The other day it was almost 70 degrees here in New York (Rockland County) and now, this morning, on the first day of spring, it is snowing.

Here is a picture from my iPhone as I wait at the light to get to work:

It doesn't appear to be sticking to the streets, but you see a nice layer on the grass, trees and cars.

It should warm up and stop snowing and the sun should clear all this up by the afternoon.

If you are into the first day of spring, see the theme at the Search Engine Roundtable plus first day of spring logos at the Search Engine Roundtable. Some pretty clever and artistic stuff, including some really nice design from the RustyBrick designer on our theme.

Posted at 7:21 AM | Permalink | Category: Weather | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

After years, possibly 10 years, of not owning a pair of boots, I finally caved and bought a pair. Sears was having a good deal (I think good deal) on the Everlas Chukka Boot in Black. So for $28, after tax and shipping, I ordered a pair. It was 50% cause of clearance and then an additional 25% for some other reason.

Why do I need boots? Well, we have been having bad weather specially on the weekends. Now - when it snows and I need to walk a half a mile to synagogue in dress shoes - let me just say, it is not fun. It is more like skies in a suit, then anything else.

So I ordered the black color, so it blends in well with the suits I wear at synagogue.

It has been a ten year stretch without boots. I really don't need them during the weekday snow storms. My sneakers are fine to walk in the snow with. Why has it taken me so long?

(1) I so hate shopping, so hate it.

(2) I feel it is a waste to spend money on something I'll use a few times a year.

(3) I am stubborn

(4) Maybe my past dress shoes had a better grip? My current ones are like ice skates.

So when my brother got these in the mail at the office, I asked him how much they cost. He told me the deal and I purchased myself one of these puppies.

Let it snow!

Posted at 1:43 PM | Permalink | Category: Shopping , Weather | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

The snow is really coming down now. I think about five inches is expected in Suffern, where I am right now. When I got to work, it was a clear sky - so when RBers started walking in complaining about the snow, I was shocked.

I have a feeling it is going to be a snowy winter. I certainly hope not. But that is my gut. Honestly, a snowy winter on top of a recessionary time, doesn't make me happy - but what can I do.

I told the RBers that if we get stuck here, at the office, for New Years, at least we got our iPhone New Years horns to keep us entertained. :)

Here is to a warm winter! :)

And Happy New Year!

Posted at 9:38 AM | Permalink | Category: Weather | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

There is a snow storm coming and there is about 6-12 inches of snow expected in my area.

A reminder, when you park your car at work - and, I assume you are all going to work today, put your windshield wipers in the up position. Nothing worse than trying to dig them out of the 12 inches of snow. This way you can brush the snow off easily, without really damaging the wipers.

Since I was the first one at the building this morning - like almost every morning, I put my blades up. I assume the rest will see my car and do the same.

But I am no longer worried about getting stuck here. My new car, which is now over a year old is all wheel drive. My old car was known to always get stuck in the snow. But I don't think that will happen this time, at least - I hope not to blog every other day about my car getting stuck in the snow, like I did the years before.

Posted at 8:54 AM | Permalink | Category: Motor Vehicle , Weather | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Yesterday, I got cold. It was like 20 degrees out all day, last night it was in the single digits and when I left my house, it was like 15 degrees outside. Now, it is a brisk 19 degrees and it is only 9:15am.

I refuse to wear big, puffy coats, like illustrated to the right of this post.

Until now, it has been in the 30s to 20s. So I have been wearing a fleece pull over or a leather coat. Now that it is really cold, I broke out the warmer coat. The warmer coat is one of those rain coats, with a retractable hood and a zip in liner. It is not too puffy and lets me get into my car and drive comfortably when wearing it.

It is cold!

Posted at 9:21 AM | Permalink | Category: Weather | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

This afternoon I had to drive up-state a bit, up to Newburgh, NY for a meeting. I actually met with a company that makes things out of steel. Yea, it was an interesting place. That is for another blog entry.

