I'm a nerdy guy who likes numbers. I had a calculator watch for pretty much all of elementary and middle school. I've got a blog tag just for nerdiness, where I cover hypothetical tournament brackets, Amish friendship bread world dominanace, mathematical parlor tricks, and other vitally important stuff. The point is: NERD! I like numbers, and think about them in odd ways at times.
But this week, despite the hours of my life I've spent thinking about numbers big and small, I've encountered a number that I'm struggling to wrap my head around. -43 °F. This is a little bit funny, because I've operated furnaces at 3800 °F, and made ice cream using liquid nitrogen at -321 °F. But really, we exist in a pretty small temperature range. But somehow, I live in a place where the forecast HIGH temp for this next Monday is NEGATIVE 14 DEGREES. Throw in wind chill and the entire day will feel like somewhere between 38 and 43 degrees below zero. I don't even know what it means for it to feel that cold. (Did we calibrate this system by sending a guy out in -40 degree weather, and then sending him into a -10 degree windy place and asking "how does this feel?")
I have seriously spent an unreasonable amount of time today just sitting in a stupor thinking "-43? really?". Shannon tried to explain how cold it is to Julia, but she besides her weak understanding of temperature in general, she doesn't understand negative numbers at all. She literally doesn't know what negative 14 even means.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I need to start putting on some extra layers to get ready.
1 comment:
I am going to come back and read this in June when I am in a complaining mood about 110. I don't envy you right now. I hope you can all stay holed up in your house with a functional heater and plenty of layers. Good luck!
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