Coffee makes me buzzy.

January 6, 2004

Another uncharacteristic day of snow and sleet in Portland. The temperature is still lingering in the low 20’s throughout the day (to say nothing of the night, though unlike Beloit, I don’t think it’s dropping too much) with wind chill kicking the temperature down into the single digits (and whether that’s above or below zero I’m uncertain). Last night when the weather was still holding, I went downtown for a bit on MAX, and though it was very cold, the roads were just fine. I had to wait for my train a bit and my fingers got pretty damn numb even through my gloves, so I was glad to be at my destination and then eventually home. Even as I went to bed, though, my feet were still cold, even through socks and my covers.

Today has been a rather slow day, though. I’m not really able to go anywhere unless I walked down the hill, a good three quarters of a mile, and caught a bus to the transit center since the roads are most definitely icy with all the snow, sleet, and freezing rain today. Not that I have anywhere to go, anyhow. My sister and I talked briefly about getting together for a beer or two, but that would mean I’d have to make said walk, catch a bus, transfer at the transit center, then do everything in reverse afterwards. That would also mean a hike up the hill in the dark. I’m not too worried about cars on the road since I’m fairly certain that there aren’t any, bt I can think of better ways to spend my evening than making that long trek up the hill in the cold. I had to do it once in the snow when I was in high school and working Christmas trees at the local Thriftway grocery store, and I’d rather not do it again. Come to think of it, that was 1996, the last time we had weather like this. Know what happened that same winter? Fast thaw from the snow combined with some early rains and significant flooding ensued along the Willamette River. There were actually volunteers in downtown Portland setting up sandbags along the river to prevent it from spilling over the storm wall, though that certainly didn’t prevent flooding from underground in the storm drains. Lake Oswego got hit pretty hard, and I got no small amount of satisfaction from seeing pictures of the million dollar-plus houses along the lake with water covering their front yard and several inches deep in their living rooms. Flooding is one of the worst types of damage, but hey, if you’re going to pony up the money for your status home along the lake, don’t expect something like that NOT to happen once in awhile.

If my Mom or Dad’s house ever floods from anything more than a burst pipe, however, I’ll be seriously worried. Both houses lie on top of significant hills, and when we have water in our front yards that means that all of Portland except the West Hills will be completely submerged. I couldn’t even paddle to the store because it would be about fifty or hundred feet BELOW my canoe.

To add insult to injury, my Internet service gave out for most of this afternoon as I was stuck at home. I mean hey, I don’t mind being cooped up as I have been for what seems like the last week, but if I’m going to have to stay here, at LEAST giveme a way to talk with people other than the telephone. I talk with people over instant messenger that I’d never talk to over the telephone, so I always feel so disconnected when I’m not able to even check my email. I used to opportunity to get things done that I’d been putting off, like cleaning my desk, writing a letter to my cousin (something like third cousin, I believe) Marion in Dixon, IL, putting away my clean laundry that’s been sitting around for like a week, things like that. I turned on the TV to watch “Perry Mason” as I folded, but I was disappointed to find the news on…still. You see, the local TV stations have been running the news since 4:30 AM this morning. That’s right, nothing but news. My Dad says they’re comparing snowflakes, and for all that I’ve seen, they might as well be. I mean for Pete’s sake, just run a banner on the bottom with the latest information. Channel 8 (NBC) had an ad running that I heard as I went into the kitchen where my Mom was watching that said something along the lines of “When the snow hit, more people turned to Channel 8 than ANY OTHER station to get their news.” Of course, they probably turned on the TV expecting to find their daily soaps and found the all-day newscast instead, which likely inflated their numbers. Then again, all the stations in Portland all say that they’re the number one station for news, so it was likely just some creative smoke blowing.

Channel 12 (Fox) started their news at 3 AM, though. Fifteen hours of news straight? Who do they think they are, CNN?

I’m running a bit of a buzz right now, too. Earlier in the day I was feeling a little run down since I haven’t had any caffeine in about four days or so, so I made myself a pot of coffee. Eight cups to be exact. Well, you know how small coffee maker cups are. It’s like six ounces! That’s smaller than the smallest Starbucks cup. Anyhow, I ended up drinking an aggregate of about seven and a half cups of that after what got absorbed into the grounds during brewing, so now I have that odd tired-but-wired feeling that I had so often in college when I wrote papers. Caffeine in high amounts keeps me up, but doesn’t make me any less tired. It’s an odd feeling, let me tell you. I want to just close my eyes and go to sleep, but my mind is just going BZZZT! Maybe that’s what gave me the energy to do all the stuff I did today sans Internet access.

Well…just not much to do today, alas. I’m sure that you all on the East Coast and Midwest have no idea about what I’m talking about, though. No sir. Now I guess it’s time to start thinking about dinner, but my brain is still going BZZZT so I’ll probably put it off for awhile while I let the acidity levels in my stomach drop from a level that would dissolve steel to a more normal level.

Sorry if you tried to check my site earlier today and couldn’t get to it, but Comcast isn’t exactly the best Internet provider for hosting a website. Anyhow, that’s about all I have for now. I guess I’ll go let my brain take a rest by finding a TV station that’s not running news. Pander to me, my brain-melting master.

See ya.

BZZZT goes Andrew’s brain!