The charmed-life theory proved itself again today for me. At first it didn’t because the bad-weather line for work said, “all is normal, come to work.” I thought, they’ve got to be kidding!?
I wasted probably a couple liters of gas de-icing the car but when the windows were clear, I made the patient, relatively slow trek to work. The Prius’ anti-lock brakes only wigged once because I had to stop for an indecisive ambulance. After I saw school buses for Pflugerville and Round Rock ISD driving around I figured, I guess it wasn’t as serious as I feared. I saw the cleanup of an accident while passing under MoPac through Wells Branch.
Once I arrived at work, I took advantage of the new shower facilities in Building One (they exist in the Deuce, I’ll wait until a team is moved in though). Made it to work on the money at 8:30 AM, got rolling.
After 9:30 AM, HR sent out a message saying Austin would now delay opening to noon. You could hear or feel the mutual screams of my co-workers and me who risked our safety, insurance deductibles and sanity to be here. I wanted to be here due to four candidate interviews; thankfully these were all conducted remotely through conference calls or FaceTime.
Later today I saw the horrors I dodged. Given how poorly Austinites drive since many are transplants from cities with even crappier driving habits (aka Californicators), 247 accidents sounds about right. The nation may ridicule Austin over a “little ice.” It’s not the ice, it’s the schmucks in the SUVs driving over the speed limit that are the danger. Meanwhile, this Midwestern Yankee who handles the wheel like a bus driver remains dent free with my car powered by farts and smug.
Anyway, our critics can suck it. after tomorrow morning, we’ll be right back to our moderately warm climate.
Oh, I wouldn’t really blame it on the Californians (besides, why call them Californicators? Are you against fornication?). I lived through a sleetapocalypse in Dallas, which does have its own fair share of imported talent, but is heavily populated by locals…and the horrors I saw there make this week look like a walk in the park.
I remember sitting at my desk at TRG, looking down at Central Expressway, and calling 911 as I watched cars going 70 (In a 55 zone! On ice!), hitting the breaks, then flipping and rolling. One call went like this: “Uh, yeah, I’m at Central Expressway and Lovers, and I just watched a car rollover on the freeway. They’re out safely it looks but…” *sees another car hit the first car and rollover* “OH SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT yeah, you want to send a second EMS unit. And a fire truck…”