The Snowpocalypse

Took me an hour and a half to get to work today. 1.5 hours. To get from West Harlem to Soho. It should NOT take that long. Even Google maps agrees:

See? Google maps knows all.

Apparently this city doesn't know how to deal with what they are calling Snowpocalypse 2010. Having chosen to move here after four years in Syracuse, this just baffles me. Twenty inches of snow? All in a good day's work. Shouldn't slow us down for a second. However, people have been going kind of crazy.

This was before it got really snowy. But seriously, who takes a cab in the middle of a "blizzard?" Take the train, dumbass. Or better yet, do as I did and STAY HOME.

You would think, in the most heavily populated city in the U.S., they would have some kind of efficient snow-cleaning system. It hasn't snowed in over 24 hours (I think...can't promise as I haven't been standing outside this whole time), and it's still ridiculous to get around (note my commute time today -- and that was on the subway. Which, if you didn't know, runs UNDERGROUND. It generally doesn't snow under the ground. Wtf, friends). The roads are impossible to drive through, and if you parked your car on the street pre-Snowpocalypse, you can look forward to not driving for a good long while.

And the sidewalks are atrocious. In a pedestrian city, I don't understand how the non-Syracuse-primed people are dealing with the trodging-through-the-Appalachians-type experience it takes to go half a block. If, Allah forbid, you have to cross the street -- well, in many cases, you're just shit out of luck. Have fun sloshing blocks out of your way to run across to the deli.

This is what I feel like, trying to walk on the sidewalk. Except, you know, with a less fashionable sweater.

I'm looking forward to a few days in Ohio, where people know how to interact with their weather a little more effectively. Also so I can be pampered by Mommy and Daddy.

Note: none of these pictures were taken by me. They came from some poor suckers who post their stuff publicly on Flickr. But, rest assured, I've seen examples of the above, and worse, with my own eyes during my struggle to get to work today. Including several hilarious and sad dog incidents.