The Bright Side

We’ve gotten to that time of year when winter really just needs to be over, but every time you check the weather report there’s another snowstorm on the horizon.  This year is particularly annoying because there was hardly any snow during the period of time between December and February when snow is appropriate and occasionally welcomed (PEOPLE WROTE SONGS ABOUT WHITE CHRISTMASES FOR A REASON), and instead it delayed its arrival until the middle of February, and appears to be doing some kind of grand finale (well, it’d better be the finale) tomorrow, with 7 to 10 inches expected here in Chicago.  And it’s not even the light, pretty snow.  It’s wet, heavy, already-kind-of-gray-when-it-falls snow.  To put the cherry on that sundae, it was a particularly gray, cloudy February, even by Chicago standards.

What this all translates to is that I’ve worn all of my sweaters 10,000 times this season and all my outfits feel tired, I have a heightened annoyance at things that usually don’t annoy me, I can’t imagine what 80 degrees even feels like and am certain that it will be cold and gray forever, and I am over it.

However, in the interest of my mental health, I have realized that not everything about this sucks.  In fact, I have found the bright side.

Lately

• Three years after first hearing about them, I finally made the “ultimate” Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from the New York Times.  They were definitely worth the 36 hour wait (taste-testing the dough periodically during the waiting period encouraged).  Next up: Boston Cream Cupcakes.
• 
• I’ve eaten an orange basically every day in January.  They’re cheap and they’re the perfect antidote to January in Chicago.
• The second video in this article is the cutest.
• Plans are my thing.  This year my plan is to read 52 books, and so far I’ve tackled Freedom and The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen, Drop Dead Healthy by A.J. Jacobs, Empty Family by Colm Toibin.  Book recommendations always welcome.

Seven ways to get nothing done on your time off

Fun fact: did you know a month where you have one week of no work due to natural disaster, one week of shitty public transportation from said natural disaster, and then two two-day weeks of mostly traveling, your work life becomes very stressful?

This was basically my entire month of November. So, when December finally rolled around, I was counting down to the week-long winter break that the university I work for gives all its administrative employees. I had tons of ideas of what I was going to do with my spare time: read academic journals, finish a few good books, catch up on my sleep, finally get in a full workout a few days in a row.

Five days into the vacation, and I have done pretty much none of these things. In fact, I really can’t even tell you what I did with my many hours of free time. How is this possible, you ask? Here’s your guide to excellently vacant vacations.

Thoughts for Festive Foods

‘Tis the season for holiday parties and celebrations.  Still trying to figure out what  to make for all of your events?  Let me help you.

Still deciding what to serve for Christmas dinner?

Let me tell you, Hot Cheddar Marbles and Crabapple Ornaments are the new bacon-wrapped everything and cake pops.  But the Roquefort Mousse Salad is not your taste?  May I suggest an alternative Christmas dinner, featuring Shrimp in Asipc (nothing says happy holidays like aspic) and Cranberry Candles.  Did I mention the ingredient list for cranberry candles includes cranberry sauce, gelatin, mayonnaise, and oranges?  Mmm.

Proximity to time zone borders affects the composition of daylight hours.

INTRODUCTION: As a relatively recent transplant to Chicago, IL from Pittsburgh, PA (and before that Rochester, NY), it seemed as though adjusting to Central Standard Time (CST) would be relatively simple.  Aside from being mindful of late night telephone calls to friends and family on Eastern Standard Time (EST), and watching primetime television shows an hour earlier than normal, it seemed as though there was no significant difference between CST and EST.  However, as I became more attuned to my surroundings, I noticed that the long summer evenings and short winter days seemed… shorter.  At first, I dismissed this idea as simply a nostalgic recollection of my childhood, when summer days lasted forever and I was finished with school at 2:30PM instead of walking out of work at 5:00PM.  However, while driving from Rochester, NY to Chicago, IL and watching the clock on my phone change from one time to an hour earlier in the span of a mile, I began to formulate another theory.  In fact, it seemed that because Chicago was so close to the EST border, what was evening darkness in Indiana became late afternoon darkness in Chicago.  What follows is my scientific exploration into this theory.

HYPOTHESIS: Due to its proximity to the eastern border of the CST, Chicago has longer morning daylight hours and shorter evening daylight hours than cities in close proximity to the western border of the EST.

METHOD: Using the google search engine, I recorded the sunrise and sunset times for Chicago, IL and South Bend, IN on December 6th, 2012 and June 6th, 2012.  South Bend was chosen for its close proximity to the western border of the EST.

RESULTS:

Table 1		Sunrise	Sunset
	06-06-2012
Chicago, IL		5:16AM CST	8:22PM CST
South Bend, IN		6:11AM EST	9:16PM CST
	12-06-2012
Chicago, IL		7:05AM CST	4:19PM CST
South Bend, IN		7:58AM EST	5:14PM EST

Table 1 clearly demonstrates that the sun consistently rises and sets earlier in Chicago, IL compared to South Bend, IN (based on the local time in each location).

CONCLUSION: There are many factors that people consider when determining where to live, including cost of living, job market, proximity to family, transportation system, arts and culture, and weather.  It is my recommendation that proximity to a time zone border be a part of this equation.  Early risers may favor locations close to the eastern border of a time zone, while night owls may prefer locations close to the western border of a time zone to maximize exposure to daylight hours.

My less objective conclusion is that I really wish they could move the CST border so that Chicago was in EST because longer summer nights are obviously better than full daylight at 6:00AM and the sun really set at 4:19PM today?  That is absurd.