Well, it is just getting dark here in Arlington, and, seeing as how there is are no buses, no metro, and stepping outside puts you more than knee-deep in snow immediately, I am probably in for the night.

What better time to write a blog, and watch football/drink coffee/fry some food.

Earlier this week, it became clear that it was going to snow this weekend. Now, it snowed two weeks ago, when it was colder, but wetter. But on Friday it was reported that this could be the biggest snow storm in DC history. And we might see "thunder snow". Hmm...

Well, it isn't the biggest ever, but it is the biggest ever in December. The 24-hr high temp for today was 29 degrees -- at 4 am. It has done nothing but drop all day. Some 14 inches of snow have fallen on the nation's capitol since about 8 pm last night. The only hours that have been listed as "heavy snow" were the same ones I was outside playing football in the video shown on the last post.

Makes you really wonder how in the world all those Senators got to work to vote on a defense bill and apparently make a deal on health care this morning. This is the same body that has been working on health care for about six months (which is why the "they are jamming this through" arguments are absolutely ridiculous).

Anyway, enough ripping on the U.S. Senate. Let's get after the District of Columbia for a while. Last year, when Seattle was hit with the worst snow storm that I could remember clearly, the city was clearly unprepared. The thing about Seattle though, is that no matter how much prep you do, you can't flatten hills. You can sand the roads and not send articulated buses out, but hey, they voted that guy out of office, alright? Give 'em a break.

Washington, D.C. was unbelievably unprepared for this. Having been listening for the past few weeks, this isn't a new thing. The district apparently is always unprepared. Again, in comparison to Seattle: there are snow plows in the passes that can be borrowed. DC has very few. They don't want to spend the money on something that happens only every few years. Somewhat understandable, until you realize that they had to specially plow the runway at Andrews and probably the roads ahead of the motorcade last night for the president to come back from Copenhagen. Congress was in session today. You think Robert Bird was out there in this? Good thing he isn't walking anyway. Hard to see some of those other Senators walking out there.

I arrived on the mall at 1030, walking down Pennsylvania Ave, which had not been touched by feet, let alone a plow. The biggest street in the United States of America was not plowed until at least noon. Looking at the pictures, you'll find that you can't see the capitol building from three blocks away. I never saw it today.

Main arterials are not plowed. Stores are out of food. Buses are not running because the roads are so bad. Oh there are people out driving, most of whom are probably from the northeast. One thing they did do was salt some of the roads. That is somewhat futile when more than a foot of snow is dumped on them with no plowing.

The point here is that America's capitol city is a dead city in a snowstorm. Which just seems unacceptable. But hey, it means the snow will stick around for days to come since it isn't supposed to get above freezing again until Tuesday.

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Also wanted to update everyone on the job situation. On Wednesday, I accepted a position at Clean Energy Works, the coalition of environmental groups campaigning for the Senate clean energy bill. That begins on January 4. Outside of the obvious excitement, I am especially in awe of my office location -- across the street from the FBI building (named for J. Edgar Hoover) and right off Pennsylvania between the Hill and White House. Sometimes, as some of you know, I get really wrapped up in what I am doing and forget to be awed. It's a fault. Not sure that will be the case this time.

The downside is that I may go about a month and a half without getting paid, so there is some post-college penny-pinching about to happen. But hey, everyone has to do it. There is also a somewhat floating end-date, since it is based on the passage or failure of the bill. We'll see how that goes. And I'll be sure to link some of what I am doing.

Speaking of which: my main responsibility will be blogging and new media, but mostly the former. Even I have said that the campaign could do more there and they are ready to ramp up. I am excited to be part of it.

Alright, I'm off. Maybe to go dive in the snow.