Monday Morning Blahs

It's another Monday morning. It's cold outside and is apparently going to get colder this week, below zero, I think they said. A local weather channel is running a contest for "pick the date' of the first day the temperature hits zero. I think that's a little silly given that they're telling us that it's going to be Thursday. Of course, that's giving the weather forecasters a lot of credit; most of the time they're wrong, anyway.

You'd think in the age of Doppler 7000 or whatever we're up to now, the weather reports would be right more often than they're wrong but I haven't found that to be too accurate. Ok, so I know we have to allow for Mother Nature to interfere with the weather but I can't help but wonder why the weather reports are wrong so often. But that doesn't stop us from watching the weather though, does it?

Weather reports can be amusing. My parents, being in a different television broadcast area to me, have a different weather lady. She not only wears the strangest outfits but also acts like the End is Nigh when the weather threatens to do anything. The same channel also has this poor little newbie reporter who inevitably gets to stand by the side of the Interstate whenever it's snowing, freezing raining or...it's cold. She gets to tell us that....it's cold. Ok, so I know that new reporters have to pay their dues but really chances are that those of us watching the weather have figured out that it's cold outside. We really don't need a reporter to tell us something so obvious.

The other thing that makes me smile about the local weather people is that they're using a blue screen- you know that nifty screen that moves behind them as they tell us about the incoming weather? When I was in college, I took a Journalism for TV class and the first thing they taught us was that if you're using a blue screen, you shouldn't wear blue. You see, it blends into the screen. I often see local weather reporters with floating heads and such because they're wearing blue. It's actually rather amusing.

Anyway, we're not actually supposed to have any major weather over the next week so they're emphasizing the fact that it will be really cold. Yes, it's January. This is the Midwest. It's sort of expected. We really don't need to devote ten minutes telling us how cold it's going to get. This is the kind of reporting that sends the panickers to the store where there's a run on bread and milk.

I don't get that, either. Whenever bad weather looms, people run out and get bread and milk. Why? Milk usually has a shelf life of less than a week these days. Bread goes mouldy. If we're going to get snowed in, that's not really the only thing you can live on. How about some nice pop-tarts, some canned soup, some crackers? Why bread and milk?

Anyway, so it's cold outside and it's a Monday. This is a combination that adds up to the fact that I'd dearly have loved to have just stayed in bed and slept this morning. Again, what else is new? I'd love it if employers would, along with sick time and vacation, give you some "sleep in" hours. Wouldn't that be great? You get, maybe, two hours a month for that. By the end of the year, you can combine them to take one day off if you don't use them. If you do use them, you have the luxury of looking at the clock in the morning and opting to take them.

Yes, I know logistically, this would wreak havoc. Everything does, these days. Chances are, you'd still have to call your boss to tell them you were using your "sleep in" hours which would interrupt sleep. If you didn't call, it'd be hard for bosses to keep track of you. Still, the idea sounds nice, doesn't it?

I didn't sleep well this weekend. I had odd dreams. I won't bore you with the details because second-hand dreams are always a little boring when they're not your own. I did dream I was going to County Cork, Ireland. That was a weird dream because it was so specific. Maybe it was because I was at my parent's- who knows. I did manage to beat the bad weather and get there on Friday night. Unfortunately, the weather on my birthday was crappy and I didn't get to do much other than stay home and do a jigsaw. That's actually not a bad thing, necessarily. At least I was with my parents who made the most of such a horrible-weather day.

Yet now it's time for another week. I don't feel any older than I did on Friday. Nothing much has changed. My feet are as cold as they were on Friday. I have the same work to do. Life is the same as it was. I am older though. They say with age comes wisdom. I'm still waiting for that...

Happy Monday.