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[Nabubrush]

Yeah, it's -70 (F) with wind chill. Pretty bad, but not the worst ever. The worst I've ever had to actually go outside and work in was -55 (F) ambient, -100 (F) + (or minus?) with the wind chill. The worst part is when you are really, really fuck*ng cold and your extremities hurt and you know you have no option but to stay out for a few more minutes before you can go in, or you realize that you can stay out a few more, or have to go back out in a bit for a longer amount of time.

We have these runs of pipe that we have to hammer up for semi-permanent installations to move fluids or gas. Back when I spent lots of time outside doing manual labor stuff, we were knocking one of them up (the connections are threaded, but tightened by hitting them with sledges) and a big chunk of metal split off and flew up and struck me right in the mouth, and my lower lip sort of exploded. That sucked, but there was nothing for it but to finish up. I also once had someone set down a chunk of iron weighing about 250 lbs (a valve assembly) on the tip of one of my fingers, splitting it open. I knew it was all fucked, but I just left the glove on and finished up, because what are you going to do? There ain't no fixing it, and I knew if I took my glove off I was done for the day.

Fortunately any more they let you stop and take breaks whenever you need, for pretty much as long as it takes. It's a much more forgiving place to work nowadays (hey, thanks for being reasonable once I move inside you bastards).

[Nabubrush]

And, of course, I only have to do this half the time, and I don't handle much of the shoveling duties. And we got lobster for xmas, did I mention that?

[Nabubrush]

Yeah, shit can work catastrophically not right abruptly in the cold.

[pmcd9]

The heat sucks sometimes, but the cold will straight up murder you.

[AugustWest]

Fuck that kind of cold.  Fuck it in the eye.

[Nabubrush]

Heat only kills old people. Cold don't give a fuck.

[wombat]

Cold don't give a fuck, for sure. But heat kills old people, dogs and babies, which is pretty damn low.

[Nabubrush]

Well, you know me. I ain't gonna be a baby again, and I'll never be a dog, so . . .

[AugustWest]

Well, you know me. I ain't gonna be a baby again, and I'll never be a dog, so . . .

[Doc]

I'll always take cold over heat because at least you can rug up against cold but if it's over 40C with 80 percent humidity and you don't have air-con all you can do is sweat it out and wait for death. I've never lived anywhere it snowed though.

[Nabubrush]

I find that, for me, the really extreme cold can be more damaging than the warmest places I've been (though I'm only talking 100 - 110 degrees or so). Quite frankly, where I work now no one should have to be, but it's where the resource is.

[Lister]

Both can kill, but -100 will do it faster than +100.

This is why I like San Diego.  I ain't gonna die from exposure in the process of going to or executing my job.

Also, good Mexican food.

Edit: Today I'm gonna pack my suitcase and get ready to fly back there.  I'll miss my family but I am currently missing a quiet place to sleep and a house where my things don't move once I've put them down somewhere.

[wombat]

Once I read an ad for a zookeeper job in Santa Barbara that said "must be able to work outdoors in all weather conditions" and I was all, how would they even do that? I mean, I guess you could bring in a snow machine in the winter, but what technology could make it 95 degrees and 100% humidity outdoors in an unenclosed space?

[Nabubrush]

I sure don't think of Santa Barbara as being all weather conditions. I mean, I guess they don't mean raining HCl, but still.

[side_show]

A fee!

Today I'm gonna try and do my job in spite of the fact practically everyone I work with is on vacation until Jan 5th.  Lots of sending emails and voice-mails off into the abyss.  I don't like being unproductive.  There was a time in my life where I like getting paid to do little or nothing, but that time is in the past.  At least I have an actual, work related meeting with someone over lunch at this rad, working class lunch counter.  If I can be productive and eat a clubhouse sandwich at the same time, it is truly a sign that things are awesome.