Suspiciously Good Summer Weather: Calgary Edition
I’m hesitant to blog about this because I don’t want to jinx it, but we’ve had the best summer weather this year. Especially this July. It’s usually obnoxiously hot/smoky/both during this month, but we’ve had tons of rain, lots of cloudy days, and, overall, very cool weather.
Heck, Tuesday was Calgary’s coldest July 22nd since records began in 1884. And July 21st? Same thing.
That’s wild.
The rain can be obnoxious (notice I’m posting book reviews in July; that does not happen unless I’m stuck on the treadmill), but this is so much better than the heat.
I’m trying to take advantage of the cool morning running weather, too.
Y’know What?
This was a good summer.
It’s been the first summer in several years where I’m not frantically prepping for something big, like ASHA or tenure track renewal or tenure. We had good weather while my mom was up here in June and despite it being like 100+ degrees in Moscow when I was down there in July, at least I got to go down there (and I didn’t get injured this time!).
I had lots of time to experiment with my new favorite medium of watercolor and got to watch a LOT of SolarBalls while doing it.
I got to run a lot, even if most of it was at like 3 AM in the pitch black and in creepy Bowness Park.
Yup.
Good summer.
The 3 AM Run
Pros:
- No sun
- No sunscreen
- Nobody’s out on the trail
- Minimal traffic
- 18 miles done by 6 AM
- The ambient temperature is actually still decreasing until like 5:30 AM, so there’s that to look forward to rather than a constantly increasing temperature like I’d get if I left at my usual 6 AM
Cons:
- Getting up at 2 AM
- Moose encounters (namely, the heart-stopping experience of seeing a silhouette slowly emerge in your headlamp beam and realizing that it’s a big-ass moose that’s looking right at you)
- Bowness Park is pretty creepy in the pitch black
How do I fix the sad?
I am in the rut to end all ruts right now. I feel utterly useless and that everything I try to do is just going to be outdone by someone else or just completely ignored.
So let’s try to end said rut by making a list of feasible end-of-summer goals, huh?
I think I did something like this last year and it helped me get things done. The nice thing about this year is I’m FINALLY not going to have to spend my summer prepping for a new course (like ASHA, which took a lot of prep) or constructing, finalizing, and polishing my tenure application. So what should I do?
- Complete the registered marathons/ultras I am currently signed up for. This one should be easy if I don’t, like, lose a leg or something.
- Print the remaining blogs. I have Year 1 – Year 12 printed. I want to get the rest of them in physical form just in case something bad happens to all the digital versions.
- Do another story edit (and more?). I haven’t touched my story in several months because I’ve been busy with other nonsense…which maybe is a good thing; now I can do another edit with fresher eyes.
- Clean/organize my office. It’s better than it was this time last year, but I hate that it’s not as organized as it should be.
- Do art. Drawing, painting, whatev. I FINALLY will have some time to do it, so let’s take advantage of it, shall we?
- Get more serious about improving my French listening skills. Reading? Fine. Writing? Okay. Listening? It’s horrible. I need to do better before my next class in the fall.
I’ll add more stuff later if I think of it.
Ugh.
The smoke is back.
Already.
It’s FREAKING MAY.
It also always seems to happen on the hottest day of the week/month/whatev, so we can’t even open the windows.
I hate summer already.
BURN IT DOWN
British Columbia is ON FIRE!
Spokane is ON FIRE!
But let’s pretend they’re not and check out the fact that I walked/ran the distance of the Appalachian Trail.
(It’s a lie, I earned this on the 19th, but didn’t sync until the 20th.)
So Alberta is on fire
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT’S FIRE SEASON!
I already hate summer and it’s the beginning of May.
Welcome to hell!
IT’S SUMMER, SUMMER, SUMMER!!!!!
(Well, not technically, but you know what I mean)
Time for another “how am I supposed to care about my present or future when the world is on fire and our generation probably won’t make it to retirement on a survivable planet?”
What’s it going to be this summer, eh?
Ridiculous wildfires?
Crop-destroying, river-draining droughts?
Crippling, month-long heatwaves?
ALL OF THE ABOVE????? ?? ???
???
Edit: Jesus Christ, Phoenix.
It’s Too Darn Hot
Annnnnnnnd now I’ve got this stuck in my head:
It’s 84-ish degrees today, which isn’t SUPER hot by any means (we would have killed for that temp during last year’s heat dome), but still. Gross.
Also, I ran 15 miles this morning and then walked a total of five miles on top of that, so I’m pretty over the heat right now.
(Also it’s allergy central, which doesn’t help things.)
Remember last year?
