINGLE HEAVY COAT. A HAT IS ALSO IMPORTANT AS MORE BODY HEAT IS LOST THROUGH THE HEAD THAN ANY OTHER PART OF THE BODY. IT IS ALSO VERY IMPORTANT TO COVER ALL EXPOSED FLESH TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM FROSTBITE.

[glatt]

Our schools are getting a 2 hour delay tomorrow. Not sure what that's supposed to do. So instead of walking to school in 5 degree weather, the kids can wait a bit and go in 10 or 15 degree weather. Wind chill will be something like 0 then. At least it will be sunny.

[Aliantha]

We had a storm go through last night. We only got a bit of rain, so no damage. We did lose power for about 4 hours or so though. That was annoying, specially since it was during the dinner/bathtime period. :/

[DanaC]

I heard how eyeballs can freeze it's so cold.

Terrible time to be homeless.

[Griff]

The local shelters tend to run at about 80% capacity. They are over-full now so they've opened overflow facilities. There is room, unfortunately getting the word out is difficult.

[infinite monkey]

glatt, was your kids' schhol cancelled yet? all schools, including colleges, cancelled areound here. if the cold front stays how it was here, 10-15 degrees is optimistic.

still minus 7 here, sans wind chill from high gusts. i can't wait for the big warmup...24 degrees tomorrow. up to 40 by friday. maybe pipes will thaw? maybe not burst? no water coming out of bathroom when i turn the hot water thingy. cold water comes out when i turn the cold water thingy.

[glatt]

School's only delayed. Mrs. Glatt will drive them and pick them up. She subs at one of the schools, so it works with her schedule. Normally, one would have a 1 mile walk and the other would have a 1.95 mile walk.

I walked 1 mile to the subway this morning. I bundled up, so was fine. 6 degrees when I left the house. But the long johns and hat and scarf and hood of my puffy ass down coat helped a lot.


Significant delays on the Metro. Our stop is the first one underground. The trains have about 10 miles above ground before they get to our stop. And when I got to the station, what would have been my train was disabled and off-loaded. Maybe you can see the thousand or so people standing on the platform next to the train. I stayed on the upper balcony with a bunch of other people until things got sorted out down there. The platform to the right was empty because there was a medical emergency on that side of the track at the next station. (An above ground station.) And traffic had been stopped.

Waited around for a half hour while it got more and more crowded. Then they made an announcement that they would be single tracking trains (sharing the same track, and taking turns) to go around the disabled train. Huge stroke of luck for me, because I was one of the first people down onto that empty platform, and I got onto the first train to come into the station. It was packed like sardines, but I made it in to work.

Anyway, it's not normally like this on Metro. And I blame the severe cold. At least I was inside for all my waiting.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by infinite monkey

maybe pipes will thaw? maybe not burst? no water coming out of bathroom when i turn the hot water thingy. cold water comes out when i turn the cold water thingy.

Keep the cold water one open a teensy bit, and also open the hot water a teensy bit.

Don't open them all the way and leave. I had a friend do that. They were not producing any water, so he opened them all the way and went to work. He figured it was fine because nothing was coming out. Came home hours later to an overflowing sink and a waterfall coming down his hall steps. Oops. The drain couldn't carry the water away fast enough.

Last night, I took the sensor from one of our indoor/outdoor radio thermometers and put it on top of one of the pipes in the basement right next to the uninsulated concrete block exterior wall. And put the reader on my bedside table. I peeked at it during the night a couple times. It hovered around 45, but I was letting the basement sink quickly drip anyway, just to be safe. We had set the heat a few degrees higher than usual, and it ran frequently. I think that kept the basement "warm," even though there are no radiators down there.

[infinite monkey]

The temp is rising! It's minus 6!

Now that I've had some coffee and some help with the anxiety, I'm feeling a bit more optimistic. Also, I did some creative heater placement, and it's already warmer in here. I should teach a class: The Modern Pioneer: Getting By With Inconvenient Crap. It would be designed to appeal to people like me: afraid of being a consumer, tired of being ripped off, living alone or with others who also have these irrational fears of 'calling' someone to come to my home...so we deal with crap because it seems easier.

Mostly, I want to move. I'm just not happy here anymore. Like, hardly ever.