I had decided not to blog about The Great Snowpocalypse of 2010 because I figured the Intertubes was probably already filled with people's sob stories of how much snow they received and how much trauma it inflicted upon them. Monday, however, brought some things that were a bit unique to me and my typical daily commute so I figured, hell, why not jump on the bandwagon.

To recap the weekend, two feet of snow overnight Friday. Five hours shoveling on Saturday. Another two and a half hours of shoveling on Sunday. Stiff and sore.

But Monday morning is where it deviates from what everyone else was doing. On a normal cold, snowy morning, I would drive to the Swinburne Street lot and ride my bike the rest of the way in. I was willing to bet that the trail hadn't been plowed so I left early so that I would then walk the three miles into town.

And I was wrong. Even though the parking lot was covered, it looked like a plow had been through sometime during the day on Saturday because there were even some places where the plow had exposed asphalt and the sun had done a little work. There was no place to park in the lot so I parked in the UPMC lot next door. (they removed the gates so there no security access anymore.)

The plow didn't get far. About midway between the Swinburne lot and the Hot Metal Bridge there was a tree down, and the plow turned around. Beyond that, there was a single track through the snow that looked like someone had a personal plow two feet wide. It was a bit strange and didn't at all look like someone had just walked through and tramped it down even though that is exactly how it came to pass..

There was another track just like it coming across the Hot Metal Bridge and continuing to Bates Street. I suppose this is a very heavily trafficked route because, beyond that towards town, it was clearly less traveled. There were also some more trees hanging down onto the trail.

On either side of the Birmingham Bridge area and the Parkway East elevated highway there were more trees down bracketing another attempt to plow the trail.

The Second Avenue lot had been cleared for the most part with a 20 foot high pile of snow blocking the trail at the one end. I climbed over the raining and took the easy route the rest of the way.

What would typically be a 20 minute bike ride or a one hour walk became a two hour hike. Coming home, with a few more people having used the trail, the going was a little easier and only took me an hour and a half.

If it were just plowing the trail, I'm sure the city would do it. They already tried. But, to clear those fallen trees, I'm not so confident that they will get to it any time soon. They probably wouldn't do anything until the snow melted, and that could take weeks.

I have Friday off. Perhaps is they aren't gotten to I may take a saw out on the trail and see if I can do some good. Or perhaps I'll take my pocket saw and do it bit by bit.

But, what is most fascinating about this is that I walked at all. I could have easily driven down, paid my $6 and parked in the Second Avenue lot. Instead, without a second thought, I parked three miles away and trudged through the snow.

And felt that it was normal.
 
 
 

I am not a jewelry wearing person but, if I were, I would SO have this ring.

Kinekt Design's Gear Ring from Glen Liberman on Vimeo.

The crew of the Cleveland steampunk group the Airship Archon were planning to have a photoshoot with the guys from The Enthusiasts at Ohayocon. Initially, it was going to be on Saturday but it got shifted to sometime Sunday. And then it got shifted from the morning to the afternoon.

I wanted to participate because The Enthusiasts had taken some very nice pictures of me at Windycon but I wasn't planning on spending more than a day at the con and I wasn't trying to get a hotel room. I kept sending emails to the list hoping to get a firm answer as to what was going on. When would the photo shoot be? Would it just be in the hallway somwehere or was there a place elsewhere in Columbus, someplace with a Victorian flair, that people would go?

I received no answer.

So, I decided that I would go on Saturday, instead. That way I would be able to actually participate in the bulk of the con activities. If I could find some crash space for the night, I could stay to Sunday and the photoshoot but otherwise I was only going to make a day of it.

The con was absolutely packed. I was there at 9:45 and the registration line was nearly an hour long.Three hours later and the line was even longer, having doubled back upon itself. I've been to Marcon numerous times in the same venue and this was easily twice as large. An attendee later told me that last year's Ohayocon had 8,500.

That many people means a lot of continuous traffic. Every corner was occupied and most of them were on their way somewhere else. This made it nearly impossible to find a quiet place to get out of things and have a conversation or even just sit and take a break.

I took flyers for Confluence and found that the con did not have a freebie table. In fact, the people at the con information desk didn't even know what a freebie table was. I had noticed something similar at Tekkoshocon where I had to leave flyers scattered about the con on whatever flat surface I could find. Is there something about anime cons that don't think to have a space for all the other cons to advertise? Certainly there is plenty of crossover as I saw plenty of costumes besides just those from Japanese media. There were, of course, a few of us steampunks. There were also a  few Imperial Stormtroopers including the authentically tall guy that I've seen before as Vader at Marcon. One guy had a very nice Halo Master Chief outfit. A Fourth Doctor was dragging around a K-9 on a leash and I saw one person with a Dalek hat. The Joker and Harley Quinn. A few Browncoats. A handful of furries. Some pirates. A pair of guys were dressed up as Mythbusters Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman. Lots of people from the broader sci-fi community attend anime cons and I'm sure anime people swing the other way as well.

