Questions answered, points to be won

I can't always answer everything that pops up in the comments so what better day than Friday (and the following weekend when absolutely nobody reads this) to answer those random questions.

Spleeness asked:

So what happened with the semi?
The short version is that the semi stopped. After I laid on my horn and yelled a string of profanities. Then I realized that my driver's side window was down. I backed up slightly, inched my car uncomfortably close to the truck next to me and the semi attempted to back up. After a few minutes, the cars crowding behind me in the trun lane backed up also and within five minutes, the semi was free to make his poorly planned turn.

No asked:

HOLD UP--- I couldn't read the past the Paul Douglas getting fired...details please..You are my main source of Twin Cities gossip..do tell.

Douglas fell victim to across the nation cuts at CBS owned stations. They offered to keep him on until the end of May (the ratings period) but he apparently declined. Star Tribune gossip hack even tried to get in on the action by claiming that she broke the story and argued it out publicly with Minnesota Monitor's Paul Schmelzer. It all boils down, apparently, to the validity of the time stamps but I broke it on MNSpeak the day is was publicly announced.


MichelleAnn asked:

Sornie...are you expecting??

My belly would make a person assume that I am but unless I accidentally drank some of that polluted tap water full up with the prescription meds we flush down the toilet, I am not able to conceive.

and finally...

No asked:

Did anyone notice the pregnancy thing?

Yes indeed, plenty have noticed "the pregnancy thing" and it's as real as tomorrow being Saturday. The expected due date is the ultra-specific "mid-November". Leah's guess of November 12 from way back may have be dead on. Of course if pregnancies are as reliable as the departure times of American Airlines flights, December may be a real possibility.

And on that note, I think it's time to award some more points. Place your guesses of my wife's actual date of delivery. The winner, obviously announced after the delivery, will receive 5,000 points. That point amount is the most I've awarded in a single contest ever. Make your guesses now!

Paul Douglas, you are no friend of mine

It seemed to me, for the longest time, that dear WCCO meteorologist Paul Douglas (is that a toupee maybe?) was a man of great intelligence. He was surely (and still is) a man with a great deal of computing might within his control. Hell, the guy sees weather days before it happens. Maybe he's some sort of sorcerer but that pontification is for another day.

You see, many evenings I feel the need for not just one but two sources of news in the 10 PM hour. Well, not two sources at the same time but two varied sources. When I feel the hard-hitting news of Jon Stewart and The Daily Show is too much to handle I'll often times flip waaaay down the dial to 'CCO. But back to Douglas.

It seems that, due to his witty on-air banter with Don and Amelia, Paul Douglas is an easy-going fella. A fella that I could sit with and debate the merits of cirrus and cumulus clouds with over a couple slices of Key Lime pie. A fella that, with the company of the venerable Don Shelby, would make for quite the heated exchange centered around neck ties with the two newsmen taking the stance that the tie makes the man while I argue that the tie is devised by the man to hold the white man down.

Whatever the scenario would/could be, I feel that any chance we had of a lasting friendship is gone. It seems that your most recent weather inaccuracy has caused a rift in our potential B.F.F. relationship. Not to mention your forecast for the Wednesday night snowfall. I'll believe that if I have to shovel it.

You said there would be snow Monday. You said it would last into and throughout the evening. I saw no snow. I don't look fondly upon people who give false information. Others tend to call those people liars but I call them meteorologists. It seems to be a trend as of late. Your accuracy percentage is lower than the batting average of Alex Rodriguez. Maybe it's time to ship the old weather supercomputers off to a better place and fill the seven minute-long weather forecast slot with an encore of the Good Question.

I even have an idea for a Good Question to fill your former segment: Why can't Paul Douglas forecast the winter weather with even the slightest hint of accuracy?