February 13, 2007.  The weather forecast calls for about two to four inches of snow, starting this afternoon, with ice or freezing rain entering the picture by tomorrow morning.  The morning paper reports that stores yesterday were brimming with people stocking up on snow shovels, groceries, and Valentines Day goodies, in case the snow causes them to be stuck in their caves.

It's always very amusing.  Unlike New England, upstate New York, and parts of the Midwest, our area (central New Jersey) gets few winter storms that make travel difficult for a significant amount of time.  At the worst, we have an occasional twelve-incher that makes secondary roads impassable for about a day.  However, the mere mention of snow in the local forecast causes panic among many residents (and hope among school children).

If we had more snow storms, we would probably be better at handling the stuff.  When I lived in the Berskshires of western Massachusetts, where heavy snowfalls are much more common, roads were clear within hours after a major storm.  Around here, though, the road crews apparently don't get enough practice to do the job well or swiftly.  In fact, since the plows seem to pack down some of the snow, creating an icy glaze, it's often safer to be on the roads before the plows get to them.

What makes winter driving in central New Jersey especially hazardous is the inexperience of many residents at handling snowy or icy roads.  That inexperience, combined with a profound lack of common sense, results in some very strange behavior.  Going up ice-slick hills, drivers simultaneously hit the gas pedal and apply the brakes, sometimes causing their vehicles to perform very interesting acrobatics.  Some drivers, having cleared only a small space on their windshields to see the road, crawl along at ten miles per hour, gripping the steering wheel in sheer terror and never gaining enough momentum for the tires to get a grip.  Others, convinced that their four-wheel-drive SUVs are both weatherproof and idiotproof, rip along at speeds faster than conditions warrant.  As a result, more SUVs than ordinary cars wind up in ditches.  Many drivers diligently turn on their headlights when visibility is poor, which is a wise thing to do – except that they neglect to clean the caked snow off the headlights.  It's not unusual to see two tiny Christmas tree lights approaching (slowly, oh so slowly) in the other direction, with a mile-long line of cars crawling behind.

I'm unafraid of snowy roads (though fearful of other drivers on snowy roads).  Ice and sleet bother me more.  Tonight I drove over to the college (about twelve miles) in a mixture of snow and freezing rain.  It wasn't that bad, but I couldn't help getting annoyed at the wimpy drivers.  Extra caution was appropriate, but some of these folks were obviously petrified, crawling along and sending out Morse code with their brake lights.  I was shouting at them, "Hey, bozo, make like a mole or a gopher and go crawl in a hole somewhere."  (Of course, the windows were up, and they couldn't hear me, but venting is good.)  It was, of course, a bad time to be on the roads.  Snow-wimps who were at work when the storm arrived were making their way home.  Tomorrow, if there's two to four inches (gasp!) as predicted, they'll probably stay home.

My class meets tomorrow night, and from the looks of things this storm won't be severe enough to cause the college to close.  Nevertheless, I expect attendance to be down.  I doubt that many of my students are snow-wimps, but, hey, it's an excuse.  Besides, it's Valentines Day.  I've already had two students say that they'll be absent because it's Valentines Day.  It doesn't do any good to tell them that Valentines Day is not a national holiday but a huge hoax perpetuated by florists, candy manufacturers, jewelers, and greeting card companies.  Do I dare to have the audacity to appear to be anti-romance?  Yes.

I have a Valentine gift for my class tomorrow – a pop quiz.  They must accept their Valentine gift on the appropriate day.  Management will not accept rain (or snow) checks.  Any question about why I'm called The Curmudgeon?

February 15, 2007.  Shucks.  I didn't get to deliver my "Valentine" to my students.  Classes were canceled because of the weather.

I can understand why the day classes were called off; the roads were icy and treacherous.  However, by the afternoon when I went out to do some errands, they were just slush.  Most students could have easily made it to the evening classes.

I suppose that the college was concerned that the slush would have frozen by the time evening classes were over.  Probably another concern is that some student might be in an accident or might fall on the ice trying to make it to class and then sue the college.  In our litigious society, that's always possible.

Anyway, canceling a night class has more serious effects than does canceling day classes, since most night classes represent a full week of work.  I will now need to figure out how to compress my syllabus in the remaining ten weeks to make up for lost time.  This will be especially tough on those (one-third of the class) who are already behind on the assigned papers – deadlines will now be even tighter.

