Winter - How it affects normal life

Storm - 19 December, 2012

Well we finally got snow and it came in the form of a pretty decent storm, called Winter Storm Draco. It started with rain, then turned to sleet (horizontal at that) and then turn to snow. Combine all that with the high winds 25-35mph the roads were awful.

Thursday was when I first heard the storm was coming and I admit I didn't really think much of it. I didn't realise the impact it would have. I didn't really want to drive in it, but wasn't too worried at the same time either because, I thought, I'd just pull over, or drive slow. I totally forgot that my truck needs weight in the bed (goodbye traction without it!) and the size of my tyres make for good aquaplaning.

Storm Draco Begins 20 Dec, 2012

It was first supposed to hit at 6am (around the time I get up to get ready for work) but as it turns out it didn't hit till 11am and it continued through the day and I couldn't tell you when the wind really died down. I can tell you I left work at 3-3.30pm and didn't get home till 5.30pm-ish. It took 2-2 1/2 hours to drive 30 miles (which normally takes me 45-60 minutes).

I knew what was going to happen, but that doesn't help when it's actually happening. A few times I lost traction enough to fish-tail my truck. Once up onto a median strip (narrowly missing the pole because I jerked the wheel in time.. which incidentally is usually a big no-no in this weather... smooth fluid movements, nothing sudden.. no sudden acceleration or braking or turning), another time into the opposite lane of traffic (where thankfully the guy was at a stop sign and just laughed at me as I said "SORRY!!!"), and the final time I "ditched my truck". I lost it on the interstate and was headed for a ditch. It wasn't a small one either so I was forced to alter my trajectory as best I could and fling my steering wheel the opposite way. I still got stuck, but this time sideways and not a nose-plant into a big ditch. Thankfully a good samaritan (Ryan) drove past, saw I was still in my truck, and turned around (risking his own safety I will mention) and asked if I was okay. He called my husband for me (my phone battery was dead), and then asked me if I had anything like a chain and he'd pull me out. Luckily I still had some ratchet straps and though it ended up sacrificing itself, he got me out and I drove the rest of the way, very gingerly home. When I got home my husband and our neighbour were digging out our driveway. My back and neck were sore (from sitting so tensely) but I was oh so glad to be home, thankful I didn't roll my truck, thankful Ryan stopped to help and that his truck was strong enough to pull mine out, thankful I didn't ditch on the way home (and it was BAD... I couldn't see the roads at times but you can't pull over or you'll never get out so I just followed the tail lights ahead of me), thankful I've driven that path enough that I could guesstimate where the road was, and thankful it wasn't bad enough to incapacitate my truck.

ANYWAY before all this happened, I was talking a friend one morning (around midnight Aussie time but more like 7am central time in the US) and I had to run outside to start my truck. While out there (and still on the phone) I noticed my windscreen had iced over as well so I had to scrape it (it hadn't snowed yet but we'd still get ice on the windscreen). While telling my friend this (and a few other winter issues) I realised I hadn't addressed this on here yet and it might be interesting to some of you to read what winter can sometimes mean for daily life (outside of freezing our bits off!).

Winter in my area of the US means snow. I'd never really seen snow before I moved to Iowa, once for about 5 minutes as I drove through some random snow fall on the way to Melbourne, but that's about it. I thought in places where snow was common, it snowed daily/regularly during winter and I had no concept of what it really meant to have a white winter!

I thought (in my innocence) that when it snowed it pretty much snowed constantly. A few breaks here and there but mostly constant, how else does it stay on the ground? Well, that's because it's FREEZING! You might see on the weather report it's 35F but then it'll say "feels like 20F" because with the windchill it feels much colder. It can be sunny out with the nice hot sun feeling great when you're inside, but as soon as you step out the windchill.. brrr!

It doesn't snow all the time. It's like rain, only instead of rain it's snow. So think of how much it rains and imagine that being snow instead. That's what it is.
There's a few things to address so I'll do them in numerical point form to make life easier (hopefully) in case anyone wants to specify a particular number to ask questions or comment:

1. Getting Up Earlier -You're never quite sure if you're up "early enough" or "too early" but if you have somewhere to be, you better make sure you give yourself at least an extra 1/2 hour (depending how bad the weather was the day before) both to be able to leave the driveway, and also to get to work/wherever you're going on time. The next few points will explain why...


2. Start Your Vehicle Early - You will need to start your vehicle early to give it time to warm up. Not just inside the vehicle but also the engine itself. Driving on a cold engine isn't good at the best of times, but worse if it's frozen... but lets be honest, mostly it's about making sure that heater is working before you head out!