On my way home, the sky opened up and it felt like someone threw a pool of water on top of my car, pretty much for the last 15 miles of my trip. You know that feeling, it is basically impossible to see the car in front of you - all you see is water and more water...

Of course, all the cars slowed down. I noticed many cars pulled over to the side of the highway. But everyone else pretty much had their hazards on, so you can see them and kept going at a steady 30MPH.

I can't remember the last time I drove in rain like that. It was literally impossible to see in front of you at times. I actually drove by looking at the yellow line on my left, to make sure I was in my lane. And then when I saw some sort of thing flashing in front of me (the car in front of me had his hazards on), I slowed down to not hit that car.

The rain stopped now, but it was bad. Glad I typically have a 10 minute commute to work. :)

Posted at 5:47 PM | Permalink | Category: Travels , Weather | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Thankfully, I really don't have allergies. My wife is not as fortunate, her allergies stink. In any event, I wanted to convey to you all how bad it is here, with the tree pollen.

You can take a look at the Weather Pollen Report for my area and see this chart:

Or you can use a more scientific approach and look at the hood of my car, as of yesterday afternoon.

All those green smudges on my black car is what we call tree pollen. In fact, I left the moon roof tilted upwards yesterday and I found pollen bits inside my car.

It is the season where cars turn green here.

Posted at 8:38 AM | Permalink | Category: Weather | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

My heat bills are dropping and spring is coming! Happy first day of Spring!

Google even has a logo!

Tomorrow, I will have a theme up for Purim at the Search Engine Roundtable. But if you missed our past two themes, here they are:

St. Patty:

Pi Day:

Posted at 9:28 AM | Permalink | Category: Weather | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Snowed bad enough that I worked from home. I never work from home. Anyway... I set my calls in my office to go to my cell. My clients really had no idea. In any event...

Here is a picture of the snow in my back yard:

Yea, that is my grill, wonder if I should bring it in during the winter. Anyway, let's zoom in so you can see the depth of the snow:

And it is still snowing and is suppose to continue for a while.

Posted at 1:32 PM | Permalink | Category: Weather | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

I broke down and hired a landscaper. I tried to figure if I would buy a mower and a leaf blower - would it be more cost effective. But It would still eat up way too many of my hours each month if I did it myself. Would it be more cost effective for me to hire someone else, a professional to deal with the lawn? For now, that is what I picked. If things change, I can always revert back.

Right now, I got tons and tons of leaves everywhere and it looks bad. I was planning on raking them myself before the big snow storm but after the snow fell, there was no way I was able to do anything about it. It has been warm recently and the snow is almost all gone and the leaves look like a mess.

So Sunday, I called a landscaper and he is signed up to mow my lawn in the warm months and do my leaves, if the weather holds up for him to do it.

Posted at 9:24 AM | Permalink | Category: Homey , Weather | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

It is freezing outside, literally - freezing.

Since Wednesday night, it dropped down into the teens. With the wind-chill factor, it feels like it is in the single digits.

Starting this afternoon, it is supposed to warm up a bit in the 20s. I can't wait. Then it should hit the 30s and low 40s the following day.

The cold is just so cold. Last night, I had to bring the mail in and touching the mail that was sitting curb site mailbox and my fingers felt like they turned to ice.

Just thinking about it makes me cold. But I 100% prefer it be cold then hot. And at least we don't have snow...

Could be worse, one of my employees had their heat break yesterday morning. They have been sleeping by a neighbor and it is still not fixed!

Posted at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Category: Weather | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

We had a snow storm (wasn't bad) this past Sunday. But the snow was very wet and then froze over at night. It wasn't one of those light snows, it was a rainy snow, which is heavy.

So I got the plow guy to do the drive way but he didn't do the walk way. I was going to do the walk way that day, but I ran out of time. Then over night, the walk way turned into ice. I need an ice pick or blow torch to loosen the ice off. One day, I guess. Good thing we don't use the front door, the garage is our main mode of entry and exit from the house.

