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St. Charles storm update - Monday
Topic: St. Louis
2:28 pm EST, Jan 15, 2007
Power remains out for many in the western parts of the metro area, especially west St. Louis county and St. Charles county.
Slept at my office last night. The power stayed on here, and it wasn't too bad. Felt sort of like being back in a military barracks, where everybody kind of had their own rooms, but you had to walk down the hall to go to the bathroom. I couldn't find anyone to play "Settlers of Catan", but we watched a movie and played some Skip-Bo.
The weather here is better than expected today. The "freezing line" that was approaching from Oklahoma, stalled about 5 miles west of the city. So everyone west of the line (around Troy, Missouri) froze last night. Those to the east, stayed above freezing. It was pouring rain for much of the night, which had the advantage of washing the ice off the trees -- they have sprung back up into "normal" shapes (minus a few branches). If the freezing line had been just a few miles east, things would be really bad right now. But as it is, the worst of the ice storms appear to be over, and now we just have to deal with plummeting temperatures -- expectations are that'll it drop another 30 degrees today, to "Arctic" levels.
One funny story about the sudden melting: Yesterday, one of my neighbors had put up a new birdfeeder on one of the iced-over trees, so that the birds would have something to eat. But then when the trees thawed, the branches raised up so much, that the feeder is now high in the tree, and my neighbor can't reach it anymore! So next time I see a birdfeeder way way way up in a tree, I'm going to wonder if it got placed while that tree was in an icier state. :)
As regards electricity: Power has been restored to a few homes, but about 80,000 are still without power, and the area is still under a state of emergency. The National Guard has been going from house to house, checking on people. Power in my own apartment appears to have been restored last night, but many other of my co-workers were not as lucky, and will again be sleeping in the office tonight (yes I've offered crash-space and access to hot showers).
The highest concentrations of outages Saturday were in St. Charles and Florissant, where about a quarter-inch of ice covered vulnerable trees and power lines. About 108,000 customers — 6,200 in Illinois and 101,800 in Missouri — remained without power at 11:15 p.m. Saturday. As of 9:30 p.m., the utility said about 2,800 Metro East customers had suffered outages.
The storm has been blamed for at least six deaths in the Midwest and brought Amtrak service in Missouri to a halt on Saturday.
(Storm update)
Things here in St. Charles, Missouri, are pretty bad. The storm hit hard on Friday evening, and power started going out in various parts of the city. By Saturday morning, we were encased in ice. My apartment still had intermittent power on Saturday morning, but the view outside the window was the strangest I think I've ever seen, because of how the ice was affecting everything. Imagine trees that had been familiar to you for years, but you wake up one morning, and they've all completely changed. Branches that used to point *up*, now point down. Flowers and shrubbery everywhere are flattened. Broken branches litter the streets and yards. Everything glitters a dangerous icy white.
Though my heater was still working on Saturday, my area was an exception. Many other homes in the area had no power whatsoever, and things started getting cold.
By Saturday afternoon, the power was still flickering, but the temperature was up enough that the snow had turned to rain, which meant that at least the roads were drivable, for anyone who wanted to venture out.
Saturday evening though, my apartment lost power as well. At first we just lit candles and kept on with life (No electricity is required to play Settlers of Catan, heh), and we bundled up enough to stay warm through the evening, but by morning, it was starting to get chilly.
By flashlight, I've been pulling all my Antarctica gear out of the closets.
I called my office phone # to see if there was still power there, and when I got voice-mail, realized that the building was okay. So I drove in to work, and found out that several other people had had the same idea. There are pillows and blankets littered around the floor and sofas, as our office has been turned into an emergency shelter.
On my way to the office, I spent an hour or so driving around the area, and it's pretty strange. The roads are open, but most businesses are closed. For any grocery stores that are open, their parking lots are packed, as people stock up with supplies. The fast food restaurants are in a strange status. Some of them literally "have the lights on but nobody home" -- like the Taco Bell has its neon "Drive Thru Open" sign lit-up, but the doors are locked and there doesn't seem to be anyone inside. Cars line up in the drive-thru lane, wait a few minutes 'til they realize that there's no one inside, and then drive on. Other cars slowly ... [ Read More (0.2k in body) ]
Millions of people in the Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma and eastern Missouri are being warned that conditions will deteriorate Friday afternoon, and the storm could spread as far east as Ohio and New York over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.
