It was horrible watching my friends in Texas deal with Midwest-style winter weather. Life ground to a halt and parts of the state were declared a national emergency site. I have friends in Austin who were without water, electricity, and heating gas for days. That takes the regular challenges sub-freezing temperatures and makes it even more brutal. Luckily, they were able to weather the crisis and get back on their feet. At the same time, the Chicago area was dealing with 3 feet of snow that had accumulated over three weeks of super-cold weather (it didn't go above freezing for a month). Nobody was excited about it, but life pretty … [Read more...]