Has It Been Ten Years Already?

Today marks the tenth anniversary of my blogging life.

Starting here on December 17, 2004, this writing platform has expanded to include Book Reviews by Rick Sincere, Where Are the Copy Editors?, Bearing Drift, and the Charlottesville Libertarian Examiner, with a few smaller projects along the way. The orbit of this blog includes three YouTube channels (see the sidebar to your left).

By coincidence, I produced several interesting blog posts on December 17, without making explicit reference to its being a blogoversary.

By far the most popular of these has been one from last year, headlined "Obligatory Dylan Sprouse Nude Selfie Blog Post." To date, that report on the former Disney Channel star's naked mishap and his deft handling of it has been viewed 4,723 times, which is a pretty good rate.  It's remarkable how interested people are in seeing a celebrity's genitals.

On this date in 2007, I noted that that was the ten-year anniversary of the blog itself.

Quoting Kai Ryssdal, the host of the public radio show, Marketplace, at the time:

The blog is celebrating an anniversary today. Ten years ago a guy named Jorn Barger coined the term "weblog" to describe his website Robot Wisdom. It was shortened to "blog" two years later by someobody else.

Back then only about 23 websites were properly considered blogs. These days, whether you write them or read them, blogs are a pretty common pursuit.

Estimates are that 120,000 new ones are created everyday. No word, though, on how many are actually read.

There are a lot more than 23 "weblogs" today, that's for sure.

The most-viewed post on this blog was "Snowpocalypse!," a collection of photos from the big snowstorm of December 2009 -- published, coincidentally, on December 18.

The second most popular post is an oddity: "Shirtless and Circumcised," which traces strange search terms that lead readers to this blog.

Other blogoversary posts have included "Christmas Carols: The Odd and the New," a review of the Daily Telegraph Book of Carols, also from 2009.

On December 17, 2006, I took the Washington Post ombudsman to task for sloppy writing in "Small Pool."

Two years later, I reported on the progress of the breathtaking recount in the razor-thin race between then-Congressman Virgil Goode (R-Rocky Mount) and future former Congressman Tom Perriello (D-Ivy) in "Fifth District Recount Continues."

Only once, nine years ago, in 2005, did I make an explicit commemoration of the start of my blogging in "Anniversary Waltz." In fact, for a long time, I thought my blog-start was on December 22. I had to look up the correct date as I prepared for this post!

Let's hope I have at least ten more good years of filling this space with compelling words arranged in sentences and paragraphs.

Cheers!

Snow Blast from the Past

We seem to have dodged a bullet tonight.  Early forecasts predicted that Charlottesville might be facing six to ten inches of snow on top of the 15 or so inches that walloped us last weekend.  A changeover to sleet and freezing drizzle seems to have thrown a blanket over those predictions, and we're likely to wake up in the morning with no more than an inch or two of the wet, white stuff on the ground.  Morning rush hour might be slower, but not disrupted.

Apparently the storm tracked northward, so Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., will still suffer multi-centimeters of snow in addition to the two feet or so that capital area residents have been trying to dig their way out of since Saturday.

All this snow -- a record seasonal snowfall for Charlottesville -- reminded me of one of the "big ones":  the 1979 Presidents' Day snowstorm that hit Washington while I was a sophomore at Georgetown University.  Records show that National Airport recorded an official total of 18.7 inches the weekend of February 19-20, 1979, but as an article in Tuesday's Washington Post explains, this number probably underestimates what fell on other Washington-area neighborhoods.

Paul Farhi wrote in the Style section:

National Airport became the official NWS reporting station for the District in 1941 and has recorded the most precise and voluminous weather data in the region since then, said Chris Strong, a Weather Service meteorologist. The city had its own official station in Georgetown dating back to the Civil War, but that was closed as the Weather Service moved to serve the meteorological needs of the growing aviation industry, he said. Dozens of weather "spotters" provide readings from around the city, but none as frequently as the office at National Airport.

What's more, the lower snowfall totals recorded there aren't really surprising, given the airport's location along the Potomac, Strong said. The river and sea-level location moderate the direction and influence of winds in the area.

Bob Ryan, WRC-TV's chief meteorologist, points out, too, that the construction of Crystal City immediately to the airport's west further affected wind patterns, making the airport's microclimate somewhat more benign than elsewhere.

In all, "precipitation levels can vary quite wildly" over a relative small area, Strong said. In fact, Alexandria -- a short jog south of the airport -- recorded 28.9 inches during the storm.

