On false cognates
Jan. 29th, 2009 08:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pecuniumSo, I'm in Ottawa, where the temps are low (though they are higher than they were a week ago).
Before I left I was worrying a bit, because you know, -6° looks pretty cold.
Now, it's -6°C, and that's the problem. I spent my early years in Ohio, where the temps got down to the negative numbers, for a couple of weeks worth of every winter. There was the occasion the busses weren't running and we had to walk to school at -10°F.
Which is a lot colder than that same number in Centigrade. So I was, despite my intellectual awareness the numbers don't become congruent until -40°, thinking it was fast-frostbite weather, not just really cold. The lows in Joshua Tree last weekend were about the same as the highs here. Two years ago the lows in Joshua Tree were about the same as last week's temps(-18°F), and I survived that just fine, even with a sleeping bag malfunction.
Since the bus strike is still going on (though it seems to be, functionally ended... the Gov't was about to impose the solution the union offered a month ago, so the city has agreed. major routes ought to be running by Monday) I've been doing a lot of walking, and it's been fine.
Yesterday was snowing pretty well, and we had to get to the framers to get the art prepped for the show (since the framer, a swell fellow, didn't call today, I am tolerably certain they will be done tomorrow, and I'll be able to hang on the 1st, and suspect I can do it sooner, since they are hungry to change the walls, but I digress).
It was about -12°, and (apart from my mustache getting crunchy, I was fine (a new pair of used Canadian Army boots didn't hurt, my valenki would do fine, but the amount of salt here would kill brine shrimp, so I'd rather not expose them to it).
Today was the first trip with the camera, and (for all that gloves aren't great for my hands, they are better than the bare are, but something about my circulation means my fingers get cold. One of my mittens got left in a car, so I'm using just gloves) it wasn't bad. Lots of snow (and frolicking in same), and some good photos (though one of the pains of the LCD on the Nikon is the exposures always look about 1/3rd stop brighter than they are, so things are a tad underexposed, thank goodness for .RAW, which will let me recover about 2/3rds of a stop without too much loss of detail. It's sort of like burning in a thin negative) resulted.
More trips, with different carrying kit, and more good photos will result.
One of the amusements is the time I spent in the Army has been really useful. I am really good at shucking/donning clothing when entering/leaving buildings (and the wealth of coffee shops is a boon, since after an hour spent slogging through the streets, or breasting snow which is loose enough that one is thigh deep and breasting a wave like a small boat running before a light wind, a wee drop of something warm is a good thing).
Who knew that being able to don MOPP Gear, and doff "Battle Rattle" would have practical applications on the civilian side of the street.
The only real disappointment to date was finding out one can't watch the Throne Speech (which opens parliament) so we walked about the downtown, and I got to look at various statues and ponder photography for the future.
Before I left I was worrying a bit, because you know, -6° looks pretty cold.
Now, it's -6°C, and that's the problem. I spent my early years in Ohio, where the temps got down to the negative numbers, for a couple of weeks worth of every winter. There was the occasion the busses weren't running and we had to walk to school at -10°F.
Which is a lot colder than that same number in Centigrade. So I was, despite my intellectual awareness the numbers don't become congruent until -40°, thinking it was fast-frostbite weather, not just really cold. The lows in Joshua Tree last weekend were about the same as the highs here. Two years ago the lows in Joshua Tree were about the same as last week's temps(-18°F), and I survived that just fine, even with a sleeping bag malfunction.
Since the bus strike is still going on (though it seems to be, functionally ended... the Gov't was about to impose the solution the union offered a month ago, so the city has agreed. major routes ought to be running by Monday) I've been doing a lot of walking, and it's been fine.
Yesterday was snowing pretty well, and we had to get to the framers to get the art prepped for the show (since the framer, a swell fellow, didn't call today, I am tolerably certain they will be done tomorrow, and I'll be able to hang on the 1st, and suspect I can do it sooner, since they are hungry to change the walls, but I digress).
It was about -12°, and (apart from my mustache getting crunchy, I was fine (a new pair of used Canadian Army boots didn't hurt, my valenki would do fine, but the amount of salt here would kill brine shrimp, so I'd rather not expose them to it).
Today was the first trip with the camera, and (for all that gloves aren't great for my hands, they are better than the bare are, but something about my circulation means my fingers get cold. One of my mittens got left in a car, so I'm using just gloves) it wasn't bad. Lots of snow (and frolicking in same), and some good photos (though one of the pains of the LCD on the Nikon is the exposures always look about 1/3rd stop brighter than they are, so things are a tad underexposed, thank goodness for .RAW, which will let me recover about 2/3rds of a stop without too much loss of detail. It's sort of like burning in a thin negative) resulted.
More trips, with different carrying kit, and more good photos will result.
One of the amusements is the time I spent in the Army has been really useful. I am really good at shucking/donning clothing when entering/leaving buildings (and the wealth of coffee shops is a boon, since after an hour spent slogging through the streets, or breasting snow which is loose enough that one is thigh deep and breasting a wave like a small boat running before a light wind, a wee drop of something warm is a good thing).
Who knew that being able to don MOPP Gear, and doff "Battle Rattle" would have practical applications on the civilian side of the street.
The only real disappointment to date was finding out one can't watch the Throne Speech (which opens parliament) so we walked about the downtown, and I got to look at various statues and ponder photography for the future.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-01-30 05:53 pm (UTC)