I Blame the Media Blamers

Actually, maybe it's OK to just blame the media? Flaxey flys safely as predicted. Only 7" of snow actually fell (versus the 20+ inches predicted by the media to sell their newscasts). DIA stayed open (after they figured out they should plow the ramps).

Any Lessons Learned here? (Don't let the Guest Blogger loose while Flaxey plays in the snow.)

Signed,
The Guest Blogger

Fly on Flaxey...Fly on

Nothing excites the Denver media more than the threat of a good storm (except perhaps the illusion that the Broncos will go to the superbowl). The impending storm is being downgraded like a K-Fed CD in the bargain bin.

Fly on Flaxey, Hell is only half-full.

Signed,
The Guest Blogger

Exactly

This is What the 14th Circle of Hell Looks Like

I am now trudging, searching and digging, through site after site of weather maps, forecasts, radar, NOAA models, low pressure, high pressure and various fronts.

All in the hope that it will turn up some small nugget of information that will make a decision about my impending flight to Denver.

I am at the ready. I've researched the timetables. It still won't matter.



It doesn't look good and I have uncovered nothing except the fact that I've quite possibly made a serious vocational error. Meteorologists make a lot more money.

Nothing has changed except United already anticipates canceling flights and have extended their change waiver through the 30th. They are giving us a big giant clue right there.

If you look at the radar right now, you'd say, "Nothing is there, it's clear." I did that last week and look where I ended up; in the city of angels for Christmas by myself.

As someone wise just said:

Lessons learned are not always lessons remembered.

The Universe Has Spoken

If it was not clear before it is transparent now...

More snow is on the way to Denver


Yes, it's supposed to hit on the new day I am to fly out to try and have Christmas a week later. I don't think it will happen.

I must be in my own version of LA Story when the sentient freeway sign tells Steve Martin that the weather will change his life. Because other than that what are the chances that paralyzing snowstorms would hit in exact conjunction with both of my trips?



That is all. I am beyond any description of emotion. There just aren't enough words.

It's a War Zone!

The official word from Denver is "Forget Katrina, What about Us!?!"

For the record, I did try to prepare for the certain cancellation of my flight. I just didn't pull the plug soon enough.



The lessons we have learned; at the first sign of trouble, bolt! and never, ever, ever mock the storm!

Old Man Winter

Has ruined my Christmas.

The Road Home

The Weather Wins

I will not likely see the inside of any airport this holiday.

The whole city is shut down.

The only upside is that I am not one of the 3,000 stranded travelers sleeping in the airport.

And even though there is nothing anyone, anywhere, can do, I am sad and frankly can't write anymore about it because it just makes me sob.

Snow is the Devil

There's Snow in the Forecast, Flaxey!

Well, it has already begun.

Usually it starts once I'm already at the airport, but not this time.
Two feet of snow has already started to ground flights and wreak havoc upon the Denver area.

Will I get home for Christmas? That remains to be seen.

The reporter in me says, "Stay tuned for updates on this story as it develops"

Coming Soon to a Record Store Near You

I know, I know, record stores barely exist anymore...

So, I finally did something I was afraid of for as many years as I've been writing songs; I performed one for a classroom full of strangers.

Now, I have been collaborating for quite sometime now and have shared these songs with those co-writers but never, ever to more than one person in this fashion. So, since I am working on this particular song so it can be demo-ed, I decided it was high time to expose it to the masses and face the potential rejection.

It was my turn to sing and I was so nervous I was shaking, which probably hasn't ever happened, even when I was a first grader competing in my first talent show.
And when I was done, the energy of the room had changed and it was all positive. They actually liked the song and I left giddy and breathing a sigh of relief that I am not a terrible songwriter at all!

And since we're talking about music, I recommend the following, until you can buy my album:

Augustana, Dashboard Confessional, India.Arie's remake of "The Heart of the Matter", The Submarines, Ray LaMontagne (especially the track "Three More Days") and The Raconteurs.

Modern Inventions Worth Noting

Ready to Serve Bacon from Oscar Meyer is the greatest thing that was ever invented by the convenience food people.
It's quick, and delicious and so fast that you can never be distracted and end up burning it.

I was skeptical at first, I admit, and it may not be as economical, but if you are always burning bacon like I am, this is the best solution.

I would also like to note the Swiffer family of products for dusting and mopping. These items have been around for a few years now but how brilliant is it that you don't have to get out a bucket and a mop anymore to create a clean floor?

Thoughts Now Cost a Dollar-Fifty

I have let too many things slide by. I was jolted into this realization when an old friend called me out of the blue yesterday.

It's amazing how we let our relationships just fade because we are unwilling to sacrifice.

That's all this is anyway, this life, it's relationships.
Talking about them, living them, trying to have them, maintaining them, longing for them.
As individuals we cannot survive or be happy without them. This is what really matters. Yet, we are narcissists and cannot see beyond our own desires, our own fears.
We are locked inside ourselves and are constantly screaming to get out.

We want someone to know us in a way that we can no longer hide and still we are afraid of judgment, failure, unreciprocated feelings, reciprocated feelings and commitment (and I'm sure a whole laundry list of others).

But it's so much better to love others with reckless abandon. There is no consequence in that. What causes pain and suffering, which is always optional by the way, is the limitations we put on ourselves and our interactions with others, also known as relationships. These are the cages we stay locked in that are of our own making.

I know that I no longer want to ignore those ships I'm already sailing on because it keeps me locked in that cage, climbing the walls. It costs me nothing to truly care deeply about others. Rather, it's money in the bank.

Nature does not give to those who will not spend.
You only get to keep what you give away.