A Day for Guiness

February 11, 2010. A day that usually meant that spring was right around the corner. It was not to be this year as a torrential record setting downpour blanketed the city of Denton with a flawlessly white helping of snow. From the weather reports I saw in the early morning, I was sure that UNT would cancel its classes, especially since Denton ISD had done so just minutes before. But as each sip of coffee and minute passed, UNT remained open.


Oh bother. I guess I was gonna have to make the trek up to campus, UNT had not yet canceled classes. I understood however, because the weather channel predicted the high to be in the mid 30's throughout the day, which meant that driving would be no concern. So I made my drive to campus up I-35, all the while my windshield being pelted with millions of snowflakes. At this point the roads were normal.

I got to school around 9:30am, did some work on the laithe, sanded down the mount for my groups’ friction brake dynamometer, and talked to anyone I could find really. Discovery Park was a ghost town. The door to my major’s office was even locked. It was slowly starting to look as if even though the authorities chose to keep the university open initially, they might soon change their mind. Sure enough, soon after this thought I got a text from the ‘Eagle Alert’ system on my phone saying, “the university will close at 12 noon”. Are you kidding me? I drove all the way up here and NOW you want to close it?!

Above all I couldn’t be that upset. I had homework due that day and now I knew that I wouldn’t have to turn it in until next week. This made everything even out. When I went to leave I quickly realized the magnitude of what had happened over the last three hours. As I made my way to my car, my boat shoe-covered feet were engulfed with almost six inches of snow that had the consistency of a 7-Eleven slurpy! This university is in Texas folks. It was even more funny after I got behind the wheel of my car. There was virtually no traction as I began to drive, or rather hydroplane, out of the parking lot. Lot 3 actually.

I knew that I was witnessing a record setting day in the city of Denton. When I got home I noticed a note on the door of my apartment. It said, “Warning: Car port may collapse from accumulation of snow.” Wow, you got to be kidding me, now I have to park 10 miles from my apartment to keep my car safe. This gave me an idea though. Heated Car ports. See you put solar panels on top of the car ports. Not only can they power the lights, but they can collect energy that can be used to heat the roofs in times like this. See, this engineering thing is really paying off. I better hurry up and patent that idea before one of you takes it!