Snow Warnings vs. Crying Wolf

Everyone has different experiences with snow. Growing up in Utah, I became quite familiar with not only snow, but how it impacts day-to-day activities. It was rather simple: when it snowed, you stayed off the road as much as possible. If you did have to go out, you drove slowly and carefully.

I’ve lived in North Carolina for over six years now. Snow is rare. We may get a little about once a year. When we do, everything shuts down. If you’ve lived in a part of the world where snow is more common, this may seem strange—even to the point of over-reacting.

But consider the following: warmer areas, like North Carolina, simply don’t have the resources to handle the snow because it isn’t common. In addition, people who live where snow is rare aren’t experienced enough to know how to handle it. That’s not a criticism, that’s human nature.

I write this blog on the third day of school being closed. The forecast called for below freezing temperatures and up to four inches of snow to come in on Tuesday afternoon. Our local school district canceled school on Tuesday, even though the storm wasn’t supposed to come until the afternoon.

Some people (myself included) may scratch their heads and wonder why cancel so early for something that might happen later in the day. Here are two things I should have remembered from all my years of working in TV news:

First: weather is very unpredictable.

Second: weather can be dangerous.

Just a few years ago, a tornado touched down a few miles away from us. Here’s a picture of what it did to a sign in the area:

Now consider what happened in Atlanta during this recent storm. According to media reports, the National Weather Service issued a winter storm alert for Atlanta at 3:38 a.m. on Tuesday, 12 hours before the worst of the traffic set in.

It can be argued that officials didn’t take it as seriously as they could have. What happened? People were jammed on the roads for hours. School children were stuck in school buses, and some students even had to spend the night at schools. 

Photo courtesy of ABC News

Here, in North Carolina, they took the warning more seriously and we avoided many of the same issues Atlanta faced.

But I say there is room for improvement. I was, and am, openly critical of Wake County Public Schools for waiting until after 9 pm on Tuesday to announce that schools were going to be closed on Wednesday.

Why? Well, when the National Weather Service “cried wolf,” meaning a storm may be coming, the school district acted cautiously—and I agree with what they did. People’s safety should come first.

However, once the storm hit, meaning the wolf was actually at the door, the school district waited until their scheduled meeting time of 9 pm to make the decision.

When school is canceled, it often requires parents to adjust their plans to make sure their kids are taken care of.

Here’s a not so humble suggestion: when the wolf is at your door, don’t wait for a pre-scheduled time in the future to decide what to do about it. 

But, I didn’t like it

While taking my third daughter to school recently, she said to me, “Ug. I have a test in Language Arts today. We have to read poems and then try to guess what the poet meant. I hate that. What if I like the poem for a different reason than the poet intended?”

When she said this, I wanted to cheer. Does that sound like a strange reaction to you? Let me explain.

As I’ve studied literature, I’ve discovered that there are two basic schools of thought.

First, there are those who are convinced that the only way to truly appreciate a poem or story or work of art of any kind is to learn about the person who created it, there social-economic conditions, their political views, what they had for breakfast, their favorite day of the week, and which toe on their left foot they find most adorable.

Second, there are those who experience art (by reading, listening, viewing, or a combination of any of the senses) and then determine for themselves whether or not they like it. Often, the reason someone likes or doesn’t like something is based on their personal experiences at the moment they experience the art.

I’m firmly in the second camp.

Here’s an example of why: A person can play for me a rap song that is widely acknowledged as being influential and even revolutionary. I can learn about the rapper and what drove him to create the work. I can study how this particular song impacted not only other rappers, but also people of a certain culture. I’m pretty darn sure at the end of all of this, I’m still not going to like the song. I don’t like rap music. Period.

Okay, still not convinced? How about a true example. I read the book 1984 by George Orwell. It’s considered a classic. It is studied in schools. Papers have been written about the book’s importance. From an intellectual and academic point of view, I recognize how 1984 is significant in the history of literature. But, I didn’t like it.

Keep in mind that I noted that whether or not a person likes something can be influenced by their personal experiences. And guess what? People gain more experiences as they get older.

What this means to me is that there are things I loved when I was younger that I don’t like now and vice-versa.

The most evident of these is music. There were certain songs I hated in the 1980’s, but now when I hear them, I find that I like them. Maybe it’s nostalgia. Maybe it’s maturity. Maybe I’ve finally gotten enough experiences to appreciate music I didn’t like before.

In the end, I told my daughter, “In real life, you don’t win a prize if you can guess what a person meant when they created art. If you connect with it on an emotional, spiritual, or even an intellectual level, and it means something to you, then who cares what the person meant?” 

