...there's a weekend like this one, dreary and cold and misty. I recently wrote about being happy about springtime, how the brighter colors of the season were getting sprinkled into my wardrobe and the temperate weather was making walks and out-of-the-house tasks more appealing.
This morning, as I passed a nearby time-and-temperature sign on my way to a make-up seminar, it was 53 degrees. No wonder I wanted the heat on during my drive.
When we attendees took our lunch break and walked two blocks to a Chinese restaurant, each of us--dressed in jeans, light tops, blazers, and sockless feet--shivered all the way, then huddled over cups of hot tea.
On the way home this evening, the time-and-temperature sign reported 54 degrees. (I managed to get home without using the heat, so maybe that's my sweet spot.) Our house stays cool-cold most of the time (the exception being late afternoon on very hot days), so now that I'm home, the shivering continues... I just can't justify turning on the furnace in mid-April! What better to do than curl up in a sweatshirt under a blanket with my RSS-infected laptop and get some work done?
Speaking of cold: I read today that Austrian daredevil base-jumper Felix Baumgartner (I only know this is his title because of articles using this phrase) plans to break the sound barrier while skydiving from the stratosphere. I left out the "parachuting" part of it because, although he will be equipped with a special "sonic suit," dude'll be traveling upwards of 720 mph, and there's a possibility that the parachute--along with his body?--will disintegrate or catch fire or freeze some other catastrophe.
Granted, I don't entirely relate adrenalin junkies. I am sure I will freak out if my husband's and my mellow demeanors, preference for reading over XTREEM anything, and general practicality (which Dan calls "worst-case-scenario realism") somehow spawn an extreme athlete... but if it happens, I'll do what I can to encourage the limit of escapades to snowboardiing, skateboarding, and possibly Le Parkour. (Watch the documentary Steep for some insane eye-candy of extreme skiing that's sure to make you cringe for future powder-loving offspring.)
At the same time, there is something so admirable in people who push themselves through mental barriers like fear and, uh, common sense to achieve a euphoria few can. I would like to know what's going on in Baumgartner's view... is he just into the idea of a rush, or does he look at it as a scientific experiment? Is he a visionary who's just the first to do something that soon will be as commonplace as "regular" skydiving? ("What are you doing for your birthday?" "Strato-jump, dude!")
I definitely want to learn more, and I'll be listening contentedly from beneath a warm blanket on my cushy sofa.
This morning, as I passed a nearby time-and-temperature sign on my way to a make-up seminar, it was 53 degrees. No wonder I wanted the heat on during my drive.
When we attendees took our lunch break and walked two blocks to a Chinese restaurant, each of us--dressed in jeans, light tops, blazers, and sockless feet--shivered all the way, then huddled over cups of hot tea.
On the way home this evening, the time-and-temperature sign reported 54 degrees. (I managed to get home without using the heat, so maybe that's my sweet spot.) Our house stays cool-cold most of the time (the exception being late afternoon on very hot days), so now that I'm home, the shivering continues... I just can't justify turning on the furnace in mid-April! What better to do than curl up in a sweatshirt under a blanket with my RSS-infected laptop and get some work done?
Speaking of cold: I read today that Austrian daredevil base-jumper Felix Baumgartner (I only know this is his title because of articles using this phrase) plans to break the sound barrier while skydiving from the stratosphere. I left out the "parachuting" part of it because, although he will be equipped with a special "sonic suit," dude'll be traveling upwards of 720 mph, and there's a possibility that the parachute--along with his body?--will disintegrate or catch fire or freeze some other catastrophe.
Granted, I don't entirely relate adrenalin junkies. I am sure I will freak out if my husband's and my mellow demeanors, preference for reading over XTREEM anything, and general practicality (which Dan calls "worst-case-scenario realism") somehow spawn an extreme athlete... but if it happens, I'll do what I can to encourage the limit of escapades to snowboardiing, skateboarding, and possibly Le Parkour. (Watch the documentary Steep for some insane eye-candy of extreme skiing that's sure to make you cringe for future powder-loving offspring.)
At the same time, there is something so admirable in people who push themselves through mental barriers like fear and, uh, common sense to achieve a euphoria few can. I would like to know what's going on in Baumgartner's view... is he just into the idea of a rush, or does he look at it as a scientific experiment? Is he a visionary who's just the first to do something that soon will be as commonplace as "regular" skydiving? ("What are you doing for your birthday?" "Strato-jump, dude!")
I definitely want to learn more, and I'll be listening contentedly from beneath a warm blanket on my cushy sofa.
