A change in weather

When all else fails, talk about the weather. It's a common small talk subject. Perhaps even ritualized. Eliza Doolittle, for instance, was instructed to talk only about the weather and everyone's health. But even then, she managed to get herself in trouble =).

So here I am, trying to be a good blogger, and keep this thing updated relatively regularily for those of you who hang on my every word and have been forced by circumstances into a painful exile from me (that's you, Ben =P). Of course, this is very difficult given the dullness of my life. Weather to the rescue!

This fall has served only to perpetuate my belief that California weather is weird. Until around Tuesday or Wednesday, there was no fall. Summer maintained quite a foothold in the golden state. Here in the Central Valley we experienced record high temperatures, often in the 90s. 90 degrees in late October! Then winter came, rapidly squelching the vestiges of summer. Still no fall. Now it's cold. Cold cold cold, and cloudy. We even got a little bit of rain and hail on Friday! What's weird is the abruptness of the change. It went from summer one day to full blown winter the next. Only in California =).

I realize too that I'm turning into a Californian. At Stanford, I mocked the puny Californians and their perception of cold. Being from the frigid reaches of Georgia, I was much more able to handle cold weather. But now I find myself shivering and complaining about daytime highs in the 50s. I've lost my cold acclimation. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I am now seen as a Californian in the eyes of the UC System. Not only have I ceded my Georgia driver's license and permanent address, I've also lost cold tolerance. Weird.

I guess the only thing to do is lay in a supply of tomato soup.