One might think that students would take this opportunity to catch up or even get ahead, but I know they won't.  It will, in fact, give those who have already been procrastinating another rationalization for putting off writing papers.  That is, alas, human nature.

Indeed, I can empathize.  The unanticipated "off week" gives me the chance to catch up on some of the household projects that I've been neglecting because I've been immersed in correcting and commenting on papers.  I have a long list, with some items dating back more than a month.  Despite my "extra" time, I have an uneasy feeling that the list will be just as long this time next week.

February 16, 1970.  We have just estimated our taxes.  Our other income (mainly necessary withdrawals from invested money) was sufficiently high that we have to pay taxes on 85% of Social Security.  We also have such nonsense as having to pay taxes on so-called rebates on property taxes, which makes the phrase "rebate on taxes" somewhat nonsensical.

I don't mind paying taxes to support government services, but when I do, I feel entitled to grumble about some of the ways that the government is mismanaging my money.  Here are a few thoughts along those lines.

> I keep reading about how the government is failing to help the victims of Katrina, so much so that people in New Orleans have given up hope and are moving out.  What happened to the pledge to do everything possible to help the stricken area recover?  Is the money allocated for this purpose just being flushed down the toilet?  I know defense of the country is important, but isn't "the public welfare" one of the Constitutional obligations of our government?

> We have committed billions to Iraq, a misadventure that most American citizens now view as a huge mistake.  Our tax dollars continue to go toward trying to "stabilize" a country that shows no sign of stabilizing and where many of the people want us toleave.  They are either making it clear that we're butting into their national business or making it clearer by shooting or blowing up our soldiers.  Since our presence is costing the lives of our troops, the tax dollars that are being spent to prolong this debacle are indirectly causing American troops to be killed.  Yet our president intends to send more troops in harm's way.  Is it unpatriotic for tax-paying citizens to question the sense of this?

> We pay the salaries of our representatives.  The assumption is that the very least they will do is represent us.  Instead, they seem to be playing political gamesmanship, and large majorities of the people who indirectly pay their salaries think they're doing a lousy job of representing us.  Some of us think that the only job most politicians do is self-promotion.  If they were executives in a company and we were stockholders, we would fire them.  The loss of salary wouldn't faze most of them, however, because they have enough money of their own.  That is a real curiosity; it shows that our so-called representatives, while very adept at managing their own money, appear clueless about how to manage ours.

> Like the federal government, my state (New Jersey) is in a serious financial hole.  Not long ago, it raised the state sales tax one percentage point to 7%.  It has raised other taxes as well, causing an exodus of some residents and businesses – which, in turn, decreases the tax base.  Still, it's in a hole.  Meanwhile, pensions for state workers continue to absorb the dollars of working taxpayers (as well as those of retired taxpayers who worked in private industry and therefore rarely have pensions).  The pension system in New Jersey even pays double pensions to people who have held two state jobs and, in the height of absurdity, to individuals who have been convicted of felonies involving state funds.  In other words, the state uses taxpayers' money to support the retirement of people who stole taxpayers' money.  Excuse us if we're more than a little ticked off about this.

> Back to the federal level – The catalog of fiscal waste reads like Alice in Wonderland or a drama written by one of those theater of the absurd playwrights.  Besides all the boondoggles and earmarks, there are such matters as huge publications from the Government Printing Office that are read by almost no one.  I understand that it published a hefty volume reporting the results of studies on, ironically, how to cut down on government paperwork.  We pay for this stuff.  Occasionally, a boondoggle such as the infamous "bridge to nowhere" is exposed, but there are thousands more about which we hear nothing.

What makes most of us pay taxes is that we work, struggle hard to keep our limited budgets balanced, and know that we're in big trouble if we don't pay our debts and our taxes.  (I question the veracity of anyone who claims to pay taxes because of "patriotism.")  On the other hand, the politicians – all of whom are very vocal about how patriotic and dedicated to "public service" they are – think nothing of frittering away available funds (our taxes) and creating huge deficits.

If any of us spent money the way the government spends our taxes and then said, "Gee, I can't pay my taxes this year because I spent it all," we would be thrown in jail, where, of course, we would be housed and fed by those who could pay taxes.  Does anyone else see something weird about this picture?