Friday, February 1, 2019

(OK campers, rise and shine, and don’t forget your booties cause its coooold out there today!)

*POP!* That’s the sound of us emerging from the eternal January, and bursting into Friday, February 1, 2019! We’re witnessing an atmospheric regime change, as the high pressure we’ve enjoyed for a week is being overthrown by rain that pushed ashore overnight and will march inland through the morning. High today around 50. Sunrise 7:31 AM, sunset 5:17 PM. But late in the weekend, things change.

(You want a prediction about the weather? I’m going to give you a prediction about this winter! It’s going to be cold, it’s going to be dark and it’s going to last you for the rest of your lives!)
Oh…wait…that comes later. But seriously:

They may or may not be needed, but deicers and sanding trucks are ready to roll, and TV news people are already reporting from Sylvan. Here’s the latest guidance on the snow possibilities for Portland:

–From the National Weather Service, reluctant to venture onto a limb: “Colder air arrives later Sunday and remains over the region into next week. With lingering moisture, will see snow at times over the mountains and foothills, with spotty snow down lower. It’s too early to say how much and who will get the snow, due to uncertainty in the pattern and models.”

–From KGW’s Matt Zaffino: Above 500 feet, 1 to 2 inches. On the valley floor, zero to 1 inch.

–From KGW’s Rod Hill: “Snow showers, not a snowstorm. Portland accumulations trace to 3″, 1 to 5″ above 500 feet.”

–From KPTV’s Mark Nelsen, via his blog: “What I do see is a few “flirtations” with low elevation snow next week, first chance is late Sunday night/Monday AM and again maybe Monday night/Tuesday AM. Possibly late next week. If you live near/above 1,000′ you’re almost guaranteed at least some snow at some point Sunday night through Tuesday AM.”

–From @realDonaldTrump (POTUS Twitter account): “What the hell is going on with Global Waming? Please come back fast, we need you!”

So are you doing anything to be ready, you know…just in case? I’m making a note to round up the things I need to go to work on a snow day. Find my gloves. Locate the scraper/snowbrush and put it by the door; last year I thought I was very smart by stashing the brush in the car. I needed to brush off the snow with my arm into order to get into the car to retrieve my brush. Do you have any snow-day life hacks…you know, just in case?

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Portland Police used DNA and a genealogy database to solve a crime that baffled detectives 40 years ago, the murder of a 20-year-old woman in her apartment at NW 18th and Couch. The match they hit on turned out to be a serial killer who was executed in Texas in 1999.

National media are finally picking up on an Oregon outrage. NBC News tweeted this overnight: “Saudi diplomats reportedly spirited the five young Saudis out of the U.S. with forged passports on private planes, according to the Oregonian newspaper.”

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If you, like me, need some reason to give a fig about the Super Bowl, there’s this: ten players with Oregon ties will be suiting up on Sunday. They are:

For Los Angeles: Grant High’s Ndamukong Suh, the 307-pound defensive tackle whose name I was privileged to learn to pronounce as a high school football PA announcer; wide receiver Brandin Cooks from Oregon State; onetime Beaver punter Johnny Hekker; linebacker Samson Ebukam from David Douglas HS; cornerback Troy Hill from Oregon; backup QB Sean Mannion from Oregon State; and third-string tight end Johnny Mundt from Oregon.

For New England: Former Duck Patrick Chung; punter Ryan Allen from West Salem HS; tight end Jacob Hollister of Mountain View HS.

*****

It’s a huge concert weekend at the Moda Center, as KISS’s “End of the Road World Tour,” showing off their licks in Portland for the apparent last time. (Speaking of local players, their lead guitarist, Tommy Thayer, is a ’78 grad of Sunset HS Beaverton, is on the Pacific University Board of Trustees, he’s a major supporter of military vets, and a great guy).

Then Bob Seger–who moaned about “autumn closing in” a good 40 years ago–brings his Silver Bullet Band to town on Saturday night. “Night Moves,” by the way, was a true story from Bob’s obviously lively adolescence. He was 18 and the “dark-haired beauty” with, you know, was a year older. Rene was her name; her boyfriend was away in the army and everything in the song happened. The soldier came home and married Renee and Bob was left with was a broken heart and a million-selling song.

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Noteworthy anniversaries;

February 1, 2003 – Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas during reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
February 1, 2004 – Super Bowl XXXVIII, remembered for a certain halftime incident that triggered a crackdown on anything even slightly risqué in the media. You wouldn’t believe the training we underwent.
February 1, 2010: The first streetcar tracks were laid on Portland’s eastside.

Tomorrow is Groundhog Day. The event itself is nothing to me, but the movie says it all. Quoth Bill Murray: “This is pitiful. A thousand people freezing their butts off waiting to worship a rat. What a hype. Groundhog Day used to mean something in this town. They used to pull the hog out, and they used to eat it. You’re hypocrites, all of you!”

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These are today’s “Something Good” stories, and I have reason to believe the links are actually in the fabled Daily Drip Coffee Cup. I’m still a student driver on our new and improved content system; we’re to the point of turning in circles in the church parking lot, and I’m almost ready to take it on the street.

–“82-year-old Michigan granny, Marlene Downing snowblows her own and neighbors’ driveways in sub-zero temperatures”

–“Pharmacists deliver prescriptions on a snowmobile”

–“Special Olympics golfer Amy Bockerstette goes viral after making par on one of golf’s most famous holes

–“Indiana Coffee Shop Offers Free Cup of Joe for a Good Deed”

–“Prison animal programs are benefitting both inmates and hard-to-adopt dogs in Florida””

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That’ll drip it for the week. It’s been a good one: we’ve gained ten minutes of daylight just since Monday! Don’t worry about the snow possibility. Whatever it is, we’ve seen way worse. Final thought:

Rita: What should we drink to?
Phil: I like to say a prayer and drink to world peace.