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Spring, wherefore art thou
Feb. 8th, 2005 09:04 pm2 days ago it was -30; today it was 20 (above!) when we got home from work, and, unbelievably, you could still see outside, sort of, at 5:30 p.m. It's strange how what would have been the Depths of Winter (TM) in October (20 degrees and nearly dark at 5:30) now feels like spring, in spite of the several feet of snow all around to give the lie to it.
It's really freaky how much easier it is keeping the house warm when it's 10 degrees instead of -30. We've been making the fire in the boiler once a day, in the evening. Usually it boosts the temperature up to about 180 degrees (in the water tank, not the house) before it goes out, and then we turn the thermostat down to 60 before bed and while we're at work, and the house stays tolerable while the water tank on the boiler doesn't get *too* cold ... it usually drops to about 120 by evening.
In -30 weather that boiler has to be going ALL THE TIME or the water temperature drops like a stone and so does the temp inside the house.
On the drive home from work today, Orion and I were talking about the last 5 years and how much things have changed since we left Alaska the first time. Technically, we were talking about it with regards to computer technology, but it got me thinking about my whole entire life, and how it's evolved since then. I remember being afraid that leaving would make me into a person I wouldn't want to be. Nice to learn that I haven't ... or, at least, if I *have* changed that much, I'm happy enough with how I am now that I don't care if my former self wouldn't have liked me. (I'd have needed to smack the snot out of her for being a whiny brat, anyway.)
Five years ago all I'd done was daydream about comics; now I spend most of my free time drawing them. Five years ago, I hadn't met oodles of cool people who are now my friends. Five years ago, I was a much less confident person who knew a lot less about the world than I do now.
Change is good sometimes.
I am, however, so glad to be back that words can hardly express it, and I hope I never have to leave again, at least not for any great length of time.
It's really freaky how much easier it is keeping the house warm when it's 10 degrees instead of -30. We've been making the fire in the boiler once a day, in the evening. Usually it boosts the temperature up to about 180 degrees (in the water tank, not the house) before it goes out, and then we turn the thermostat down to 60 before bed and while we're at work, and the house stays tolerable while the water tank on the boiler doesn't get *too* cold ... it usually drops to about 120 by evening.
In -30 weather that boiler has to be going ALL THE TIME or the water temperature drops like a stone and so does the temp inside the house.
On the drive home from work today, Orion and I were talking about the last 5 years and how much things have changed since we left Alaska the first time. Technically, we were talking about it with regards to computer technology, but it got me thinking about my whole entire life, and how it's evolved since then. I remember being afraid that leaving would make me into a person I wouldn't want to be. Nice to learn that I haven't ... or, at least, if I *have* changed that much, I'm happy enough with how I am now that I don't care if my former self wouldn't have liked me. (I'd have needed to smack the snot out of her for being a whiny brat, anyway.)
Five years ago all I'd done was daydream about comics; now I spend most of my free time drawing them. Five years ago, I hadn't met oodles of cool people who are now my friends. Five years ago, I was a much less confident person who knew a lot less about the world than I do now.
Change is good sometimes.
I am, however, so glad to be back that words can hardly express it, and I hope I never have to leave again, at least not for any great length of time.