I got up about an hour or so ago. I don't know how much is out there right now, but it's not a ton of snow everywhere yet -- maybe three or four inches at the most. If that's all we get, even if the roads aren't completely treated that well, the Monte Carlo would have no trouble getting me back and forth on Tuesday. The Weather Channel, for Newton, says we got 2.4 inches last night, and another 3-5 are still expected today and tonight until this storm finally moves off to the east...where it will hit my family and friends back home in West Virginia much harder than it hit here, apparently. I stopped paying attention to most of the forecast stuff last night before I went to bed, as it really didn't matter once the snow was actually coming down pretty good. The Winter Storm Warning is in effect for another six hours or so, so I'm guessing it's not all done yet and may actually get worse between now and tonight. It's sort of taken its time getting here anyhow.
In doing my lesson planning yesterday and posting my weekly Blackboard announcements to my students, I encouraged them to be watchful and mindful of the weather, as it was just then starting to snow and the forecasters were starting to freak out about it. I told them to keep an eye on the closings lists and on their university email accounts -- as of right now, it's still a toss-up as to whether the university will close down tomorrow. I don't teach tomorrow, of course, but many of my students have class on Mondays, so I told them to pay attention. Of course, I don't know if it's any better or worse in Wichita proper, but I do know that it's 7 degrees there right now, and with the wind chill that feels like -11. I also know that the actual temperature tonight is supposed to drop to -7 or so, making it the coldest March morning on record tomorrow morning. Salt and most other ice-melting stuff stops working after the temperature gets below 10-15 or so.
I also told my students that unless the university is closed on Tuesday, or unless we got a lot more snow than originally forecasted, my own classes this week would be held as scheduled unless they heard something from me. My first class is 9:15 on Tuesday morning, and while that gives the road crews plenty of time to clear stuff off and get the streets clear, if the worst isn't over yet, then I'll have to make a decision sometime tomorrow on whether I'll hold my Tuesday classes. Even if the university shuts down tomorrow, I'm pretty sure they won't shut down on Tuesday as well. It took a lot more snow than we currently have to shut down for two days last month, with similar (read: only slightly warmer) temperatures. Then again, Wichita apparently got a lot more sleet and ice, and then the snow on top of that, so who knows. Again, I haven't had the TV on and I've only been following forecast data and the like online. If I had to make an educated guess about tomorrow? I'm guessing the university probably will close and then reopen on Tuesday, based on the snow and the low temperatures alone. But, of course, who knows.
In other news, I mentioned last week that I received an email from the payroll & operations lady telling me that I qualified for benefits (health/life insurance) and that I needed to let her know what I was planning to do, if I was planning to stay there and teach again in the fall or not, because that would affect what she'd deduct and how she'd set things up so that I'd have insurance coverage in the summer when I wasn't working there for the moment.
If that makes sense.
As you folks know, I don't know what I'm doing yet. Daisy and I could be living anywhere and doing anything, but it's most likely going to come down to two different scenarios, depending on what happens within the next month or so -- we'll either remain here in Kansas and I'll have a new, different position within the university's English department (which means she'd be moving here and would be getting a job here), or we'll be living in Omaha someplace, as Daisy already has a decent job there, has been looking for/applying for better ones, and it probably wouldn't be incredibly difficult for me to find gainful employment there in a teaching field or otherwise. But before any of this can happen, and before any decisions can be made and any plans can be put into action, she and I are both waiting on information on my own job status for after this semester with the university. Again, I can't really talk about this yet, as there's little to talk about before I find out any more info on it, but needless to say, if I remain at the university in the fall, it will be a big deal and I will discuss it when appropriate.
So, getting back to the point, I was sort of at a loss as to what to tell this lady when it came to benefits packages and deductions, so I gave her the reader's digest version in a short rundown and asked her what I needed to do now. She directed me to the HR benefits people, who also sent me an email telling me I qualified for everything and that they'd like to make an appointment with me for Friday so that my benefits could kick in on March 1. I didn't get that email until Friday night. That's partially my fault, I know, but still. Short notice, much? Ugh.
I responded and told them that, weather permitting, I'd be able to meet with them on Tuesday when I was back on main campus, and asked what I needed to bring with me to set all this stuff up. They said that was fine, but there's some big seminar on Wednesday (which I can't go to, as I'll be teaching on West campus that night) and asked if I wanted to reschedule the appointment for Thursday (which I won't do, as I still only teach on West campus on Thursday and then go home).
As an aside, it's more of a time and gasoline concern than anything else. I'm not going to spend extra time and gas driving around back and forth, making extra trips (especially if the roads are shitty) to sign up for benefits packages that will end up costing me money out of my paychecks for benefits I'll likely never use. I use more than three gallons of gas on Tuesday alone -- my car gets about 20mpg; my round-trip on Tuesday is 70 miles (from here to West campus, from West campus the back way to main campus, and then from main campus back home that night). Any extra trip to/from Wichita costs me about $10-12 more in gas, roughly. No, if I can make it in to campus on Tuesday with no issues (if the university isn't closed and if the roads are passable, that is), I'll meet with them then and will tell them so via email tomorrow. I don't want any extra shit, I don't want to sit through any seminars or informational sessions, I just want to tell them my situation and see what they can work with if necessary -- but I doubt they'll be able to do much when it comes to info on my future employment plans that I do not yet have.
So there's that.
