Snow

Portland received a couple inches of snow today. It started this morning and continued ever so slowly to accumulate all day long. From what I have seen, Portland has three snow plows and two snow plow drivers. Instead of clearing the streets, the buses just chain up and the mayor tells everybody to stay at home.

Of course the factory declared today a "forgivable absence". Those who made it in could work and get paid, those who didn't would not get written up. What saints. So of course I have to drive to work. While missing a day of pay wouldn't kill me, my snow driving pride as a born and raised Minnesotan was at stake.

Dude, the roads were fine. Yet there were people who would start to skid going down a hill, slam on the brakes, and immediately send their vehicle into a 180 degree spin-out. Then some guy in a wagon decides the best way to force his old rear-wheel-drive vehicle up the hill was to gun it a whole hell of a lot. This is why I like to drive when it snows in Portland. Free freak show.

By the end of our shift, out of a normal working crew of nearly 100 operators between the two assembly plants, we had six. All of the maintenance guys showed. Between the two plants that meant there were six of us. Yep, one maintenance guy per operator. Bored, bored, bored, bored, BORED!

A good way to recover from boredom is to drink at the pub. After work I picked up my lovely wife and we went with a coworker to the Pub at the End of the Universe. There we enjoyed their eclectic juke box, cheap pool tables, a fine ham sandwich, and $10 pitchers of micro-brew. My turn as designated driver, but still a blast of a night. As the place closes down, some girl is telling me that the secret to driving in this snow is to drive very slowly. "Don't worry about me. I'm a Minnesota farm boy." Still she insists that we need to drive very slowly. As we are piled into the truck I am heard to comment, "What part of 'Minnesota Farm Boy' didn't she understand?"

Snow in Portland. More entertaining than a midget rodeo.