The Raging Tech

Freezing Weather Mishaps

Snow Lethargy

I’m not sure if it’s the nice toasty heating system from the central air in this building, the snow outside, or my general lack of sleep as of late, but man - I feel lazy. I’m sorry for the slowness of posts the last two days. It’s been so cold; I feel like I’m cold all the time at home. We finally turned the baseboard heat on last night since we put fuel into the system.  I slept like a baby when I finally went to sleep.

Different people react differently to weather pattern changes. Some people are depressed in the winter and happy in the summer. Some people are more alert when it’s cold and sleepy on hot days. I really love snow days, though. It’s always so beautiful. If you were one of the fortunate ones to get off work today, go outside and play in the snow. Especially if you have kids, but even if you don’t - go build a snowman! You’re only alive for so long, so get away from the computer screen and live it up.

Don’t Be Dumb: Avoid Blizzard Fever

Just about everywhere I’ve ever lived there are people who love to do the dumbest things whenever there are weather reports that call for snow or temperatures below 30 degrees F. This week, particularly tonight, the weather is calling for snow.

But here’s the thing - the National Weather Service says it’s only going to snow about an inch and it probably won’t stick.

So what do these dumb people do? They drive 10 miles under the speed limit and wear 10 layers of clothing before it actually gets cold enough to call for it.

And my least favorite thing these nuts do? They flock to the grocery store and “stock-up” like they’re going to be shanghaied at home for three weeks. Which means when I go to do my casual grocery shopping (maybe 6 items),  I had to wait in line tonight for 30 minutes to get out of there!

Don’t be dumb people, and don’t horde or “stock-up” at the last minute.

Brr! I Said It’s Cold In Here

Sorry, I was having a flashback to the movie Bring It On for a minute there. This week has been colder than the White House approval ratings! (Zing! Cue Jay Leno’s band that plays music after each of his jokes that aren’t that funny.) But seriously, it’s averaged around 15 degrees F low and maybe as high as 50 degrees F.

We have an overall baseboard heating system in our home, but fuel costs so much we keep it on the bare minimum which doesn’t do us any good. So for the most part, our home is heated by space heaters. I’ve been looking at upgrading to vent-free gas-powered space heaters, because these little heaters just aren’t doing the trick when the temperature drops like it did this week.

Apparently, even though they’re gas propane heaters, they reduce your energy bill pretty nicely. These make exceptional supplemental heat sources, which is what I’m needing right now. Maybe this cold spell will die out quickly and we’ll just have Fall-ish weather for the rest of the winter, thanks to global warming.

Now: Sunny, 9 Degrees Farenheit

I just looked down at my ForecastFox Firefox extension, and it says just that, “Now: Sunny, 9 Degrees F.” It’s 9, people! 9! I’m not from the North, nor am I originally from the mountains. When I left my parents’ house on Monday, it was 20 degrees warmer there at around 60 F, so about 40 F here. Tuesday it snowed after I arrived back in town, but it was too dark to see it while it was covering everywhere. By the time I woke up Wednesday afternoon, most of it had melted, but it was still in the teens.

This morning the hot water was freezing cold and only dripping, while the cold water came right out of the pipes with no problem. I didn’t want to feel awful all day, and I didn’t want to get sick taking a cold shower, so I took a huge stoneware mixing bowl and filled it with water, shoved it in the microwave and got it nice and hot, then used oven mits to carry it to the shower and get clean hospital style.  Thankfully I went out and started my car early and let it warm up and defrost the windows while I bathed. I barely made it to work on time.