Comments

1
Seattle is on Mid-Winter Break.
2
@1,

Oh. I forgot about mid-winter break. And miss it deeply. We used to visit my mother in Florida this time of year. DAMN YOU TO HELL MERCER ISLAND, FOR NOT HAVING MID-WINTER BREAK!

(Gotta maintain my outrage about something.)
3
ummmm, bellevue and seattle are already closed for mid-winter break, genuis.
4
@3,

Hey... it's early, and I haven't had my caffeine yet. Give me a break and let me enjoy my rant.
5
Dang! Nubbit!!
6
@4 - My nephew is in the other room loudly playing video games, and I had somehow forgotten Bellevue was on mid-winter break. It's early. I forgive you.
7
"where three-quarters of the people seem to be driving four-wheel vehicles."

The problem within that lies that a majority of them don't even know how to engage the 4wd of their car and those that do have no idea how to drive in snowy conditions.
8
Further, I don't think wussie is appropriate. For as many gays who have been called fags, there are many more who have been called wussies.

Fuck off Goldy.
9
@8,

Seriously? Women get all pissy if I use the word "pussy," and now I'm told it's offensive to gays to use the word "wussie." Really?

Am at a loss for words. Quite literally.
10
Maybe it's just me, so I shouldn't speak for others, but yes, I hate the word wuss and am offended by it.

That doesn't mean you have to stop using it, but I'm gonna tell you or whoever uses it to fuck off =)
11
@7: exactly. Used to live in Issaquah, and every car abandoned on the side of I-90 after two inches of snow was an SUV facing the wrong way. Sure, they all own $60k vehicles, but they never learned that you shouldn't continue to do 70MPH when it's 30 and snowing.
12
Goldy, whenever you're calling people something negative, you're always going to piss people off. You could try saying we're all "pissy" next time. Or...even better, that we're all "whiny little bitches."

And so fucking what if we are. We have hills here and no matter how many of your wheels are spinning, it's not going to get up up and down those hills safely when they're icy. Remember that bus that almost crashed out onto I-5? It was because of a hill.

The forecast is likely accurate and school districts have to answer to irate parents if they don't cancel school when they should have. Also, would you really want to be stuck at work late as a teacher with all of the students who couldn't get home because of the weather? I bet those spoiled Mercer kids would be just a joy to spend an evening with when they're bored.

(Though, does anyone know, how hilly is Mercer Island, anyway?)
13
Coming up on Mornings with Goldy: "Hey, Laurelhurst, Suck My Dick."
14
I pretty sure the reason for the closure is that no one wants a busload of kids to slide off the road while going up or down an icy hill. Use your head Goldy.

@12 Hilly enough.
15
I grew up on the island, and I can attest to the fact that East and West Mercer Ways are, in fact, very dangerous roads with only the lightest dusting of snow. I watched "Downtown" Freddie Brown's Mercedes slide 150 feet down into a ravine on East Mercer Way as I walked home from school after three inches or so of snow (the busses were cancelled and we were on our own). In addition, the schools are at the top of steep hills, and most of the city has no sidewalks, making it dangerous even for kids to walk to school.

Discretion is the greater part of valor when most of your student's parents can afford very expensive lawyers.
16
1) A "four-wheel vehicle" is not the same as a four wheel drive vehicle.

2) Your bogus assumption that four wheel drive is an acceptable substitute for knowing how to drive in snow is common in Seattle, disgraceful in somebody from the east coast, and exactly why I stay off the roads when it snows here.
18
Well, Goldy, those SUVs have to compensate for something...here in Alberta, they hang a large set of balls off the back bumper, to show what the driver's missing...

(waves to gus...)

PS And because I love you guys so much, may I just remind everyone to always get a paper boarding pass, no matter how smart your phone is...Murphy does not like technology.

PPS Goldy, you can call me a pussy any time you want, but I prefer bitch.
19

Oh, Bunny, there's a touch of hail on the rhododendrons...I don't want to back the Audi out as Jeeves has just finished polishing the hood ornament...let's all just stay home and use the new limestone Parcheesi set that Daddums gifted us last holly.
20
Schools here need to use the Seattle Low Land Snow Forcasting Formula http://t.co/zWPvRaq
21
Four wheel drive vehicles are dangerous. That's why insurance on them costs more. If anything, all the SUVs adds to the need to close the schools when it snows.
22
Fact: the absolute worst, most nightmarish traffic tie ups in Seattle are when we have a mid-day snow. Just like they're predicting today. Everyone gets up, looks out the window and sees passable streets, just like this morning, and drives to work. Then it snows. Then nobody can get anywhere, and thousands of vehicles are stuck and abandoned on the streets and freeways. Busloads of kids can't get home. Etc.

