Today is the last day of class… or rather, it would have been had not the annual “Freak Spring Blizzard” chosen today to unleash its frozen fury upon us. The powers-that-be actually cancelled classes, and in an unusual move for Komplexify U, did so early enough in the morning to let faculty know. (Are there komplexify fans on the Board of Regents? I can only hope so, particularly as the time to go up for tenure draws nearer.) In fact, a little later on the powers-that-be actually shut down the campus when the blizzard became more fierce, and a little later yet the police shut down the city — well, at least 2-wheel drive vehicles from being out in it. So, serious snow today.
I ain’t a fan of snow days.
They screw up my syllabus and students are inexplicably difficult to get back on task when we do reconvene for class. But on the last day of class? I had fascinating and compelling “story arcs” to tie up the many threads in my classes (Calculus II, Advanced and Basic), as well as to foreshadow future connections (Complex analysis, Differential equations, and Multivariable calculus). It’s like a 18-season TV show that gets cancelled before its final episode, and my final episode would’ve rocked (a la Newhart) rather than sucked (a la St. Elsewhere). In both classes, I was going to reveal the pan-ultimate secret to calculus, which is th–
Now you get to suffer too.
I just ain’t a fan of snow days.
Here are some before-and-after pictures to provide further reasons as to why I ain’t a fan of snow days. First off, our backyard. Before…
… and after.
You might notice that the little tree in the backyard is leaning at a rather unhappy angle. Every year one of my trees takes a nasty hit for the annual freak storm, and this time it was it was this guy.
Next, my street. Before…
…and after.
You might notice that given the high winds of the blizzard, the snow fall was not uniform. You can see grass in the lower right-hand corner (so, no snow), and well as a three foot deep “ride” of snow that made a large, parabolic arc through my front year before ending at my front door.
So, finally, my front door. Before (ish)…
and after…
It took some serious snow-shoveling to clear out the two feet of snow pushing against our front and back doors.
On a related note, the Ladybug ain’t a big fan of snow days either.
