Brrr…
Posted on January 5, 2004
You know what’s the worse part of it being too cold to snow in Portland? I mean besides it being too cold to snow in Portland, with winds that are rattling my house.
The way I can tell that the sky really, really wants to snow by the pain right between my eyes.
I kinda know the frustration that the sky is experiencing. Because of some sore ribs, I haven’t been able to sneeze successfully in over three weeks now. The sharp in take of breath needed to fuel the sneeze causes enough pain in my ribs that the entire operation is aborted. This leaves me feeling vaguely unsatisfied and unclean for a while after.
So I’m feeling all sorts of digruntled. And cold.
As bad as the last couple days have been, they still don’t justify the overloaded hype brought to the situation by our local newsmedia. Yesterday was bad, and last night was really, really bad. But the local news yobs have been calling this a “storm” long before it was necessary. For most of the time, the word “storm” has been misapplied. Yet I suppose they don’t get quite the same viewer draw out of a more appropriate word like “nuisance.”
Still: On New Year’s DayÑwhen there is hardly any traffic on the road, most folks stay home and skip workÑI heard one of the news anchorpeople refer to coverage of “today’s chaos.” Every on-the-scene has been deployed since to give us those necessary visuals of snow and ice covered highways and parking lots. Last night, on Channel 6 topped them all by putting not only their street reporters but also their whole studio anchor team out on, as they put it, “the cold streets of Portland.”
Yes, there are a million stories in the naked city….
My household is also sick of seeing nothing but weather on the news. There were a few interesting clips; the (I think red)car sliding on a hill, hitting another car, the background worried sounds being punctuated with one woman clearly and loudly screaming, “IDIOT!” Also, on channel eight, a reporter at the Gateway TC pointing out ice on a tree and then falling down, unplugging his mike, leaving viewers staring at the trunk of a tree in silence.
You know, from the perspective of someone who has been bogged down in snow and ice for the last week or so (with people being worried because the weather is so warm) I find it really funny that snow is getting so much coverage in Portland. It’s kinda cute (and makes me jealous).
Kevin – For a diehard Buffulonian like you this all must seem laughable–except for maybe the ice and the people that don’t know how to drive in the friggin’ snow.
Brenna – I think the news teams milking this for all this for all this is worth is what I find the most tiresome. And always found the average Portlander’s obsession with weather amusing. Though it does get pretty freaky out here.
PDP – Yes, it is kinda cute! When it isn’t annoying.
Still many of my friends got a day or two off to spend as they please, with food and power and pretty views of snow and ice, so it’s all good.