This time last year we were in the throes of that horrible heat dome. Remember that? Remember how freaking terrible that was? Thankfully this summer (at least so far) has been much, much milder and way rainier. Hopefully that will help with the fire season later on in July and August. Hopefully BC won’t be one big blaze. Hopefully things will be relatively cool even in the later months of the season.
But I’m sure summers like last year will become more and more common…and that’s terrifying.
MORE NEW WEEZER
Remember back in March when I mentioned that Weezer was planning on releasing an EP for each of the four seasons this year? Well, it’s officially summer now, so here’s their summer EP:
“Records” is great and “Blue Like Jazz” is super intense.
I also love that the calm, green statue head from spring is now on fire, haha.
Flamin’ Moe’s
Me at the end of May: Hey, it’s finally warming up! I can’t wait for summer; it’s my favorite season. I’ll be sad when it’s winter again!
Me at the end of June: TURN THE FUCKING SUN OFF
True story.
(Also, joke’s on them – I’m sad every season.)
‘Screen Time
Man, we can’t do anything without harming the planet, can we?
Here’s a list of some of the safer sunscreens. I should switch to one of these; I use a LOT of sunscreen.
(Fear of a) HEAT WAAAAAAAAVE
So is anyone else, like, terrified of summers now?
Summer is typically my favorite time of year – long hours of daylight, good running weather, nice and warm, etc. But after last year’s heat dome and how absolutely horrible that week or so was, there have been a few moments where I’ve been in almost a legit panic about summer happening again.
I think part of it is just a general fear of the future and the thought that this will probably be the norm sooner rather than later. Like…will last year be one of the cooler summers in the next twenty years?
That’s horrifying.
Not to mention all the stuff with the water shortages in the southwest. That’s also extremely worrying.
I hate everything. I hate that our future will just be getting worse and worse and at this point there’s probably nothing we can do about it.
THE SPRING/SUMMER FRECKLES ARE BACK
That didn’t take long.
SUMMER DAYS DRIFTED AWAY
Yo, party poopers!
So since it’s the end of August, I’m declaring “summer” officially over. Back in June I made a list of the crap I wanted to accomplish over the summer, so let’s recap and see just how big of a failure I was:
- “Walk until my toes fall off.” Haha. Ha. Pretty close, let me tell ya…
- “Clean the condo. My responsibilities are the bathroom and kitchen, which get the most visibly gross the fastest.” I actually did this! Maybe once, though. Now that my leg is a wounded animal, I’m afraid to bend it too much. Bending is a pretty big requirement for cleaning the bathroom, ‘cause I get all down and dirty and scrub every inch of the bathtub. I get it filthy with my gross walking feet; it’s only right that I clean it.
- “Consolidate my pasta.” DID IT! Now there’s only like 13 boxes in the cabinet instead of 20+.
- “Clean the little storage room in the back. There’s a lot of boxes back there. And cat litter dust. Time to sweep where no man has swept before!” DONE! LOTS of cat litter dust.
- “Clean my side of the closet. There’s a lot of boxes in there. Mostly shoe boxes full of dead Kinvaras.” DONE! I kept the Kinvaras, though. Stuck ‘em in a giant bag. I’m not a hoarder, no siree.
- “Draw more.” HA.
- “Organize my bookmarks.” DONE!
- “Read this amazing biography of this amazing human being yet again, because it’s getting to be that time of the year.” Didn’t do this one ‘cause Nate was busy reading it.
- “Rewrite my old calculus notes into one giant notebook combining calc I, calc II, and calc III.” Nope.
- “Do my 50-mile walk. It’s time.” DONE! This is the one I’m most proud of.
- “Organize the crap on my computer.” Mostly done, yes.
- “POST THESE BLOGS OMFG” I did the first round! They’re posted through the beginning of July, which is a pretty big deal considering how many that needed posting back in June.
Not too bad!
Walk like an Encryption
So this summer’s going to be super busy. Things to do include:
- Wedding planning
- Future planning
- 2 trips to Moscow
- Working on thesis
- TA-ing
- Getting married!
- Defending thesis/graduating
- Looking for a job (and hopefully getting one)
*stresses out*
*realizes that most of these things are good*
*continues to stress out anyway*
Woo.
Summer Plans (well, some of them)
Okay, so it’s super late, but I have news that I can finally talk about (this was what I hinted at on Saturday).
Nate and I will be leaving in the middle of May to go on a three-week-long road trip through the western US. We’re going to see things like the California redwoods, Yellowstone, Four Corners, the Grand Canyon, Vegas, and a major league baseball game in San Francisco. We’ll also be in Moscow for a few days.
