Snow Emergency or Snow Panic?

It's February...
...it's snowing.

Yet, somehow I can't help but laugh at how the City of Omaha-- or this entire area, for that matter-- responds to the natural beauty that is snow. I'm looking at about 4 or 5 inches of snow out my window right now, with a prediction for 8-12 inches forecast. And it is a heavy snow, as it was raining earlier today, but I still don't get the panic.

Growing up in suburban Chicago 8-12 inches of snow was nothing. Still had to go to school... and I could walk there. The elementary schools were at the end of the block, and dad walked two blocks to the train station. Junior High was a mile walk, but still-- had to walk there. The only hope for a snow day was that the school buses were snowed in-- or that they hadn't plowed the superintendant's street before 6:00. Usually neither happened until about 24 inches of snow.

We had more of a chance of getting a day off for bitter cold-- as in dangerously cold-- than for snow.

Does this mean I'm turning into my parents?... walking to school in 15 inches of snow, uphill both ways, with a 75-mph wind in your face (again, both ways).

I want an explanation on that one.

Either there was a hill or valley between the house and school-- which means you walked uphill AND downhill both ways to school. Or everyday between 8:00 and 3:00 there was a earthquake-- which nobody felt-- that changed the level at which the house and school both resided.

Did you think I wouldn't figure it out?

Now, Omaha is a different situation than Chicago. Omaha is a driving city-- and a 20-minute town at that. Doesn't matter if you're going to the store up the street, or all the way downtown to the arena. Twenty minutes... unless it's rush minute-- then it's closer to 25.

But I don't get why this city shuts down at the first sight of a snow flake. Seriously, if the wind blows the dandruff off the hair of someone in Denver, then entire state of Nebraska panics.

I just don't get it-- except that people can't drive here under normal conditions, so snow just magnifies the problem... as well as rain, wind, sunlight, darkness, and a partly cloudy conditions.

At least in Winnipeg the rule of thumb is, if you can't see the lines in the parking lot, it's a free-for-all. Just throw your car anywhere there is room. I guess Omaha is like that-- drive your car anywhere you find room-- those markings on the pavement mean nothing.

I think they're there for decoration.

But what I don't get is why all the churches are cancelling services tomorrow. Snow should not keep you from worship. Snow never stopped God. God created snow.

The catholics have it right. Get to church, come hell or high water. At this point, all the cancellations for services are non-Catholic churches. That said, the Catholics are cancelling Sunday school, and other religious education programs.

I'm not shocked. I mean, if you know anything about the Catholics, you know we don't believe in heating churches. So eight inches of snow is not a deterrent. Of course, you also usually within walking distance of a Catholic Church.

Rock Island, Illinois-- where most of my dad's family was living when I was growing up-- has three Catholic churches within a mile of each other. It goes back to the old historical Irish-Catholic, German-Catholic, and Polish-Catholic communities, and the stubborn nature of not being caught dead in a 'dirty' chruch.

Ironically, my grandmother, a member of the German-Catholic church had her funeral in the Irish-Catholic church... because they were painting her parish's church.

Well, as I was ranting here, I got a phone call from my boss. The hockey gams I was to ref tomorrow night-- because of the snow. Though, it's only flurrying right now. There hasn't been much of a change in the level of snow since I started typing.

Of course, we could always blame the Omaha media. They tend to hype things they shouldn't: Husker football, snow. It does create a less-than-ideal environment.

...and you all know how much I love to bag on the Omaha media.

Religious Renaissance

It's no secret that I am a very outspoken person. It's also no secret that I like to challenge the majority-- not in an rebellious, down with the moral majority way... more of a you may think you know the truth kind of way. After all, sometime you need to stir the pot just to keep people honest. I take pride in sometimes being able to step outside of myself and think outside of the box.

Really, it can be quite fun to find this line of thought that is so far away from the generally accepted. It is even more fun when you have a fact that can back up what many see as a radical thought. Hitting people with that little tidbit just brings a priceless look to their faces.

After all, science explains nothing. In fact, it ignores contradicting opinion to an extent. Scientific fact only needs to be plausible 85% of the time to be accepted.

Though, that makes you think why a weatherman needs to be right only 35% of the time to be American Meterological Society approved. I really take no comfort in seeing an AMS approved forecast-- there's a 65% chance he's wrong!

So it should come as no shock to many of you that over the past several years of my life I've been experiencing what I call a religious renaissance.

Please don't call me a born-again Christian... Christianity was never dead to me. I just questioned it. I lost my faith-- not in God-- just the ability to blindly accept some of the teachings.

Amazingly, I was at a catholic high school when I started to lose faith. Having a former nun call you a heretic in class will do that to you. The simple reason, I questioned something (in my usual sarcastic way) and the teacher had no answer.

Was it so wrong of me to grow as a person by asking questions about things that didn't make sense? OK, thousands of people-- who now exist in light-weight carbon form-- are probably laughing at me from above. They were all burned at the stake for doing the same... kinda makes you love the freedoms we have now.

It set off an alarm in my mind that I didn't want to be a part of a church that couldn't accept that I had questions, that I wanted to know more. After all, doesn't everything have an explanation?

