Tuesday, December 2, 2008

The heat is on

December came around and I figured it was about time to finally fire up the heater. This is, after all, New Orleans. It does get cold here at this time of year, but compared to other places around the country, such as my former abode in Cleveland, the cold is less severe, yet nonetheless bitter. It is the humidity that pervades our sub-tropical clime that makes our summers so sticky and hard to take for visitors and which in winter contributes to make chills go right through one's bones. I remember being cold in Cleveland, but I was able to wear layers (underwear, shirt, sweater, jacket) and I felt rather toasty when all was said and done. Here in the Crescent City, no matter what layers one wears, the cold pierces like a knife. And it is so much worse when the wind blows. The wind is the great equalizer in winter. It can cripple the most stalwart of the brave as the temperature plummets ever more downward.
Speaking of things heading downward, I want to thank the geniuses at the National Bureau of Economic Research who announced that we have officially been in a recession since last December. The nearly 700 point plunge that the Dow Jones Index took yesterday following their announcement canceled several of the best performances on Wall Street in the previous week when some insiders were hoping things might be stabilizing. Letting us know that we are officially in a recession some 12 months after the fact is like announcing that Britney Spears is pregnant...for the first time! Oh, well, now that the cat's out of the bag, perhaps we won't be pussyfooting about what to call this economic downturn. Recession...that starts with an "r." Let's hope that we don't hear any other pronouncements from them about any words that start with a "d."

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