It's The End Of The World As We Know It

Living here in H-town, the fourth largest city in the country, you would think that local news would have something more newsworthy to discuss than the weather.

Not really.

Every time there's a big rain, we are treated to news reporters standing in really big puddles talking about street and bayou flooding.

Yeah, that does kind of happen when your whole city is only a few feet above sea level. Duh.

Last night, it was wall-to-wall "end is near" reporting about the big ice storm that was coming. The coverage included bullet points about how to drive on the stuff (uh, slow down, no sudden moves, er, stay home?) like that's going to help. We were treated to file footage and eyewitness interviews of persons who "braved" the last "winter" storm in the city several years ago. This morning we've got . . . . Nuthin'

Dry pavement and cold temps--along with a warning that the weather boogie man may get us tonight instead.

Oooooooh. Scary.

For someone who grew up in Columbus, Ohio and went to college in Madison, Wisconsin it's all a bit embarassing--especially when I have friends en-Bare-Assing themselves in real snow drifts and swimming in frozen lakes.

Nevertheless, Superpounce was counting on the intervention of the weather gods. She's been to school a grand total of two days this year between the marathon trip and being sick last week. She knows from math class how percentages work, so when the weather forecaster predicted an 80% chance of Armagedon she went to sleep last night pumping her fist and rejoicing because it was a lead pipe cinch that school would be cancelled.

Bad bet, Superpounce. The house always wins in the end.