8

8

 

This blog entry is not about the record-breaking cold, but it is inspired by it (remember, I’m a huge nerd when it comes to the weather!).  Well today is officially the start of Spring Semester for Ohio State (enter irony at “Spring”), and the temperature is so low that combined with the wind it is unsafe to be outside.  Therefore Ohio State cancelled classes for today and tomorrow.  I think it’s legitimate and smart of them to do this.  I still have to go to work and, having walked a good distance to/from my car to get in and out of the building, I can attest that it is indeed dangerously cold (I just checked and the actual temperature right now at 9:30pm is -9 and the wind chill is -35). 

For those of you who have attended a college or university, you understand what a rare occurrence it is to have classes cancelled.  Given the size of Ohio State including all the students and employees, it is definitely a very rare occurrence.  I have been very sick the past few days (I always seem to get these major sinus attacks around the turn of the new year) and I desperately needed a delay to the start of classes.  As I was chatting with Anissa today, she suggested I write about the hours I got back from not having 2 classes I otherwise would have had this week.  I could talk about how I am spending/intend to spend the actual time I would have been in class (watching the BCS National Championship, drinking wine, blogging, going to the gym), but instead I will talk about what I could do on any given day if I was given the gift of 8 extra hours. 

 

 

The 8 hours come from my 6 hours of actual class plus the time to/from campus.  Eight hours is a lot of time.  Allegedly it is a full work day, but I’m sure we all know that is more of a myth these days.  One thing that comes to mind when I think of big chunks of time is training for the marathons I’ve run.  Major runs usually took 2-4 hours each.  All of my marathons took me between 4 and 5 hours to complete.  With this gift from Ohio State I could run a marathon and still have 3 hours left to spend!

Another thought that comes to mind is how long it takes to do the menial tasks of a normal weekend.  I’m talking laundry, cleaning the house, taking care of the yard, etc.  With 8 hours I could clean the whole house, do 3-4 loads of laundry, mow the grass, weed the gardens, clean out my car, grab some groceries, and get to the gym.  If I slept in, that would be an entire Saturday of errands!

Okay, so moving onto another thought (you may notice my mind scatters erratically, so bear with me).  I love roller-coasters and thrill rides.  Having been to both Cedar Point (Sandusky, OH) and King’s Island (Mason, OH) more times than I could reasonabley count, I have become a veritable wizard when it comes to maximizing ride time at amusement parks.  If you need evidence, just ask my family how I am at Disney World (it’s a blessing and a curse).  At King’s Island you could probably hit up every major coaster in under 8 hours, including some non-coasters and lunch at 1 of the 3 La Rosa’s (yummm!).  At Cedar Point you could probably squeeze in 6-7 major coasters – more than enough for the first half of the day if you don’t want anyone to get sick.  That’s a whole lotta fun!  Thanks for the bonus time Ohio State!          

One year I went to King's Island on Memorial Day.  They had a paraglider fly in the flag as they sang the National Anthem before letting guests enter the park.  It was a very cool start to a great day!

 

Two quick asides to the previous paragraph.  One summer Cedar Point introduced a new coaster that set the world record for height (420 feet) and speed (120 mph).  Me and 2 friends waited in line (mostly waiting out maintenance delays) exactly 8 hours to ride this coaster.  And it was so worth it!  No regrets.  Especially because when it got up and running every other person in the park got in line and freed up lines at other rides.  Cedar Point has the policy of letting anybody in line for a ride at the park’s closing time the opportunity to get on the ride before they leave.  At 10pm the line for this coaster was 4.5 hours long.  Yes, Cedar Point had to operate the coaster until 2:30am that day.  The second aside is that one summer I got inspired to engage in a vigorous writing campaign with the executives at Cedar Fair (owners of Cedar Point).  This netted me (and my party) the right to skip the line for 2 rides of our choice during our next visit.  Moral of the story here – persistence pays off!

I digress.  So what else for 8 hours?  Let’s see …you could fly from Atlanta to Brussels (Belgium) – I did that in the summer of 2006 when I studied in Luxembourg.  I don’t recommend getting on a flight like that just for fun.  It’s not fun.  You could also drive from Columbus to Syracuse with a 1 hour stop for lunch along the way.  You could probably complete a jigsaw puzzle.  You could spend a day at the zoo.  You could go golfing (with time to spare!).  You could watch 2 football games (hello college football Saturdays!).  The possibilities are seemingly endless.

In the summer (2013) Anissa's family (siblings, parents, nephews) came up to Columbus and we spent the day at the zoo.  These are the boys getting to see a kangaroo up close!

I hope that with this post I’ve given you some food for thought about how you might spend a gift of 8 hours.  And remember what a precious gift time really is the next time you receive it.  Lastly, there’s a lot to be said for just chilling out, vegging out, or catching up on sleep!