I am not sure why, but this upcoming storm seems a little more 'set in stone' than usual. All the models are reasonably in line and the scenario they paint in plausible. This is the classic Nor'easter setup.

Recently some friends have been pointing to improvements in one of the short range computer models I check. I've started to give it more credence, not that it makes a big difference this time (see paragraph one).

I've sort of been hoping we'd make it out of this winter without a real bang. Foolish me.

I never met Ray Dobratz. His son, Erik, is a friend of mine and co-worker at the TV station. I know about Ray because Erik talked about him--told me stories about him.

Ray Dobratz was killed Sunday in the explosion that leveled the power plant in Middletown.

Sometimes life catches up with you in a hurry. No one said goodbye. Ray left life unfinished.

What I heard about Ray I liked. More importantly, you couldn't listen to Erik talk about his father without immediately understanding the deep affection they had for each other.

If it's any solace Ray knew how Erik felt abut him. Erik's conversations with me left that point perfectly clear.

Not saying goodbye is sad. Not knowing love would be tragic.

We all mourn the loss of Ray Dobratz. Please keep his family in your heart.

If this is Google's rumored Super Bowl ad (and so says the rumor) try and look past the sweetness and poignancy. Think for a moment what the aggregation of your Google searches or website crawls says about you.

How much of your life is revealed by connecting the dots concerning where you go on your computer?

Logs and records are kept. Your life is well documented, but the documentation is outside your grasp.

How much of your life do you want revealed by where you go on your computer?

We need to weigh the cost for everything the Internet brings. Sometimes the costs aren't immediately obvious.

Around 11:30 this morning my house shuddered. We've been hit by flying branches in storms. This was different. There was no sound, just a compression shock. I got out of bed and headed downstairs.

Helaine was on the sofa. She perceived it differently from me. She said we should check the house. I opened the door and saw nothing. We went to the basement and garage. Nothing again.

The house shook from an explosion at the Kleen Energy plant in Middletown. That's around 20 miles from here. Their website says it's "in construction":

Helaine said the shake reminded her of an explosion while we were in Buffalo.

An untrained worker was moving a propane tank with a forklift. The tank fell and the valve sheared off. The propane, being heavier than air, spread out along the ground.

From Wikipedia:

When it happened Helaine thought a car had run into our house! Within thirty seconds of her calling me at the TV station every phone in the place was ringing.

Right now I'm listening to emergency responders on an Internet delivered scanner channel. There's lots of activity which seems well coordinated. There's talk of victims and casuaties. It's horrific.

I wanted to make sure Ann Nyberg knew about this. By the time I called her she was already at the station helping with our coverage. Stories unfold much more quickly now than in '83. I've posted on Twitter and Facebook and the replies have been coming at a steady pace.

This is a tragedy.

I just installed Siri on my iPhone. It claims to be a personal assistant that responds to spoken commands. After a few quick tests I'm pretty sure the claim is accurate!

You click a button and just begin speaking. The accuracy has been, so far, uncanny.

When I asked about upcoming Rick Springfield concerts it knew enough to see there were none nearby and broadened its search. When asked it immediately gave me a list of comedies playing at local movie theaters (a complex task requiring it to understand a few concepts simultaneously. It also found the closest Starbucks.

I tried to stump Siri. That wasn't too difficult.

It couldn't tell me when the next train to Grand Central left New Haven or directions to a specific address (though it will give directions to a specific business). It also won't add appointments to my Gmail calendar, though it will send email reminders for events I've told it about via my Gmail account.

As with other voice recognition apps I've tried lately the intelligence lives 'in the cloud' and my iPhone just sends digitized voice there and waits for a response.

This thing is crazy... like out of "The Jetsons" crazy and it's just the tip of the iceberg. Siri is undoubtedly the first of many in this category. And, since the power is on some remote server not my iPhone, the system can be upgraded to accomplish more without my intervention.

Did I mention it's free? It is, but currently only available on the iPhone 3Gs.

Siri - The Personal Assistant in your Phone from Tom Gruber on Vimeo.