Sunday night, I took out the garbage, to be picked up Monday morning. Ever since then, I cannot find the top of that garbage can. Typically, they take the top off and throw it on the grass. When I come home I put it back together. What must have happened was they threw it on my grass, which is all ice. It must have blown away and slid to one of my neighbors properties. From there, who knows where it is? Upsetting, I need the top!

That is how I lost my garbage top in this ice capade.

Posted at 1:33 PM | Permalink | Category: Homey , Weather | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Well, the snow storm came, as expected. It wasn't all that bad, at all... There was probably 5 inches or so by the time I left work.

I brushed off my car, got in, turned it on, pressed the "snow" button and drove off. I did not get stuck at all. There was a slippery point here and there on the way home, but overall, the car drove wonderfully. Got to love the all wheel drive! My other car, well, it would be trapped for days. So I am very happy with the car decision and timing, very happy.

When I got home, I took out the shovel and began shoveling my drive way. In about an hour or more, I got 50% of the drive way clear and the walk way clear. I then spotted a plow truck and asked him to finish off the rest for $20. More importantly, I have his number and I will sign a contract with him to plow me out when it snows. Save $30 bucks by doing it myself, which will take 2 hours for the whole drive way or work for 2 hours while I pay someone else $30 to do it for me. Hmmm... How much is my time worth?

Finally, we are expecting a large snow storm this Sunday. Much bigger than last night.

Posted at 1:13 PM | Permalink | Category: Weather | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Tomorrow we are suppose to have 6 to 8 inches of snow in my area. It looks like it will begin at about noon and continue until about 9pm. That means pretty bad weather for those driving home from their day at work.

I have a client flying in to meet with us. He flies in Thursday night, hope it works out well.

The weather alert says:

WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 10 AM TO 11 PM EST THURSDAY

TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS WILL GENERALLY RANGE FROM 6 TO 8 INCHES AWAY FROM THE COAST. LOCATIONS CLOSER TO THE COAST WILL EXPERIENCE A MIXTURE OF SLEET WHICH WILL LIMIT ACCUMULATIONS TO 4 TO 6 INCHES.

A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW... SLEET... AND ICE ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. STRONG WINDS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE. THIS WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR IMPOSSIBLE.

I am actually looking forward to testing out my new car on the way home from work tomorrow. Should be fun!

Personally, I am glad the snow isn't over night - but most people, I would assume, prefer the nightly snow fall. Just hope things don't freeze over.

Posted at 5:32 PM | Permalink | Category: Weather | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

I was driving to work yesterday, yes I work Sunday mornings, and I saw this car.

(1) What first caught my attention was that the car had its top down in 30 degree weather. Brrrrrr.

(2) Then I saw the interesting license plate, as you can see in the image above.

(3) Then when I passed the car, I notice a dog was buckled into the passenger seat. The dog was sitting up like a person, wearing a snow hat. Way too funny.

Posted at 9:35 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Funny , Motor Vehicle , Travels , Weather | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

This Sunday morning marked the first time it snowed this season, plus the first snow fall in our new house. I actually shoveled the drive way and did not hire a plow to do it for me. I wonder how long that will last.

Here is a picture of the snow in my back yard:

It may have turned out to be a few inches by the end of the day. Nothing major but with all first snow of the season, the weather channels play it up.

But how about timing....

I got my new car a week ago today and within a week, we get our first snow. So how did it drive? It drove great. I did not slip, skid or get stuck. It drove. So no complaints are what I was looking for. I have no story to tell - which is good but bad for the blog.

Overall, good timing...

Posted at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Category: Homey , Motor Vehicle , Weather | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Yesterday, I had a bunch of house chores to do. So when I got home from work in the late morning, I got to it.

First I cleaned out my car so I can easily turn it in today. Then I swept out the garage, the first time since buying the house. Then I tried to rake the leaves...

