Summer Car! Summer Car!

Ohhhhh yeah. My car was stuffy when I got into it this afternoon. AND I had to turn my seat warmer off as soon as I got going.

I may make it through this winter after all.

(What's that you say? Snow in the forecast? [fingers in ears] lalalalalaican'thearyoulalalalal]

I've commented before on the Minnesotan obsession with weather. It's been amped up this winter like I haven't seen, what with all the collapsed Metrodomes and Snowmageddons and Flood Forecasts of DoomTM. And I've realized lately that I'm still at a huge social disadvantage because I cannot for the life of me figure out that darn Fahrenheit scale.

(It just took me three tries to even spell it correctly.)

All I can ever remember is that 32 = zero and that my house is at 73 (which is apparently pretty hot, but I don't see the electricity bills and our house has no insulation, so whatever). If an American mentions a temperature somewhere in between those numbers, I try to figure out the ratio between 20ish and zeroish. If they mention anything below that, I think "they must mean parkas."

And if they mention anything below zero, I just say, "do you have any idea how cold it is in Winnipeg right now??"

(Because the best way to hide ignorance is belligerence.)

I've tried and tried to learn that darn scale. It's just unpossible. It makes no sense. None at all. The only possible explanation I can come up with is that they just love having all those biiiiig numbers:

"It's 80 degrees warmer today than it was last week at this time!"

"It's 100 degrees out there! I'm melting in the triple digits!"

Kind of an "Everything's bigger in Texas" thing, I guess.

But I'm bound and determined. I finally taped a mini conversion chart to my computer monitor, so now if someone at work starts talking about how the high is going to be in the 50s, I only have to swivel my chair around, peer at my cheat sheet, and I can be a fully contributing member of society again.

Until they start talking about gallons.

[blank look]