Cold

I had no idea. Today, people were freakin' out about getting home safely. Our CEO sent out an email message at 2 pm stating that the weather forecast said things were fine and we could work 'til 5. And I thought to myself: "what's the big deal?" Driving home, it didn't take me long to realize that it didn't matter how well I thought I could handle icy streets, but that it was the other native-Texan-who-experiences-icy-weather-once-every-year-or-so that I needed to worry about. I made it home safely and then foolishly decided to drive to a nearby friends' house to celebrate the Texas winter. Said friends are assuming that they won't have to work tomorrow (or at least work on time), and behaved accordingly. I had fun and made it home in one piece.

In Texas' defense, while us native northerners know that we can handle snowy conditions, and sub-zero temperatures, where it's even too cold to snow, we all know that the worst driving conditions exist when rain turns to freezing rain, when the streets are the slickest as they can possibly be. This is the worst conditions that Texas (or anywhere else) experiences. Except that Texas doesn't have the infrastructure to make any icy road drivable by the next morning. So, when I wake up tomorrow I completely expect to have to wait several hours after the normal commuting hour until the sun rises high enough to make the roads safe to drive. It's almost 2 am at the moment, so I'm nearly counting on it!