The Big Chill 2014: memories of life well below zero
My recent blogging efforts have been woeful. Cold, in fact. So cold that they resemble the current wind chill (-35ºF according to KCRG). If it were not for beer tastings and Iowa men’s basketball and football games, The Quiet Man would have been completely dead the last two weeks. So to get back on track I thought I would offer a couple memories related to the “polar vortex” barreling down on the Upper Midwest.
A day off?
Since I am technically an employee of Michigan State University, every once in a while I receive automated calls regarding severe weather in East Lansing — 427 miles away. Today I received a call from an unfamiliar number with a 517 area code. (Calls from MSU are so rare I never remember that 517 is the area code for East Lansing.) I ignored it and listen to the voice message a few minutes later. It was an MSU severe weather alert saying that classes and all non-essential work at the university has been suspended for Monday.
Hmmm… So does that mean I, a man whose morning commute consists of rolling out of bed and carrying his laptop to the kitchen table, have the day off too? It is quite the conundrum since I am willing to bet I would not get paid for any work I do tomorrow. I can read the email now: the office manager telling me, “Your hours that day do not count because the university was closed.”
I think I will play it safe and work. What the hell else am I going to do? Go outside?
The Big Chill ’96
One of my fondest memories of junior high came in seventh grade during a dangerous cold front similar to the one we will experience the next couple days.
It was February 1996 and bitter cold. Though I do not remember exactly, I am sure record lows were forecast for the next couple days. (From what I do remember, the temperature in Iowa City dropped to -34ºF, supposedly an all-time record low. For some reason, though, it was unofficial and never appears in any record temperature statistics.) I was sitting in an art class in the school’s dark room, whiling away the last minutes of the final period of the day. Right before the bell rang, the school intercom system squawked to life. It was the principal and she announced that, due to the severe cold forecast for the next day, school was canceled.
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
The classroom erupted in celebration. The bell rang and we filled the hallways, ecstatic about the upcoming and unexpected day off. Iowa City’s school district rarely canceled school for anything, so it seemed almost unbelievable that it would cancel school because of the cold.
That canceled school day in seventh grade was the only day in my entire education, including college, that was canceled due to cold weather.
