Andrew Underwood

Monday

It was really really cold in our apartment for the last week or so. About 14 degrees all the time, except when the sun came in. We had ideas of placing rocks in the sun to collect the heat in the day so it would be released at night. We were wearing our dressing gowns all the time, sleeping in them with sweaters. This morning I woke up because I was too cold, and I almost never wake up for anything. We also had a dilemma because we couldn’t get the land lady to fix it because we have the puppy which we are not sure if we are allowed to have here. I didn’t know if it was just our apartment or if it was the land lady trying to save on heating costs. Our thermostat did nothing, I thought it was just a decoration to trick us into thinking that we actually commanded the temperature. In any case, tonight I took it upon myself to see if I could fix it myself. After taking off the register panel, wiping away a few thick layers of dust, I found two loose wires in the rats nest. Not knowing how this worked I took a chance and touched the wires together. There was a spark. Seconds later, gurgling. The hot water was flowing! I rigged it together and was so glad that tomorrow I’ll get to wake up pleasantly.

This morning it was cold in our place, but I still had to go to school. First class - 9:00am - I am never there on time. Since I woke up early from being cold I was ahead of schedule and was delighted at the fact that I was going to have a leisurely bike ride to university and have time to spare before class started. It was cold outside, as you can imagine an Edmonton winter. I gear up, trudge outside through the new snow, get to my bike only to discover I couldn’t open my bike lock because it was frozen shut. I had some lock de-icer upstairs in my room… somewhere. Never having had to use it before I didn’t really know where it was. “Should I cut my losses and just start walking?” I thought to myself. No. I went to look for the lock de-icer, and tore my room apart in the process. After finally finding it, I used it, set my bike free and I was on my way.

The trip was quite perilous as the snow impeded my bikes natural movements. My front wheel slipped out twice on my way resulting in a couple of near -suretobecomical- face plants. I was riding hard enough that the cold air caused my asthma to flare up, worse than it has ever been in recent memory. Arriving in class late, I sat though a lecture on linear algebra (which incidentally isn’t so linear anymore) wheezing away like some old man. The wheezing was really loud and my focus was keeping it minimized. This passed by the end of the class. After that I had two more lectures to attend and an assignment to do. Being really tired it really, really sucked doing that assignment, it’s a good thing it was the last one for that class.

Anyways, positive thoughts, positive thoughts.