Stormy Storm Storm

Gah!

Really winter you can cut it out now and stop piling on the snow. Honest, I'm pretty sure all people who live in Fredericton would be okay with it.

But seriously, where is all of the snow going to go? The front lawn of my building is one of the largest piles of snow EVER, the spring will be soggy.

Thankfully the snow didn't start until about 1PM, that gave me plenty of time to get to the grocery store, gym AND to the Picaroon's Brewtique to fill a growler to help me ride out the storm. Given the weather I went with Dark and Stormy Night, nerdy AND tasty!

Source

With the semester winding down I don't have too much on my plate school work wise. So I think I will hunker down tonight and waste time on the internet...or maybe sew...or knit...or read...or watch TV. The possibilities are endless!

Last week, or maybe it was earlier this week...I stumbled upon a new Kanye track (All of the Lights) and couldn't stop listening to it. There has been some controversy about the video and it was taken down from YouTube and Vevo temporarily. The controversy surrounded the potential seizure inducing flashing lights and pictures in the video and the near-nakedness of Rihanna. The video is now back on both sites with a warning to epileptics but still with a near-naked Rihanna.



While the beginning of the song is long, the hook is super catchy and the background music is beautiful. And oh yea, Kanye's raps are pretty good too. I'm not sure what the deal is with all of the names at the end of the video, I'm assuming they were involved with the 'chorus' singing or something.

One more thing - thumbs down to Kanye's bottom grill. I'm not sure why those things ever took off as being cool?

Okay, ONE more thing. I love the way Kanye says any version of Grandmother (Granny, Grandma), that might be strange but check out his song Family Business from College Dropout (0:45 and 1:42):

Crazy Winter Things

The weekend before last Fredericton got a bunch of snow, but since then there has been even more snow falling! I can't remember living in a place where the snow just keeps on a comin', it's impressive and cold.

Here are some of the crazy things...

Dripping icicles near the Tannery downtown

More crazy huge icicles discovered on a walk around town

I call this one tidal wave snow...it's new to me:

The snow has shifted from this roof about 2-3
feet and is just hanging over the front of the house
CRAZY!

Lots and lots of snow in O'Dell Park.
That's a bench and a garbage can!

Greg atop a pile of snow with my street's sign

Post Snow Storm

I survived - hooray, hooray!

It really wasn't much of a challenge after I made it to my apartment, but hooray anyway.

Bright and early this morning I was bundled up and headed out for a step class at the gym. I think the temperature (according to the most reliable of sources, Environment Canada) was -20 with the windchill.

The view from my front window - a large pile of snow!

A look down my street - it's so sunny!

I was impressed with how wide the streets had been plowed but I'm not used to plowed streets still being snow covered. In Halifax, usually after they are plowed and covered with salt the asphalt quickly comes back into view - not the case in Fredericton, or at least not on my street. I'm definitely a fan of using less salt and it seems there's a lot more sand used here - my boots are very happy about this fact.

On the way back from the gym the sidewalks were in a much better state. One of those little bob cat machines must have come along and cleared the path. But it left pretty high banks of snow on either side, you can get a better idea in reference to this street sign:

The view from my kitchen window is pretty much into the windows of the neighbouring building. But on the building's roof there was some pretty neat looking drifts. I used my super zoom lens and tried to capture their awesomeness. I probably looked like a creep taking pictures out of my window at the building, but hopefully I wasn't caught.

Wave-esque snow

Strata snow!

Teeny Tiny Icicles

A Snowy, Blowy Day

It seems that the lovely fluffy snow that was falling this morning turned into a full-out snow storm by 3PM. With my love of the radar option on the Environment Canada website (yes Greg, I'm actually posting about the radar option - that's how much I love it!) I snooped on this blowy weather and took a screen shot (yup, I'm a nerd):

This was from earlier today, but it still gets the point across, lost of snow!

While there is quite a bit of snow piling up outside here in Fredericton I'm surprised at how much crap is getting thrown at poor o'l Halifax! I'm kind of glad I moved when I did, I should complain about the weather we get in Fredericton when Halifax gets the same thing and then a bunch of rain on top of it. As much as I miss Halifax that's certainly something I could live without.

Remember awhile ago when I posted about the weather and I pointed out how incredibly Canadian it was? Well, you can insert that thought here as well. But really, it has a big impact on our lives so it's important...right?

After the super awesome Bake Sale earlier today I bundled up and trekked home from campus - it was slippery and hilarious. For most of the walk I couldn't see because my glasses were fogged up, so I took them off to "see" but I have zero depth perception without my glasses so you can imagine just how hilarious I looked staggering along the sidewalk.

I did get home safely (so don't worry mom and dad!) and very, very snowy:

At this point I was struggling to see through my glasses
I don't really think this photo does it justice!

A view from BMH (where all of my classes are)

Snowy Tree

A look down my street, pretty good visibility - right?

From the comfort of my apartment such a snowy, blowy day looks pretty. I can't wait to be able to take advantage of all of this snow!

Snow!

It seems that a snow storm is currently beating the crap out of the Maritimes. My twitter feed is covered with updates (yes, despite living in Fredericton I keep close tabs on Halifax) about universities and malls closing, miserable road conditions, etc.

I hope precautions are being taken, and people aren't risking their lives in attempts of making it to that 5:30 spin class (or something less ambitious) in hopes of putting their winter tires to the test or just trying to beat the weather. I don't ever see that working.

Here is a view from my window at about 4:30PM:

Fredericton is supposed to get 5-10cm, so it looks like I'm in for a night of wearing sweatpants, drinking hot chocolate and getting caught up on readings. The fact that it's snowy out there hasn't impacted my Wednesday night plans at all - phew.

After writing this post I think it's rather fitting as a Canadian to have a post entirely dedicated to a weather update.

BE WEATHER SAFE!

An appropriate sign posted on a house on Charlotte St.