Morning Roundup: How Much Time Did You Spend in the Grocery Store Last Night?
Good day, Winter Weather Panicsphere! Do you want to talk about something other than the impending Snowmaggedon/Snowpocalypse/SnOMG2? Well, too bad. Here's the day's roundup, by the numbers:
18-24: Number of inches of snow on the way for the region, according to the National Weather Service forecast
28: Record number of inches for a D.C. snowstorm, from one that hit Jan. 27-28, 1922
8: Number of hours you have after the snow stops to shovel your sidewalks, and the number of inches of snowfall at which Metro will halt above-ground service
12: Time D.C.'s badass open public schools will close (early)
10: Time this morning the Winter Storm Warning goes into effect, and time tomorrow night that that warning ends
3: Number of hours City Paper reporter Jason Cherkis spent in the Adams Morgan Harris Teeter last night
45: Number of minutes (!) I spent inside Superfresh last night
22: Number of full rolls of toilet paper I had in my house before I went to the grocery store last night
2: Number of partial rolls of toilet paper I had in my house before I went to the grocery store last night
6: Number of additional rolls of toilet paper I bought at the grocery store last night, bringing total number of Toilet Paper On Hand (TPOH) to 28
48: Number of rolls of toilet paper we should have in our household, according to my husband's Toilet Paper Snowstorm Supply (TPSS) calculation, which is one roll per person per inch of snow. Assuming the worst, 24 inches, we'll need four dozen rolls. OMG! We're 20 rolls short!
270: Number of pieces of equipment the District will have in action to fight the snow
750: Number of employees working 12-hour shifts doing same
5: Number of D.C. salt domes activated (that's all of 'em)
495, 95, 395, 66, 70, 270, 50, 29, 267, 28, 301, 1: Roadways you should stay the hell off of, starting soon
Zero: Amount of sympathy I have for my parents, who are presently in St. Kitts.
Good luck, one and all. Stay tuned to City Desk for all your indispensable Snowmageddon coverage. We hear there's a snowball fight at Randle Circle tomorrow at noon.
Photo by Darrow Montgomery (see more here)
7:55 am
Make sure someone tells MPD about the snowball fight.
10:18 am
I have a "friend" in education advocacy who is the bomb! She and I were just having our regular, general conversation about the ridiculousness of Safeway on yesterday; I arrived at 3:00 and left at 6:30. I told her that I forgot toilet tissue and some more things because the lines were so ridiculous.
Well, this morning she came with toilet tissue, potatoes, a chicken and some other items. She remembered everything that I said in a general conversation and it moved her to action. She knows my struggle on unemployment and empathizes with it, she doesn't pity me or treat me like a welfare case but she is truly empathetic.
She is my own personal angel because she just thought it was a normal, everyday thing to do for a friend! She is southern to her core.
10:37 am
Sometimes I think people WANT to be part of the apocalyptic mayhem mentality.
People. Really. Even when Marion Barry was mayor and we had like five feet of snow over a week the world did not end.
How is it that half the city seems to only keep enough toilet paper and food in their homes to keep themselves alive for the next 12 hours?
Is it really so bad that every time you think you might not be able to make it to the store for ONE DAY you're going to starve and have to wipe your butt with magazine pages?
10:49 am
I guess this could all be summed up with DC's approach to dealing with snow:
http://www.snowmageddondc.com