Welcome to December, when I’m basically cold all of the time. It’s not even been that cold in Las Vegas yet (50-60ºF during the day, 40-45ºF overnight), but I’ve developed a pretty thin skin over the years and that’s enough for me. Also, for some reason, all these commercial businesses that run their A/C on “freezing” all summer long can’t be bothered to run the heat (or at least turn off the A/C) in the winter. So, it doesn’t really matter where I go, indoors or out, I’m just cold all the time. (Or wearing a coat indoors.)

It doesn’t help that Sara and I live in an old house with single-pane windows that has three levels offering their own distinctive climates. The lower level has no central air, only a cold-blowing wall unit, so in the winter, it’s essentially a meat locker, but it’s also our media room, so we just put on space heaters to watch TV shows and movies. The middle level (where the thermostat is) gets a ton of sun thanks to walls of (single-pane) windows, so it is abnormally warm in the afternoon, but middling cold otherwise. And then the upper level (where I now sit in my bedroom home office) is the most insulated and carpeted, but will get stifling hot if we adjust the thermostat up to warm things up more downstairs.

Plus, for some reason, I can’t get a fire started in our wood-burning fireplace. Like, even our wood is too cold to burn.

Of course, I could actually bother dressing for the season. I basically make no changes to my wardrobe from summer to winter, except to put on a jacket or coat when leaving the house. OK, sometimes I do put a sweater over my standard Oxford button-down, but not as often as I should. And all my socks are kinda thin and purely decorative. But folks, I live in Las Vegas, where the high is at minimum 80 degrees six or seven months a year, so, really, this isn’t shocking.

So, that’s what’s up with me, skin on my hands turning red and getting ready for its annual cracking and bleeding, while my toes threaten to stop working and fall off. I actually shivered the entire way through lunch today. Really cool stuff. Emphasis on the cool.