"This is a one-in-maybe-15- to 25-year event," CNN severe weather expert Chad Myers said Friday of the forecast freezing rain, sleet and snow. "The big story will be how many roads are shut down, airports are shut down and how many power lines are down because of the ice this weekend," Myers added .
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, up to St. Louis, Missouri, could see "devastating consequences," Myers warned Friday. "You won't be able to get in or out of St. Louis tomorrow."
Same tune, different state.... At least I've got plenty of winter supplies from when I was snowed in, in Albuquerque!
I am. I really am. That's the first step, right? It's odd being the person addicted to something; usually you just hear about it. But I am, true and real. Why? Because compared to reality, the other world provided by World of Warcraft (hereinafter refered to as 'WoW') rocks socks.
Would you prefer 'r0xx0r my b0xx0rz'?
Any-hoo, I am trying to wean myself off of this game but I'm finding it hard. I often wonder, actually, if anyone else has these problems or if I'm just a unique little snowfake (shut up).
You are not alone. :) Though sometimes I find it helpful to classify "good" addictions and "bad" addictions. If you're having fun with the game and it's not interfering with the rest of your life, then that's a "good" addiction, like if you really enjoyed playing golf, or sailing. If, however, the WoW habit is interfering with normal activities and relationships, then that can be a problem. For example, if it's causing problems in relationships with friends and family, or causing your school grades to drop or work performance to suffer, then that's straying into the "bad" addiction side of things.
How long have you been playing? I generally find that these games will hold someone's attention for from 6 months to about 2 years, occasionally longer (there are some people who have been customers of my own games for over 15 years). Eventually what will probably happen is that you will find yourself getting unhappy/bored with the game, and then playing more and more trying to make it "fun" again, but with steadily decreasing returns. At that point you will probably either (1) Quit in a very high-profile way; (2) Find something else to play, especially if your friends have moved on to another game and you follow them; (3) Find something in RL that's more intriguing (like a significant other, or school/job).
In short, when I'm addicted to a game, I find it unhelpful to simply try to "quit," since that leaves a vacuum in my life which keeps pulling me back to the original addiction. Better is to try and find something *else* to fill the void (such as another game, be it online or console).
Meanwhile, if you're *enjoying* your time on WoW, by all means, keep playing! If it's not interfering with the rest of your life, there's no reason to feel guilty about playing.
My current addiction: "Okami" on PS2. *Marvelous* game. Gorgeous art, great music and sound, engrossing game play (once you get past a too-long intro), good emotional "oomph" as you push back darkness with flowers.
I've been watching this game develop at E-3 for a couple years. For those who read my E-3 previews, it's the game where you play a hand-drawn Japanese wolf, and your abilities are the "Powers of the Brush", as you learn steadily more powerful calligraphy techniques which help you advance through the game, and use creative techniques in combat. You can "hit" a monster, or you can draw a line through it, or link it to fire or icicles or lightning bolts, or draw a swirl to cause a windstorm and blow something out of the sky...
Wonderful stuff. This one is getting my vote for "Game of the Year".
OKAMI STRAY BEADS LIST Written and maintained by SubSane Last updated November 19, 2006
I've been referring to this list alot, as I work my way through some of the Okami subgames. I got all the way through the original game on my own, and now I'm working my way through the second time with the hint guide, to get at some of the other stuff. One of the projects is to collect all 100 "stray beads." Some of them are hidden in various nooks and crannies, and others require completion of some side quests and mini-games. A few of them I would *not* have found without the help guide. There were a couple small errors on the list though (or maybe just random variations in my game), so I'm going to document them here, along with additional info which may be helpful to someone else playing the game:
#9: After learning Cherry Bomb 3 (use a vine to get up to the plateau near the Guardian Sapling in Kamui, then use Cherry Bomb 2 to blow your way into the cavern), return to the pyrotechnist's house on the beach near Shinsu Field. First, impress him with a double cherry bomb. You'll need to leave and return then, until he's back in his prone "depressed" state, at which point you can impress him with the triple cherry bomb, and he'll give you a bead.
#18: In Tsuta Ruins, there's an area where you have to walk across logs to get back up to the top of the chamber. If you look at your map, you'll see that one of the ledges has an unmarked secret room behind it. Use Cherry Bomb to blow open the wall (even though it doesn't have a glowing crack in it), and you'll find the room with the bead.
#21: In Taka Pass, in the cave where you fought Waka, there are glowing white pools of water. If you look closely at the one on the right, there are some faint bubbles, which mark the location of an invisible chest at the bottom. Power Slash it and the bead will float to the top.