I was tuning around on the cable box tonight when I came upon this listing for the Travel Channel. I will let the listing speak for itself.

My eyeglasses are a few years old. Earlier this winter I noticed a small chunk had been chipped from one of the lenses. Though it's out of my sight line the writing's on the wall. I need new glasses.

We headed to a local mall where the optical center has a doctor I'd seen before and trusted. That's how I found out the eyeglass business is busier early in the year when many people discover insurance coverage has kicked in.

They were running behind. We took a walk.

There's nothing at the mall for guys. Right?

There must have been a dozen cellphone businesses. Each of the major carrier had a kiosk or two plus a full walk-in store. All were busy.

"Complaints, not purchases," I told Helaine.

The examination was pretty straightforward. As Mary, the optometrist, flipped the lenses there was actually a difference between "A" and "B " OK--there was most of the time... enough of the time I was pretty sure she got my prescription right.

My prescription has remained reasonably constant the past few years. No cataracts. No signs of glaucoma. That's all good news.

Better than that my eyes are corrected to 20/15, meaning I see at 20 feet what most people see at 15 feet.

"Get plastic frames," Stef had advised via phone when I told her what we were doing today.

Plastic frames? I don't think so. I can't come back on TV with a jarring (radically different) look.

I began trying on frames as Helaine watched. I was pretty useless here. Seriously, when you're trying new frames you must take off your glasses! How exactly can you judge?

We finally settled on frames that look very much like my old ones. I pulled out my iPhone and sent Stef a photo via SMS.

She did not approve. Unavoidable. Not unexpected. Hopefully she'll forgive my fashion fears over time.

Then there's the price.

Why do frames cost so much? Seriously, is there any relationship between manufacturing cost and retail price?

In a few weeks the new glasses will arrive along with a tester set of contact lenses. I've tried contacts before. You don't want to know! I was not a good candidate. I'm trying again anyway.

I usually don't join up with public causes on Facebook. No need to denigrate them. You cause crazy people know who you are. However I will make an exception this morning because it's possibly the finest comedic idea of this century: Have Betty White host SNL!

From Entertainment Weekly:

I'm more prone to think of her as Sue Ann Nivens, but the thought's the same.

I joined her Facebook group a moment ago as number 50,997. It's picking up steam.

Betty was on TV a week or so ago picking up a lifetime achievement award from the Screen Actors Guild. Here's the clip. Don't you think she'd be the best SNL host ever!

Bob Ryan is a weather fixture in Washington, DC. He's been on the NBC owned station for around 30 years. Today he is my hero. On this pre-blizzard day when his station will probably show huge viewership he's in the news.

From the Washington Post:

Don't get me wrong. I am not happy because Bob may be leaving WRC. Moving is never without risk both to the talent and stations. I am happy because for the first time in a few years someone on-the-air in local news has some leverage in contract negotiations.

The trend in my business has been falling salaries, not rising. This is the first I've seen where that trend might be bucked!

What boss or owner doesn't want to buy the same thing for less? Bob's station is owned by NBC which has been very aggressive in that regard.

Some of the cuts anchors and reporters have were huge. Often they've been accompanied by added responsibilities and/or reduced benefits and security. All the cuts have been taken with impunity.

Bob Ryan is pushing back against bosses who've forgotten that can happen.

Granted, we're talking about a guy who should receive no sympathy over compensation. If Bob Ryan isn't making 7-figures he's certainly in the high hundreds of thousands per year. As a longtime AFTRA member he's got a very nice pension plan. This is not about whether his family will eat or not.

There will never be another Bob Ryan in Washington. The kind of following he has, built over years when TV stations had much more commanding audience numbers, just can't happen today. He knows that. They know that.

I will be very curious how this turns out. So will every other high profile on-air performer. It's more than idle curiosity.

Oh Toyota. You are this close to becoming a business school teaching lesson. You are this close to becoming Bon Vivant Vichyssoise! Never heard of Bon Vivant? Read on.

