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record temps

It has been cold here. 60 degrees in July may not seem like a big deal, but July and August are basically the only months we get any warm weather. I've been holding strong about not turning on my heat, but I've been sleeping in long sleeves and pajama pants under a quilt and heavy blanket.

The record high for yesterday, July 30, was 95 degrees in 1965. Yesterday the actual high was 66.

I actually found a review of July records quite enlightening. It seems global warming, or at least the recent variety, is skipping Kent entirely, more's the pity.

I may make a chart of this later, but of the 31 days in July, only one record high has happened this decade (in 2004) and 4 the previous decade. (In Kent, it seems they started keeping records in about 1950.) That means, that of the past 6 decades,
only 5 record highs occurred between 1980 and 2008, and 26 record highs occurred between 1950 and 1979. In fact, the decade with the most record highs was the 1950s, with 11 record highs!

The data also doesn't really support the idea of global climate *change* causing extreme temperatures (though our extremely high snowfall in the last 2 years does). There were no record lows in the past 2 decades. The decade with the most record lows was the 60s, with 9 record lows.

A quick glance at August data reveals a similar story - only one record high (of 31) this decade and that one of the lowest record highs for the month in 2002. (No record lows in the 00s either.) It seems like our region is becoming more temperate, though again, I have to wonder if temperature taking precision has increased and thus reduced records in both directions.

I took a quick look at Houston as well, which had 5 record temperatures in the 00s for July, not an unreasonable distribution.

10:49 a.m. - Jul. 31, 2008

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on shopping

Last night I went to the mall. I used to love shopping in high school, but I haven't gone to the mall regularly since I went to college. At GT, without a car, it was just too much trouble. At Stan*ford, the local shopping was very pricey. The only affordable stores were Gap and Express - many of the stores at the local outdoor mall were very pricey. Then came work, being surrounded by unstylish men and dating a guy who couldn't care less about style.

I spend much of my free time hiking or gardening in the rain, activities that lend themselves far more to practicality in clothing over style. Outdoorwear can be very expensive, and I've prioritized getting high quality items at moderate prices over fashion - I generally buy whatever's on sale of the item I want. That means my rain pants are purple, my jacket is bright green, and my heavier jacket is a bit big and maroon.

At work, it's a bit cool which means sweaters every day, and I don't really feel comfortable wearing a skirt to work, and people dress down (jeans or khakis, no dress pants). There's only so many ways you can spin khakis, and most stylish jeans are a bit sexy, IMO, and that's out for work.

That leaves a few evenings out, and it just doesn't seem worth it to be stylish for a few hours a week. Add to this the fact that I am exactly the same size I have been more or less since high school, and I'm not highly motivated to update my wardrobe. Most of what I have is either a bit dowdy (purchased recently for work) or hopelessly out of date.

Anyway, the first store I wandered into was H&M, which just opened in Ke*nt. It was unbelievable. I felt like I'd wandered into a different country. I was surrounded by all these people dressed quasi-currently - skinny jeans and heels and the like. Granted, a fair percentage of them were teeny-boppers. Personally, I was wearing khaki style pants that used to be blue when I bought them 5 years ago and are now gray and a loose green sweater bought from Old Navy for work.

I liked H&M. I'd never been there before. They had a fair variety of clothes and not dirt cheap but reasonable prices. Wandering through there and a couple other stores I'd literally never heard of made me want to be a bit more up-to-date. These days I mostly shop online if I shop at all, but while it's much more trouble to shop in person, there's no doubt that it's a better strategy.

11:54 a.m. - Jul. 30, 2008