The Creative Curse

I have a creative mind. I’ve grown to understand that fact and embrace it as I’ve gotten older. Perhaps the word “curse” is wrong. Maybe I should use “blessing”—but then “The Creative Blessing” doesn’t sound as cool.

For whatever reason, as I live and observe the world around me, ideas pop into my head. Often they are “Why are things this way?” or “What if…” To that end, my mind seems to dwell on these thoughts to the point where I’m driven to do something to express this creativity.

Here’s an example from last night: I was sitting on the couch with my daughter Emily. We were doing something called Family Home Evening. It’s a time on Monday nights when we get together as a family and do various activities. On the couch next to me was a stuffed animal known in our household as “Bear Bear.” (It’s a name my youngest daughter Stephanie gave him.)

I was goofing around with Bear Bear, pretending he was peeking at Emily from behind different things like pillows and her leg and shoulder. Then the idea came to me: What if Bear Bear were to slowly come out from behind a hiding place to the theme of 2001: A Space Odyssey?

So, after Family Home Evening was done, with the help from Emily and Stephanie, we recorded some video of Bear Bear doing just that. I added the music later. When I uploaded it to YouTube, I realized the video was turned on its side, but I don’t have the software to change that. And for some reason, I liked it better this way.

In the end, this was the result:

I think it’s funny. I don’t know why, but I just do.

Of course, most of the time, flex my creative muscles by writing books and story stories. Yet every once in a while, I’ll create weird graphics or images that I find funny, even if no one else does.

Here’s an example:

I am severely allergic to cats. I don’t like them. Thankfully, neither does my wife. To that end, I decided to have a little fun at their expense. I came up with the idea of “Cat is not amused.” It’s a serious of jokes told from Dog to Cat in a tormenting sort of way. (Note! I do not condone cruelty to animals! Not even cats!)

Here’s an example of one of these “Cat is not amused” jokes:

To see all of them, click here.

Some people would say I’m wasting my time in doing this. To that I answer, “Yeah? Try living in my head for a while and then tell me that.”

Top Blogs of 2013

Which of my 2013 blogs were the most popular based on number of times people accessed them? I’m always surprised to find out which ones they are.

Like I’ve done in the past, I’m going to count down the top 5, based on page views. At the end, I’ll share which ones were my favorite.

I haven’t written as many personal blogs this year for a few reasons. First, I released three books in 2013. Second, I’m blogging for Ronaldo Designer Jewelry which uses up some of my blogging time. Third, I’m working on a little something called my Master’s Degree in Creative Writing.

However I did write quite a few blogs. And people still read them. In fact, my blog has had over 140,000 hits since I started it.

Anyway, here are the top 5: (You can click on the name to read the blog.)

#5 I’m Not Stealing Ideas, Really!

A blog about how many stories “borrow” ideas from other sources.

#4 I’ve Been Banned!

Yes, one of my books was banned from Facebook. Can you guess which one?

#3 When In Doubt, Freeze It Off

A little story about what happens when you are rude to a teacher (or so I would have the students believe.)

#2 Meat Pie

One of my teachers wanted me to write a short story out of my comfort zone. This was the result.

#1 Pandora’s Box, Indeed

To be honest, I’m not sure why this one was so popular. Perhaps because I introduced people to something they had been living without.

And now for my favorite(s):

I couldn’t pick only one, so here are my personal favorites that didn’t make the list in no particular order:

Favorite #1: Copy Cat?

  

A video / audio comparison of several songs and those that sound a lot like the original.

Favorite #2: Hyphen-nation

Because people who insist on using hyphenated last names have started down a path that could get quite interesting.

Favorite #3: Friendship For The Win!

My response when the name of the new high school in the area was revealed to be “Apex Friendship High School.”

To swear or not to swear in books

The question was recently raised by a fellow author who asked people’s opinions on using swearing in stories. Here is my reply:

Swearing. Yeah. Well, I think for me it boils down to two things:

      Who is your intended audience?

      Are you personally comfortable with using the word?

In my five novels, I’ve used swear words, let me double check, ok yeah … never. At the same time, I don’t shy away from some pretty gritty stuff, especially in Wall of Faith.

I’ve had writers tell me that unless swear words are used, the story won’t feel real. Meaning that swearing is part of life and so it should be included in books. I counter the argument that there are a lot of things in real life which aren’t generally included, like going to the bathroom, yet how often are they included in books where they aren’t a significant part of the story?

I write for an audience that is LDS friendly, meaning I believe anyone can read and enjoy my books if they are LDS or not. I choose not to use swearing because I’ve found I can write compelling stories and characters without using those words.

