I am not a writer . . .

. . . in the sense of being a published author (unless you count three scientific papers and my Master’s thesis.).

Or even in the way people like Steven Den Beste or the incomparable James Lileks are. Not to mention the host of others in the blogosphere who manage to express themselves (Glenn Reynolds, the Blogfather and horseman of the Ablogalypse, is a good place to start).

On the other hand, I usually manage to conform to the conventions of standard written English grammar and orthography. Whether or not there will ever be anything here worth reading is another question.

Snow

I was in Alberta visiting my brother over the weekend. I finally got to see a real prairie winter. The last time I was out there about two years ago, it was above freezing and there was no snow.

This time there was lots of snow, and it with the wind chill it got down to -40 or so. It’s novel and interesting for about ten seconds.

Waiting for my connection in Calgary I had a little surreal moment. I had never really noticed the WestJet colour scheme before. But in the vast white landscape of the apron it looked neat. Pure white planes and baggage equipment on the pure white apron. Masked and goggled ground crew. If I squinted just right it was very futuristic.