I can has tire chains?

December 19, 2008 at 5:41 am | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

What a day it’s been. I got off work at 7am yesterday, and all still looked well outside the hospital. Got in my car, drove away and onto the freeway.

And then all hell broke loose.

Snow started falling by the bucketful, and I could barely see out the front window of my car. Traffic came to an absolute standstill, and I knew that up ahead I would have to pass the skating rink that was the West Seattle Bridge onramp. And I had a feeling that the Alaskan Way viaduct would be iced over as well. So I got off the freeway and took a detour through other arterial routes.

Then I had to stop on an overpass because of traffic, and that was the end of my attempt to drive home. When I tried to move forward again, my car spun sideways instead, and I found myself staring off the edge of the overpass and onto a slope covered by low bushes. The cars kept coming behind me, but with some assistance from a good Samaritan, I got my car turned around and drove it back down the ramp. There was a freeway entrance nearby, but it was headed south. It wasn’t really the direction I wanted to go, however I knew that the only roads with any hope of being passable were the freeways. So I got on and headed south toward Tacoma.

For most of the day, every road into the city was either a parking lot or a skating rink or totally impassable. And my poor sheltered car has never seen snow like that before and was totally unprepared to deal with it. I, myself, have lived in places where it snows this bad and much worse. But not since I’ve been old enough to drive. Plus, like the Spanish Inquisition, nobody expects it here in Seattle. So although I’m fairly well-prepared for most kinds of car trouble, it never occurred to me to buy snow chains for my tires.

Anyway, I couldn’t even get home to pick up my suitcase yesterday, much less back to the airport in time for my flight. I ended up staying in a hotel most of the day and evening, and driving home late last night. So I’m taking the first flight out that I can get this morning, which means I’ll be missing the dinner.

But I’m actually glad that this is happening now, when I’m not a resident. Most of my interviews are in places where I can expect this kind of storm at least once or twice a year. And at least now I’ll have some idea of the obstacles I’ll need to overcome to get into work.

People make a big deal about how dedicated you have to be to persevere in the face of a weather disaster. But I disagree. Weather is all offense and no defense. So once you walk out the door, it’s the preparations you’ve made–and very little of the effort you’re currently making– that will determine success or failure.

The key here is to identify what’s essential to defend, and do so. For example, a hospital needs a lot of things to function–food, water, supplies, people with a variety of skills and training to push the levers of patient care. And we know it will be difficult to get the people there, so we identify a team that camps out there in inclement weather. But the most fundamental need of a hospital is reliable power, and if your generators are vulnerable to flood, you need either to fortify their defenses adequately and then stock up on food, water and other supplies to support the work being done, or evacuate the building. Likewise, your car is basically a mobile tent, but without traction and a functioning powertrain, it’s just a tent. The tent function is well-protected these days, but in a flood you still need to keep the powertrain above water, and in snow you need to maintain traction.

Anyway, what I’m saying, with far more words than necessary, is that I’ll be buying some tire chains when I get back. ASAP.