I decided to start with the driveway area. About a half an hour later, and half the driveway later, I noticed I wasn't getting too far. Looking at what remained, about 6/10ths of an acre, I decided to call it quits. It would take me days to finish the whole yard. So I finished most of the drive way and put the rake down.

I then turned off the water to the outside hoses, so it doesn't freeze.

That was about it for my chores. I may hire someone to do the leaves or I might just leave it as is. Still need to decide on that.

Posted at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Category: Homey , Weather | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Friday night, it snowed for the first time here.

It was a very light snow, in fact, most of the grass was clear by late morning.

Also, Saturday night, I saw several deer in a neighbors front lawn. Nuts.

And finally, it is freezing in my office and I am way swamped (not sure how much I can blog here today).

You see, I have an exciting life. I blog about snow and deer.

But isn't that a really nice picture? Check it out via Flickr for more details...

Posted at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Category: Weather | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

So the winter has finally arrived, with it being 39 degrees here in Suffern, NY.

I have been asking people in the community what they set their heat at. Most were proud to give answers such as, no higher than 68, 69, etc. But one person shocked me by saying a crisp 65 degrees. Why? Heat and electric can cost several hundred per month.

Every house has its own temperature. It depends on how well insulated the house is, how big it is, the type of windows, siding, etc. So each house needs to find their own comfort level. My question to you, and I have provided a poll below to find out your answer, what do you set your heat at in the winter months?

Posted at 9:51 AM | Permalink | Category: Homey , Weather | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

This morning it was pouring rain when I left the house. My wife watched me walk out the door, suggesting that I take a rain coat or umbrella. I just left.

I honestly don't see the big deal about getting your clothing wet. So it takes 20 minutes to dry completely. I honestly rather not carry an extra coat or an umbrella with me, if all it takes is 20 minutes for my cloths to dry.

Heck, I don't even have to dry them. I sit, do my work, they dry without me doing anything.

Same with my hair, it dries also.

OK, so if I was into my hair style or I had expensive clothing that can get ruined in the rain, I would wear a coat. But otherwise, I see no point.

I don't mind feeling the rain fall on me. On a hot summer day, it feels nice.

Posted at 8:55 AM | Permalink | Category: Weather | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

I was looking forward to making a splash but unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), I was only a tropical storm.

I have been classified as a tropical storm. You can track the forecast advisories beginning on June 1st, to the public advisories, discussions and wind speed probabilities at National Weather Service.

Wikipedia has some nice information on TS Barry, Tropical Storm Barry.

On May 30, a broad low pressure area formed in the Gulf of Honduras. Moving northward, the system slowly deepened as it moved through the northwest Caribbean sea into the southeast Gulf of Mexico. On June 1, the first day of the officially defined hurricane season, this cyclone organized into Tropical Storm Barry despite being located in an area of high shear, and warnings were immediately issued along the Western Florida coastline. Barry provided much-needed precipitation to parts of Florida which were experiencing drought conditions in the January to May months.[17] Barry made landfall near Tampa Bay, Florida on June 2 as a minimal tropical storm. Soon thereafter Barry was downgraded to a tropical depression as it began its extratropical transition. Barry became an extratropical cyclone late in the afternoon of June 2. On June 3, the cyclone moved up the coast of the Carolinas bringing rains into the Mid-Atlantic states and New England.

So I was a disappointment. The news headlines aren't all that powerful.

- Tropical Storm Barry Brings Much Needed Rain To Florida; great, a good samaritan.
- Rain from Tropical Storm Barry welcomed, it is nice to be welcomed, but comeon, I am a hurricane want to be.
- Storm weakens to a tropical depression, OK, that is just sad.

I am so depressed about this, I am leaving the east coast to go to the west coast.

Posted at 6:26 PM | Permalink | Category: Weather | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I turn around and look outside the window and everything is dark, like it is night time. The trees are blowing, like I have never seen them blow. The rain, lightening and thunder is coming down like I can not remember. Bam! The electricity goes out for a second. Backup worked, server is fine.