I will post pictures, of course, probably on here and on Facebook (even though I never use Facebook anymore).
WOO!
Summer Reading List
Okay, so I know we’re still in March, but there are a few non-fic books I want to read this summer* and thus decided to make a list of them now.
GO!
Leibniz: An Intellectual Biography by Maria Rosa Antognazza
The only reason I haven’t read this beautiful bio of my main man more than once is because it deserves my full attention—something I haven’t been able to give it since last July. But it will definitely be read again!
Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter
My mom bought me a copy of this book a loooong time ago, but I’ve never gotten past the first 15 or so pages. It seems quite interesting, I just haven’t been able to get into it yet.
Mathematics From the Birth of Numbers by Jan Gullberg
Another book I’ve had for a long time. Not so much a “reading” book as a “here’s everything about math ever” book—I think I finally have a strong enough math background to make sense of a lot of the components of this book.
A History of Mathematics by Carl B. Boyer
IF I CAN’T TAKE THE DAMN CLASS, I’LL READ THE DAMN BOOK.
If you don’t know why I want to read this, you don’t know me.
*I say “this summer” because it’s a lot easier for me to concentrate on awesome books when I’m not freaking out about school.
Remmus
I get to teach in the summer!!
And what’s better: it’s not the 7:30 AM section!!! It’s the totally reasonable and much more Claudia-friendly 11:30 AM section, which runs for two hours on M/T/W/Th and starts right after spring semester is done.
WOO!!!
I still don’t have any concrete plans past that point—which SUCKS and I hate it—but I’m glad that I at least get to teach in the summer.
Also, this:
An Ode to a (Semi-)Productive Summer
The academic summer is officially over in an hour! Let’s review the goals I specified in May (or June or whenever):
- Actually study for the GRE/GRE math subject test. FAIL. Loser.
- Rock calculus. DONE!
- Rock summer teaching. DONE!
- Go back up to Vancouver and walk the hell out of that city. FAIL. We were going to go up there, but plans fell through.
- Figure out what’s going down next fall as far as teaching goes. DONE!
- Figure out what’s going down for the rest of my life as far as everything goes. Uh…working on it?
- Hit at least 1000 walking miles. DONE!
- Thoroughly delve into Antognazza’s Leibniz: An Intellectual Biography. DONE! <3
- Reacquaint myself with my old linear algebra notes. I looked over them a few times and decided to take linear algebra again, so DONE sort of?
- Possibly visit Sean? FAIL. Too expensive. I’m sad.
- Spend a weekend doing absolutely nothing but Minecraft/drawing/sitting in my basement away from everyone. I don’t think I actually spent a whole weekend in the house. GOTTA WALK! So…FAIL?
- Research possible graduate schools (AGAIN, UGH). DONE! Canada’s on my radar again.
- A few other things that are private. ALL OF THESE WERE FAIL
Maybe it wasn’t as productive as I thought. But I did get Phase I of a big project done (which is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time) and am currently on Phase II, so that’s kind of good.
I forgot to play Minecraft!
Stuff I should have done today:
- Written the test for my class.
- Worked on my data stuff for my other job.
- Gone walking EARLY to beat the heat so I could actually go on the trail.
Stuff I actually did today:
- Screwed around until 3 PM.
- Walked 16 miles…at the rec center. ‘Cause I was too lazy to go walking earlier and it was too hot to walk outside.
- Wrote smutty fan fiction.
- Watched a bunch of Achievement Hunter vids (they pretty much rule my Saturdays)
- Drank copious amounts of Red Bull.
- Drew some crap.
Good day?
These blogs are gonna suck for like the next two weeks, FYI.
It’s teachin’ time!
YAY!
These next two weeks are going to be insane, though. Teaching, finishing calc, and doing the data analysis stuff. But calc’s over in two weeks and then I have no more classes until fall.
I anticipate a weekend of solid Minecrafting once these two weeks are over.
DONE!
Summer Goals:
- Actually study for the GRE/GRE math subject test
- Rock calculus
- Rock summer teaching
- Go back up to Vancouver and walk the hell out of that city
- Figure out what’s going down next fall as far as teaching goes
- Figure out what’s going down for the rest of my life as far as everything goes
- Hit at least 1000 walking miles
- Thoroughly delve into Antognazza’s Leibniz: An Intellectual Biography
- Reacquaint myself with my old linear algebra notes
- Possibly visit Sean?
- Spend a weekend doing absolutely nothing but Minecraft/drawing/sitting in my basement away from everyone (though I kind of do that last one on most days anyway)
- Research possible graduate schools (AGAIN, UGH)
- A few other things that are private
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