Earlier this week I was sitting at work despite a Level 2 snow emergency. Had I still been in grade school, I would have had the day off, and I would have been outside sledding, building a snowman, etc. Alas, I am an adult, and I had to dig my car out from under half a foot of snow to make the drive into the office at a measly 25mph. As you can probably tell, unlike when I was a kid, I now despise this time of year, so I thought I’d see how the rest of the staff feels about the white stuff now that we’re all grown up.

Drew Troller

Yes! The snow is BRUTAL!
ummmm…

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Lindsay Krumel

So jealous Andrew Troller!

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Drew Troller

I lived in Ohio for 22 years. I don’t even mind the snow and cold so much…. but getting snow (and especially ICE) off the car in the morning seems like one of those things that humanity should have invented a fix for by now.

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Kevin Risner

It’s been a mix for me. Born, grew up in, and have now returned to northeast Ohio. So snow is normal. Still — everyone goes bonkers all the time here when it happens. And they can’t drive in it! Normally I enjoy snow, when I don’t have to drive much and when I don’t need to shovel my way out. Very rarely do most places shut down, even when roads are bad (this includes the universities where I work). When I lived in Istanbul, any hint of snow and it was bedlam. Closures everywhere. Still, it was fun being around people there who were uber excited about the snow. Much better than having so many people groaning about it. When it’s a novelty, the excitement’s infectious.

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Caitlin Van Mol

In New York, any type of weather gives everyone an excuse to be an asshole. People are assholes anyway, but any sort of collective unpleasantness gives everyone an excuse to make it MORE unpleasant for those around them. I doubt you experience people in the midwest using an UMBRELLA when it’s snowing- at least I never did in Michigan. I still like the idea of snow but when we get dumped on, there’s no where for it to go. Then its turns black because the city is disgusting and it’s just black, gross ice everywhere. But it’s beautiful when it’s fresh and clean. Basically, I think we can all agree that snow is awesome but people are dumb and stupid and ruin everything.

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Colin Clancy

Bring on the pow!

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Cory Pelc

Let it snow!

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Drew Davis

Growing up primarily in Milwaukee, I’ve had my fair share of winter weather. Ice, snow and bone-chilling cold are my main memories of winter. Interestingly, living in Ohio now, I think we actually get snow more often here than back in Milwaukee. Difference is, it doesn’t last very long and the temperature is more bearable, allowing more opportunities to enjoy snow activities (main problem being the flat land with the only nearby ski … let’s go with “hill” … being perfect north in Indiana). Back up north, we got a few big snow storms, which then froze over and stayed on the ground until deep into April. I’m thankful I learned to drive there as I find it enjoyable to drive in inclement weather, though it’s infuriating to drive on the same roads with people who see snow and ice and immediately become terrified.

Anyway, you might think that my Wisconsin background makes me used to the winter weather, but it is just the opposite. I look at it like I got my fill of that weather and now I can’t stand it. Give me sweltering heat over the miserable cold. I could easily live without winter. I do enjoy skiing and love hockey, but I’d be perfectly content just traveling to visit a ski resort occasionally and not have to worry about shoveling, putting out salt, bundling up and overcast days. And they play hockey indoors, so I don’t need to see snow outside to feel like it’s hockey season. In fact I just went to southern Florida to announce Miami (the real one in Ohio, not the fake one at south beach) hockey in a college hockey tournament a little over a week ago.

So in short, I’m likely the odd one here, but I can easily live without snow.

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Mike Zoller

As long as I’m able to get my car out of my parking spot and the roads aren’t miserable I’m all for snow. Working for a university we got 2 consecutive snow days last year when they had to shutdown the school. Adult snow days are 100x better than little kid snow days.

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Drew Davis

Mike back here at Miami we, as staff and faculty members, still have to work even when classes are cancelled. I’m jealous.

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Mike Zoller

Really? That’s terrible. We weren’t allowed to go into the office even if we wanted to. I’d expect better from Miami.

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Sarah Hargis

This is my very first winter ever, having moved from Florida to Chicago last spring. Aside from the fact that my car locks were frozen for two days, it’s been kind of fun so far. Everything is an adventure, haha.

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Drew Davis

Yup, actually, now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure faculty gets off, but staff members are still expected to work, at least here in student affairs. And if I’m working for athletics and there’s a game, no chance at time off.

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Kara Loo

I lived in Ohio for 25 years. By far the best solution I found to cope with the gray, cold, dark, miserable winter was getting into winter sports. I started snowboarding when I was 20, then eventually moved to somewhere sunnier where I can snowboard on some pretty amazing mountains (Denver). Re-contextualizing snow has made 6 months out of the year insanely more bearable!!.

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