But the weather continued like that for five minutes or so. Now the sky seems clear. But wow.

A Tornado watch in Rockland County, New York! When do we every have tornados? We are not in the mid-west here. This is the east coast. The worst we get is bad snow.

ALERT 3 - Tornado Watch
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WATCH UNTIL 6:00PM EDT
Issued: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 3:03 PM EDT
Expires: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 6:00 PM EDT

Anyway, things seem to have calmed down. Too bad Twister didn't come here to film.

BTW, check out their dumb site at http://movies.warnerbros.com/twister/.

Posted at 3:46 PM | Permalink | Category: Weather | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

Last night is started to snow a bit, but I was able to get my car to work. However, I doubt I will be able to get it back. There are rumors that this weekend, it is suppose to snow a foot or so.

Here is a picture of what is going on now.

Worse comes to worse, my brother will drive me home and I'll leave my car here until Sunday.

We will see.

Update: I dug my car out, it wasn't bad. There was a plow there, so he helped by pushing away a bulk of the heavy snow. Then I dug under the tires and rocked it out.

This is what the car looked like when I first arrived Sunday morning.

Posted at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Category: Motor Vehicle , Weather | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I don't think I have ever missed Tuesday basketball three times in a row. At most, maybe two weeks, but not even when I went on my honeymoon.

The first two weeks, I ended up stuck with work until well after 10pm each day.

But last night I missed for two reasons.

(1) My wife is sick, so I wanted to help around the house. Yea, I am a good husband. :)
(2) It was freezing last night and the gym really doesn't have heat. So it is like a big tin box, when cold outside, you feel it in the gym - minus the wind. So it was probably 15 degrees in the gym last night. Playing ball like that, after a while works, but it takes a while for you to feel the basketball in your hands.

I will make it next week.

Posted at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Category: Homey , Sports , Weather | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

This title look familiar? It is, I wrote about it less than two weeks ago when it snowed last time. But I made progress.

I got my car out about a few hundred feet before I got stuck. I was luckily able to get my car back into its parking spot and then drive my wife to the bus.

But again, my car is left stranded in the parking spot. If there is a little hill and I have to go up in it slush or snow, it won't happen. I can go down hills or even drive on snow when it is flat, but up hills, forget it. No matter if I had speed or not, I could not make it up the hill.

I thought maybe after getting four new tires and renewing my nys inspection, I would have better luck. But no.

So I have my wife's car - good thing for it. Thank you wife!

Posted at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Category: Motor Vehicle , Weather | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I think everyone was thinking it would snow last night.

Luckily, it did not.

But instead, it looked like it "salted" last night. All the streets here are shiny and covered with salt from the plow trucks.

I guess they were or are preparing for a snow storm. But I don't see snow on the radar until possibly Sunday now. So I suspect, last night's storm blew over us, and did not touch down in my neck of the woods.

I was going to take a picture of the streets, because they honestly all looked sparkly from all the salt, but I did not. Instead, the pic above is of Morton Salt Plant in Utah by some flickr user.

Posted at 6:49 AM | Permalink | Category: Weather | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Well, not free as in money, free as in mobile. I finally was able to get my car out of its snow trap.

What did it take?

- A new shovel
- Digging around the car
- Digging under the car
- Ice scraping really close to the wheels
- Rocking back and forth
- Calling my brother to push on the car

And I am out after three attempts and about 1 or 2 hours of work.

Oh, and if you are family and friends and find the title of this post weird... I am hoping people search on Free Lexus SC 430 and for this post to rank well for that term. Then you see those ads at the top of the page and under the post? Well, they should be targeting keywords such as Lexus and similar keywords. If someone clicks on those ads, I may make a dime. After a couple hundred thousand clicks, I may make the time I spent digging out my car back in AdSense income.

