Arctic Blast 2008™

Eight inches of snow fell today as frigid air from Montana blew through the Columbia River Gorge and collided with a sopping wet Pacific storm system right over Portland. Now it is predicted that twelve hours of freezing rain will harden a one-inch crust on top of it all and the whole mess will stick around until at least Tuesday. Live round the clock team coverage of the weather on every TV station has worked people into a frenzy. Weirdly, fifteen hours later, some of the same news people were on the screen when I watched this morning. Little much?

[Update: December 31, 2008:

God, that sucked.

Cabin fever.

A treacherously icy footpath between here and the Plaid Pantry and a nearby greasy restaurant for vittles when my stocks ran out at home.

Other than that it was me and the cat out-lounging each other for most of a week with the heater (and the boredom) on high. I’ve never been more happy to go back to work or see nothing but December rain.]

My Favorite Inner North Portland Novelty Band

Visit Salmon Suede. I’m not supposed to talk about them.

They’re all here and here

Randy Newman Live at MacWorld

On January 15, 2008, Randy Newman played a provocative song called “A Few Words in Defense of Our Country” at Apple’s MacWorld meeting in San Francisco. Eli at Left I on the News added subtitles so you can really see what he’s saying here.