What Happened To The Weather?

For starters...for many years we've heard both sides of the Global Warming issue:

Global Warming = Global catastrophe
Global Warming leads to Global Cooling = Global catastrosphe

Didn't a team just go to the pole to study the effects of Global Warming and get stranded by ice for two weeks?  In 1974, Time Magazine blamed the cold on polar vortex and global cooling.  Now Global warming is blamed for the polar vortex.  Oops.  I'm sure in another thirty years they may get it right.

Personally, I don't care.  As a former meteorologist, what bothers me is the new style of disseminating the weather to the masses.  Every week I hear how some part of the country has been hit by "a 100 year storm".  I'm only in my mid 40's and I can tell you we've had quite a lot of hundred year storms!  How is that even possible?  Where's the count start?

What happened to the Weather Channel?  I turned it on to get an update and Weather Nation is now on that channel.  Didn't Sam Champion just quit Good Morning America to join that team?  How are people along the coastlines supposed to know where hurricanes are going to make landfall if Jim Cantore isn't standing on that particular beach?!?

What the Hell is a Polar Vortex?  It was an Arctic Low or Polar Low in my day.  Is a Low Pressure system not sexy enough for news?  We have to call it a vortex now? Are we trying not to offend the storm or is using the term "low" too depressing?  What happened to the term (short wave) trough?  Did we get rid of that because it reminds people we're an overweight Nation?  Now it's a just a "wave"?  Ugh!

And naming winter storms?  What the Hell is that all about?  That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard of and I'm surrounded by stupid.  And the names they chose...!!  The Weather Channel stated, "Our goal is to better communicate the threat and the timing of the significant impacts that accompany these events. The fact is, a storm with a name is easier to follow, which will mean fewer surprises and more preparation."

Seriously?  You can't prepare for a slow moving system coming from thousands of miles away?  It's not a tornado!

The entire hemisphere is run by the jet stream.  Along it (predominantly) is a High-Low-High-Low system.  They alternate and depending on the strength, the jet stream just keeps pushing them around the globe.  It's not a vortex, it's just a low pressure system.  It's not a winter hurricane, stop naming them!

Superstorm Sandy? Give me a break.  Hurricane Andrew wiped out Florida and half the Gulf Coast.  Nobody called him a Superstorm.  Just because a hurricane hits New England, now's it's SUPER?  Katrina caused wide spread damage.  They were both a category three, they both caused the same amount of widespread damage, but Sandy is a Superstorm?  Seriously?  JUST because it hit colder air before making landfall?  This is where I roll my eyes.

(I take a tangent because I'm so fired up)

As Albert Einstein once said to me: “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity.” But what is much more widespread than the actual stupidity is the playing stupid, turning off your ear, not listening, not seeing.

~Frederick S. Perls

Sensationalism in the news and television in general, ticks me off.  I turn on the History Channel and it's all reality shows.  The Discovery Channel, National Geographic...  History International!  Holy cow!  I watched that show America Unearthed and that guy is an idiot!!  He twists reality and makes it all about conspiracy theories fueling further idiocracy among people who watch these shows and take them at face value.

Our kids aren't taught a real education, they idolize the morons on television, and this is our future?  Look at the new words added to the dictionary yearly.  Selfie?  Twerking?  The world is dumbed down daily and paranoia is served up on a silver spoon with a side of drama.  

Eat it up people.  This is our last meal.

A Reasonable Resolution For 2014

Every year, millions of people make a resolution to change in the upcoming year.  Lose weight.  Exercise more.  Go back to school.  Scratch off an item on their bucket list.  Try to keep a plant alive for more than a couple weeks...

Every year, millions fail.  

I am guilty of failing for many years.  Quitting smoking turned out to be a success, but weight loss after quitting smoking has been a disaster.  Exercising has been a bust as well.  The more weight I gained, the more tired I became, the more tired I became, the less motivated I was, the less motivated I was, the more I ate.

So, as my husband and I consumed pie, cookies, and candy over Christmas, talking about starting a diet on the first of the year (same discussion every year), I started to feel the disappointment set in.

I hadn't even started yet and I was already failing.

I made a momentous decision about what I'm actually resolved to do.  I'll try to eat healthier and lose weight, but I often try this every few weeks so it's not really a resolution.

This year, at the end of each day, I resolve to write down the most memorable thing that happened to me.  Whether it was laughing hysterically, crying, getting angry, smiling for no reason, or just a quiet moment holding a purring kitten...  

I will write down the one thing that stuck out the most to me that day and at the end of the year, I will open that jar and read the little pieces of paper.  I may add a small token of a memory.  I may even share my experiences with my husband.  

I will take stock of what my year consisted of and learn from it.  Did I spend too much time mad at my husband?  Did I laugh a lot?  Was I a positive or negative person?

Next year, the resolution will be to focus on those good days and try to eliminate the bad.  Like counting calories for my spirit, I resolve to fix myself from the inside out.  One day at a time.

You can't lose a hundred pounds overnight and you can't heal your soul in a breath.  A year-long project to choose the right resolution for myself, one that won't fail.  To become a better person, mother, wife, friend.