Back in the early seventies there was a food company named Bon Vivant. They made high end canned soups under their own name and for others. I'll let the NY Times pick up the story:

Instead of getting ahead of the story Bon Vivant pushed back. They put their profits and priorities before their customer's. We tend not to like that from those who feed us and from whom we expect scrupulous attention to safety.

Nearly seventy years of soup making and Bon Vivant was gone within a month! They became the poster child for what not to do in a crisis.

Fast forward to 1982. Someone injected cyanide into Tylenol capsules after they were already on the store shelf. What did Johnson and Johnson do? They took responsibility and bore the immediate cost though the sabotage happened out of their reach.

You don't think twice about taking Tylenol today, do you?

I am a Toyota guy. My first new car was a 1970 Toyota Corona. I or my family have had one for most of the time since then. Helaine and Stef both drive Toyotas today.

I have no animus toward Toyota. But seriously, it seems they are following the lead of Bon Vivant and not Johnson and Johnson.

The public trust is not easily obtained nor should it be taken lightly. Toyota has been behind on this story at every step. It's not going away.

I just watched CNN's Jessica Yellin play a phone conversation with Toyota about her own Prius. Damning.

I know GM and Ford are licking their chops hoping for Toyota's downfall. I'm not sure that would be as good for all of us as it is for them. I am not rooting for Toyota's failure. Their prior attention to quality has forced the US auto industry to step-it-up over the last few decades.

Right now more than Toyota's cars are speeding down the road out-of-control.

The average age of bloggers is getting older. That's because "young people are losing interest in long-form blogging." Harvard researchers conducted the survey.

I don't know if I would have blogged when I was younger... even if we had PCs or the Internet. It takes a lot of discipline. That's one trait never associated with me.

That being said, this is one of the most satisfying activities I have. Blogging has allowed me to discover how much fun writing can be,

"Hon." It was 3:50 AM and it was Helaine. Her voice was sleepy and loud and "Hon" was more like "Huuuuuuuhn." I had been working in my office next to our bedroom. It's unusual for her to call me like this. I stood up and moved to the door.

She was up in bed and she was holding the blanket off her.

The Foxes, as with many couples, don't share a single thermostat. I'd like the house kept in the 70°s. Helaine would be happy closer to the mid-60°... maybe more like approaching the mid-60°s from below!

Years ago I'd been advised if she were my landlord I could have her arrested for the temperature she kept the house. She was not impressed. Our compromise was to leave her in charge.

Finally last week I had a Popeye moment. You know the scene in Popeye cartoons where Bluto's finally pushed him too far? With steam streaming from his corncob pipe he shouts, "That's all I can takes cause I can't takes n'more!"

"Where's our electric blanket?" I asked.

We have an electric blanket with two controls--One for me and one for Helaine. Helaine's is really just for show. The blanket hasn't been used since last winter. Helaine's control might still have the original factory wrapping on.

Back to last night.

"I think there's a problem. I think my side is on and yours is not. Feel your side of the sheets"

Helaine was having a moment similar to those experienced by Bernie Madoff's victims. We'd been sleeping for the last few nights with the blanket upside down! My control was heating Helaine's half of the bed!

Oh the humanity!

As is often the case I went to dinner with Ann, Noah and Ted tonight. With a tiny bit of snow on-the-ground I had Helaine's SUV so I volunteered to drive. On the way back Ann found a button on the car seat.

"Is this yours," she asked? "Maybe it's Helaine's?"

This is Geoff she's asking, the guy who didn't always remember his wedding anniversary (uhhhh... late November... around Thanksgiving) or his daughter's eye color (some pastel, right?)

Ann took the button and placed it in the cup holder for safe keeping. I planned on bringing it into the house when I got home. A small opportunity to be a hero.

Not so fast. I was just commanded to go to the car to get the button. Ann discovered it was actually hers!

This is why I never throw stuff out.

Growing up in New York City in the 50s and 60s I seldom got to experience school cancellations or delays. If it snowed we went to school. The official pronouncement from the Board of Education was, "tough nuggies."

I hear similar stories all the time. People muse over the fact that this is New England and it does snow. "When I was a kid...," they'll begin. No need to finish the sentence. We all know where it's going.