So, yeah, it doesn't look too bad right now. But today has the potential for creating the worst kind of traffic hell. The school district is correct to err on the side of caution.
23
@17: You should know that there's this thing called a thesaurus.

Coward, alarmist, baby, caitiff, chicken heart, chicken liver, chicken, craven, cur, dastard, deserter, faint-of-heart, faintheart, fraidy-cat, funk, gutless, invertebrate, jellyfish, lily liver, malingerer, mouse, pessimist, poltroon, quitter, rabbit, recreant, scaredy cat, shirk, shirker, skulker, sneak, weakling, white liver, wimp, yellow belly, yellow...

While I don't have super-strong feelings about it, the word wussy is a euphemism for those wussies afraid to use the word pussy. Of course, if you really want to show that you don't give a shit, just call them fags.

What I do have strong feelings about is the freaking awesomeness of the word "poltroon" -- now there's a word it takes balls to use! I dare ya, Goldy.
24
At this point, as I sit in Bellevue, the sun is shining. Hopefully, I will be able to get home tonight before the worst of it. If not, I have power bars and a hair dryer in the car in case I must shelter in place. :(
25
Also, most of Mercer Island's public school teachers don't actually live on Mercer Island, but further out I-90 where they do get real snow.

...although, one would think there are enough privately-owned helicopters in the district to be able to transport the workforce if need be. I mean, the other servants still have to come to work, right?
26
Hi Canuck! Hi Gus!
27
Thank you, pamplemousse. That being said, teachers would, in all likelihood, choose to come in on is lovely, sunny day, rather than have another day of school added in June. You are SO spot on, Goldy.
28
By the way, we've got piles of snow up here in Victoria and it's still coming down. It's beautiful, but thank god I don't have to drive.
29
Good morning, Lissa and Canuck! Lissa, I will be thinking of you, sending soothing thoughts your way as the demon snow kittens tumble from the sky this afternoon, and you with nothing more than soy protein and a blow dryer to defend yourself.

Courage.
30
In addition to the comments above, I'll point out that this wussy region is capable of thinking ahead, and realizing that what you see out your bedroom window in the morning might just possibly not be what conditions will be like in the afternoon, when schools let out.

People used to joke about the weather report, but weather forecasting has gotten pretty damn accurate over recent years, and if Cliff Maas and Co. say it's going to be fucked up at 3 PM, it's probably going to be fucked up at 3 AM.

As for the lack of testicular fortitude shown by area drivers in the presence of snow, I can state with total confidence that any Chicago drivers attempting to navigate the ravines of Mercer Island in snowy, icy weather, in the vehicle of their choice, would be first off the side of the road.
32
I work on Mercer Island and it's all fine here at the moment. Got into work easily (from Capitol Hill), but I am planning on leaving early.
33
Hola, Lissa! It's true, blizzard in Victoria (husband and youngest got out just in time, although no doubt scarred by their close encounter with rabid felines...) and I belive it is heading your way. As gus says, keep your blow dryer at the ready: Never give in. Never surrender.
34
@31, aw, that was such a tiny mistake, innerwebs-wise. Me, I'm just busying myself looking up words until my full set of Fnarfopedias arrive.

Canuck, the snow outside my window is nine inches deep and counting, and this from a girl with big eyes! Apologies to your menfolk for the cougars; they tend to congregate in this neck of the woods. Must be all those young bunnies at the university that attract them.
35
The process, for most school districts, is pretty well-defined. The transportation director (or surrogate) goes out and drives the bus routes most likely to be problematic about 4 or 5 a.m. If they have trouble negotiating those routes, then they recommend either a delay or a closure based on that. The last thing a trans director wants is to have busloads of schoolkids either trapped on the road or worse, wrecked.

The weather forecasts are almost universally in agreement today, which is exceedingly rare in a region where the weather is this chaotic. We will see snow this evening: the only questions are when and how much.

People thought I was a weenie for leaving work at 1 p.m. on November 22nd. But when I got home, I called work and told them the roads were wet, the temperature was dropping like a rock, and it was going to be a skating rink by nightfall. People who listened to me and went home early were fine. People who got all snow-macho about it - well, those were the folks who took 10 hours to get home, trapped in their cars on the freeway, watching the gas gauge go down and semis jackknifing all around them.

Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor.
36
Gus and Canuck, Your kind words are much appreciated. With your support in mind I shall prevail against these fluffy abominations.
37
Irena, this Canada is a scary place, what with all the rabid snow cats and cougars...and yes, I can see how the cougars might well be attracted to all those cute little bunnies at the University...so long as the snow doesn't interfere with my plans to head to Vancouver tomorrow for a reunion with old friends (aka: tequila festival 2011) :)
38
No snow in Vancouver yet, though it is unseasonably cold and icy. They are calling for flurries overnight and more on Sunday.