When I refer to swearing, I mean the main ones that the general public consider a swear word. There are also words that are crass, but are considered swear words by some people. (Examples: piss, crap, suck.) In general, I shy away from the crass words as well.

Lastly, and I’ve mentioned this before in other posts, this topic was discussed at length in one of my Master’s classes. (I’m almost done with my MFA in Creative Writing.) The consensus of the students and the teacher is that swearing is generally to be used sparingly, if at all. Once or twice here and there is like a punch to the gut. Too many uses desensitizes people to the words. My teacher went as far as to call using swear words as “lazy writing.”

So, I personally don’t use swearing and I’ve had many more readers thank me than people complain about the lack of swearing in my stories.

Marriage Midpoint

I don’t think there is a word or phrase for something I celebrated recently. For lack of a better term, I’m coining the phrase, “Marriage Midpoint.”

What does that even mean?

Well, December 6, 2013 marks the day that I’ve been married to my wife as long as I hadn’t been married to her. Stating it another way, I got married when I was 22 years, 1 month and 25 days old. As of December 6th, I’ve been married for 22 years, 1 month and 25 days.

It’s kind of freaky to think that I’ve spent as much time being married as not being married. My childhood seems to have lasted a long time, yet the years I’ve been married have flown by.

My wife has a theory about this. When you are four years old, a year is 25% of your life—therefore a year is a long time. When you are 40 years old, a year is only 2.5% of your life, so it can seem like a shorter period of time.

Certainly my wife and I have lasted longer than the average marriage in America. That hasn’t been by chance.

Yes, my wife and I have a lot in common, but there are a lot of things which we see differently. Often those differences have helped each of us to grow.

When we got married, my parents-in-law wrote one big word in our wedding card: “COMMUNICATE!” And it was great advice. Over the years, we’ve learned that some forms of communication work better than others.

One that is especially effective is the use of “I” statements as opposed to “You” statements. For example, it is better to say, “I felt frustrated when you kept changing your mind about where you wanted to go for dinner” than to say, “You are so frustrating and indecisive!”

Another thing we’ve learned to do which helps our relationship is to allow the other person to take the lead on something they feel strongly about.

Let me explain.

Say that my wife wants to paint the kitchen. She has some colors in mind, and asks for my opinion. She is the one that uses the kitchen more than I do, so as I look at the colors she’s picked out and I share which ones I like or don’t like as much, I keep in mind that basically unless it is something that really bothers me (like neon pink) I’m going to let her take the lead and go with what she likes. It doesn’t mean that I don’t care. In fact, it can mean the opposite: it means that I care enough to support her on her decision.

The point? Couples don’t have to agree 100% on every little detail.

Lastly, the power of positive comments and selfless acts go a long way. I’m constantly telling my wife how beautiful she is. She’s constantly telling me that she loves me. In fact, whenever we leave to go our separate directions, we always tell each other, “I love you! Have a good day!”

Some people may think that saying “I love you” so much will make it lose its power and impact. However, after more than 22 years, I can honestly say that the opposite is true.  

Whether or not to believe the forecasted weather

I cringe when I see a “10 day forecast” on any sort of weather channel or website. Why? Well, the fact is that no one can accurately predict the weather 10 days from now. The key word is “accurately.”

Oh, weather forecasters can get close, sometimes, but often it is a guessing game on trends from the past and what might happen based on current conditions.

I worked for many years in the TV news business. I had the chance to get to know several meteorologists. By and large, they were really good folks who honestly wanted to help people.

One day, I asked one of them the following question, “Just how sure are you that it is going to rain two days from now?”

His response? He said, “Honestly, we have about a 50% chance of getting tomorrow’s weather right. Each day after that, our chance of being right is cut in half. There are just too many variables that can impact the weather.”

When he first told me this, I was a bit shocked. Before then, I really believed it when I was told it was going to rain seven days from now.

I was thinking about this subject recently and decided to do a little experiment. I went to the National Weather Service website and tracked their predictions for a certain day over the course of a week.

I was surprised how close they got, but even then, there were a number of changes.

The day in question was Wednesday, November 27, 2013. I started tracking the forecast when it first showed up on the National Weather Service’s 7 day forecast.

During those seven days, here are the differences between the forecasts:

The high temperature varied from a high of 38 to a high of 49.

The chance of rain varied from 50% to 90%.

The amount of rain varied from a “trace” to half-an-inch.

The winds varied from 7 mph to 32 mph.

The time the showers were “mainly” supposed to happen varied from 10 AM to 4 PM.

To be fair, they did get one thing right: There was 100% chance of weather.