I should mention to the guys at Tekko to find a place for flyers. I talked to them at their table and said that I was going to send them a check for prereg when I next got paid but forgot to mention the freebie table.

Even though I was walking around with a big ass pistol on my belt, security seemed most concerned about my cane, afraid that I might whack someone with it. This seems somewhat odd in that a huge number of people were carrying things that were even more dangerous. Swords bigger than they are. Scythes and other assorted weapons with pointy bits sticking out all over the place. Bokken tucked into belts such that walking in crowded hallways will be catching on any sort of clothing. My cane was the least of their problems.

Except that my cane has a sword blade inside it.

Not that I opened it up or ever intended on drawing it, even to show someone else in a controlled setting. But security's concern was with the whackability of it. The were concerned that I might bludgeon someone with it. I need to make a new cane that doesn't have a blade inside it so that I don't have to lie to con security. I already have some design ideas for one that will have moving parts. What is the smallest battery-powered air pump I can find?

Of course, that can would probably end up being even more capable of concaving someone's skull. But, at least it wouldn't have a sword blade concealed within.

There were a number of steampunk panels and when I walked in on the first I "won." That is, I was held up as a most excellent example of the genre. One of the panelists said that I made them look like noobs.There were a few questions that came up that I wanted to answer but I did not have the details. Now that I am home and in front of my PC, I can look them up.

Someone asked about a steampunk lexicon. In developing a persona, one wants to use period language and the person was asking about if such a resource was available. Here are a few from my bookmark list:

A 19th Century Slang Dictionary
How to Speak 19th Century
The Victorian Dictionary

For the most part, I absorbed my pseudo-Victorian writing style and con-speak from reading the works of period writers; Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, H. Rider Haggard, Arthur Conan Doyle. These were the writers I read when I was just starting to read a lot and their use of the language influenced me greatly, even to the point of having my English teachers think that I had gotten someone else to write my assignments because it did not sound like what they were used to. Another resource is to read period newspapers or, really, anything written at the time. It's easier to absorb a method of writing or speaking from people using the language rather than trying to use a glossary and merely substitute "balderdash" for every instance of "bullshit."

Someone mentioned looking at period advertising for language ideas and I didn't have the link for a terrific blog called Advertising for Love, which features period personal ads. There are also newspaper excerpts to be found at The Hope Chest.

The steampunk panels were interesting enough for novices, I suppose, but I am looking forward to attending the dedicated steampunk cons the World Steam Expo and the Steampunk World's Fair. I'm expecting that the panels there will be a little more meaty. I've been thinking I should develop some presentations on the subject. Perhaps a history and analysis of H.G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds". Phil Klass did a presentation a number of years ago at a local meeting, I wish I had recorded it. Even so, I have enough material I should be able to put together a worthy presentation.

I spoke with a number of crew from the Archon about my situation, mentioning that if I could find a place to crash for the night I could participate in the photoshoot on Sunday but that, otherwise, I'd be driving back to Pittsburgh that evening. I had hoped that this was subtle enough to get an offer of crash space but no one seemed to pick up on it. Perhaps it was too subtle. I ran into the photographer from The Enthusiasts early in the day. He recognized me and said that, while he was busy right then, if I wasn't going to be at the Sunday shoot hew woulod try to get ahold of me in the hallway sometime during the day to get some pictures of me. I told him that I would be around all day.

He never found me again.

DeathCom Multimedia is another group of pro photographers who set up studios at cons. I've seen them at Tekkoshocon but I hadn't yet taken them up on their portraiture offers, mostly because I didn't want to pay for it. My interest in having good pictures of myself has changed so I stood in the line and had some pictures taken. They took perhaps ten pictures, of which only two came out. The others had numerous things wrong with them; I was leaning too far forward so at to look awkward, my suspenders were showing beneath my vest, the foreshortened gun was out of focus. They were taking a lot of pictures and rolling through customers pretty quick so I probably could have gone back to have those particular shots perfected but I simply paid my $14 for the two that came out from the one set and left it at that. I expect to see them again at Tekko if I want to try again.

While standing in line waiting to see my pictures, an older gentleman walked up to me and asked about my pistol. This lead to a conversation about what the con was all about. He was apparently a nearby resident who will come by on weekends to see what is going on, randomly dropping in on conventions to meet and talk to people.

