Snowmageddon Icepocalypse

"Stay indoors as much as possible."
"Classes after 5 PM are canceled. The status of tomorrow's classes will be determined by 10 PM."
"No travel is advised."
"Officials warn weather conditions could be dangerous and deadly."
"Men's basketball vs. Penn State will be played as scheduled."

Above are some of today's weather headlines as an enormous winter storm, touted by meteorologists as a "monster," began to unleash a reign of destruction and terror across Central Illinois. With the end of life as we know it coming to our doorstep, ready to snuff us out like a tiny, insignificant flame it's a comfort to know that we count on our good ol' fightin' Illini to prevail in the face of adversity. Yes, not even God himself can stop these young men from beating the cookies out of Penn State tonight at Assembly Hall. As I write this Kaia is on her way to usher the tens of screaming fans that braved the ice pellets, forty mile per hour winds, slick roads, and brutal cold to make it to the game.

Let me just take this moment to give a public shout out to my wonderful wife of almost six years who is braving the elements so we can eat. Thanks!

It has been a brutal day out there. I managed to get a two mile run in this morning after class (at our indoor campus recreation center) but I was pelted with ice on my way home after getting off the bus. I took this video from our living room so you can see/hear the ice as it pummels our windows:



Needless to say I won't be going anywhere tonight (seriously, thank you Kaia). Once it's all said and done we're supposed to get anywhere from 9-13 inches of some kind of frozen precipitation. Up in Chicago (where I'm scheduled to go tomorrow night) it's supposed to be worse. They could get up to 2 feet of snow! In that event I think I will see if I can hitch a ride with the Penn State team on their way back to Happy Valley.

It's times like this that I wish I were up north. In Wisconsin and Minnesota a storm like this inevitably means great snow for cross country skiing and contributes to the collective folklore of winter hardship thus bonding fellow Wisconsinites and Minnesotans together in a universal brotherhood of suffering through an oppressive winter. In Central Illinois this snow and ice could actually shut down the state for days. They canceled public school classes in the area last night proactively for today (before the storm even hit) and are most likely going to do the same tomorrow (and possibly the next day). Think of all the lost learning. Think of the time to make up later in the year. Ouch.

At least in times like these, when the weather gets tough and all of the sissies cancel school, church activities, and yoga classes, I can sit back, open a cold beer, turn on the TV and watch the Illini vs. Penn State game that is going on less than a mile from my apartment on the Big Ten Network.