Whiteout

My day has included some rather interesting and unexpected turns of events and it’s barely afternoon. I’ve been struggling with my torrent client for weeks trying to figure out why I suddenly went unconnectable. After almost haphazardly trying a few things this morning I finally stumbled upon success, which happily coincided with my acceptance into another private tracker. Unfortunately I also found out that my membership in a different tracker appears to have been suspended due to inactivity. I had a massively favorable ratio there which makes the news a bit sad, but I never downloaded anything from them so it isn’t the biggest of losses.

I had a meeting with the pre-medical adviser where we discussed that while I am a “phenomenal med school candidate,” I should really wait a year to build my experience before applying to an MD/PhD combined degree program. How like me to reach for something more difficult upon attaining a goal. However, I am convinced that the additional work involved will strengthen my education and enable me to more effectively reach my career goals (sounds like an ad, I know).

At the end of the meeting I pleasantly noticed that it had begun snowing, and without much thought continued to do my other campus errands. Upon finding out that my last meeting was canceled, I hurried to move my car back to the apartment lot and make my way to the bus stop that would take me in to work. By the time I got to the bus stop, however, it had become clear that the snow situation was much more serious than it had originally appeared. In around an hour’s time we had already accumulated about an inch of precipitation, which to some may not be much but in Maryland counts as a big deal. I had moved my car just in time as I watched several cars and even one of the MTA buses get stuck, throwing the main campus entrance into chaos. I was finally able to walk down to where my bus was stopped and boarded, waiting for the driver to help another bus get turned around and out of the way. We took a convoluted route to some of the stops to avoid the mess and made our way into the city. The Baltimore City onramps and bridges were clogged with pulled-over cars, another stuck bus, and a partially jackknifed tractor-trailer.

As we approached what would have been my stop I was notified that UMBC Transit would be suspending service. With no alternative means of getting home if I disembarked, I was forced to stay aboard and ride the bus right back to campus – by the inner-city route to avoid the accidents and jams on the major roads.

I enjoyed the time off by waterproofing myself and walking around campus with a camera to try and capture some of the winter beauty, returning only after the snow switched into a stinging freezing rain. I’m downloading the camera now; hopefully some of them will turn out unspoiled by the water droplets that kept falling on the lens.

Update: Gallery here.