The Austin Heat

[artsyguy]

I thought the heat was most often humid and at times not very bearable unless you were under a fan in the air condition.

[mitchb2]

Watching an Anderson window spontaneously shatter because it was 50 degrees yesterday, and it's -30 degrees today...I will take heat.

I used to work as a field engineer in the nuclear industry. I worked all over the country at nuclear plants. I worked in one environment that was 124 degrees for 2 weeks straight. It was hell.

Every year in Illinois, around Thanksgiving, Hell X 2 begins. Go ahead and bake me, Austin, this ridiculous cold makes me want to have Al Gore shipped out here. Global WHAT?!

That creaking sound. If you've never lived here. There's a sound, when you open your car door, when you walk on frozen wood (like a deck or boardwalk). It's the sound of bitter cold, that even Christmas can't cure. First snow: pretty. Second snow: F%$# YOU. Last snow: Thanks for ruining Easter.

[mimimomx3]

Originally Posted by Jennibc

That wasn't a snide comment. I am sorry you took it that way, but that's the thing about email or internet posts, one cannot always discern tone. I just reread my post and for the life of me I don't see how you are finding it snide and taking offense. I don't mean to sound snide when I say this, I am being rather direct here, but I don't know how you can call yourself laid back if you found comment in the least bit offensive. I am just weighing the sources.

My point is that the site is politically motivated. I would say the same about those other blogs you mentioned. If you look up any of my previous posts you will note that I am more of a libertarian than anything else. But again, I am going to give more credibility to the science site. That's my option as a critical thinker just as yours is to give more weight to the other site.

The absence of inflection makes written communication difficult, thanks for your explanation. Most data found on the internet has been filtered through someone's political spectrum- even scientists can't agree on 'climate change'. I do get tired...very tired...of being marginalized by the neoconservative Republican party of the last administration and the liberal Democratic party. On CD especially, you'll find a lot of 'tin foil hat' sarcasm thrown to libertarians. So...in the spirit of laid back Austinism....forget it! Both hot and cold are unpleasant. You'll get some of both in Austin!

[twange]

Originally Posted by mitchb2

That creaking sound. If you've never lived here. There's a sound, when you open your car door, when you walk on frozen wood (like a deck or boardwalk). It's the sound of bitter cold, that even Christmas can't cure. First snow: pretty. Second snow: F%$# YOU. Last snow: Thanks for ruining Easter.

Agreed. Now, I grew up in a cold, heartless climate and I won't deny that there is great, stark beauty to be found. When it gets really cold and the sun is bright, the snow looks like it has diamonds mixed in. The clean, cold air can be invigorating - unless, of course you have asthma, then the last thing you see before you die, is the bright sun as you lay on your back, gasping for air.

However, when the time comes that you can no longer distinguish the "creaking of frozen wood" from the "creaking of joints", it's time to get the f*ck OUT!

[Topaz]

Originally Posted by mitchb2

First snow: pretty. Second snow: F%$# YOU. Last snow: Thanks for ruining Easter.

Originally Posted by twange

The clean, cold air can be invigorating - unless, of course you have asthma, then the last thing you see before you die, is the bright sun as you lay on your back, gasping for air.

However, when the time comes that you can no longer distinguish the "creaking of frozen wood" from the "creaking of joints", it's time to get the f*ck OUT!

Wow, you both sound like me when I lived in Colorado, only you are more verbally expressive about your "cold" hatred.

[airboat5]

If you want to cool off try hippie hollow.

[iceshots]

Originally Posted by mitchb2

Watching an Anderson window spontaneously shatter because it was 50 degrees yesterday, and it's -30 degrees today...I will take heat.

I used to work as a field engineer in the nuclear industry. I worked all over the country at nuclear plants. I worked in one environment that was 124 degrees for 2 weeks straight. It was hell.

Every year in Illinois, around Thanksgiving, Hell X 2 begins. Go ahead and bake me, Austin, this ridiculous cold makes me want to have Al Gore shipped out here. Global WHAT?!

That creaking sound. If you've never lived here. There's a sound, when you open your car door, when you walk on frozen wood (like a deck or boardwalk). It's the sound of bitter cold, that even Christmas can't cure. First snow: pretty. Second snow: F%$# YOU. Last snow: Thanks for ruining Easter.

People have never know cold until they jump into their car expecting to land on a nice cushy seat, only to rebound off the solid block of concrete the frozen seat foam has become!

Or you get so cold that when you jump into a hot shower, the water dripping off you is still cold!

Went back to Toronto and parts north for two weeks over Christmas. That filled any need for winter for another year. I will take Austin heat and relatively low humidity over Ontario winters or summers. At least you know you have a full summer. Up there, some years it is way too hot and humid, other years the real summer lasts about a week.

[twange]

Originally Posted by iceshots

People have never know cold until they jump into their car expecting to land on a nice cushy seat, only to rebound off the solid block of concrete the frozen seat foam has become!.

True story:

My wife and I bought a Tempur-pedic mattress January 05' and arranged to have it delivered when we got back from our vacation (drove the whole Gulf Coast from Tampa to Austin). It was a pretty cold day when the guys delivered it - temps in the teens if I recall. They carried it up a flight of stairs and plopped it on our frame. As soon as we settled the paperwork, I ran back upstairs where my wife was putting on the sheets, and to celebrate our new purchase (and make a grand entrance) I ran into the bedroom and jumped high and far to land on the new mattress...That's when I learned that memory foam is temperature sensitive. In addition to getting the wind knocked out of me, I damn near separated my shoulder!

Apparently, the mattress had been sitting in the delivery truck overnight and the temps were EASILY in the single digit range. Imagine running fast and jumping high and landing on your shoulder/back...on the ground!

It was almost like an episode of Jackass!

[iceshots]

Originally Posted by twange

True story:

Imagine running fast and jumping high and landing on your shoulder/back...on the ground!

It was almost like an episode of Jackass!

Not to get into a game of one-up-manship but ....

One year around November I was cleaning up around the pool after it was closed for the winter. It was just below freezing, slight ice forming on the pool winter cover. Dumb me was using railroad ties to hold the pool cover in place. I stubbed my toe on the railroad tie and fell into the pool landing on my shoulder and dislocating it. I still don't know how I got out of that pool.

I can picture you flying through the air and landing on that bed, but my shoulder shudders in sympathetic pain!