I got to explain why everyone was dressed up. What anime is. The history of Japanese animation. How the Japanese media industry differs from the American media industry. Some people standing in line were also impressed by my knowledge and and ability to present that information. They even learned a thing or two.

I really need to tool up to be a panelist at these things.

And while I was able to speak extemporaneously and convincing to someone who doesn't know anything about anime, I could identify about a tenth of the cosplay I saw in the hallways.

I made a few passes through the dealer's room. It was packed, of course. Difficult to move. I was looking for either the "Emma: A Victorian Romance" complete manga or the soundtrack. I didn't hold much hope for either and the best I could come up with was issues 3 and 4 or the manga. I didn't get them because on e-Bay I saw someone who had the complete 10-issue set for $88. I had sent him an email and he intends to relist soon so I'll probably be getting those. I've found the soundracks on torrent but no one has seeded them so I can't download them and I'm not willing to pay $50+ for an import CD online.

I made a few runs through the artist's alley, right in front of the dealer's room, in search of an artist to do my portrait. I thought it would be neat to have an anime interpretation of my persona. I had a number of artists to choose from, at varying prices and styles, and I settled on giving my $10 to Leanne Preacy of Chi Studios.



Buwahahahahaha! When I laughed, the artist wasn't sure how to take it. I assured her that I loved it.

Is my hair really that gray?

I braved the absolutely packed food court because I hadn't eaten anything since having a donuts after getting gas as I got under way at 6 in the morning.

I was going to stick around for Jonathan Coulton's concert but the line stretched on forever. I figured I had seen him in Pittsburgh not long ago so I could stand not to see him this time. At about that time I decided to leave the con and start the three hour drive home. What with the still wall-to-wall people in the hallways and still being stopped for pictures, it still took me an hour to finally get out of the con.

I won't be going back. The Columbus Convention Center simply isn't enough room for that many people. At least, not for me being in amongst that many people.
  
  
  

The PennDOT website has a map of webcams so that people can check local traffic conditions. When there is snow, I will check the Brady Street cam because it's the only one that will show the Eliza Furnace Trail so that I can check the conditions for my commute. But, with the water flooding the Mon Parking Wharf, I wondered this morning whether any of the cams would give a ve\iew of the wharf and the bike trail now along the Mon.

There is a camera that shows the wharf, but not the trail, and I tuned in this morning.



When I looked in, I noticed the Mon Wharf was flooded all the way to the top of the wall separating it from the Parkway East. A truck pulled up so that some workmen could put up barrels to move people to the right-hand lane but I already knew it was a futile gesture.



Between the locks on the Ohio at Neville Island and on the Monongahela at Turtle Creek and on the Allegheny at Aspenwall there is 25 miles of river. Raise the water level just a fraction of an inch and that will be tens of millions of gallons of water. Once it starts coming over that tiny section of wall at the Mon Parking Wharf, it won't be long before it fills up that low spot.



Seven minutes later and the truck has abandoned his post and the water is freely coming over the wall.



Far upstream, there are a number of flood-control dams built in the 50's to controll flooding in Pittsburgh. The Army Corps of Engineers know when the Mon Wharf is going to flood based on how much water they have behind their dams and the flow of water they are allowing through. It's a mathematical formula that has been known for decades. I'm sure the City and PennDOT call the Corps to know the numbers. That's why I'm baffled that they were still allowing vehicles to pass. At this point, it's only been 15 minutes since the river started overtopping the wall and they have lost a lane.



Four more minutes and it's down to only one lane. My suspicion is that the autodiomionists believe that the most important thing is moving traffic as quickly as possible. If the rode is still remotely passable, they are going to keep allowing vehicles through until the last possible moment.



Finally, the road is closed. Twenty minutes from the first signs of water coming over the wall to the highway being completely impassable. Someone at PennDOT had control of the camera and was panning around. As soon as he saw the water coming over the top, he should have set in motion the mechanisms necessary to close the highway. Instead, they put out some barrels to close a lane. A few minutes later, they had to move them to block a second lane. Only then did the block the road. All the cars trapped on the ramp from here to Grant Street had to be turned around one by one and sent back.



The barrel that was put out half an hour earlier has moved to just right of the center of the image. Those are 4 feet high or so, right?



That's not back far enough, boys. . .



. . . the water's still rising.



Yea. That should just about do it. . .



. . . because that's something less than an inch above the wall.



While I was away from my desk during lunch, a coworker continued to watch the webcam. When I cam back, he said he had seen a pickup truck that had apparently gone around the barriers. He drove up the water's edge. Hesitated. Drove forward a bit until the water was up to the front axle. Hesitated. And apparently only then realized that there was no way he was going to be able to drive his truck through the six feet of water blocking his way.

