Something Rich and Strange

It’s been two weeks since the “February Fury” blizzard hit D.C. But since there is no spare real estate to move the snow to from roads and elsewhere, we instead have mountains of snow – some 10’ feet high – accumulating on corners and along parkways. Turning a lovely mottled brownish-gray and dotted with a variety of trash. Rather than retreating, this snow bank looks like it’s about to devour this SUV, kind of like the “Blob” of old sci-fi movies*.

I am reminded of former Mayor Marion Barry’s (apocryphal?) answer to his plans to remove snow from a similar storm several years ago: “Spring.” Apparently the current D.C. administration has similar plans.

*Note to “Blob” movie fans: I know the Blob didn’t like cold, but technically, it isn’t real. So get over it.

Best self-help site on the Internet: http://www.seatguru.com/.

Hey. I coined a new word: litterally. As in "Her critique of reality TV should be – litteraly – regarded for what it is (unvarnished debris)."

It used to be, that discussing the weather was characterized as something one used for lack of substantive subject matter. Verbal filler. Since everyone, like it or not, was forced to experience their particular weather, it was often a conversational bridge to (in homage to Ted Stevens) nowhere.

Not anymore. Weather is the new darling of reality TV. No longer content to just be reported about, weather wants a starring role in its own series (I would mention said series here, but am averse to promoting them. Although you don’t need to look too far).

Weather has all the characteristics of the most popular reality TV stars. It’s impossible to control. You never know what it will do next. It doesn’t need a SAG card and will never demand residuals. Or a salary. And we all experience it 24/7.

What’s next? We need to find something ubiquitous that, like any realty TV star, is unpredictable, can be deadly and is creepy under a microscope (literally or figuratively). I nominate: mold.

Like weather, we all have to confront it (dude, I’m dealing with some serious colonization in my bathtub that Scrubbing Bubbles is wont to control). And as Ed McMahon could attest, were he still with us (perhaps due to mold?), it can be devastating and deadly. If not mold, then how about air (when it’s not being weather)? Lack of it is not so good and too much, not pretty.

So my point is: let’s embrace the ordinary stuff we take for granted, lest it spawn its own series.