3. Digging Your Vehicle Out - You need to make a path out of your driveway so that you don't run over too much snow, compacting it into a slick surface (makes getting out harder and sometimes dangerous and almost impossible to shovel later). Just about everyone owns a snow shovel, but some really lucky people have snow blowers (makes it SO much quicker to dig out!). You will need to dig around your vehicle, as well as making sure your license plates and lights are visible (don't forget the brake lights including the "top one" if you have one).


4. Scraping Your Windscreen - Whether it's snowed a lot or not, almost every day you will have to scrape your windscreen, whether you're going somewhere or not. The reason for this is if it gets to the point where it melts then refreezes you could end up with a hard shell on your windows etc that you can't scrap off easily and you CANNOT use water (no matter the temperature) because cold will freeze, and too warm may crack (it's that cold) so scraping is your only option (eventually salt may work too...)


5. Wiper Fluid - It's funny how used to using wipers you get without realising it. You cannot use them in winter unless you have a special fluid in them that doesn't freeze otherwise, you guessed it, it could freeze on your windscreen and make a huge mess. You can buy special fluid (make sure you check what temp it freezes at, it'll usually say on the bottle) that will only freeze at really low temps (we just got some that'll be fine to -27F) and can even sometimes help melt the snow.


6. Digging Out Paths - Some towns will have rules about whether you MUST dig out your footpath/sidewalk or not. Failure to do so in those areas can result in a fine. However I know that some towns while this might be a "suggestion" there is also a law where if you've dug out and someone slips and hurts themselves it's your fault whereas leaving it alone it's "natures" fault. so you need to make sure you know so you don't end up regretting it! 





#7 Roads Being Plowed

7. Snow Plows - Governments, and even some people, have snow plows. The city workers will plow the main roads after a snow fall (sometimes during depends on how long it's been going on) to keep the roads clear and safe. The regularity of plowing depends and the time as well, so some mornings you might be "snowed in" because you can't drive your vehicle on the roads until they're plowed, and sometimes even the plow can cover your vehicle making it hard to get out, so be careful where you park! Some people own attachments for their trucks as well either to earn money by digging out people's driveways for them, or for personal use because they live on a road that doesn't get plowed by city workers.


8. Salt - Something totally new to me... salt melts snow! There are different kinds of salt too. Some are gentler than others (for example I was warned to avoid walking my dogs because some salt is so harsh it can burn the pads of their feet... so snow shoes for pets seems to have a practical purpose as well as being cute!). Just today I saw some coloured salt on the ground (not entirely sure why it's coloured.. maybe so you know it's there?). There are also big tanker type trucks that carry a salt water solution to salt down the freeways and highways. It doesn't work too well when the road has iced over and while it helps with the roads.. it leads to the next point...


9. Rusting Vehicles - The salt they put on the road, like when you live in a town near the sea, ends up rusting your vehicle. So while rust is a bad thing of course, I don't know of anyone that wouldn't buy a vehicle for everyday use simply because it has some rust (of course the amount matters), because it's going to keep rusting. My husband has a vehicle, a camaro, that he doesn't drive in winter for this very reason.


10. Warm Clothes - Something that perplexed me was, what do you do with all the winter clothes you're wearing to get from A to B and entering a warm building, like say, Walmart? Your tolerance may vary but I wear snow boots, gloves, a beanie, scarf (or facemask), and a big heavy coat... when you enter a building with heating that gets HOT and while the snow boots can stay on, what about the rest? I thought I'd see people carrying backpacks so they could stuff their winter gear into it... I haven't yet though 'cause most people just shove the gloves into the pockets of the coat or hold the gloves and beanie in one hand with the coat slung over their arm and the scarf loosened.


11. Cheaper Winter Clothes - One bonus of it being winter here 3 months out of the year, winter clothes are MUCH cheaper here than in Australia. I bought a coat that I can wear 4 different ways (there's a reversible inner coat that I can wear by itself or with the outer coat). It was only $60 when something comparable in Australia would be hundreds of dollars!


12. Shoe Spikes - I fell only once last year but one of the dangers of snow is black ice. Sometimes just a surface that doesn't look slippery but is. You can buy they spikes for your shoes that you slip over the sole of your shoe to make walking less dangerous. I don't personally use them because often there's not enough snow and you'd need to keep taking them on and off to walk on spots where there's no snow. Also out of interest, nearly fell on my butt the other day because i didn't see the submerged cement corner :S


13. Emergency Pack - The morning after the storm hit, I put my dolphin torch in my truck (http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/?irn=12292 - I love it!). I already had an emergency blanket (you know the silver ones) and also an airplane blanket I appropriated from my last United flight. It's also best to make sure you carry food and water but of course water freezes in the cold so you need to take it out and put it back in again. You should also put a chain or tow rope in just in case and, unlike me, make sure your phone is charged or have an emergency phone that can at least dial 911 or 112.