Is today's reaction to a tiny snowfall prima facie evidence that we've gone wimpy? No! No emphatically.

Schools weren't canceled as quickly 30-40 years ago (and more recently as well) because we just didn't know what was coming! Yes, there were weather forecasts, but they were awful compared to today's (and today's have room for improvement).

We just don't have "Blizzard of '78" scenarios anymore.

We still get blizzards, but we're not surprised by them. 1978's storm was by-and-large unexpected. Sure the exact snow forecast timing might still be off or we'll blow the amount of snow, but it's been a long time since snow snuck in totally unannounced or a forecast of flurries became a dumping.

School superintendents wake up with "actionable intelligence," to steal a military expression. That leaves them with a quandary. What's the potential downside for having school versus canceling--especially with the huge percentage of kids who bus in?

There is no upside having school on a snowy day and plenty of potential downside. That's why they've developed hair triggers and why schools are shut at the drop of a hat. It's also why "snow days" are already built into the calendar.

Pity the superintendent who keeps schools open and has a bus slide off the road, even without injuries!

Weather forecasts have more utility and they're being used. That's a good thing. On the other hand old habits die hard. That's bad.

Because we have better forecasts (and much, much better mechanized technology) your chances of being stranded somewhere for more than a handful of hours because of snow have become very low. Still the mere mention of snow causes a panicked run on supermarkets!

Are we really that scared of running out of milk, bread and eggs? Is this 1952? We have plows. We have salt/sand and ice busting chemistry. Many people have 4-wheel drive vehicles.

The real wimps aren't running schools. The wimps are at the grocery store!

I've spent the last few days gazing at and working on my blog's new look. It's on a development server mostly out of public view. From outward appearances everything was fitting into place nicely. Outward appearances can be deceiving.

Instead of my code gracefully falling into place it fit because the innards were hacked and pounded with a mallet. I was using a blogging framework without really understanding what a framework is!

Hold it--don't go away yet. I know we're entering the 'Land of the Geeks.' Let me explain in simpler terms.

Imagine you own a home. It's a pretty home. One day you have a problem and as a worker peels away a part of the wall he finds your home was thrown together in a way that makes it unrepairable. All the shoddiness was hidden behind drywall. It was pretty as long as nothing needed to be changed or updated.

That's what I was doing!

Now that I understand 'framework' I'll be able to build a site that will age gracefully even as the software its built on gets upgraded.

Alas, most of my work will have to be ditched. It's not a total rewrite, but close.

I restart later tonight.

In 1999's Bowfinger Steve Martin knew how importance was defined.

The paradigm has shifted. Our new arbiter is Google¹.

Because of Google's methods popularity and/or importance are finally accurately quantified. It seems so wrong to take emotional concepts like important and popular and make them the output of a series of mathematical equations, but that's exactly what happens!

My 'aha' moment came earlier this evening. I was trying to learn how to scoop data from an online database and massage it to produce a webpage. Actually what I wanted to do was unimportant because I only got as far as typing in "how to."

Google was now working ahead of me, anticipating what I might type next. It unfurled a list of the most popular "how to" questions.

• how to tie a tie.
• how to kiss
• how to get pregnant
• how to lose weight fast
• how to cook a turkey
• how to solve a rubix cube
• how to make a website
• how to download youtube videos
• how to write a resume
• how to lose weight

I am surprised tying a tie has reached this level. Look a the competition it's knocked off. Maybe I'm jaded because I tie one every day (Double Windsor knot), but I didn't think there was this level of demand.

Considering "how to lose weight" appears in two different forms (normal and panicky) it probably belongs higher on the list.

Cooking a turkey and solving a rubix are both surprising entries, but just barely.

I'm not sure what's more surprising--that there's nothing truly weird or that the list is really so pedestrian.

Is this all we really want to know "how to" do? Can't we get a little more creative?

¹ - I know Google is the authority because if you enter "Geoff," I'm the sixth result. On Bing I didn't show up in the first six pages of results. Yahoo! doesn't list me through ten pages.