Deep Freeze

One of the nice things about my business trips is they take me to places that sometimes are reprieves from the weather at home.  Last week I noticed the weather in KC was going to get very cold early this week.  But, I had a business trip scheduled for Tuesday, so maybe it would take me someplace warm.  Houston is in my territory, for example.  Instead, my destination was Minnesota.  I arrived last night when the temperature was something like -8.  But early this morning as I left my hotel to go to the customer site, it was a brisk -20.  Yes, the temperature was -20, not the wind chill.  The wind chill was -36.  That's fine if you're in Antarctica or northern Canada or something.  But that just shouldn't happen in the continental US.  Poor performance, Minnesota.  Stop trying to impersonate other countries that no one wants to go to anyway.

Prior to taking the above picture earlier today, I seriously debated if it was even worth stopping my walk to my car and attempting to hold on to the camera to take the picture.  That facial expression is neither an attempt to smile nor an over-dramatic wince.  That's just my face's natural position as it somehow tries to defend itself against the wind and cold.

As I prepared to get out of my car in the parking garage last night to walk to my hotel, I thought about how it would feel, and I assumed it would be something like "Wow, it's really, really miserably cold out here".  Instead, thinking back on it, this was seriously pretty much my exact thought process: "Ow, this is really painful.  I'm surprised it's this bad.  Why is my skin burning?  Is it already frozen?  Is this what frostbite feels like?  I can't tell if my fingers are completely numb or burning in pain.  Why didn't I bring thicker gloves?  How much further is it to the hotel?  Why didn't I just spring for valet parking?  I bet they're getting a lot of business tonight for their valet parking.  Wait, people choose to live here?  Who would choose to live here?  I guess it's nice in the summer.  But it's not THAT nice in the summer.  At least in Alaska they pay you money to live there.  Alaska also has mountains and glaciers and stuff.  They mostly just have lakes here.  Doesn't seem worth it.  I wish I were wearing one of those bank-robber facemasks.  Ow.  This is awful.  Wait, there's the hotel!"