More Brass Monkey Weather

When my family came to visit in December they were quite disappointed that it wasn't snowing. Indeed, it didn't snow at all during their stay. All of North America had a very warm start to the winter. But it's become a very cold January; the last couple of weeks have got much colder than last month and colder than I remember last winter being.

The problem's not the snow, there's very little of it. It's so cold that the air's too dry for much precipitation. When it does snow there's not enough time for big crystals to form so all we get is a very fine powder, which is not much fun to walk on.

The problem is simply that it's bitterly cold. The 28th got down to -11˙C and didn't get over -2; today it got down to -12˙and hasn't risen above -8! I'm not looking forward to this weekend, they're forecasting -13 to -7˙C on Saturday and -16 to -10˙ on Sunday! Oh, and the wind-chill etc. often takes it down to -23˙C.

Now, I'm quite frugal when it comes to heating my apartment. I try to spare the enviroment and my wallet by putting on a jumper before I turn up the heat to mid-range. But the other day I found that I just couldn't put any more clothes on but my fingers and toes were still cold, so I had to turn up the heat to the very highest level, for the first time since I've been here. Although I turn them down low when I'm out or sleeping, the heaters are never off.

Bizarre Beverages

When I was at Disney World I bought some little tins of hot chocolate that come in funny colours. I got around to trying them the other day.

The powder is white when dry (partly because is has a lot of powdered milk in it) but the colour comes out as soon as it gets wet.












I was surprised at just how psychadelic the colours are.





The only side effect is that it really doesn't taste that great - too milky, not chocolatey enough. A bit like white chocolate. I guess that's what happens when you try to change something to such unnatural colours.

Spring Semester 2007

Classes start back today. Of course the break wasn't long enough but I think I'll enjoy these new classes.

I'm taking:
"Descartes and His World", "Topics in the History of Alchemy" and "Experimental Philosophy" "Philosophy of Biology".

Now, most grad students earn their keep by teaching undergrads, as I did last semester. But this time around I have a Research Assistantship instead, helping Bill Newman with The Newton Project. Hopefully there'll be some overlap with the alchemy class.

Update - 12th January
I've decided at the last minute (Friday of the first week of classes) to drop the philosophy class that had a very high workload and only moderately interesting readings in favour of a philosophy of biology class taught by Lisa Lloyd, the professor whose undergrads I taught last semester (so I know she's excellent paedogogically). The material looks like something the whole class will engage with quite well and overall I think the class will be far more manageable.

Also, at the first meeting of the Descartes class, when discussing the readings, the professor asked, "Who reads French?" I had to admit that I did. (It's much easier to read than it is to speak.) So now I'm going to attempt to read a few of Descartes' shorter works in French. It could be a very slow process but I'm sure I'll learn a lot of vocab and it is good to have a definite practical goal.

Back in Bloomington

Being back in Bloomington I've noticed a couple of things:

Indiana is much colder than Florida. I don't know where my career will take me after this but I hope I'll be living somewhere much warmer!

Bloomington roads are much friendlier. Unlike Orlando, there are plenty of pedestrian crossings so you don't have to drive everywhere. And unlike New York, where cars turning at the lights will drive straight through a pedestrian crossing unless you're dead in front of the car giving the finger, here in Bloomington cars will see you standing on the footpath and wave you across, even though they have right of way!

I'm Going to Disney World!

On the second day, while Dad was at Cape Kennedy, Erin and I went to Disney World. We saw Epcot and the Animal Kingdom. One interesting ride had us sitting up high, surrounded by a curved screen with air blowing at us to give the sensation of flight. It wasn't that convincing but what was surprising was that when we flew through a pine forest we could smell pine and we could smell orange blossoms when we flew over the orange orchard. It was great but there was far too much for us to see two parks in one day.

New Years Eve we returned with Mum and Dad to see Disney-MGM Studios in the evening (after having a relaxing morning including a swim in the hotel pool). While Erin waited for a churro I took the opportunity to go on StarTours again. We saw a few other things including Fantasmic, which had been updated since we saw it at Disneyland in 1992. I went on the Tower of Terror and elevator ride that doesn't just drop you but bounces you up and down! We stayed until the midnight fireworks then went back to the hotel to pack. We didn't sleep at all New Year's Eve. On the way to the airport we got breakfast (about 3am) at IHOP, Erin's favourite restaurant.