#14 Going Into a Ditch

14. Going into a ditch/Getting Stuck - There are government vehicles that drive around during storms (or after) checking vehicles for people. This is usually on the more main roads so try and drive on the main roads unless you're comfortable with the idea of waiting hours before someone drives past to rescue you.


15. Filling Your Vehicle With Fuel - This is probably the weirdest part... you don't shut your vehicle off when filling up. I remember all the signs at the petrol stations in Aus with their "do not use a mobile", "make sure your vehicle is completely off" signs and here there is no such thing. You leave it on to keep it warm.


16. Parking - There are some places where you're not allowed to park when it's snowing, and some places you shouldn't because vehicles can get plowed in (i.e. when plowing the roads the snow covers your vehicle and good luck getting it out!


17. Snow mobiles - Just like some people have four-wheelers, some people have snow mobiles at well. The interesting part is there are actually specific snow mobile routes and signs for them. I think it sounds like fun but it's also dangerous because you can't see what's under the snow, that's the main reason for the routes, so you can be more sure it's not dangerous.

Out of interest, snow isn't always "pretty" either. The salt from the road causes the snow to go from pretty white to grey/brown sludge.

Social Security Numbers & Credit Score

Click here to get the SSN explained

You've probably heard in movies people talking about their "social", or "SSN", or "so-sh" or "social security number" and wondered what exactly that is. Well, it's similar to a Tax File Number in that you need it to file taxes, but there's so much more to it! 

The Social Security number, also known as an SSN, is one of the most valuable numbers to have in America. It consists of 9 numbers and is usually written as 123-45-6789 and outside of the first time when disclose your full "social" to a company, you will normally identify yourself with your "last 4", being the last four digits. Your social is used to file taxes, to work, to identify "you" as well as tracking your credit score and credit history. The Social Security Administration (SSA) issues SSN’s depending on your legal status in the United States, so not everyone has one (students for example who have no need to be working or anything like that).

When I first arrived in the US I arrived on a K1 fiancee visa. People on K1 visas are eligible to get SSN's, but only if you get it within the first 76 days of being in the U.S. I'm wasn't allowed to work so when I got my SSN it said "valid only with DHS authorization" (which means a work permit or greencard) on it. Only when I got my greencard was that wording removed.

The SSN is linked to credit history and credit score, and companies report to the credit bureaus (four major ones) that you have applied for a loan or card (approved or not), that you’ve defaulted (or not), how many credit cards and accounts you have and many other things. If you have a low credit score it can really start to negatively affect your life here in the US.

The credit score ranges from 300 – 850

• Between 300 and 499 – Bad credit score.
• Between 500 and 579 – Poor credit score.
• Between 580 and 619 – Low credit score.
• Between 620 and 679 – Average or OK score.
• Between 680 and 699 – Good credit score.
• Between 700 and 850 – Very good or excellent credit score.

As a new immigrant to the US, when I first arrived I had no credit score and no credit history, and there was no way to bring my history from Australia. It was important to start building my credit score and credit history as soon as possible and the most popular ways to do that are:

• Have an American spouse or parent put you on their credit card (referred to as “piggy-backing”) bearing in mind you get their good AND their bad;
• Get a secured credit card (Capital One has a good one); and
• Get a store card (some stores are really strict so this may take some time)

Credit score determines things like getting a car or home loan with a lower interest rate, being eligible for store cards and credit cards, whether you need to pay a larger security deposit (bond) for an apartment, how much your car insurance premium will be, even as far as whether the electricity company will let you get connected without a deposit first. It has been reported that some employers will even checking your credit history to see what sort of person you are and determine whether they want to hire you.

There are companies out there who claim they can monitor your credit score however many often erroneously report to the credit bureaus that you are a victim of identity theft and put a “fraud alert” on your account which in itself can damage your history. In fact, being a victim of identity theft, even after you clean all the stuff up to show that it wasn't you, you will still have a lower score because of your failure to properly protect your number.

Links:
Checking your score: www.creditkarma.com (free)
Checking history: https://www.annualcreditreport.com (free once a year)

So getting a SSN was actually a pretty big event for me. Suddenly I was "on the map", and now, over the years, I've started building my score to get into the excellent range :) The only bad thing about this is the junk mail asking you to get this or that credit card starts pouring in... but I admit I was pleased the first time I got some... but only the first time :P

Hindsight... A visit home

An epiphany!

