Month: January 2015

I watched a funny video making fun of K-Cups. I understand why people hate these things. It seems like an unnecessary waste of plastic. They are expensive. And they come in stupid flavors.

But I made the mistake of straying into the comments section (why do I ever read online comments?) and noticed outrage, indignation and overall righteousness and fuming over how evil and environmentally destructive K-Cups are.

But coffee is grown in tropical forests and is imported from thousands of miles away. It provides no nutrition (though it has health benefits). Even the most ethical growing methods are carbon intensive and displace native plants and animals with essentially monoculture. And what if K-Cups use coffee more efficiently than other methods? It seems like I throw out a large wad of grounds after using my electric coffee maker.

This is an instance of selective outrage. It serves as a good reminder to me: whenever I feel peevish over something (such as people sitting in their idling cars while playing on their phones for ten, fifteen, twenty minutes at a time), I should examine my own conduct (am I driving somewhere? It would take only a one-mile trip to equal roughly fifteen minutes of idling, if comparing gas usage alone. I understand idling produces more toxic exhaust than a moving vehicle).

Included: what I think are coyote tracks on the Mississippi River. Also indications that a field mouse was bounding along and then dove headlong into the snow like Scrooge McDuck in his coins. Maybe it was fleeing a coyote!

​The low temperature last night was well below zero and it was very windy. The weather forecasts include admonitions to "help each other out" and "check in on elders."

But around ten p.m. last night as I returned home I let someone down. I was bundled up from head to toe and was almost running from my car to my apartment. I was walking toward a guy who was standing in front of a placard which was not a map but informational. I didn’t have my glasses on but I saw him wipe snow from it with his bare hand. My night vision sucks but as I got closer I saw he had on only a leather jacket, chucks and jeans; no gloves​ or hat. He peered at me blankly and I said hello. He asked, "What building is that?" I said it was the Wilson library, closed I think. His face was pinkish and he looked to be in his late teens or early twenties, probably native.

The signs of hypothermia include a lack of awareness of one’s condition and lack of judgement. And people who abuse alcohol are at heightened risk. Hopefully he is okay.

Holy shit, what a great way to spend a below-zero evening in January. I went with my little sister and my little sister’s girlfriend and my little sister’s girlfriend’s sister.

We enjoyed a band that takes its cue from Django Reinhardt/Stephane Grappelli: Parisota Hot Club.

The place is amazing, the best of the Victorian greenhouse tradition. And as the band plays on the ambiance changes as daylight fades and becomes dusky, then dark. The music is played on speakers throughout the conservatory, allowing you to walk among those amazing tropical plants while enjoying "Nuages" and "Minor Swing."

The place looks and feels totally different when it’s dark.

It serves as a reminder that when it’s cold outside you better just make your own warmth:

"What a fine frosty night; how Orion glitters; what northern lights! Let them talk of their oriental summer climes of everlasting conservatories; give me the privilege of making my own summer with my own coals."

– I got the job. Fuck yeah.

– I hung out with an old friend and went to Acme Comedy club for amateur night. I was surprised when a previously funny act seemed angry and drunk instead. He then pulled out his phone and refused to leave the stage when his time was up. Maybe this means I should consider actually, like, paying for comedy sometimes, if I don’t want to cringe like that again.

– Chrimbus was a smashing success. I like my family more than I used to.

– New Year’s Eve at the Cardinal was FUN. I like my friends.

– Wood Lake Nature Center is a gem in winter. I stopped there on the way back from my pee test (for the new job) and hiked around the perimeter trail. I heard the resident great horned owl, then saw it swoop down from a tree and into another tree, where it disappeared. I looked for comet Lovejoy near Orion, which is supposedly visible to the naked eye. But I’ll have to try again with binoculars and in a dark area.

Then on the way back to the entrance I came across hundreds of luminaries lit up along the trail for their New Year’s Eve event, which I had forgotten about. It was pretty. A friendly gentleman was stoking a fire and asked if I wanted to roast a marshmallow. Duh. It was delicious.

When you have a campfire your jacket becomes permeated with a smoky odor that instantly transports you with nice memories for the next week or so, unexpectedly, when you put on the jacket or reach for something in your pocket. Smell is without a doubt the most evocative of the senses.