Post Vacation No-No

I'm not a huge vacationer. I'm usually pretty content just to be at home, hope for several days with nothing on my plate, and simply have coffee, a book or two, my laptop, and broadband.

This last trip that we took, however, was much needed. Granted... I still had coffee, some books, laptop, and broadband. The need, however... was for a change of scenery. And weather.

After 2 1/2 weeks of being gone, I came home. And that evening, I changed the background image on my desktop. To this...



Friends... that is a post-vacation no-no. After most vacations, I come home energized and ready to tackle everything that's ahead of me. But this time... as our plane touched down - and we saw the snow on the ground, and knew that all the restaurants and stores around us were closed for the Chinese New Year holiday - I was pretty de-motivated. And every time I was on my computer to get some stuff done... I would see this shot of a beautiful and mostly empty beach that Bethany and I kayaked to one afternoon... I remained pretty de-motivated.

This past week has gotten better though. The weather is warming up. Even this afternoon, we got up into the high-50's. I went out in lined warm-ups and a sweatshirt. It's not exactly beach weather, I'll give you that. But it is definitely more pleasant than what we were feeling a month ago.

Ahh... Winter

This was the scene about 2 hours ago, just as we came home from class today:



It had already begun snowing a bit in the morning when we left for class (we opted for taking the bus instead of biking today). In the last 2 hours, the snow has picked up considerably. I am looking at the window now, seeing large snowflakes... and snow is flying through the air in all different directions (even up).

So this is what Winter is supposed to look like. Growing up in Southern California, I never knew. Even in Dallas, it's not like we ever had anything more than a dusting of snow maybe once every two years. This is nice. (Of course, I'm staying inside.)

But this isn't even close to what Winter will really feel like here. It's only November. Ok, sure, it's about 30°F outside right now; but in January, we will have lows in the teens and highs in the twenties.

Welcome to our lives, Winter. For me today, it's going to be a hot cup of coffee and some catchup time on work and study.

Not Winter Yet, eh?

All of the local folks I have talked to say that it is not Winter yet. Come on, it's only November 2nd! Winter isn't for a few weeks!

So then, I point outside to the ICE that has frozen up all of the plants and bushes and walkways...



... and they respond, "Oh, this isn't cold. You'll see. When January and February come... that will be cold. This isn't so bad."

So, umm, ok... it's not winter yet.

And granted, it is pretty arid and dry where we live, so we're not expecting much precipitation... in the winter, we probably won't get much rain, and might get just a little bit of snow.

But when you leave the sprinklers on, and the nighttime low reaches -4°C (24°F)... you look outside in the morning, and it sure looks like Winter is here. And when you bike to school in the morning and your face feels like it will freeze, crack, and fall off your skull, it sure feels like Winter is here.




But, ok, I'll take their word for it. It's not Winter yet.

Nonetheless, for my morning bike commute, I have broken out my fleece-lined jeans, my thickest jacket, and my snowboarding gloves.