Posted by Bill Harris

http://dubiousquality.blogspot.com/2026/01/yuck.html

I'm struggling this week.

I'm winter-phobic at this point after having spent eight years in Grand Rapids (which is on pace for 90" of snow before it finally stops in April). It's been better in Queens, much better, but this last cold snap has been brutal. 

It's just not getting warmer.

The high was 21F today, or something in that range. I still managed to do 7,000 steps and didn't enjoy any of them. The barriers to doing anything in this weather just feel so high. 

I'm still swimming tomorrow, though, even though I may Uber to the ferry. Too much ice at 8:30 a.m. to want to chance walking. 

I'm writing twaddle, basically, and I apologize, but I'm just in a funk.

http://dubiousquality.blogspot.com/2026/01/yuck.html

Posted by Bill Harris

http://dubiousquality.blogspot.com/2026/01/in-short.html

A short summary.

The average high here in January is 39F. It's been 15-20 degrees colder than usual. 

It snowed 14" on Sunday.

I shoveled for an hour on Sunday, and an hour and a half on Monday. 

This morning, I took an Uber to the ferry instead of walking because the intersections have 2+ feet of snow piled up at the corners, making crossing the street quite a challenge.

The Uber driver was late. Traffic was almost at a standstill. I got out of the Uber and ran the last half mile to the ferry, part of it through calf-high snow that hadn't been plowed yet.

During the running through the snow, I wrenched my knee substantially. It still hurts.

The ferry gate was closed and the ferry was seconds away from leaving. They took pity on me and opened it back up so I could get on. People in New York can be incredibly nice.

I swam. This is the good part of the story.

When I got home after swimming, I found out that the smoke alarm had been going off because (somehow) water leaking from melting snow on the roof had found its way through the upstairs neighbor's apartment into my study, dripping right through the smoke detector, which made it go off for some reason. Not much water, not a big deal, except for the smoke detector shrieking over and over again. And it wouldn't turn off.

Now our maintenance person is shoveling snow off the roof and I hear him walking around above me. He's flinging all the snow off the roof, which means I'll need to shovel the area by our house again.

This is why I hate winter. Thank you for listening to my Ted Talk.

http://dubiousquality.blogspot.com/2026/01/in-short.html