I find myself in a
familiar scenario—I fly tomorrow for the Dirty Jerz, my suitcase stubbornly
remains unpacked, and I decide that now, 11:00pm, is a good time to sit down
and blob.At least I’ve packed
the two critical items—my everything bagel and cream cheese making kit and my
terry-cloth bathrobe. Whatever else I need I can probably steal from my
sisters.This has worked in the
past.
But now I feel compelled
to share some big, cheesy love for the first city that stole my heart—HOUSTON,
you big, ugly, beautiful, delicious sprawl of a city. Just writing the word “cheesy” made me hungry for the queso
only you can provide. Look what
you’ve done to me. I have you to thank
for some of my best friendships and best memories. I miss you, I love you, I’m proud of you. The images from the hurricane boggle my
mind and break my heart, so I went back through my own images of Houston to
cheer myself up. I hope they’ll do
the same for you.
First, literal cheer.
Second, comfort food.
Third, weather you used to think was a disaster.
And fourth, the kind of downpours we prefer.
Please be mindful of your safety.
And know we've got your back. (Friends, please consider donating to YES Prep Family Flood Relief fund. I used to coach at YES Prep--they are wonderful people.)
Unprecedented thing—I am writing this post AHEAD of time. It is the first early blob. I am still going to schedule it to
publish tomorrow for a reason that will reveal itself later.
Why am I writing
early? Two reasons. Number one, tomorrow is opening day for
the Architects, Contractors & Engineers Softball League of San
Francisco. Last year, we claimed
the dubious prize of “First Place in the Non-Competitive Playoff”, which I think
is equivalent to a participation trophy.
So we have middling success.
The contractors, being bigger, stronger, and scarier, consistently beat
up on all the skinny architects and engineers. While I’d like to think architects’ coolness advantage over
engineers translates into softball wins, that is not always the case. Tomorrow we play a team of contractors,
so it may be a tough night for the defending Non-Competitive Playoff
Champs.
Number two, I am
procrastinating studying for my Building Systems exam (aptly abbreviated
“BS”). I’m supposed to study
electrical systems tonight, but I’m having trouble relocating from the couch to
the desk. On Saturday, when I was
supposed to study plumbing systems, somehow I ended up taking a six-hour nap. So motivation has been a tough thing to
muster. I’m very ready to be done
with these tests. Two more to go,
then the California exam, then I will be an architect. Why does it take longer to become an
architect than it does to become a doctor…we do not get paid nearly enough for
this.
Anyways, in honor of my flooded, beloved Houston and Way
Back Wednesday (which I thought I invented until I just googled it), I will close with one of my all-time
favorite Youtube videos.I
remember seeing this on the news while we waited for Hurricane Ike to make
landfall.I’m so glad it’s on
Youtube.It just tickles me.I may account for all 79,000 views.
San Francisco: where 2 beds + 1 bath = 2.7 million dollars
2. From the Ballast
Building Systems ARE study guide:
“To quantify the effects of clothing [on
human comfort], the unit clo
was developed. One clo is about equal to the typical American man’s
business suit or about 0.15 clo/lbm of clothing.”
My comments:
- The unit clo is hilarious and cute.
- The second sentence from the study guide does not
make sense. One clo cannot equal 0.15 clo/lb. (That it can equal a typical American
man’s business suit is also up for debate. Does this mean when Will and I are packing to go to the next
wedding I can tell him not to forget his clo?)
- Upon further investigation (Wikipedia), I believe
the study guide should have said 0.15 K·m²/W.
If you are interested (and even if you’re not), K·m²/W
is the same unit for the R-value for insulation. Which makes sense because clo measures the insulation value of clothing.
- Furthermore, according to Wikipedia, another unit
for the insulation value of clothing is the tog (1 clo = 1.55 togs). “Togs” is supposedly a British slang term for clothes.
What is it about packing
that makes my brain go, “Maybe you should write about how much you hate
this”? Misery while packing was a
recurring theme of the Claire Blabbing blog (may it rest in peace). Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you
a new blog, because what better time is there to start a blog than when I am
65% packed for a cross-country move, occurring Saturday, with movers coming at
9am tomorrow? There is no better
time. How else to capture the raw
emotion of leaving Houston, this big, ugly, beautiful city I’ve grown to love,
for San Francisco, unknown land of hippies and earthquakes? What’s an anxiety-ridden Jersey girl to
do? The answer: not pack. Sure, I will eventually get everything
in boxes. But it’s only 9:00. The night is young.
While my packing
aversion spurred me to write this first post, I have been considering a return
to blogging for a while now. I
kept attempting to revive Claire Blabbing, but it just never felt right. I am at peace with my decision to let
it die. New life, new blog. I again will find myself in a foreign
city with a somewhat inconvenient time difference from the East Coast (Beast
Coast, as they say), so a blog feels like an efficient way to communicate. As for the title Claire Blobbing, I used a similar
approach to one I used for naming my childhood pet hermit crabs (Jaws, Claws,
Jaws II, Claws II, etc). I also
drew inspiration from the mess that currently threatens my apartment and
existence. I suppose it may be
time to tame the beast.
