Well, as it turns out, I have written many posts in my head, but that doesn't really amount to anything unless I have a USB port in my skull (which I don't, by the way).
But, also as it turns out, I have been doing many wonderful things totally unrelated to blogging, so I don't feel bad at all.
Okay, so here is something I have been thinking about. COLD. It's relative. Did you know that?
Let me explain.
I moved to Vegas from a small town in Southeastern Idaho that gets REEEEALLY cold in the winter. I'm talking nose-hairs-are-icicles, lungs-hurt-when-you-breathe, and if it's "just zero" you are excited. (And several years before that I lived in Alaska...which, lets just say has a chilly reputation.)
When I moved here it was 112 degrees Fahrenheit. Roasted my little Idaho tooshie. I was so surprised how many people said something like: "Just wait till it's winter! It gets really cold here!" I didn't believe it for one second. I thought, "Yeah, like 40 degrees? That's a beautiful spring day!"
But, I discovered, feeling cold is all about 1) Contrast and Acclimation, and 2) something I'll call the "Visual Factor."
1) Contrast and Acclimation.
120 Degrees to 40 is quite the jump. 80 degrees to be exact.
If it was 65 degrees, an 80 degree temperature jump would put you -15.
My point is, it's still the same contrast. A mild winter FEELS just as uncomfortable after a scorching summer as a mild summer does with a freezing winter. Make sense? It's all about contrast. If it is sunny almost everyday (like it is in Vegas), then when it is suddenly rainy, windy and gray, your system is thrown for a chilly loop, and you find yourself blasting your heater, wearing three layers of sweats, and sipping hot cocoa.
Now for acclimation.
If you've ever experienced a really cold, long winter you know how it is when things finally start warming up in the spring. I remember going on my first "t-shirt and shorts" run, and it felt SO warm at 35 or 40. But that is almost a tropical paradise when you've been in the negatives for months and months. Suddenly you wake up, and your nose hairs are thawed, and it's time to pull out the shorts and sandals, and go tanning on the lawn.
I never, ever, EVER thought I would admit that Vegas winters are cold, or that northern California winters are cold, but I'll be frank, and frankly I am freezing. Sadly I have acclimated, and my internal regulators are noticing it isn't 70 degrees anymore.
2) The Visual Factor.
How you view whats outside your window plays a big role in whether or not you "feel cold." Let me try to explain: I wake up and open the blinds. Sunny. So I think "Sun=warmth. Must be warm, since that is what I have experience most of my 26 years of existence". So I dress sunny-like. Then, I go outside. It may be sunny, but it is not warm. The Visual Factor means I feel way colder than it is, because I was mentally tricked into thinking it was warmer, and thus put on inadequate clothing.
If it looks cold, you dress for the weather. So, you don't feel as cold.
Maybe for most of the population this factor became extinct with the rise of the Weather Channel and the Internet, but I actually don't check the weather the first thing every morning, so I call victim to this quite often.
Feeling cold is so interesting to me. I've really felt guilty for months for feeling chilly in one of the warmest places in the world. I felt like a wimp. But I am happy to know that through my own research, based on my own theoretical conclusions, I am completely sane and can feel no shame in admitting that I am freezing in Las Vegas.
Felt good to get that off my chest. The end.
Blast to the past. Me at age 3 :)
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