According to our car's external thermometer, it was eight below when we left home with morning. Weather.com seems to agree with that assessment. While this is par for the course in Minnesota (where my hometown is currently reporting temperatures of 22 below), it is somewhat of an event for Ohio. The coldest it has gotten here since I lived here was around 8 degrees above, and that was considered very cold by everyone. People simply are not prepared for the cold weather here, they do not own the appropriate winter jackets, gloves, hats, socks, and long underwear. They do not own ski masks. They do not plug their cars in at night or put heating blankets on them. Therefore, it is not surprising much of the city, especially anything involving kids, is shutting down.
Even Grim vetoed her walk last night. Well, that's not an entirely accurate statement. My theory on walking the dog is that as long as she wants her walk, there is no excuse not to take her. Her morning and evening walks are her only time outside on a typical day, and her main form of exercise (though she does get running inside the house frequently as well). They are also her favorite part of the day. So, come rain or shine, extreme heat or negative temperatures, we take her out. The main problem with this theory of course is that sometimes Grim does not realize she does not want to be outside until half way through the walk, and then both of us are stuck on a walk we do not want to be on. This is exactly what happened last night. About 3/4 of the way through the walk, she decided the snow was too cold to walk on, and started refusing to put all four feet down, alternating at random which one she kept up. Then, she decided it was too cold to walk at all, and started running. While I certainly CAN stop Grim if she bolts/starts running, it is not exactly an easy task, and knowing the likely reason behind the burst of energy, I went along with it and we ended up jogging/sprinting the last quarter of her walk. This was quite the feat with snow and ice on the ground, and me wearing snow boots and a scarf. But we made it, and back in the house the heat confirmed that her limping and random behavior had been due to cold. Having sprinted in a jacket rated to -20F, I returned to the house sweating.
With all this in mind, I do not expect many people to be around campus today. While campus is open and classes are on (the university assumes 18 year old freshmen can take care of themselves better than 18 year old high school seniors who do not have high school today), many of my friends are staying home today and I am assuming that will be a trend in general, especially since it is Friday, a light day anyways. One of the advantages of being a student is you have a lot more flexibility about taking a day off. The consideration isn't "is it worth the vacation time or lost wages to take today of?", but rather, "is it worth missing class to take today off?", and sometimes you don't even have class to miss, just office time.
For me, the use of that assessment puts me on campus today. Missing economics recitation would be a bad idea, especially when I spent yesterday's economic lecture in a stupor due to sleep deprivation. I had no reason to be sleep deprived, I just didn't sleep well. I do not do well with sleep deprivation. It makes me extremely grumpy and difficult, and also at times makes me feel like whatever is going on, for example, someone giving a lecture on the second fundamental theorem of welfare economics, is not actually real, like there is a piece of glass between me and reality. So, do you think I am crazy yet?
Needless to say, I went to bed early last night, though not early enough to truly catch up on the sleep I was missing, at least I got enough for one night. Tomorrow I may sleep in until noon! Also needless to say, Grim did not get a walk this morning, and will not get one tonight. Hopefully we can expend her energy within the warmth of the house.
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