Catch-up Blog #2: It's Cold.

Hi there.

I liked it inside my house when I woke up this morning. 
I was cozy.
Things were warm.

Outside... things were not.

You might say, "Andrew, it's January in [my state] too...  It's always cold in January."
I might say, "Is it so cold that they CLOSED THE SCHOOLS?!"

I'm from Pennsylvania.  I've never experienced this phenomenon.

Here's a little clip from the Wikipedia article on the North Pole.
      - "Winter (January) temperatures at the North Pole can range from about −43 °C (−45 °F) to −26 °C (−15 °F), perhaps averaging around −34 °C (−29 °F)."

This morning, the temperature around the twin cities ranged from 3°F to -14°F.

You know what it was a few hours north of here in good ol' Minnesota?  -46°F !
I suggest you take another look at that temperature-range for the North Pole.

Sheesh!  Whose dopey idea was this?!

In other news, I've quite finely developed my skill at disrobing a clementine in a single tidy strip.

Balaclava!

Happy New Year!

This is my first blog of the year 2011.  That's pretty exciting.

One of my new year's resolutions was to blog at least once a week.

Oops!

I'm going to be better about that, even if the posts are just tiny little ones.

I guess I have to blog three times this week to catch up with what I missed so far in January.

Recently, I got a single pure white hair in my beard.
It was just as long as all the others which made me question both my acuity to the actions taken by my beard and the nature of bear-hair-coloration advancement.  Did it just go instantly white?  Did it just grow out really fast?  Was I just not paying attention to my face for a month?
Anyway...
My first though was not,  "Oh my God!  I'm only twenty-six!  I'm getting old!  What?!  No!"
My first thought was,  "Sweet...  One step closer to Santa Claus..."

Maybe that's just me.

Also, I broke a window while pulling a giant piece of extremely stinky ice from my window-sill because I didn't think to make sure that all the storm windows were down where they should be and water got into my office from the melting ice.  There was a hole in my window for a while and that's really the reason I haven't been blogging (or doing much of anything on my computer); because my office has been closed off like a cold-stink broken-window quarantine.  It's all better now, evidenced by my current use of the computer.

I had a super-merry Christmas.  Amongst many other things, I gave (to various members of my family) Spiced Rum, a "professional" blowgun, ten-year-old chocolate bars, "Dog-Sauce," about a half-gallon of maple syrup, and a space rock that's probably older than the earth.  I received (from whoever, amongst lots of other stuff) tons of books, a pair of polypropylene bokken, a custom set of juggling balls, some music and movies, a pickle-brine-bottle, zoo-animal party-plates, some more books, a horseshoe magnet, chattering teeth, a bird-feeder made of asian-inspired plastic dishes, and... some more books.

Also, I went to see Tron at the MN zoo, which was great.  IMAX.  3D glasses.  Super-fun.

Awesome holiday.

Lots o' loot.

I've also been listening to some podcasts at work.
They've been very funny.
You should listen to the ones I've been listening to...

Happy New Year.

Lots to do...   : )