Friday, January 21, 2011

Oh baby its cold out there!

Winter Coat. Check.
Hat. Check.
Gloves. Check.
Facemask. Check.
Mug of hot tea. Check.

It takes a little extra preparation in the morning to get ready to face a cold Minnesota winter day, not to mention a record low -24 degrees.
I walk to work from MSU's free parking lot to my office. Its about a 4 block walk from my car, usually into the wind, to the warm indoor sanctuary of the Taylor Center. Its a usually a uneventful walk, and I'm usually the only one walking in that early in the morning.

This morning though, I witnessed the value of my MSU degree dropping with the mercury. On my walk in I was passed by a student wearing only a pair of jeans and a hooded sweatshirt. No hat, no gloves, no jacket, and despite wearing a hooded sweatshirt, no hood.

I get the whole manly bit, I really do. Man vs Mother Nature and all that. But there is a difference between being manly and stupid. The older I get the more I realize things falling into the latter.

Back to this student. If he can't prepare for a walk into school, I have little hope for him to be prepared for the actual class. My biggest fear is his future job interview: "Yes I went to MSU. Does your health plan cover frostbite?"