Talk about the weather

Well, the world has lost its mind but there is an upside: talking about the weather has never been so exciting! Hooray!!!

I mean, in the old days, the weather followed rules. There were seasons, there was consistency, reliability. But no longer! Now we get weather whiplash! 

Case in point. Friday was frigid. It was in the 30s, but the ice-cold 30s.* Today, it was in the 40s, sunny, and basically felt like May used to. Weather whiplash. 

Which made me think that we should rebrand climate change. I mean, it's not a bad moniker, but we could do better. So I came up with some suggestions:

• Weather whiplash: very accurate. And exhausting, literally, because I need my room to be a certain temperature to sleep well, and if the exterior temp is changing every 10 minutes, it's hard to know how many blankets I need and how warm my pjs are).
• Seasonal scramble: For reals. Winter, which used to be October to March, is now like, February? and maybe June?
• Meteorological mixup: It snowed in Florida, but not in Utah. I rest my case. 
• Atmospheric aberrations: see all of the above. 

Now along with all the exciting changes in the weather, you have some great new vocab to use to discuss. You're welcome!

*There are different kinds of 30s weather. If it is rainy 30s weather, that is very different from snowing 30s weather, which is also very different from "just snowed and now we gonna freeze this sucka like an iceberg."

Some observations on food

Do you think that fun shapes make food taste better? I bought some Townhouse crackers in the shape of snowmen and somehow they were so much better than regular Townhouse crackers. And my Cheez-its in the shape of penguins, definitely better. Shape makes a difference, right?

The last couple of times I've taken my niece grocery shopping, I've seen the Doritos with no added dyes or whatever. Here's the thing: yes, it is definitely better for us. But neon colored food is how you know it's not good for you. If your really unhealthy food (or food-like substances, as my brother refers to them) looks the same color as actual healthy food, it's way too easy to convince myself that it's fine to eat the unhealthy stuff.

Finally, I saw today that Butterfinger has released a special French toast edition. WHY??? In the name of all that a taste bud would want to experience, why would a French toast Butterfinger be one of them? I like breakfast foods as much as anyon but they really don't have to be in everything. Breakfast and dessert can be two separate things. 

Milestones

In case you are wondering, you start falling apart at 40. I know this, because I am in my 40s and it was when I turned 40 that I started adding in all the extra annual exams. Among those fun new doctors' visits was a colonoscopy, and it got me thinking. Somehow, it seems like we run out of milestones after our 20s. We've taken our first steps, said our first words, had our first day of school, done graduations, left grade school, learned to drive, gone on dates, voted, etc. What else is there?

Well, there are still plenty of milestones in the rest of life, too. They just aren't as exciting. They're things like bills and mortgages and full-time jobs (that offer insurance and retirement, which is a very positive thing but somehow not as exciting as a first birthday. Way more complicated, for sure), and old-people doctors' exams and such. First car? Comes with a side of maintenance costs and possible loan payments. First promotion? Probably also added a lot of work. First retirement? How are your knees doing?

Some of these milestones I have embraced. For example, I am fully leaning into my "get off my lawn" era. No, I don't actually have a lawn, but my version of this is mocking AI. (It's so mockable). I'm also super leaning into being old and not knowing what slang the kids are using these days. I didn't get out of bed every day for decades to NOT be able to stop caring about what people twenty years younger than me think is cool. There have to be some perks.

And there are some good milestones: paying off mortgages, grandkids, more paid vacation to travel, no more homework (and I do NOT undervalue that milestone!!!), being able to buy a thing just for fun without worrying about not being able to eat for two weeks. There are some good things to come. 

It's just a bummer that they come with more doctors exams. That's all.  

The end is definitely nigh

I live in a state that is known for mountains and some good skiing spots. We're hosting the Winter Olympics in 2034 (or so we think). And yet, I have seen ZERO snow this year in my city (and you could barely call it highlights if you count what is in the mountains). 

It snowed in Florida last week. And my coworkers sent photos of snow at Teotihuacán today. Snow. In Teotihuacán. 

WHERE IS MY SNOW?!?!?!?!

I'm pretty sure the apocalypse has arrived and I just missed the memo.

All is not right in the universe

It is January 12th, the world is topsy-turvy, our new tool at work is chaos personified, and the year has gotten off to a rough start. But the very worst part is, THERE IS NO SNOW!

It's finally gotten cold, I've been waiting for a month, and nothing. And we're running out of time--unless, that is, the seasons have just shifted entirely and winter is now January to April. Which, where I live, has always been a real possibility. 

It just seems that I deserve a bit of snow. A few inches at least. NO need for a drought later on in the year, and quite frankly, this rough start needs a silver lining.

New year?

So, I know we are only 4 days into the new year, but is anyone else up for rebooting the whole thing? And not like we reboot TV shows. Reboot, like start the whole thing over but on a different trajectory. Put the "new" in "new year." Let's try something different. 

2026 is feeling a bit too samey for me. Let's cut now, while it's still early.

So long 2025

Year in review:

• Flew approximately 56,288 miles for work trips
• Visited some new countries (Paraguay, St. Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, plus airports in St. Martin, Colombia, and Tortola) and new cities in previously visited countries (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Hermosillo, Mexico)
• Revisited some countries (Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Dominican Republic, Mexico) and Puerto Rico (yay!!!)
• Did my first solo work trip (although there were co-workers in Mexico when I got there, so I wasn't alone once I got there, just the only US person there)
• Threw up a lot 
• Got COVID again (24 hours, so can't complain) and got pretty sick with the crud going around in February
• Lost my dad
• Sort of played pickleball for the first time (hitting it around with my sister on the side of a court)
• Had basically every single work tool implode at some point or another
• Moved to a new cataloging tool at work (barely!) and somehow survived the drama
• Way too many weird encounters with men making inappropriate moves on me (2. Two encounters. But it was two too many)
• Read the Thursday Murder Club series and reread some old favorites.
• Learned a few new games (Abandon All Artichokes, Point City, Doomlings, Cartographers, Canvas, Ito, Mantis--I think that was this year--and probably some others that I can't recall right now)
• Bought 3 new camera lenses (I was planning on one, but then a different lens broke, and replacing one turned into 2. Things happen)
• Went to the tulip festival and visited some other local places again
• Enjoyed some new movies, but don't ask me what they are
• Lost some weight (barfing your guts out in San Juan will do that for you)
• Got a great-nephew and got to play with both him and his sister, which was a highlight
• Went to graduations (niece's high school, niece's college)
• Made people laugh, probably made people cry (I'm sorry), watched the world fall apart, and tried to keep it together. It's been that kind of a year. 

It hasn't been a bad year--I've traveled the world, been part of a lot of cool things at work, had good friends, seen beautiful places, and been pretty safe. But it has also been...maybe an exhausting year is the best way to put it. But also, just miserable while being exciting. And it hasn't been a long year but it's also been a century since I went to Brazil in February. Maybe it's just been a Dickensian year, you know, from the "best of times, worst of times" quote in A Tale of Two Cities. I'm glad it's over, but also sad it's gone. 

Mostly, though, I'm ready for a nap.