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

Auto Show Done, Next Project Awaits

Returning To Familiar Surroundings

I’ve made it through the cattle-like queuing check-in and security lines unscathed, but nearly lost my boarding pass as I was heading to my gate. A young man spotted my pass on the ground, picked it up, and got it back to me. Clearly, he was the right person for the moment — thanks buddy.

The next few days — probably over the next week — I’ll be sorting through two bags filled with media material I obtained at the auto show in Detroit. Lots of stuff is now on CD, making it easier to carry, but a handful of manufacturers still insist on distributing binders, booklets and other reading materials to journalists. CDs make it much easier to transport everything home, a technological advancement I’m glad to have.

Lessons Learned From The Road Warriors

I am by no means a road warrior. Most of my work is done remotely, from my home office which gives to me access to everything I need including printers, documents, personal information and that cold bottle of water not always easily found on the road, at least for less than $2 a bottle. Among the 38 social media specialists (bloggers) in attendance were the seasoned travelers, those writers who go from show to show on a near monthly basis — travel for them seems to come naturally, something I do not yet have. Observing and talking with these traveling pros taught me a few things, information that should make my next trip easier and my networking smoother:

Update My Business Cards — At present, my business cards refer to this site — The Article Writer — but when I attend automotive venues, cards touting The Auto Writer name would be more accurate. My hosts (GM) found me through The Auto Writer, which is a blog connected to this site, but with a separate URL pointing to the home page. From a marketing standpoint, being known as “The Auto Writer” would be a better description of what I do, particularly to the automotive world.

Take Advantage of Every Special Opportunity — Hitting the road means working long hours and staying up late. When an opportunity comes up to interview people of influence, grab them no matter how inconvenient it may be — I did manage to interview 7 of the 8 people on my itinerary, but I still missed one person because of a schedule change on my part. I did get interviewed by the coBRANDiT guys — Owen Mack and Jesse Buckley — which should be available on their site in the near future.

Ask Questions, Listen For Answers, Read Between the Lines — The best information I received wasn’t always from my hosts nor from the people I interviewed. Sometimes a discussion that started around the breakfast buffett table and continues as we head off to another event can be quite revealing. On the last night of my stay, a fellow writer shared some tips with me that were invaluable, as he gave me a contact name and email address, and pointers on what steps to take next when contacting this person. Several pieces of the puzzle were missing before I left Detroit, but this contact filled in the rest for me.

Say Thank You — I made a point of thanking my hosts, but I’ll follow that up with email messages over the next several days. I have an invitation to return to Detroit later this year, to see and test GM’s newest offerings.

All that said, I’m ready to start working again from the comfort and convenience of my home office. Internet access on the road was difficult at times as was configuring my set up once I found it. Now to finish up that Pontiac Solstice article which is due on Friday!