...on being in a state of emergency

As it does once every few years, it's snowing in Seattle, which can only mean one thing: The end of the world in a most violent and cruel fashion!!!  Has the mayor resigned yet?  No, but today, a day after being overwhelmed with a whopping two inches of snow in Seattle and Bellevue--two inches I say!!!--Gov. Chris Gregoire issued a State of Emergency. 

They got 4.3 inches at SeaTac, enough to close all three runways. Do you know what they call a day in January where you get 4.3 inches of snow in Idaho, where I'm from? Tuesday. Unless it happens on another day of the week.

The governor's declaration means she may mobilize the National Guard, and I for one hope she does.  After all, as King5 Weather reports in a large, bold headline, we're experienceing "Sub-Freezing Temperatures!"  That means below 32 degrees, for those of you keeping score.  They say temps may dip into the teens!  Holy taco!  The teens, people!  The TEENS!!!  Do you know what they call a day in January with temperatures in the teens in Idaho?  Tuesday.  Wednesday.  Thursday.  Friday.  Saturday.  Sunday.  Oh, and Monday.

The local media has hyped this storm as the worst since the 1930s--12 inches of white death!  And by 12 inches they mean two.  So yesterday was D-day and my drive into work was awesome--no cars. And I had the office to myself. Alfred Hitchcock was a visionary when he said, "There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it."

We got stuck beind another driver on the only road out of our community yesterday.  He was stuck on a short incline that leads to the main road.  About half way up, he gunned the engine and spun his tires.  That didn't get him anywhere, so he gunned the engine and spun his tires again.  Nothing.  OK, so he gunned the engine and spun his tires.  Still nothing.  So he gunned his engine and spun his tires.  Nada.  Arighty, so he gunned his engine and spun his tires.  Well, this went on for ten minutes until there was obviously only one thing for him to do.  So he gunned his engine and spun his tires.  Finally, he stepped out of his car with a stunned look on his face, seemingly shocked that doing the same thing over and over again had produced the same result over an over again.  He looked at the ground in front of his car (yes, that white stuff...that's snow).  He was a grown adult, capable of higher reason.  He studied the situation, then got back in his car and...well, you know what he did.  Thankfully, he finally slid off to the side and stopped long enough for us to drive around him (in our Mazda5 filled with kids) to the top of the incline and be on our way.

So the truth of the matter is that the snow is not the problem.  Nor is the temperature or the hills or any of the other tempting and convienient excuses that Seattlites like to use in apocalyptic times like these.  And I would argue that its not even a matter of snow driving skill.  Those can be learned quickly enough by anybody who's observant and calm enlough to learn.  The real enemy, as they say, is us.  At least those of us whose brains shut down and go into panic mode at the first mention of snow in the forecast.