Astonishing stupidity.



At the end of the day, it looked like the river had crested. It had dropped a little bit to expose the top of the wall again.

For my bicycle ride home, the roads were packed. All the cars that would have taken that low section of the Parkway east inbound were being dumped onto Second Avenue or Grant Street. First Avenue was closed so that those being dumped onto Second couldn't shift over and get back onto Fort Pitt Boulevard to get to the bridges. Instead, it looks like they were being sent up Ross to try to find their way back towards Grant. Everyone coming down Grant were bring turned onto Fort Pitt or the Boulevard of the Allies.

On my bike, I was able to ride between cars and get the hell out of town. Riding up the Eliza Furnace Trail I could see inbound traffic at nearly a standstill all the way past the Hot Metal Bridge.

I laughed.

I recalled a discussion I had with someone who said that building a bike trail along the Mon Wharf was stupid because of flooding.

I looked at the line of traffic and laughed some more.
 
 
 

"Polyamory is wrong! It is either multiamory or polyphilia but mixing Greek and Latin roots? Wrong!"

--- From Hemant Mehta at Friendly Atheist
 
 
 

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Did you watch any TV last night? If so, you saw that just about every channel was engaged in a fundraising telethon for victims of the Haiti earthquake. Lots of the mainline media was there, along with a lot of stations you might not think of. CBS, ABC, NBC, CW, FOX, TNT, Weather Channel, MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, HBO, Showtime, Major League Baseball Network, Style Network, E! Entertainment Network, ReelzChannel, TNT, Comedy Central, Oxygen, Soap Opera channel, Bravo, National Geographic Channel, Sleuth, G4, CMT, TV1, BET, MTV, MTV2, VH1, GMC, FUSE, Current, PBS, It's was even streaming live on IMDb, Hulu and YouTube.

But the Fox News Channel had Bill O'Reily bloviating the way he normally does.

When the opportunity presented itself to step up and behave like caring human beings, Fox News chose to go on as if nothing had happened.

We report. You decide.
 
 
 

The other day when one of the coworkers came in with his hair uncharacteristically curly, another coworker commented that he has a "jew-fro."

Needless to say, I have passed this anti-Semitic, bigoted nonsense on to management in the same way that I have let them know when coworkers have used phrases such as "That's so gay."

Actually, there was an incident several years back where I brought up the usage of this sort of language to management, warning that it was literally "a lawsuit waiting to happen." The response I got was less than encouraging. In fact, just a few weeks later I was called down on the carpet because my voice was too loud. But then , a few months after that, my team lead arch-nemesis was fired and took down half a dozen other with him for something inappropriate. Exactly the sorts of things I had been warning them about but they had been ignoring.

Thankfully, in this case, the response I received from management was swift and unequivocal. This sort of language is not acceptable and will be dealt with.

Management is capable of learning.
 
 
 

I received a call from a bank customer today. Apparently, he had called his local branch about an online banking issue and they gave him the Help Desk number.

"I'm sorry, sir, but the number they gave you was incorrect. This is the number for Bank employees to call with their technical issues."

So, as I attempted to look up the number that he should have called, he got more and more irate. He kept gpong over about how he had dialed the number that he had been given and I had to repeat myself in saying it was not the correct number. He complained that the phone menu message had said that there were no issues at this time and that he certainly had an issue. I had to explain that the message was for employees and did not refer to customer issues and, if he would just give me a minute, I would try to find him the correct contact.

He just wouldn't stop, eventually escalating to how he was sick of this technology shit all the fucking time.

I had enough.

"Sir. You are not dealing with technology here. I am a person and I do not have to put up with your abuse. I am trying to help you and if you would just show a little bit of patience and respect I will try to help you anyway. Now, sir, please give me a minute to find the proper number so we can put you in touch with someone why can address your issue."

Dead silence.

I thanked him and said I was going to put him on hold for a minute while I conferenced in the bank operator. Once I got through to someone, I warned them that I had an irate customer, to please be patient with him, conferenced the two of them together and got the hell off the line.

Later, the Tactical Manager was walking by and I stopped him to tell him just what had gone on. He agreed with my response. Really, now. I know people who call the Help Desk are not calling because they are happy. And especially when a customer calls the number he was given and gets someone who can't help him. It's reasonable to feel you're getting the run around. But when I'm there saying, "just a minute, I'm looking that up" and "yes, sir, I'm looking for that number" that is no justification to go ballistic on me. It's not my fault. I'm trying to help you. Please, just SHUT THE FUCK UP so I can solve your problem.