A Christmas Story

--by Sebastian

Personal anecdote open thread.

I went to Denver for Christmas to visit my family.  As you may have heard, there was a bit of snow in Denver around that time.  Fortunately I was traveling on Saturday--two days after the Denver airport reopened.  There was a warming trend while I was there.  It got up to a daily high of 32 degrees (that is freezing for our European readers) by the time I left. 

So Saturday morning I woke up at 4:30 in the morning to catch the first flight to Denver.  I met my taxi cab in the front at 4:45.  He was on time, which is a bit rare, so I was thrilled as much as I can be thrilled at 4:45 am.  (I'm a night person so I have to admit that isn't very thrilled on an absolute scale.)  I threw my luggage in the trunk and the driver slammed it shut.  Then he went to the front and made an unpleasant discovery.  He had locked his keys in the car. 

I struggled for an appropriate non-hysterical response.  I realized that in my jacket pocket I had my phone, my wallet and my iPod.  I immediately called a tow truck to open the door.  The man on the other end assured me that he could make it to my location within 45 minutes.  That wasn't going to cut it for my flight.  I asked him to come anyway (the cabby was going to need it at some point).  The taxi service sent another cab, but that didn't help with my luggage.  The driver offered to bring it to the airport, but I knew I wouldn't be able to get it through security unless I waited--which I couldn't do and catch my flight.  He suggested that the airline would send it to meet me in Denver, but that was pre-9/11 thinking. 

I had a nasty cold, but I wanted to see my parents, sister, brother-in-law, nephew and niece, so I decided to travel without luggage.  Even though I was late, it proved easy to get through security with zero luggage.  I flew to Denver, went straight over to WalMart, purchased a pair of longjohns, two sweatshirts, two pairs of sweatpants and a backpack for about $70.  Thank God for Walmart!  My sister was sick too, so I spent a bunch of time with her sipping tea while huddled in blankets.  This San Diego boy isn't built for cold weather. 

The day after Christmas I met with our very own Andrew and his lovely wife.  Both were charming.  Andrew was fun and chatty, his wife was a bit more quiet but had an obviously sharp intelligence about her. 

So for our ObsidianWings reunion (hmm if we haven't met yet is that just a 'union') I'm not suggesting Denver in the winter.  Honestly I would recommend San Diego any time of year.  I played beach volleyball yesterday when it was an unseasonably warm 70 degrees within sight of the water. 

Be well everyone!  Happy New Year and all that rot.  :)

Comments

[Amanda]

San Diego is possibly my favorite place on earth. That said, I lived in Orange County for a year and the 70-and-sunny weather all the way through Christmas drove me absolutely nuts. I prefer some semblance of season.

[lily]

It's supposed to rain here all the time. Well, we are in our secnd snowstorm, shortly after a month of record-breaking rainfall and hurricane force winds. Fifteen houses in my neighborhood were damaged by fallen trees. I drove out to my mom and dad's house yesterday and got trapped here by snow.
The snow really isn't any worse than what I grew up with in Iowa, but people in Western Washington do not know how to handle it. I'm afraid to drive home because I am afraid of the other drivers.
This is the first time I can remember taht Washingon had interesting weather. I'm feeling nostolgic for the good old gentle drizzle.

[Andrew]

I'm afraid to drive home because I am afraid of the other drivers.

I feel your pain. Amazingly, in Colorado most drivers don't know how to drive safely on snow and ice. From what I've seen, far too many people seem to believe that ownership of an SUV ensures that your car will miraculously cling to the road, a notion that ought to be disabused by the number of stranded trucks one sees here whenever we get a bad storm.

[Ugh]

Washington D.C. drivers are the worst, an inch of snow and it takes hours to get home. Hell, even rain makes traffic awful.

[double-plus-ungood]

It got up to a daily high of 32 degrees (that is freezing for our European readers) by the time I left.

Um, hey? Canada uses the metric system.

Actually, I think everyone else uses the metric system. You guys are the last bastion of oddball measurement. Well, you, Liberia, and Myanmar.

[ScottM]

Happy New Year! Glad you got to enjoy the company of family-- that's what makes the holidays for me.

That said, it was 65F in Winchester when I visited my brother for New Years. Even though as a Californian my ideas about "cold winter" are unusual, that was not New Year's weather to me.

[Andrew]

I think everyone else uses the metric system.

And...?

[Slartibartfast]

Actually, I think everyone else uses the metric system.

Trust me, I'm painfully aware of this. Try working with moments of inertia in pound-ft^2 and torques in inch-ounces. Or, worse yet, explaining such things to your kid.

REAL countries give their temperature in Kelvins, though. A couple of days ago, it was a balmy 300K, here.

[Anarch]

Try working with moments of inertia in pound-ft^2 and torques in inch-ounces.

I remember one deeply silly discussion I taught where, illustrating some basic calculus techniques, I decided to do all the calculation in American units. The experiment backfired horribly when I said something like "the apple has a mass of ten slugs" and we all began to giggle uncontrollably and make gardening jokes.

[Slartibartfast]

Yes, I recall working in slugs. Which brings up the notion that moments of inertia should properly be expressed, when one is using "standard" units, in slug-ft^2. Because pounds are units of force, and the pound-mass is an abomination.