I intend to file a protest with the proper authorities if a single snowflake lands on my head. This is why I left Ottawa, dammit.
39
And once again, no school on Mercer Island. Insane. If the bus drivers can't be taught to drive a bus, the city can't figure out how to throw down some salt on the roads (don't worry, a little salt won't do as much damage to the ecosystem as your gas guzzling SUV that you can't figure out how to drive) and parents seem to think their little darlings can't be asked to walk down the hill to meet the bus, I guess we're at the end of civilization as we know it. I have friends and relatives on the east coast (where, guess what, they have hills!) who are laughing hysterically right now! Mercer Island, grow up! What are we teaching our kids? You don't have to go to work if it looks like it might snow and you might have to be a little more careful and take a little more time to get where you need to go! Insane.
40
I just moved to Mercer Island and was pretty impressed to see a snowplow go down my street around 8:30 a.m. Thursday morning after it did snow. Never saw one of those in Seattle.

Oh and last time it snowed Seattle schools called a snow day and MI didn't.
41
This post is pretty late in the game but I saw this chat board and thought I needed to set all you dipshits straight aside from those who have actually met the people on Mercer Island, worked there, drove there, or just plain are stupid.

First off, I'd just like to say most of you guys are pathetic. You're spending your time on a chat board bitching about how Mercer Island canceled school because of a snow forecast when you should be off actually doing your jobs or whatever the hell it is you do. Why are you even bothering to get so caught up in this in the first place when I'm pretty sure you guys are all out of high school anyways so it doesn't even affect you.

I'm a student at Mercer and honestly, I'm glad they gave us the day off. I don't think you guys realize that Mercer is a blue ribbon school who doesn't give their students mid-winter break, have us in class for longer than some other schools, and have us start the school year earlier than other districts as well.

Now, on to the issue of us all being spoiled brats. You might want to do some research before you go start calling students names who you've never even met before. Not everyone on they island is as loaded as you all seem to think. Yeah, people with houses down on the lake front have some amazing homes but that's not the entire population of Mercer Island. Some of the homes are tiny one story houses that look like they're about to fall apart. Also, we're not all spoiled brats who have helicopters to fly us to exotic locations and go on shopping sprees with Daddy's credit card every weekend. Don't make assumptions about every person on the island when you don't know us. You know what assuming does, it makes an ass out of you and me. Based on how much most of you are bitching about Mercer Island, my guess is you're just upset that you didn't grow up in the houses and with the money some of these people have.

Now, onto the issues of the teaching staff. They chose to work here. No one held a gun to their head and made them apply to to Mercer Island. They chose it because it's an amazing school with rigorous academics and great staff and students.

Grow up, get off these stupid chat boards bitching about something that doesn't even concern you, and go make some money so that maybe one day, you can have what some of these people have and you can stop feeling like you need to say offensive things about people you don't know and who don't concern you.

Kaaay? Thanks.
42
First off, I'd just like to say most of you guys are pathetic. You're spending your time on a chat board bitching about how Mercer Island canceled school because of a snow forecast when you should be off actually doing your jobs or whatever the hell it is you do. Why are you even bothering to get so caught up in this in the first place when I'm pretty sure you guys are all out of high school anyways so it doesn't even affect you.

I'm a student at Mercer and honestly, I'm glad they gave us the day off. I don't think you guys realize that Mercer is a blue ribbon school who doesn't give their students mid-winter break, have us in class for longer than some other schools, and have us start the school year earlier than other districts as well.

Now, on to the issue of us all being spoiled brats. You might want to do some research before you go start calling students names who you've never even met before. Not everyone on they island is as loaded as you all seem to think. Yeah, people with houses down on the lake front have some amazing homes but that's not the entire population of Mercer Island. Some of the homes are tiny one story houses that look like they're about to fall apart. Also, we're not all spoiled brats who have helicopters to fly us to exotic locations and go on shopping sprees with Daddy's credit card every weekend. Don't make assumptions about every person on the island when you don't know us. You know what assuming does, it makes an ass out of you and me. Based on how much most of you are bitching about Mercer Island, my guess is you're just upset that you didn't grow up in the houses and with the money some of these people have.

Now, onto the issues of the teaching staff. They chose to work here. No one held a gun to their head and made them apply to to Mercer Island. They chose it because it's an amazing school with rigorous academics and great staff and students.

Grow up, get off these stupid chat boards bitching about something that doesn't even concern you, and go make some money so that maybe one day, you can have what some of these people have and you can stop feeling like you need to say offensive things about people you don't know and who don't concern you.

Kaaay? Thanks.

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