{"id":89,"date":"2006-02-09T11:21:36","date_gmt":"2006-02-09T11:21:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.plutino.net\/journals\/ethan\/?p=89"},"modified":"2006-02-09T11:22:01","modified_gmt":"2006-02-09T11:22:01","slug":"other-weird-weather-patterns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.plutino.net\/journals\/ethan\/?p=89","title":{"rendered":"Other Weird Weather Patterns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When we returned from spending the holidays in the States, we were slightly dismayed to find that our apartment was freezing and we had neglected to get a gas bottle for our portable heater (or a #25 wrench so that we could swap out one from the grill).  After spending a few blanket-covered, teeth-chattering days, we finally got our act together.  Although we can only heat one room at a time and don&#8217;t feel comfortable using it while we sleep (the pilot went out once and the thought of waking up to a roomful of natural gas is unpleasant, to say the least), it works pretty well.  Amy hasn&#8217;t yet mastered its nuances and has thus dubbed me the &#8220;Heat Boss.&#8221;  The title is perhaps evocative of a villain you might fight at the end of a particularly difficult level in a 30s-style, gangster-themed <a href=\"http:\/\/www.atariage.com\/software_page.html?SoftwareID=1044\">video game<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.plutino.net\/journals\/ethan\/images\/heat_boss.jpg\" width=\"375\" height=\"500\" class=\"blogPhoto\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Aside from chilliness, another unwelcome winter addition to our domicile is the mosquito.  During the warmer months, we had a few of these insect visitors, but they were infrequent, small, and slow moving.  The colder months have inexplicably brought a different variety.  At first, we didn&#8217;t see them but rather would hear them at night in bed (and awaken with their handiwork on our hands and arms).  I imagined them to be hulking, white-furred &#8220;snow mosquitoes.&#8221;  However, the light of day eventually revealed them to be more garden-variety in nature.<\/p>\n<p>Not to be cliched and talk about the weather, but the weather has been strange the last few days.  Last night we went to Torino and at one point I said, &#8220;What&#8217;s that sound?&#8221;  I looked outsided to see that it was hailing buckets.  Later when we walked to the corner to catch a cab, there where patches of these ice-pellets on the sidewalk large enough to make snowballs with.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier today, whilst attempting to get motivated to work, the sun was shining in through the sliding glass doors amidst a total downpour.  I don&#8217;t know if it&#8217;s apparent in the photo below.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.plutino.net\/journals\/ethan\/images\/weird_weather.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" class=\"blogPhoto\"\/><\/p>\n<p>++++++++++++++<\/p>\n<p>Today is also the Muslim self-flagellation holiday of <a href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/1\/hi\/world\/middle_east\/1890541.stm\">Ashurah<\/a>.  It&#8217;s a largely Shi&#8217;a celebration in which the faithful gather in the streets to beat themselves in commemoration of the death of Mohammed&#8217;s grandson Hussein at the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Battle_of_Karbala\">Kerbala<\/a> massacre.  Amy&#8217;s in the next room watching some of the celebrations on TV.  Apparently here in Lebanon, Hezbollah has appropriated the occassion as a platform for denouncing, among other things, some cartoons or something. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When we returned from spending the holidays in the States, we were slightly dismayed to find that our apartment was freezing and we had neglected to get a gas bottle for our portable heater (or a #25 wrench so that &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.plutino.net\/journals\/ethan\/?p=89\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.plutino.net\/journals\/ethan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.plutino.net\/journals\/ethan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.plutino.net\/journals\/ethan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.plutino.net\/journals\/ethan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.plutino.net\/journals\/ethan\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=89"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.plutino.net\/journals\/ethan\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.plutino.net\/journals\/ethan\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=89"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.plutino.net\/journals\/ethan\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=89"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.plutino.net\/journals\/ethan\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=89"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}