It's stopped snowing in Newton for the moment, though it's blowing and drifting around quite a bit (I see it swirling off my roof, which is right behind my window here in the Man Cave). The temperature has dropped two more degrees, and is now 4 here, 5 in Wichita.
I mentioned last night that I printed out extra copies of my tax forms so that I could draft them all out before mailing them away (or file them electronically, as for university employees there's this free file-it-online thing they've set up now), but I...it's really, really hard to force myself to just sit down and work on them. I'd rather sit down and grade a stack of 200 terrible papers before doing my taxes. I just dread it so much, and hate it so much. I'm always afraid I'm going to screw something up or forget to add/subtract a line here or there and it'll all go to hell because of that. I also totally don't trust most of the online systems for doing anything because I'm old-fashioned like that. I don't know whether or not I'll be able to gather enough willpower to work on them today or tomorrow or not. I do have to do them soon, as Daisy and I both need the money from any refunds to go basically directly into wedding expenses and for living/moving expenses after the wedding is over, and because otherwise I won't have a ton of time to do them over the course of the rest of the semester. There's Spring Break, yes, but I plan to be visiting Daisy and her family in Omaha for a good chunk of that.
...After typing that last sentence, I made some food and then went back to bed. It was really, really cold (and still is) and the house couldn't keep warm enough for me to be comfortable, despite the fact that I turned the furnace up to 70 or so for a few hours. As I was preparing to go back downstairs, I read an updated forecast that said it wasn't over yet, and with it was an accompanying radar map showing a lot more snow moving this way. Okay, I thought, and went to sleep.
I woke up at about 9:30 PM, and the snow had come -- in fact, when I awoke, it was still coming down pretty good. It's since tapered off in the past hour or so and now looks to be mostly, if not completely done. It's dark, so I can't really tell how much is out there, but by the looks of it from my front window, eh, 4-6 inches? Something like that. It looks to be a few inches more than was here this afternoon when I went to nap. I got on my computer to find that the Winter Storm Warning had been extended to midnight now, when it previously was supposed to expire at 6PM. It's still snowing like crazy in Wichita -- though it's on its way out -- as evidenced by the latest radar image:
I am the pinpoint in the center of that map, obviously -- that's where Newton is in relation to Wichita (for those of you who aren't from here).
There are many closings all around the area, both schools and businesses. Basically every school district out here has shut down for tomorrow, including the USDs for Newton and Wichita, and most others I've seen, though I'm not sure it's more for the snow, more for the cold, or a combination of both.
The university, however, remains open. As do most other colleges in the area. Which, obviously, I find a bit surprising given that the snow is still happening in Wichita and the low temperature tonight is supposed to dip to -7 or lower in some places. Even if the snow's not incredibly bad, temperatures below zero expected to last well into the morning hours would usually be a prime reason to close down the university anyhow, as nobody should be out in that, and there have been numerous warnings via the news to stay indoors, off the roads, and out of the cold unless absolutely necessary.
I'll also remind you that my Spring Break starts in about a week and a half.
Whether the university closes tomorrow or not doesn't affect me anyhow -- as you know, I don't teach on Mondays. However, I do find the whole situation interesting.
Meanwhile, back home in West Virginia, they're getting hit now -- and hit harder -- by Titan. WVU, Fairmont State, most every school system/county/district, most government offices, and many roads and highways have completely shut down until at least Tuesday. The bare minimum for snow totals back home at my parents' house on top of the mountain is 6-10 inches, and they'll probably get more than that (they always do).
At this point, more than anything else, I'm concerned about being able to get out and back and forth, to and from my classes on Tuesday. I don't know what the road conditions are around the area, or even if most of them will be passable 36 hours from now. Again, ice-melting road treatments like salt and brine won't do dick when it's below about 15 degrees or so, and with temperatures more than 20 degrees below that point for the past two days, all night tonight, and for most of the day tomorrow, it's likely that road conditions won't improve. So, I'm in sort of a bind. If none of this looks any better by this time tomorrow night, should I (possibly) risk my life and car on Tuesday morning by going out in it, attempting to get to class safely -- and in doing so, ask my students to risk their own lives/cars to do the same? I don't know.
We're supposed to have a gradual warm-up this week, where it's going to get into the high 30s, then 40s, and then 50s and 60s again by the middle of next week, but that doesn't help me for Tuesday's classes. My car is in the garage, warm and inside out of this shit, and she generally likes the cold -- but only to a certain point. Get the temperature below 20 or so and she haaaates it. That's when she has trouble starting (on rare occasions) and idles/runs roughly and loudly -- that car really is like an old woman sometimes when it comes to the cold.
So, really, I don't know. I will likely email my students tomorrow afternoon and try to crowdsource road conditions from them, especially the ones who live out by West campus (which was a nightmare during the last snowstorm) to see if they can give me some road condition updates. Regardless, I can't really afford to cancel my night 011 class if I can possibly avoid it, as we've already missed one class earlier this semester due to snow, and missing another will completely throw them off-schedule -- as I've mentioned here before. Plus, if I'm going to meet with the insurance people, I have to be on main campus at some point in the afternoon on Tuesday. If I have to cancel my morning 102 class on Tuesday, however, it's a lot less of a big deal. Obviously, though, I hate being put into situations like this, and think that when it's this cold and this nasty outside and on the roads, the university should be closed. But I'm not the one in charge of that decision, of course.
No comments:
Post a Comment