Undercover

"...beep...beep...beep... the outdoor temperature is 32 degrees fahrenheit." The old indoor-outdoor thermometer next to my nightstand is of the "talking" variety, and although I rarely use its voice feature it is set to sound an alert when the outdoor temperature exceeds 100F or dips below 33F. I don't think I've heard it in over a year. However, thus was I awakened this morning. Since it is a Friday in December and I've not skipped a day in a while, I pulled the covers over my head and contemplated my good fortune at having the use of the car today. The wife is staying at a hotel downtown while working a conference that started early this morning. One thing I've always thought would be a nice invention for guys who train in the morning is a programmable alarm clock that takes into consideration the outdoor temperature and weather conditions. For example, if it's below 32F, the usual 5:45 am alarm could be automatically delayed for an hour - or two. Approaching rain could trigger an alternate alarm message. Cold rain could turn the damned thing off altogether , email the office that I'm sick, and start a pot of coffee!

So this morning I was like a normal American. I made some coffee, fried an egg, hopped into the Volvo with the heat cranked up to "high" and the electric seat-warmer switched on, and merged into the rush-hour traffic. That traffic was particularly unusual this morning, as it turned out. The combination of interstate highway construction, some sort of water source, and freezing temperatures resulted in a couple of nice little ice slicks on the local I-10. Numerous surprised motorists did some unexpected automotive ice skating, resulting in a pile-up of cars and a complete shutdown of the interstate. Man, a couple of degrees below freezing and all hell breaks loose around here! As a result, the inner city thoroghfares were full of impatient and disoriented commuters clutching their cellphones in one hand, coffee in the other, and driving with their knees. Since I have to attend a little work-related party at a downtown hotel this evening with The Wife, and since I have been recruited to take a few photos for the organization's website, I finally broke down and stopped by the infamous downtown Wal-Mart to pick up a 1 gig SD card for the new camera. Maybe I'm behind the times a bit, but it still amazes me that I can casually pick up a gigabyte of high-speed RAM on a card half the size of a cheap potato chip for under $50. In fact, it's not uncommon for me to have something like 70 or 80 gigabytes of various forms of memory in my messenger bag at one time. I love it. I want more! OTOH, I'm sure the folks in Silicon Valley and wherever else sloppy programmers labor will do their best to make sure I need at least that much memory to, say, operate my kitchen toaster (or run Windows Vista).

It's looking like it will be another cold night tonight, and considering the fact that I'll be doing a little partying, I may skip the 7 am Giro and instead meet Courtney at the hopefully warmer hour of 8:00. That is, if my alarm goes off...