And Then The Snow Fell….

I relocated with my family to North Carolina from New Jersey in 2004, in a bid to escape the crowds and high costs associated with living in the New York City suburbs. Under the best travel conditions we could get into Manhattan in about thirty-five minutes, a possibility on a clear Sunday morning or very late at night.

These days we reside in Cary, a large suburb wedged between Raleigh and Durham. In its own right, this city of nearly 150,000 people has a lot going on for it, hosting national sporting events including college soccer and baseball. Cary reminds me of my New Jersey home town, Ridgewood, but much more spread out.

But when it comes to snow or the threat of wintry precipitation, the similarities between these two communities comes to a slippery halt.

Today, I’m witnessing a Triangle spectacle: people panicking over the mere threat of snow. The Triangle was once defined as Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, but the sprawling metropolis now encompasses at least four counties and more than one million residents.

Residents include natives as well as many transplants from the northeast, midwest, and California, a mixed bag of people who uprooted their lives in pursuit of a job, schools, retirement, and other reasons.

Clearly, some people are accustomed to driving in the snow, but a lot of people here aren’t. Worse, we’re just far enough south to where most cities and counties don’t invest all that much in snow removal equipment and road salt which means that whatever falls usually melts and refreezes within moments.

We found out how ridiculous it can get when in January 2005 a surprise one inch midday snowfall closed down schools and businesses at once, sending everyone scrambling to pick up children and head home. That storm made national news because everything iced over and traffic came to a halt.

Reports quickly came in that children were stranded at school, interstate traffic was backed up for more than twenty miles, and the entire area was paralyzed under a thin, icy grip.

It took almost a day for traffic to clear which meant that young children had to stay at school overnight with their teachers and some people slept in their cars. No joke – the entire Wake County Public School System, which relies on busing to transport kids all across the county – had to warehouse thousands of students for a night.

Our little adventure on January 19, 2005, became the butt of jokes on national news, with local leaders pointing fingers, forming commissions and studies, before finally establishing a working plan in a bid to avert repeating the debacle. That plan was outlined one sultry night in the middle of the summer when people were on vacation or too hot to care.

Well today the snow began to fall on this last day of school for 2009. Temperatures were in the upper-30s and began to drop in the early afternoon when the snow began descending. Soon, we received calls from our boys’ teachers announcing a one hour early release, with my wife and I hoping that the botch job of 2005 wouldn’t repeat itself.

Thankfully, the snow shower was brief and wet, which meant that our boys made it home early with no worry that this Christmas they’d spend it snowbound at school.

Yes, I know that I am exaggerating which is something I tend to do after a week’s worth of work, several lengthy edits, and with Christmas just days away. But I’m also giddy because since I do work at home I don’t have to contend with what promises to be a very messy evening commute.

See Also — North Carolina State University: January 19, 2005 Winter Storm

I Got That Behind Me….

Tax season is so over.

Here in the US we have a ritual which begins shortly after the new year and ends promptly on April 15th: tens of millions of taxpayers spend hours upon hours gathering paperwork, downloading forms, uploading tax software, and entering data. I believe the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has said the average return now takes about 27 hours to do, this despite so many people relying on software to help them get the job done.

I sent off my state and federal returns late last week, but I then remembered yesterday that the state’s corporate filing was also due. Thankfully, it is an easy four-page form done online — basically I confirmed the information previously inputted, submitted my payment information, and I was done. Poof — there went a couple of hundred dollars.

Though the pictured sign says “county taxes” those aren’t due until September as part of our property tax filing for our home. We also pay property taxes on our vehicles (bright idea, isn’t it?) and I pay a token tax to the town for an annual license. Sales tax is 7% and the feds and the state get their chunk at the pump every time we go for fuel. Restaurant food is taxed at 8%, groceries at 2%, and yes there is a tax for hotel stays.

After a few days rest I’m heading up to Boston to reprise a certain tax rebellion held there in 1773 — I’m kidding of course, but the sentiment is still there.