Winter will soon be gone....
I know it was cold this week... I know it snowed. I know that planes were delayed for hours and those poor motorists were stuck on that highway for 25 hours in Pennsylvania..
But I like winter. Maybe more than summer... I was out on the ice for a couple of hours today... taking a few shots skating around.. the sun was warm on my face and I did not want winter to leave. It was perfect. maybe 35 degrees F..sunny...cold enough to still skate and warm enough not to need a parka.
I started the week turned off of work..tired of it all working the crisis a day mode.. But not travelling and snow shovelling every night relaxes me. Bundled up with parka and toque and good mitts the air so cold and dense its like you have to work hard to suck it in your lungs, all quiet except for the crunch of snow, it is great thinking time.. Time to relax ..see the evidence of your work and feel the heat that physical exertion brings. I shovelled the driveway.. the sidewalk, the neighbors driveway and the rink. My cheeks were burning by the time I came in and it was like my psyche was repaired.
I have not had the time to ski but that's up for next weekend. My job doesn't stop and on Sunday I go to LA for a couple of days but I will be back and I hope its cold and snowing when that happens. I unabashedly like winter.
Somedays it all Feels like that...
This is how I feel today. I am working hard. I am getting stuff done but I have this overriding feeling like I am about to be dumped on.
Does this happen to everyone?. Are even the arrogant insecure to a certain extent? I wonder.
The question is how do we enjoy it more. The journey being the best par of the trip not the goal itself.
well... at least the digging is exercise..and I need all of that... I need a little pick me up
Now I am really worried about Global Warming
Sunday mornings is my official hockeytime. Other forty-ish men and I (although I am almost the oldest) gather, don a black or white jersey and play the game. No.. the carbon content exhaled is not a concern.
Usually the dressing room talk is about sports.. golf.. the leafs..the flames..the oilers.. hockey fights..not this week. This week was all about global warming and the fact we have to do something. Concrete finisher guy recalled that in his youth it was never this warm..that we had more snow... Ontario transplant regaled us with driving on lake Simcoe to go ice fishing 15 years ago, the lawyerman declared that he took the subway to work as they were an environmentally concerned family. Never before have we ever had such an intellectual topic. I questioned the science in my role as shit disturber and was hooted down. My intellectual input that was are one cold week away from stopping to talk about it was soundly thrashed.
Earlier in the week I overheard a casual conversation carried on by our ceo about clean coal and was amazed by how knowledgeable he was on the carbon dioxide emission problem with such a technology.
What do I really think? I think the earth is self modulating. Today the CO2 content in air is 360 ppm ish versus 191 ppm back in the 1800's (how they know this is beyond me) I think that as the CO2 content rises plant growth increases and temperatures warm and plants get larger and the content modulates., This is how the earth has decreased its levels historically from the 470 ppm range or higher. I believe this to be true. I can passionately argue these facts and make believers out of those upon the fence.
On the other hand-- its a big gamble that this works- that everything evens out. hey lets polute its OK. Being thrifty with our assets is a core value and we ought to follow that rule. There is lots of economic growth in going green. There is no reason that we not put our collective intellect to use and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Lets go build some nuclear reactors...
One thing is for sure... if the hockeymen of calgary start talking global warming on superbowl sunday--- its a hot topic.
Tale of two cities
I was in Indianapolis and Chicago yesterday home of the superbowl combatants.
My day started in Indy where I was having breakfast downtown at one of the hotels and I was talking to the waitress. attractive black 40 ish... Her prediction for the game... Colts will lose.. I said you gotta be kidding me - I think the colts will kill them. She said but -they are the Colts. They always tease your heart and then tear it apart. She said its easier to think they will lose and then if they win it will be even better....
Then I went to the plant... and some of the Chicago middle management types had been around walking around with their Bear shirts on all week. The plant guys had done fun loving pranks on their cars with colt signs it was all fun... The guys in the plants were all for the colts and their great players but still they were not confident. Well if peyton has a good game... but you never know... colts always blow it.... etc etc...
The Chicago fans.. Bravado --giving 9 points.. windy city blowing into town taking the title and partying all night. Confidence in spite of the odds maker predictions. In spite of a quarterback who is a little erratic... completely erratic.. versus the poster boy of Quarterbacks
I spent a couple hours in Chicago on the way home. Same thing confidence in spite of facts.
Tale of two cities -Hosiers versus used car salesmen.
Prediction Colts 38 Bears 14. I am not a hoosier.. nor a used car saleman- I am a math guy.