So for a few years I brushed off organized religion-- though I never renounced my faith. I just spent the past few years doing some soul searching, and doing it on my own terms. Some people go to a building with a man on the cross, others do so in the direction of Mecca... the world was my place of worship.

But now I laugh. A friend of mine was talking to me about introducing me to 'someone'-- but asked about my religious views. Fair enough, some people are not as open-minded about religion. And I took that moment to begin to look back at where I have been and where I am going. I've found myself right back in the arms of the Catholic church.

Who knew?

You see, perhaps it was God's will for me to go out and search my soul... knowing that by doing so my faith would grow again. What is even more shocking is that I've found myself quoting scripture on message boards and in personal conversations with friends. I guess it's not much of a shock condiering despite my journey, I still kept a Bible in my hockey locker.

Seriously, you can't be a goaltender in sports and not be religious. God, Jesus, Sacre Bleu (holy cheese-- and other holy things) ... they all come up a lot during games. Not necessarily appropriate, but you still acknowldge their existence.

I have been led back to my roots. The question is-- was that 'someone' my friend wanted to introduce me to an angel?

(What)-Free Oil?

I've been meaning to post this for a couple weeks, but unfortunately I am usually reminded of it at o'dark-thirty, and not around my computer. Still, this ticks me off to no end.

There is a new oil company in Omaha-- and allegedly going national-- which opened it's doors this month. They call themselves Terror-Free Oil.

OK, now I've gone quite sometime without a profanity-laced rant on something, but please pardon me for a moment...

Terror-Free Oil?

Fuck off.

No, just... fuck off.

(Thank you.)

For me to go through everything I find offensive with that name, we would have a blog that reads longer than the game sheet of some recent hockey games I've called-- and believe me, I take a lot of crap for calling everything... though to my defence, that was the mandate given to us at the start of the year.

Back to the topic at hand, this should not be an option in the American business world. There is most definately a political statement being made by the owners of this rubbish branding, maybe saying a little more than they think.

To start, it's racist. It is nothing more than pure racism, at it's worst. There is no way about it-- in fact, there's a direct quote from the owner-- who I refuse to name-- made to the local media: "Terror Free Oil only buys oil that did not come from the Middle East."

Being a little stereotypical, aren't we?

Not everyone in the Middle East is a terrorist. Not everyone in the Middle East hates America. But obviously, this absent-minded, self-righteous, redneck of an owner hates everyone in the Middle East. That is just wrong.

...And contrary to what he thinks, it's un-American.

We are not a people who should be holding grudges. Seriously... is this not Black Heritage Month? Excuse me... is this not Equality Awareness Month? What kind of a message are we sending to the future generations of American by allowing, partonizing, and even promoting this kind of establishment?

It is unacceptable. If I were of Middle Eastern heritage, I'd be uber-pissed. You're not branding gasoline-- you're branding an entire group of people based on where they happened to have come from. It's racism any way to slice it.

This company would also have you believe that NONE of their oil comes from the Middle East.

Wow, does that statement open all sorts of doors.

Let's start with how they know this? The owner claims the information on the origin of the oil comes from the American Government. Now, if I have learned anything in almost 26 years on this planet-- all but about two of those in this country-- it's that the American Goverment should really never be cited as a source. They are of questionable integrity as it is, and let's face it-- if politicians were Pinocchio, we'd have about 301-million people impaled on the ever-growing noses of Congressmen, Senators, and Presidents.

And that number is generous, because it implies they haven't done any collateral damage to Canadians, Mexicans, or even stretched across an ocean or two to include Europeans or Asians.

We really don't know where this oil is coming from, and there is no way to prove it.

Of course, there is the other side of that equation: that the American Government is conspiring against foreign-oil. Yes, I just said it... the American Government may be in on this venture. And what a shame that would be. The ambassadors or our nation using dirty politics and ill-conceived notions in a fight against an alleged enemy.

Haven't I seen this movie already?

This does stink to high heaven of another anti-Muslim... anti-Arab... anti-something sentiments. It's not right. We can not continue to live by the mantra of 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' or 'the friend of my enemy is my enemy'. The world just does not work that way. The wonder of international business practices is this ever-growing web of business connections slowly bringing the world together.

Though, I can name one company that needs to be left out of that loop.

The fact that goverment would permit such a company to exist, let alone provide information to help this company stake a claim, is sickening to the point that I almost want to wish ill-will on this company and anybody involved with it.

I said almost... but being a Christian, I can't.

I can not believe the extents at which the ill-will towards the Middle East still exists. The attacks of September 11 were five and a half years ago. And while we shall never forget, we should have figured out by now that it was the act of a few, not of an entire region. Besides, pissing on the Middle East isn't going to help oil prices come down here on the homefront.

This is not Terror-Free Oil. This is Brain-Free Business and Common Sense-Free Practices.

It's pure rubbish.

We Interupt This Break...

I'm just wondering... why do they never break into a commercial break with a special report or a test of the Emergency Alert System?

Anyways, I apologize for the recent silence of this blog. Like last year, work and more work have consumed most of my free time. However, I do encourage you to check out some of my college hockey rantings at Crimson Issue.

Anyone got thoughts for something I could blog on here?