Snow in Hawaii?

It is now just past 3pm EST here in Waltham, MA. It is not snowing. It appears that there might actually some precipitous formations dropping from the skies, but it does not qualify as snow in my book. As we wait for the latest nor'easter to hit us, I continue to be baffled by our collective reaction to the snow (and for the potential snow). Every year the same things happen. At the beginning of the season, when the first storm hits, everyone exhibits behavior reminiscent of Tom Hanks' Saturday Night Live character - Mr. Short Term Memory. They forget how to drive in the snow. This normally causes lots of crazy traffic and accidents. Do our cars get nervous? No. Just the drivers.

Inevitably, there is 1 big storm that the weather forecasters get totally wrong early in the season. Either they predict tons of snow that never hits us or they claim that some storm will slide off to the south and miss us and then, surprise - a foot of snow. Yet, we continue to hang on their every word like they are much more specific Farmer's Almanac. Although I think a very vague weather prediction like chance of snow, cold is pretty much in line with the Farmer's Almanac's predictions. At least these girls have invented something that we really need - the nippleometer.

We've got all this new technology available - super doppler radars, massive statistical models and countless years worth of data. Yet, we (the collective we, but mostly Weather Peeps (since they are now some lovely ladies of weather in addition to good old reliable weathermen)) can not seem to do any better with weather predictions. Why is that?

The WPs are like Steve Martin in the Jerk trying to guess our weight. Guess your weight, win some crap. Ahh, I get it - it's a profit deal. I think Jimmy the Greek had a better streak of success than these folks do (on average).

Wait, I think I have just realized why there are now more women WPs. Just like many other jobs in the media, we've recruited more humans that are easy on the eyes to deliver information that is less than exact or potentially useless. Like when we went through dozens of attractive, less than informative sideline reporters during sports broadcasts. That seems a little sexist, doesn't it? Oh well. I just know that no Dick Albert or Bruce Schweggler would be getting a job in the current, umm, climate.

The other thing that really annoys the crap out of me is the trend to over react to the potential for snow accumulations. I was once in North Carolina when they had a ice storm a few years back. That area is ill equipped to handle this kind of weather - they don't have plows or batches of sand or salt ready to spread on the roadways. It crippled the state for a week or so. We've even seem more of this type of thing in the Mid-Atlantic this past week. Yes, I'm talking about Snowmageddon. Some of those areas don't normally get much weather like this - it's hard for them to deal with.

I know I'm taking a long way to get there, but my point is that WE LIVE IN NEW ENGLAND. Why do we act like we can't handle some snow? How can the City of Boston cancel public schools the night before a (potential storm) that was not even predicted to hit until around noon-ish? Have we collectively become such idiots and pussies that we have to close up shop and stay home because it MIGHT snow heavily? I really don't get it.

I work with a client based in Syracuse, NY - it snows there (on average) almost 12 feet EVERY YEAR. And it is quite regular for it to snow almost every day for most of the winter. Do they shut down school at a hint of snow? Nope.

It's snow, not the end of the earth.

Very Special

Most days at work I listen to my Ipod - I just put it on shuffle and let it play in the background when I'm in my office (which is most of the time). It always makes me smile a little bit when I'm sitting around doing some work and a really random song will come on. It might be one of the songs from the extremely excellent Best of Rocky Balboa soundtrack (getting me a little too pumped up at my desk). Or it might be some completely inappropriate song from NWA (RIP Eazy-E) or a song from some very forgetful album. In general, I enjoy the fact that I spent way too much money over the years on CDs and try to reminisce about where I acquired that specific CD as it comes on.

Today's smile inducing song was "Very Special" by Big Daddy Kane, featuring Spinderella. Those who know me know that I do have a strong affinity for hip hop and rap from the 80s through the late 90s. Big Daddy Kane was just a great rapper. He is probably best known for "Ain't No Half Stepping" (with a great video here - I remember these kids dancing in the background - perhaps Kid & Play's inspiration?) - a nice rap tune. But he's had quite the interesting career. There are a few things that I remember well and a few that I had to rely on the glorious interwebs for. I clearly remember when Madonna's book (Sex) came out during my freshman year at BU, it was all the buzz. Someone on my floor got the book and I remember how surprised I was that none other than Big Daddy was prominently featured in it (I have since forgotten that Vanilla Ice appeared in it as well). I think I've blocked out any memory of Big Daddy's little daddy (if indeed it was shown), but I still found it strange that he was in the book (apparently he appeared in Playgirl as well).


I knew that he was friends with another personal favorite - Biz Markie (I'm still waiting for my own personal Biz alarm clock). Apparently BDK was the brains in the operation, having written most of the lyrics for Biz's biggest hits. He also was one of the guys that gave Jay-Z his start - Jigga was actually a hypeman for BDK shows in the 90s (along with Positive K - the guy that sang that song "I Got A Man" and sang both the male and female parts on his one-hit wonder). I was fortunate enough to see BDK perform a few years back at small theater in New York City. Unlike some of the other "legends of rap" that I've seen over the past few years (Slick Rick and Digital Underground come to mind), Kane was awesome. He brought it and brought it hard for a solid hour plus. He got to all of his stuff, covered some other rappers' hits and even did a little move busting of his own. It was high energy and for any real rap fan of the era, a great show. So, I still enjoy and support BDK.

I digress a bit though. This song made me smile mainly because I get such a kick out of the mini-genre that was the rap love song. You know what I'm talking about - when the rapper "slows it down" and sends one out to the ladies. I've been trying to rack my brain for a few more examples. LL Cool J's "Around the Way Girl" might have been the most mainstream example ("bamboo earings, at least two pair"). But there have been others through the years - "I'd Rather F*** With You" by NWA; "Song Cry" by Jay-Z; "Dear Mama" and "Brenda's Got a Baby" by Tupac; "I Need Love" by LL Cool J, "Do 4 U" by Father MC (and Mary J. Blige) and many others. It's always amusing to me to hear the respect these rappers have for the ladies - me thinks it's a tad transparent. Did they really need more reasons to attract the rap groupies, I mean the sentimental ladies? I guess one good rap love song can overpower album's worth of bitches and hoes.

This lovely duet with the DJ from Salt N Pepa had some really solid lyrics. Just a few favorites - "since they say love is blind, I'm the Ray Charles of rap", "you're always on my mind, even more than my own skull", and "those tropicana drinks don't blend as good as us". I mean, those were clearly classic lyrics that must have taken literally minutes to compose. Rhyming ain't easy! Just taking it slow and giving us something a little different than the normal rap song.

Lastly on this somewhat related post - I really don't get the IPod shuffle at all. It clearly shuffles within a segment of albums, not the entire collection. Why can't they invent a shuffle that truly shuffles across the whole IPod? I understand the concept of the word random - I'm not sure Mr. Shuffle does though. How often do you hear multiple songs from the same artist or even the same album back to back? If it is an indication of my luck, I guess I need to play the lottery some more. Please Apple geniuses, get to work on this. It would make my life a little better.