Current Mood: Really Sad

Okay this is beyond ridiculous. I was just looking at The Weather Channel, and it’s 2 degrees COLDER here than in Juneau, Alaska!!!

Here, we have: No pretty glaciers, no pretty polar bears, and no cool seals. Just some evergreen trees interspersed amongst the deciduous ones that’ll look dead for another 3-4 months. And, frozen lakes.

So what do we get for this relatively uninteresting and overly citified landscape here in MI? Do we get warmer winters? Easier traveling? NO! We get to freeze our butts more than the Juneau-ans! Wow, woop-de-doo!!!

*Groans from the depths of my soul*

Florida–I need it BAD!

Current Mood: Meh

For Christmas this year, I got money, candy, and books. These were great gifts.

What I didn’t get, was a round toit.
So, the standard site design is still up.

I had downloaded a Christmas design, and I suppose I could put it up now anyway, but it seems like a waste of effort to change it for just a week or so… So, I guess I’ll look for a more generic winter design instead.

Which I may or may not get around to implementing…

Christmas was fine this year, but I’ve got a real case of the mehs now anyway. I seriously do not want to do sh*t! Except I think I could force myself to drive 1200 miles, southbound, on I-75.

It’s probably the horrid weather. Sooo gray, RIDICULOUSLY FREAKING COLD, and dreary! And it gets dark too soon, and gets light too late.

I’m a bit jealous of bears. At least they can just hibernate through this crap!

I guess most people in MI would be glad to see a “beautiful day.” Nice, warm, and sunny. And they’d be especially glad to see one now, considering that in a month or 2, the place is going to be hideously cold!

But all I can think of when I hear stuff like that, is that I really really should be in FLORIDA! Where EVERY day is a Beautiful Day! Where “cold” = 50 degrees! Sure, there may be a couple of hurricanes (which sound exciting!), but MI has a few tornadoes AND 6 months of winter, AND a very limited supply of beautiful days–so limited that people actually comment on them when they happen!

I can hear Florida’s call like a clear trumpet sounding. The sound is coming up I-75 with more power than a giant radio station. I really think that this is the last winter I’m going to be looking at!!! Next year I’m going to watch this “winter” stuff on the Weather Channel! And laugh!

It’s already getting cold here in frigid Michigan. I just got back from FL, where it was running about 90 degrees, so the current MI temp of 52 is really barn-like! It’s horrific to think of the fact that it’ll go down to below-zero temps before the w*nter is over.

Some Frigiganders like to pretend that this is fine weather. Of course, that’s utter nonsense. The cold is already LOUSY and it’s not even winter yet! So obviously there are some tricks to surviving a winter in this place.

Sure, there are the mental ones, like remembering that there are actually places on Earth that are cursed with something called “permafrost” and that in such places, the ice reaches hundreds of feet high (glaciers), but what really works is attacking the problem at the root.

Space heaters work wonders when strategically placed. I like a nice, balmy, 80-degree environment, but heating the entire house to that nice temperature can get expensive. A space heater planted next to me, behind the desk, makes a nice little oasis of tolerability.

For the big areas, I once worked in a place that had an uber space heater like this baby: Propane Heater. If you try sitting in front of one of these, it’ll scorch your leg! But at the proper distance, it provides good heat. I will say, their attempts to heat a huge warehouse with just one of ‘em didn’t work. If you have a really massive space, get several. Here in MI, one heater is never enough!

Desatech, the site in the links, has several kinds of space heaters. Some of them are actually set up to look like fireplace logs. So if you want a fake fire, you no longer have to have the game given away by a lack of heat! There are also several traditional electric models, including wall heaters and infrared towers. And, of course, the uber blaster models that run on propane.

If you’re stuck in a frozen-tier state for another year, check ‘em out!

Current Mood: Playful

OK I guess some people would think this is nuts, but…

About 10 minutes ago, a tornado alert was broadcast over the “Emergency” service (whatevertheycallit). My first thoughts?

“They’re finally using that for something other than broadcasting that annoying elongated beep!”

And then…

“Uh oh…the power may go off! I’d better get this coupon up, quick!”

And that’s what I did, I quick typed that out and hit POST! And now I’m typing this.

What’s the weather actually doing, here? Right now there’s a decent thunderstorm going. A goodly bit of rain, nice temperature drop, thunder in the background. Not quite enough lightning for a show, but that could be just because it’s still light out. Oh, and now that I typed that, it’s lulling a bit

Personally I love storms, as long as they don’t knock out the lights and don’t wreck anything of note. As for a tornado? We’d end up spending half the summer downstairs if we paid attention to all the warnings this area gets. If I hear trees breaking, then I MAY unplant myself from this chair… otherwise I’ll put this in the “tornado warning = ‘We may finally get a decent storm’…and the power may go off” file, as always!