Posted at 6:25 PM | Permalink | Category: Motor Vehicle , Weather | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

This morning, I explained that I had to take my wife's car to work because my car was stuck in the snow. I decided to head home early, work from home and try to get my car out.

I shoveled out the back of the car (the car is rear wheel drive). Scrapped the ice from under the wheels and began the cycle of going in reverse.

It didn't go out, so I rocked back and forth. As I did that, the car began shifting horizontally again.

As you can see from the image, the right side of the car, is once again, stuck in the snow.

I think I will wait it out another day and take my wife's car to work again.

Posted at 4:49 PM | Permalink | Category: Motor Vehicle , Weather | Comments (11) | TrackBacks (0)

Remember yesterday, I told you the snow is coming, well, it came a bit later than expected. It started about 8pm (EST) and when I woke up, there was an ice storm. So the snow wasn't high or deep, just very icy.

I try to pull my car out, but it just spun. After trying for about 10 minutes I gave up. It actually did move a large distance. Picture the car just being picked up and put into a parking space on the right. In fact, that is what it did. It slid from one spot to the next - horizontally. I got too close to hitting my car, when I decided to stop and give up.

I decided to take my wife's Jeep Grand Cherokee. Wow, is it amazing in the snow. I simply turned it on, backed out and drove to work. It was as if there was no ice or snow on the road.

Of course this is where my wife makes fun of me for buying a car that won't drive in the snow or ice.

Posted at 9:37 AM | Permalink | Category: Motor Vehicle , Weather | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We haven't had that much snow here, relative to other years. So when there are some signs of snow, the news stations go wild over covering it. And with upstate New York reporting well over a 100 inches of snow, I guess it got some worried.

According to weather.com the snow is suppose to start in my neck of the woods at about 3pm (EST). It is suppose to continue snowing until Thursday at 6am. So that is a lot of snow time.

Of course, this can all blow right over and we can see nothing. I am hoping for nothing.

Posted at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Category: Weather | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I walk outside this morning about 6am and I get in my car, turn it on and bam - it read 6 degrees Fahrenheit. As I drove to work, a bit later, it dropped down to 5 degrees. Brrrr.

Right now at 10 AM (EST) it is 10 degrees:

But honestly, I cannot complain, it has been like Fall most of the winter.

Posted at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Category: Rambling , Weather | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Yes, last night, I walked out of the office and I had a layer of snow on my car. It stopped snowing soon later. But then I walked out this morning and it was snowing, flakes were dropping.

Here is a live Web Cam from Weather Bug so you can see the snow, in real time.

For Suffern, NY - not to have snow until January 19th, is crazy. We normally have tons of snow by now.

I am not complaining, my car sucks in the snow. I get in this morning, put it in reverse, and my wheels keep spinning. But thanks to the traction control features, it wiggled its way out.

I don't think it will be that much snow, but we will see.

Posted at 7:11 AM | Permalink | Category: Weather | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This morning, it was extremely foggy. I decided before I pulled into work, I take a picture of the visibility while sitting at a red light. Notice how it is hard to see. :)

1. Extremely Foggy
2. Very Dark
3. Windows are fogged up also from cold

Not only the above three items, but also when it is early, sometimes your brain is a bit foggy. Unfortunately, I couldn't take a picture of the inside of my brain at that moment.

Posted at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Category: Motor Vehicle , Weather | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

So I was away this whole week in Chicago, a place colder than New York. But when I got back, my car has been sitting still for about five days. This morning, at about 6am, when it was 17 degrees outside, I got into my car.

The car was ice cold. You know, when you get into the car, it hurts to touch the steering wheel. That cold.

Anyway, I release the emergency break, put it into reverse and the began pulling it out.

It felt cold, so cold the car was stiff. A feeling you feel most winters.

I guess that means winter is here. A cold car.

Oh, I got that image from Google Images the source is no longer live.

Posted at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Category: Motor Vehicle , Weather | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)