wallpaper Hmmm... Tropical Paradise

wallpaper As predicted, after some brief flurries yesterday afternoon, it switched over to rain and warmed up over night. It feels positively balmy out there today, and I'm loving it! According to WeatherUnderground, our average high for today is 46, so we are warmer than normal, but we've hardly been breaking freezing for what feels like weeks. I'm pretty certain it hasn't actually been that long, but it feels like it. So at least in contrast today's moderate temperature feels simply tropical, and my poor aching feet are feeling very comfortable, thank you.

wallpaper My Least Favorite Weather

wallpaper My general line is that there are three kinds of bad weather: wet, cold and windy. Any one isn't bad; any two are unpleasant, but all three together are miserable. However, there's one more that's in a special class of miserable all by itself: freezing fog. It doesn't have to be below 32 F; mid-thirties and down, the fog just cuts through you. It's more painful than having your tongue frozen to icy metal and harder to get away from. I have been more miserably cold in fog in the upper twenties than I have been in sub-zero temperatures in northern Ohio and Ontario.

All this means I'll probably stay indoors until it's burnt off tomorrow. Interzone will be closing early, 3:00, and closed all day on January 1. I've been getting no signal at home over the last few days, so I may not be posting much until Sunday. If I don't end up posting anything tomorrow, have a great New Year's eve, celebrate, and drive sober or not at all.

wallpaper Snow Is Pretty

In pictures, and on the other side of windows. But dealing with it in person isn't my thing, at least these days. wallpaper From NASA's Earth Observatory, I'm powerfully glad I don't live in Minnesota. It's a beautiful state, and jokes about mosquitoes not withstanding, I've enjoyed camping there during several summers. I think the most enjoyable professional conference I've ever attended was on the philosophy and nature of science in early 1996 (not positive about the year, but about). I wish I could explore the geology of the state more thoroughly. HOWEVER... there are about four to six months of the year I'm really happy to be elsewhere. The following video clip has been all over the place the last couple of days; you're not even safe inside!

Meanwhile, here in my little cowtown, which is farther north than Toronto, Ontario, we hit a high of 60F yesterday, and it has been about 52 hours since our temperature has fallen below 50. So, yeah. I think I'll stay.

wallpaper Rain

It has been raining pretty heavily all week, with something of a break yesterday, and a torrential downpour predicted for today. The weather service had issued flood warnings- warm temps and rising freezing levels combined with rain do awful things to the mountain snowpack, namely. send it raging toward the valleys.

It has barely been drizzling today, though it has been raining heavily further north, and I understand Portland is having problems with street flooding and blocked drains.

I have mixed feelings about this: I enjoy vigorous weather, and we don't get all that much of it here in western Oregon. On the other hand, floods can be a royal pain, or much worse. Probably the greatest danger in my neighborhood comes from landslides and debris flows. While here on the valley floor such mass movement isn't an issue, you don't have to go far from where I'm sitting to find places where it would be a serious concern and real danger. And it's not as if, as I said earlier, we have been particularly lacking in the precipitation department recently.

Still, I had my expectations for a roaring downpour, and I can't help but feel a little disappointed. I have a feeling that Randall Munroe at xkcd can relate.
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wallpaper Finals Week

So we reach the end of yet another term here at Oregon State. For those of you students who are stressing over finals, two notes: first if you keep up through the term, finals just aren't that big of a deal. Believe me, I know how tempting it is to procrastinate to the end, but the price you pay is serious stress now. Second, this is by far and away the worst week for instructors and profs as well. I have spent my fair share of time both taking finals and doing projects, and grading them. I would much rather have to take a test or do a project than grade dozens of them. Just sayin'.

As I'm out of academia now, neither concern is one that troubles me much anymore. Many, if not most, of the students have finished their terms, and the streets are noticeably quieter than they were yesterday. By Friday afternoon and the weekend, Corvallis will be dead quiet. I have a love-hate relationship with the university and with breaks: I miss my friends when they're not here, but I enjoy the peace when OSU is out of session. By the end of a term- or the end of a break- I'm ready for change. I grew up in a university community, Ohio University in Athens, and have spent most of my life living with the rhythm and seasons of academia. I can't imagine living without that pulse now.

Wishing you and yours the happiest of Holidays, Peace and Re-Creation as needed, and luck with end of term duties, whatever they may be.