There are a few question I get asked pretty often (by family/friends and yes even strangers)... Whether in Australia or the US I'm asked if "Do you like living here/in America?" and  "Do you miss Australia?". They're questions that don't have a simple yes/no answer and often I'm worried of offending one party or the other (from experience this happens :S).

When back in Australia in September 2012 I was asked "Is the US home now or is Australia?" and I couldn't bring myself to say the US was home and neither could I say "Australia is still home"... to be honest, I felt like I was betraying either country no matter what answer I gave.

It wasn't until I returned to the US and went back to work (the very next day) that I had my epiphany (or mood swing.. who knows :P). It was a gorgeous sunny day. I went and got lunch at my "local" food haunt. I  was walking back to work and I realised that I felt comfortable. I like my job, I like where I live (most of the time), I like our house and of course my husband and our furry children (2 dogs).

Other immigrants will understand how welcome that feeling is. A lot of the time immigrants (I'm generalising here but I read this a lot on my immigration site) feel out of place about the strangest things. Someone once said she walked out of her house one day and realised she had no idea how to send a letter... and that's so true! You don't know where anything is, you don't know the processes. It's bizarre!

So that's where my ephiphany comes in, I realised that where I am is home. It's not the US, it's not Australia... it's where I am that's home. I finally feel comfortable enough here that I can say "I'm home"... but I still call Australia my "home country". Technicalities I suppose but where I am is my niche in life, not a country, and right now where I am is in small town Iowa, USA. This isn't meant as an insult to Australia, I simply mean, I'm finally at a place in my adjustment here where I'm comfortable enough to feel home and not like the alien I am :P

On a funnier note, being back in Australia was definitely weird, after two years (almost to the day actually) being back there was very different and I definitely noticed some things I hadn't noticed before.

On the observation front though (bear in mind I live in small town Iowa, and in Australia I lived in the Grampians so a lot of these things are related to where I'm from and where I am now):

1. Driving down the highway in Iowa (not the backroads, the highways) the trees are off in the fields and farther from the road. Driving down the Western Highway in Aus I was lucky to see the fields BEHIND the trees. Lots and lots of trees, and eucalpyts to boot, right up almost butting up to the road;
2. Hills versus flat lands. You can't see for a very long distance in my area of Aus because of the hills, but in Iowa it's just land and corn and soy beans as far as the eye can see;
3. Speaking of corn and soy beans, we grow canola in my area of Aus;
4. I saw NO shingled roofs... which is all there is here (that I've noticed). In Aus there was either tiled or tin;
5. Houses in Aus are made of brick or wood, but in the US they also have aluminum siding, which is what our house is;
6. Out shopping there was a sale on the Creamy Soda I love (Kirks), 4 for $10. In the US this can mean that they're $2.50 each so you can get 6 or 2 or 1 or whatever and you get the saving (usually). In Aus however you must buy the amount listed to get the saving, otherwise it's the original price;
7. Cable TV... oh how I love thee! I know that in Aus you can get pay-TV but it's so insanely expensive when here in the US everyone has cable or satellite. There are different sized cable/satellite plans, the more you pay the more channels you have, but going back to Aus most TV's only have 6 channels on regular TV;
8. When mum was here visiting she noticed that the toilets here tend to fill up more before then flushing down. She had a minor panic the first couple of times worrying the toilet was going to overflow;
9. When I first landed in Aus it was really glarey out. I was shocked to see so few people wearing sunnies... here in the states almost everyone wears them... could be because they're so cheap here;
10. While shopping in a more major town than my mum lives in, I saw a restaurant called "chequers"... yep that's right Americans, the restaurant "Checkers" spelt with a Q. I thought it was weird because it's a shop name so why change it? I likened it to calling "Subway", "Train Station" :-P; and
11. One thing that I noticed as soon as I was back on US soil is that I love my phone (and US cellular plans). I love having unlimited data, a good signal most of the time, unlimited texting, a smart phone and enough minutes that I never have to worry about over-paying (unless I call Aus that is). I think Australia is getting better at this but when I was last living there (2009) these smart phones weren't as prevalent (iPhone or blackberry were your choices), data plans sucked and calls cost a small fortune. I use my phone (an HTC Incredible 2) pretty much all the time now and love it (well not recently.. I'm having battery problems :P)!

And finally, I tried to check out this theory on the coreolis effect... but I only thought about it right as I was leaving so sorry, nothing to report :P