this just in: central texas freak out over cold, ice

Yes, it's cold outside. But it isn't all that cold. Austin's reaction to this weather absolutely baffles me. It's winter: even here in central Texas it is likely that once in a while it will get this cold. Yes, even icy.

Ice. The city of Austin is completely unprepared to deal with icy roads. Anywhere north of here, as most of you are well aquainted with, trucks are out all night in full force spreading salt on the roads to keep them from freezing. I guess it makes sense that it the cost of keeping a fleet of trucks capable of salting the roads outweighs the benefits for these rare icy days, though. So the infrastructure is essentially shut down, which shuts down everything else. Hence the university closing. It's ridiculous, really, but hey, I'm not about to complain about getting an unexpected day off. Of course, I'm here on campus anyway since I didn't realize the university was closed until I was already at work. I have things to do that will be easier to do with no one around anyway.

So, yay for cold weather because it means I get to wear my long wool coat and yay for cold weather because this is what December is meant to feel like. Even better that we only have to deal with it in small pieces.