#35: After Oni Island, return to the Gale Shrine. In the cavern to the right of the entrance pool, Princess Fuse and the canines will offer another battle. This is a tough "multi-round" fight, so be sure you're well-stocked before starting.
#47: In Mr. Flower's house in Sei-An City, break down the wall to get into the closet, and then dig.
#52: You need to satisfy Komuso's fighting requirements in Sei-An City. Before he shows up there though, you need to battle to his satisfaction in Kamiki Village and then in the grove in Kusa Village.
#53: Along the bridge that connects the Commoner and Aristocratic Quarters of Sei-An City. Jump off and swim/lilypad or Water Tablet over to the northeast section, where you'll see an underwater chest, which you can slash to release the bead.
#78: In an underground cavern in Kamui, where you have to deal with Blockhead Grande. I found this "remember 8 points in 5 seconds" puzzle *really* tough. I heard that some people dealt with it by filming the puzzle and then replaying it, but I got through it with the help of a friend, and then we each concentrated on remembering half of the dots (he'd memorize the first four and write them down, and then I did the second four). It still took us a few tries, but it eventually worked.
#81: In the north-east section of Wep'Keer. Follow the signs to the Snowy Waterfall, and on the righthand side will be a rocky alcove with a bear in it, and the chest with the bead.
A few people have been asking me for an update on my adventures with the New Mexico snowstorm, so here's a more detailed account of my vacation:
December 22: I left St. Louis, heading southwest via I-44 in the general direction of Arizona. I made it through Missouri, then the Oklahoma turnpikes, via Tulsa and Oklahoma City, then across the state line into Texas, and then took a nap at the rest stop that's about an hour east of Amarillo. It's a *great* rest area by the way. Lots of effort went into decorating it, from the soaring architecture of the main building, plus huge picture windows, and even the bathrooms are decorated with elaborate mosaics of the desert skyline.
December 23: I arrived in Albuquerque, staying with my friend Cindy. In the evening I visited her son Ian, who's got a house with some of his friends. Nice "gaming" house, with a pool table and a dartboard and lots of people coming and going, and I partied there until about 5 a.m., then heading back to Cindy's.
December 24: I set off for Page, Arizona, arriving at my sister's house that evening. I felt a bit like Santa Claus, arriving with a car full of presents.
December 25: Normal Christmas stuff. Gifts and wrapping paper strewn everywhere, kids and toys and loads of food. My nephew got a PS2, and I'd brought a lot of games and accessories for it.
December 26: Mostly hung out with my niece and nephew, playing PS2 games. We especially enjoyed "Okami." Though it was a single-player game, the art is beautiful and we all enjoyed watching it, plus the dialogue is fun. My young niece would generally be the primary player, and as we encountered various NPCs, I'd read the dialogue aloud, playing the different voices. Then if a difficult combat situation came up, my niece would hand off the controller to her older brother, who would get through the battle for her and then hand the controller back. Eventually we were all playing different characters, reading aloud in different voices, helping my niece with some of the harder words. It was really a lot of fun. Since I'd brought a Multi-tap and some extra controllers and memory cards, we also played 4-player Gauntlet, which was chaotic but fun.
December 27: Played Okami in the morning (when I left we were working our way through Taka Pass and Kusa Village), then in the afternoon drove down to Flagstaff, and spent the evening with my parents.
December 28: Drove to Albuquerque, had dinner with my father and Anatoly K., the two people who helped with the final part of the solution on the Cyrillic Projector Cipher. It was at "Macaroni Grill", and since we were there fairly late and most of the other customers had left, they let us take over one of the tables for a game of "Settlers of Catan." :)
December 29: My birthday. It was starting to snow at that point, but still pretty light. I spent the morning with a friend from St. Louis 2600, Electrojoker. We had breakfast at th... [ Read More (0.6k in body) ]
"The Good Shepherd" often mixes historical fact with fiction
I just saw "The Good Shepherd", a movie about the origins of the CIA. The following link has an article which covers some of the actual historical events which the movie was based on.
If anyone else has a good "fact and fiction" link which analyzes the historical basis of the movie, I would be interested in reading it.
If you've ever played "Final Fantasy VII", this 40-minute video made at Babson College is worth watching. It's primarily a satire based on the game, but also has several other pop culture themes, from South Park to "Wizard of Space and Time" and 70s pop music, to "Star Wars," "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," and "Napoleon Dynamite," with some (college liberal) political humor thrown in to boot.