My memory of that 1979 storm jibes with that explanation. I remember snow much deeper than a foot and a half -- and home movies I took in the storm's aftermath seem to confirm my memories. I dug up -- no pun intended -- this two-minute clip of brief shots in Georgetown, including one really quick flash of Wisconsin Avenue right at the beginning, with most of the pictures taken on the main campus and East Campus of Georgetown University. Alert to Georgetown alumni who were frolicking in the snow over Presidents' Day weekend in 1979: you might see yourself in this video. (That includes you, Roger Theis, Leonard MacKenzie, Joe Banno, and Rick Peete, inter alia.)

Here's the clip, which I posted to YouTube on Monday evening, just before that popular web site went into maintenance mode for several hours:

(The music accompanying the pictures is an instrumental version of Georgetown's alma mater, known in 1979 as "Sons of Georgetown" and now called "Hail, Oh Georgetown," sung to the traditional Welsh anthem, "Men of Harlech.")

Just to bring things up to date, last Sunday, in the bright sunlight that inevitably follows a major snow storm, I took a few photos on the grounds of another renowned institution, the University of Virginia. Here's a sample; the rest can be found on Facebook.

 

  

  

  

Thinking back on that video -- made on a Super-8 movie camera with a zoom lens -- those kids you see throwing snowballs at Sugar's are now in their 30s or 40s, probably with kids of their own.  Time flies as fast as the jet stream brings an Arctic blast to the mid-Atlantic region.

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Still More Snotos? SnOMG!

Based on news reports, I'd say that most of the East Coast is in stand-by mode at the moment. Some adventurous people are trying to drive on the roads. Other are just having fun, such as having a snowball fight at 14th and U Streets in Northwest D.C. that becomes a national story.

As for me, I've remained homebound. I may venture out tomorrow on foot to explore the winter wonderland.

Anyone who wants to help me dig out my car, please let me know. I'm willing to pay. Maybe provide free hot cocoa, too.

Here are some of the last pictures I took on Saturday, just before the snow stopped falling and we were told there was no longer a winter weather warning.

Previous sets of photos are here and here.

More Snotos

Whether you call it snowmaggedon, snowpocalypse, or snOMG, the white stuff that fell on Central Virginia last night (and that is still falling) will be remembered for many decades to come. This is the snowstorm of the century, the sort of snow that inspires Santa Claus to call on Rudolph in order to save Christmas.

Snow like this brings back memories of my boyhood in Milwaukee, and even in those vast reaches of history there are few snowncidents that stick out as so deep, or as so quickly accumulated.

Last night I posted some snotos that were taken about six hours after the snow first began falling in Charlottesville. What you see below are photographs I took at about 1:15 this afternoon, or about 21 hours past the outset of snowfall.

Face it, folks: this is a storm that today's schoolkids will be telling their grandchildren about. The Charlottesville Newsplex (Channel 19) reported these measurements from around Central Virginia as of 11:30 this morning:

Wintergreen 30"
North Garden 24"
Esmont 23"
Covesville 22"
Greenbrier Drive 22"
Ruckersville - 22"
Nortonsville - 21"
Ivy 21"
Rio Road 20"
Scottsville 20"
Crozet 20"
Afton 20"
North Albemarle 20"
Free Union 20"
Downtown Mall 18"
UVA Grounds 18"
Lake Monticello 18"
Meade Park 18"
Woodridge 17"
Fluvanna 17"

Since I live about equidistant from the downtown mall and the UVA Grounds, the snow in my yard must be about 18 inches deep -- though I would guess it's a bit more than that by now, perhaps as much as 22 or 23 inches.

Snowpocalypse!

I am not willing to venture out far beyond my own front and back yards, so the range of these photos is narrow. Perhaps tomorrow, when the sun is shining, I'll take a walk through the neighborhood and up to the University of Virginia to get some good snowtos.

Here are a few images of the biggest snowstorm to hit Charlottesville in several years. Just for a bit of perspective, these pictures were taken at about 9:15 p.m. The snow had started to fall around 4:00 p.m., just 5 hours ago. No wonder people on Twitter are using the hashtag #snowpocalypse!

One unusual image you'll see here is the snow piled high upon the hot tub. This would not happen under normal circumstances because the heat of the water would melt anything hitting the cover on impact. Unfortunately, my hot tub is out of order and I've been awaiting delivery of a part from the manufacturer. So there's no heat being generated and the snow is able to accumulate.

Enjoy these winter images.

Update, 11:14 p.m.: I measured the snow on the back deck and it was 9 inches deep as of about 10:30 p.m. Here are some more snotos: