WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM MONDAY EVENING THROUGH TUESDAY EVENING...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WICHITA HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WATCH... WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM MONDAY EVENING THROUGH TUESDAY EVENING.
* TIMING... SNOW WILL DEVELOP MONDAY NIGHT. THE WORST CONDITIONS AND THE BULK OF THE SNOW... IS EXPECTED BETWEEN 3 AM TO 3 PM TUESDAY.
* SNOW ACCUMULATIONS... 6 TO 7 INCHES IN THE HEAVIEST SWATH. CONSIDERABLE BLOWING AND DRIFTING IS LIKELY TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING.
And so it begins.
Most of you know by this point that when a significant snowstorm rolls through, I tend to get worked up about it. Daisy's best friend (and maid of honor in the wedding) who reads this blog religiously -- even more than Daisy herself or my parents -- always likes to poke fun at me about it. I completely understand this and find it amusing, especially since I tend to write long series of posts devoted to the snow and not much else when it does hit. It's not that I like the snow or want it -- believe me, especially with my paycheck stuff going on this week, I don't -- it's that when a big storm system rolls through, it royally fucks my ability to leave the house to teach or to plan for important things that need to be done, such as, ah, picking up my damned paycheck if they get it taken care of. My working out of contingency plans and strategies here in the blog is not only helpful -- it's like thinking in text -- but it's therapeutic. It's how I deal with being "snowed in" and how I plan for the eventual thaw and the return of my ability to leave the house.
Last night, I sent a variation of the same email to all three of my classes, as all of them will meet on Tuesday or Wednesday, telling them to watch the weather forecasts and keep an eye on the university's homepage and all of the media outlets around the city for closings and cancellations. The university has been known to close for snow and other nasty weather before -- they closed down for a few days last spring because of big-time snowstorms in February, as I mentioned in my last post. They were also heavily criticized by the media, students, faculty, and staff when they pre-emptively closed before a storm hit (read: when they didn't really need to at that time), and then didn't close down the next day after it hit, when they desperately needed to. I'm sure they haven't forgotten that. We had bad snows in Spring 2011 that they shut down for, they closed for a few days in Spring 2012 for the same reasons (I think) and last spring we had at least two or three days off because of snowstorms. In recent years the university has become much more lenient on these things -- they realize that the bulk of their students, as well as staff and faculty, commute to campus. Our university is known as a "commuter school" due to the fact that most of the people attending college there or working there do not live within the city limits of Wichita -- they live in the many smaller towns and suburbs dotted around the area, some further away than others, and drive back and forth every day. This is also why parking on campus is such a terrible, godawful problem. Everyone gets there at the same time, and then people fight over spots, snipe spots from others, etc.
Anyway.
In my very similar emails to all three of my classes, I tried my best to set up contingency plans in the event of a university closure, adding that even if the university doesn't close, there's a damn good chance that I may cancel my classes at least on Tuesday, if not Wednesday, anyway. My Monte Carlo goes decently well in the snow, yes. She's a trooper -- big, heavy, with a wide wheelbase and a strong, if old, engine. But even with that, there's only so much snow I can traverse safely for a 50-60 mile round trip, especially in whiteout, blowing-snow conditions, and that amount (without those conditions) is generally 4-5 inches at the most, 6 if it's an absolute emergency and I have the time to drive 15-20mph all the way to my destination and back.
However, I've seen how the university reacts when snowstorms are coming in and are hitting during the day instead of during the night -- and here's what I predict will happen. I predict now, especially if the forecast changes for the worse between now and tomorrow night, that Tuesday morning classes will go on as scheduled. Yes, I know, bold prediction, right? Their pre-emptive closure last year will make them be a bit more cautious, probably, but not cautious enough to shut down for the day Tuesday unless it gets really, really bad on Monday night. My expectations, then, are that Tuesday morning will roll around and there will be no closure. However, as the morning goes on and afternoon approaches, when the bulk of the heaviest snow hits (according to those projections above at the top of this post), my guess is that they'll close down for the evening and cancel all classes after 4PM. They've done this in the past much more frequently than they've shut down for an entire day. The high temperature on Wednesday, after this storm is supposed to pass, is supposed to be 10, with a low of -2 and hard, nasty winds. This means there will be no melting, and road treatments such as salt or brine will be mostly useless. With the wind making snowdrifts and the cold being so biting, if they cancel evening classes on Tuesday they will almost assuredly close everything down on Wednesday.
My 210 students, who meet with me on Wednesday nights, got a variation of my emailed announcement that basically said that I don't really expect this storm to affect our class, as our class meets...oh, 28 hours after it's supposed to end, but if the university closes on Wednesday, obviously we won't have our night class. If it gets particularly terrible -- as in, they update the forecast for more than what's seen above, that's probably a good assumption anyway. I also told them that if the university's not shut down on Wednesday and they hear nothing from me, assume that our class is going on as per the usual -- even if it takes me over an hour to get to West campus Wednesday evening, if it looks like I can make it, I'll still hold class. It's not like I have to be anywhere else or do anything else on Wednesday.
My Tuesday classes, however? Even now, I can't really see myself leaving the house on Tuesday at all, regardless of whether the university closes for the day, the afternoon/evening, or stays open. Not with that forecast above and the timeframe it gives out for the snow. If the heaviest snow starts at 3AM Monday night, and won't end for twelve hours (3PM Tuesday)...my morning 102 class is situated right in the middle of that time, at 9:15 AM. I leave the house around 8:10 or so, meaning that if I could even get to class on Tuesday, the entire time I'd be out of the house the weather would just be getting worse and worse. By the time that class ended, if I went, I wouldn't even be sure that the Monte Carlo could make it to main campus, let alone teach my evening 011 class and be able to make it home afterwards if the university stayed open. And, really, attempting to make it to main campus, getting there, and later finding that evening classes would be canceled anyway would seriously not only be a waste of my time and gas money, but would be dangerous travel. No, at this point -- barring any changes in the forecast that say Nika is going to take a different track and that we're not going to get as much snow, I'm really not even planning to leave the house Tuesday. I already assume that Tuesday evening classes will be canceled either by an evening closure, a full-day closure, or my own cancellation, so that doesn't really factor into my decision at all.
What does this mean for my paycheck stuff? I don't know. Really have no clue, actually. Tuesday will mark a full week that it should've been worked on and/or otherwise fixed and remedied, and I expect to hear some sort of news about it tomorrow, as everyone will be there but I won't be (I don't teach on Mondays). But, obviously, with the coming storm the earliest I would be able to pick it up would be either tomorrow afternoon before the storm (which, I suppose, I will do if absolutely necessary and it's ready) or, after everything rolls through, Thursday afternoon once my morning 102 class is over and I should be starting my weekend. Again, I more than likely won't be going anywhere on Tuesday, and Wednesday I only have the 210 class on West that night (if the university remains open anyway). This storm throws all of that into trouble, and throws my finances once more into panic mode. I told Daisy that I may have to ask to borrow more money from her again if this situation stretches out much longer -- regardless of weather concerns, my bills are still piling up and I can't pay them until I get paid somehow. My two lower-limit credit cards are reaching their max because I have to use them for gas in the car and food/supplies, and while my Discover card has a much higher limit, the balance on it is slowly ballooning as well to the point where it will take months to be able to pay it all off. I really can't play this waiting game shit much longer -- I need a paycheck in my bank account now. I have to go out tonight after the Super Bowl and get groceries/supplies with my Discover card just so that I can make it through this coming week or so with the snow. I can't do this forever; I can't keep doing this "bare minimum" shit because the payroll people at the university can't figure it out and fix it.
As an aside, however, I did find out something amusing (and unexpected) with my payroll stuff last week -- apparently, I get an additional $150 for every class I teach on West campus because it's a satellite campus of the university, as an extra "stipend" to cover "travel costs" -- meaning, primarily, gas.
"I get paid extra for that?" I asked.
"Yeah," the administrator replied. "They used to do reimbursement for mileage too, but now it's just the flat amount. Didn't you get it last semester? You taught over there last semester too, right?"
"I taught two of my three classes over there last semester," I said. "Just like I do this semester. If I got it then, I didn't know about it because nobody mentioned anything about that to me before."
Typical of the university, actually -- nobody tells you anything unless you specifically ask about it. I doubt I got it last semester because of that, because it's one of those things that must be manually entered when payroll is set, and is easily overlooked (I found that out as well). I also doubt that, even though I will get it this semester for both classes I teach over there, that I'll even notice it -- it will almost certainly go directly to state and federal taxes on my paychecks and there won't be any real difference. Maybe a few dollars' difference on each check for this spring. Not enough to do anything with, especially not when gas for my car is approximately $35 a week -- far below anything an extra $300 per semester would balance out. Its help is negligible when my car only gets 19-22mpg on a good week, and generally averages about 18. That's the drawback of having a big, powerful engine, folks.
Like the paycheck thing, I'm playing a waiting game with the snow. I have created alternate lesson plans for all three classes as contingency plans, and am waiting to see if I have to put them into effect. I've streamlined the 011 class -- which certainly won't meet one way or the other even if the university is open on Tuesday evening -- to have them focus on and begin work on their first papers even if they have to get the directions through Blackboard. Next week is their first workshop conference week, which gives us time to go over a little discussion of that paper in class before I look at their drafts and they peer-edit their papers back and forth. My 102 class is easier; I can put their reading assignments and first paper assignment online for them on Tuesday, and they can read/follow directions before discussion of everything in class on Thursday (by which point I'm confident that I'll be able to get to and from campus just fine if they treat the roads well). If the 210 class doesn't meet Wednesday night, I have all of their lesson plans for the rest of the semester ready to go anyway, and they can be easily instructed via Blackboard as well. It won't be a big deal. The problem is juggling everything I can around weather, class meeting times, and the schedule for the semester. For the 011 especially, there's not a whole lot of breathing space or wiggle room, so certain parts of many lessons have to be eliminated or greatly shortened. 011 is not the kind of class that really lends itself to a once-a-week structure that well.
As for everything else? Eh.
I'll watch the Super Bowl tonight; I won't exactly care that much about it, but it is the last football game I'll see, of any sort, until two months after I'm married, which is really depressing because it reminds me how long the off-season really is. As I mentioned, I have to go shopping afterwards -- something I'd like to avoid but can't -- and I will, of course, be continually monitoring the snowfall forecasts and predictions. While I look forward to more than likely not leaving the house at all on Tuesday, it's not like I can really enjoy it or revel in a "snow day" given the circumstances and my monetary situation. And unless it gets really nasty before I go to bed tomorrow night (which, I would imagine, is unlikely), I'll still have to get up early on Tuesday morning to see if campus is closed and/or cancel my classes, so it's not like I'll get to sleep in. I may be able to go back to bed if necessary, but I won't be able to sleep in.
In other news, apparently my drainage system isn't backed up after all, or was only clogged temporarily. I've since run two full loads of laundry, taken two showers, and have run the dishwasher without any sort of backup in the basement drain, so I'm guessing if it was clogged, it's since been flushed out. I'll keep an eye on it over the next week or so, of course, just to be cautious, but for now the crisis appears to have been averted. My furnace started its squealing shit again this morning, though, so I've turned it off to let it rest for most of the day. That'll help my electric bill anyway, and leaving it off for a while before turning it back on tends to make it be quiet for another month or so when it is turned back on. I don't know what the squeal is; the furnace is older than I am, all-electric, and it's not a belt (this furnace doesn't have belts). All I know is that the longer I can stand to leave it off, the lower my next electric bill will be. I desperately want this cold and snow to leave Kansas and stay gone, because if that happens and I can leave the furnace off, my electric bill will be about $50 or so at the most. I know this; between April and July my electric bill drops like crazy because I'm generally not running the furnace or the air conditioner (the bills I receive in late July, August, and September? not so much, as the bill is for the month prior).
I will, of course, keep you updated on the snow, forecast, payroll stuff, and my plans of action for the week -- though a lot of it I really don't expect to change that much.
EDIT: KWCH-12 in Wichita just released this updated projection map about 40 minutes ago, noting that the storm system "is still 36-48 hours away, so expect updates and changes to this PRELIMINARY snowfall forecast."
Yes, in case you were unaware, that is the state of Kansas. In case you were also unaware, Newton (where I live) is basically right in the middle of the bottom lip of the "7-10+" band, with Wichita south of me in the 4-7" range. So, based on this, I could get four inches or close to a foot. I live on the south side of Newton, which technically means my actual house is more than likely baaaaarely inside the 4-7" area, but still. This is not really that encouraging, especially when coupled with the note that this is simply preliminary.
So. Let's see what happens.
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