Snow, Ice, and Radio Announcers

It's been interesting around here lately. Our normally wet and soggy weather has been replaced by snow and freezing temperatures all week long. Although I normally would have nothing good to say about it (being the fan of nakey weather that I am), I have a different slant on things this time around. Why? Because the icy and snowy roads (overly hyped by our local media as usual) have kept most of the incompetent and idiotic drivers off the roads. All week long my drive to work has been totally trouble-free. Yesterday was a particularly snowy day, prompting a lot of worry-warts to leave work early "so they could make it home". Yeah, yeah... The snow was all of an inch deep, but whatever. I took the opportunity to hit Winco Foods on the way home from work last night, and I was greeted by a store that was practically empty! It was like they were saying, "Hi Rick! Come on in--We've been waiting for you!"

I made the prediction a while back that just because I sold my 4x4 truck and replaced it with a 2-wheel drive one, we would have a snow winter and I would wish I had it. Well okay--That's sort of what has transpired. Truth is, while my other truck was superb in the snow and very fun to drive, what good was it if it wouldn't start when I needed it? I haven't driven my truck now for a few weeks so I have no idea how it will drive in the snow and ice, but it suffices to say that I'm sure it will suck. After all, it's v8-powered rear-wheel drive, and there's not much weight in the back of a truck. At least with my little Neon (and most cars on the road today) the front-wheel drive means all the weight is all on the driving wheels.

Oh, while I'm on the subject, I was listening to KOMO AM 1000 (a local radio station) on the way to work a few days ago. I've always thought they were total idiots. Their brainless banter has always showed what idiots they are and how badly they need some new blood in there. Anyway, this particular morning was the first morning that we had some light snow in the area, and they were going nuts with it. Due to some strange quirk of nature, we happened to have a little thunder/lightning in the north Seattle area apparently, and they were taking calls about it (which itself shows how desperate they are). Here's what I heard:

Male announcer: "We've got (someone's name) on the line with us from (wherever) that witnessed something unusual on the way to work this morning. (caller's name), what was it you saw?"
Caller: "It was a bolt of lightning, followed by thunder."
Female announcer (talking excitedly): "Wow, what did that look like?"

Hellooo? Anybody home?