Press "Enter" to skip to content

Category: weather

Downpour Averted

Published May 29, 2009

After work I headed over to Stony Creek to ride a bit, but when I got to the parking lot it appeared that a storm was getting close. Still, I headed off into the trails, periodically reloading the DTX National Weather Service radar. It turns out that the storm was moving in faster than I’d expected, so I had to take a shortcut out of the Roller Coaster only 10 or 15 minutes after starting and hurry back to the car.

A ~20MPH ride along the two track back to the car was filled with blowing dust, leaves coming off of trees, a freshly downed branch in the path, and people who were (for some reason) heading outbound into the trails. Thankfully I made it back to the car just as the large drops started falling and was in the car and leaving the parking lot as the rain really started to come down. All thanks to having a smartphone.

Of course, now that I’m back home and typing this, all the rain has passed and the trails are likely perfectly damp. Ah well.

Leave a Comment

Generic Ride Home

Published May 15, 2009

After this morning’s commute by bicycle I had to ride home. This was a relatively uneventful, and only a couple of people got directly in my way, and no one almost hit me. I also stopped behind my Dad’s plant, which is along the Clinton River Trail, and he was able to come out and say hi for a few minutes. He warned me that the rain was coming a bit quicker than I’d expected, so after that I hurried home. It’s a good thing too, because light rain started about a mile and a half away from home, and within five minutes of getting in the garage an actual downpour began.

Now, time for dinner.

Leave a Comment

Mud!

Published April 25, 2009

Very muddy Bianchi D.I.S.S. after a ride through Stony Creek and River Bends. All the mud came from the two-track or paved trails and not single track.

After last night’s ride around Stony Creek and today’s jaunt through River Bends, my bike is nicely muddy. Interestingly, all of the mud on there came from two track flooded paved trails and not any of the single track.

Now that I’m home I just have to sit around a while longer until I stop sweating, shower, and shave. Two bike rides in my legs are a bit filthy, and I’m sure there’s quite a stink coming from my various regions.

Later today should be interesting, because there are straight line wind / tornado-type weather coming. Looks like it’ll be here in about two hours. This could get exciting. Good thing I’ve got a bunch of stuff to do in the house.

Leave a Comment

Sunny Snow in the Microwave

Published December 20, 2008

The day after a foot of snow fell everything was nice and sunny. This photo taken via a reflection in the front of the microwave in the kitchen.

The morning after the giant storm which dropped almost a foot of snow here it’s nice and bright and sunny. Hopefully the roads are becoming clear and it’ll stay cold enough that this turns into a nice blanket of winter sitting over everything for the rest of the holidays.

Of course, then right after that it’ll turn into typically Michigan piles of gray and brown dirty snow piled at the sides of parking lots, mixed with shopping carts, Burger King bags, and broken pieces of parking blocks.

(This photo was taken in the reflection from the microwave in the kitchen.)

Leave a Comment

Thundersnow

Published December 19, 2008

This is only the beginning of a rather large snow storm, and the reason I am working from home today.

For those of you not in the midwest, this is the reason I’m staying home today. Also, this was taken about 45 minutes ago (yes, it seems the time in my camera is wrong), and we’re only about half way through the storm.

While I was writing this the power flickered, went out for about 30 seconds, then came back on. While I would still have had hot water and the ability to cook food, I would have been without heat had the power stayed out, so those 30 seconds were a bit nerve wracking.

Looking outside, my footprints from when I went out to take that photo have pretty much been obscured and now just look like slight dents in the ground.

For reference purposes I’ll quote the National Weather Service‘s warnings for today. One of them even notes that there may be thundersnow. There is no snow more hardcore than THUNDERSNOW. \m/

Continue readingThundersnow
2 Comments

Honda DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communications)

Published December 18, 2008

Honda DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communications) R&D vehicle seen in Southfield, MI with small antennas on it for short area network research.

While parking yesterday I saw a couple of these Honda R&D vehicles for DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communications) parked next to each other. They initially caught my eye because each has one or more small, round antennas stuck on the top. A quick look around online shows that each manufacturer seems to be doing some manner of DSRC work for things ranging from freight management to toll booths, collision avoidance / proximity notification, traffic detection, etc. This sounds like it could be interesting to play with.

(Yes, this photo was taken in a very public parking garage.)

Here, have a few more moblog photos:

· My coworker Nick happy about his machine crashing again. At least we now know the cause.
· Crappy traffic on the way to work today.
· I accidently opened the door marked 18 on my chocolate-filled advent calender today.
· Vernors branded department store quality mountain bike.

Leave a Comment

Winter Is On Its Way

Published November 24, 2008

Snow falling on my last day of vacation, 24-Nov-2008. Winter is definitely coming.

Winter is definitely on its way. I guess this is a good day for it, though, as Danielle and I are both stuck here at my house sick with something sort of flu-like. It’s my last day of vacation, but she was supposed to be at work today.

Leave a Comment

Sunny Snow

Published November 17, 2008

Quick photo of the first snow storm I've seen in the fall of 2008, which was happening as I returned from a trip to the UK with Danielle.

I wasn’t expecting snow upon returning to the US, but here it is. It was snowing so hard that the camera kept focusing on the snow, and I was cold enough that I didn’t want to do anything about it. The hot water heater is coming up to temperature, the wall says it’s 63°F in my office (up from 52°F when I got home), and I’m just feeling a bit cold. I think it’s about time to sort out some Thai food, maybe some beer, then relax and get to sleep. Having to wake up early to catch The Tube to Heathrow for an 8:50 AM flight, which ends up meaning that I’ve been up since 11PM EST. This should make for an interesting evening.

Also, I think I have to declare LJ and blog bankruptcy and just mark everything for the last nine days read.

Leave a Comment