This has been, pardon my French, one of the shittiest Februarys of recent memory. I know living through winter is part of the package deal of life in the Midwest. But this one was particularly nasty.
There was a graphic in this morning’s Chicago Tribune that I can’t get to online. (Thanks, Trib. Way to embrace the Internet technology.) In the absence of that visual, I turn to another noted weather expert, Fr. Hurlbert, who noted in this week's bulletin that at one point last week we'd had 35 days of measurable snow on the 11th straight day of below normal temps. Sigh.
Anyway, the graphic essentially showed how far below average the temps have been in Feb. 2008, and how much it snowed. The basics: normal temp is 27 degrees, actual was 23. That doesn’t seem so bad, but the graphic shows the daily temp line plunging below average, with almost every day significantly below average. It was so cold a couple Sundays ago that we had to cancel plans to go to the Chinese New Year parade, an old favorite tradition of mine.
And snow? Normal: 8.3 inches. Actual: 21.8. Add in crushing boredom and frustration at work, and it made for the longest 29-day month I’ve ever lived through. All in all, not a good time for the discipline of self-denial.
Alright, nobody wants to listen to total bitching, so here are three good things about the February that just ended:
There was a graphic in this morning’s Chicago Tribune that I can’t get to online. (Thanks, Trib. Way to embrace the Internet technology.) In the absence of that visual, I turn to another noted weather expert, Fr. Hurlbert, who noted in this week's bulletin that at one point last week we'd had 35 days of measurable snow on the 11th straight day of below normal temps. Sigh.
Anyway, the graphic essentially showed how far below average the temps have been in Feb. 2008, and how much it snowed. The basics: normal temp is 27 degrees, actual was 23. That doesn’t seem so bad, but the graphic shows the daily temp line plunging below average, with almost every day significantly below average. It was so cold a couple Sundays ago that we had to cancel plans to go to the Chinese New Year parade, an old favorite tradition of mine.
And snow? Normal: 8.3 inches. Actual: 21.8. Add in crushing boredom and frustration at work, and it made for the longest 29-day month I’ve ever lived through. All in all, not a good time for the discipline of self-denial.
Much like Steve McCroskey, looks like I picked the wrong week to stop smoking cigarettes (and sniffing glue).
Alright, nobody wants to listen to total bitching, so here are three good things about the February that just ended:
- We celebrated our first anniversary.
- We saw a great Wilco show.
- We had a nice winter getaway at an indoor waterpark in the Dells.
- The NCAA tournament, “March Madness,” which for the first time ever, should feature EVERY SINGLE UNIVERSITY I’ve ever graduated from.
- The St. Patrick’s Day Parade, another great Chicago tradition.
- It can’t help but be warmer than what just ended.
O'Quigley gets ready to celebrate his Irish heritage on March 17.
4 comments:
Ah jeez... kitty's getting drunk again!!
Other things to look forward to in March: Opening Day baseball at Wrigley Field, Gary Louris at the Metro, the end of Lent (hello chocolate).
Yep - It's been a brutal winter. In NH, we are closing in on the all-time season snowfall that was set back in the 1870s. Global warming - my ass.
yeah, it was your blog. I fixed it now :)
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