Whether the weather...

This is something that I've been thinking about since posting my favorite things about summer, mostly because I love summer weather and it played prominently into my favorite things about this season that we are in.

The weather is a subject that is often discussed. People ask about the weather all the time; is it gonna rain today? How much snow are we getting? It also is a source of complaints; it's too humid today! How many days in a row can it rain? Where's the sun today, I can't see it through all of these clouds!

People often make their decisions based upon the weather. "Do you want to go to Kennywood this Friday?" "Is it supposed to rain?"

Or: "We're going to Florida for a few months during the winter; it's too cold in Pittsburgh!"

As Milli Vanilli (fake) sung in the late 80s, people like to "Blame it on the Rain"...or any other type of weather.

I freely admit that I am part of the chorus. When I was deciding whether to move for a Ph.D. program in the summer of 2005, the weather played a role in my decision. I was sick of the cold and the snow of Western PA. The heat and the constant sun beckoned me to Knoxville, TN. Equally, I remember when I started getting the itch to move back to Pittsburgh. I was at the U.S. Open that was being played at Oakmont in June 2007, and I was on my way home, and was just marveling about the wonderful summer weather in my familiar surroundings. This is partly what contributed to me looking for jobs and moving back to the 'burgh when I finished my classwork.

Stop and re-read everything above. How ridiculous does it all sound? And yet, we all make decisions in our life based upon something over which we have no control. Does this seem absurd to anyone else?

I made a decision back in the winter, when Knoxville was experiencing the coldest winter that I had had yet down there (20s and 30s for a period of about 6 weeks...this was cold to me, and I know that you 'burgh people think that's nothing, but after moving to the South I lost my ability to adjust to cold weather). My decision was that I was not going to let the weather affect my disposition. I wasn't going to be happy, angry, annoyed, lazy, sad, or excited based on something which only God can control.

I would challenge everyone to join me in this goal. Realize that God has reasons for everything, and this includes the weather, regardless of the best laid plans we have made for ourselves.

Final Points (some of which relate and some of which do not):

1. Does the above mean that I am skeptical of the concept of global warming? Yes, it does. Notice I didn't say it doesn't exist; I just said I'm not as willing to accept it as a lot of the public.

2. One thing about all of the global warming alarmists interests me in particular. Many, if not most, of them also believe in evolution. Wouldn't the human race evolve to survive the widescale flooding that global warming would bring (nevermind the fact that God promised to never flood the world again)? I, for one, am ready for humans breathing underwater with gills.

3. Progress is being made on my exam; the first question has been largely organized and I'm reading through things and figuring out which articles I want to put where.

4. I am very happy for Jason Bay in his Red Sox debut, as he walked twice, got hit by a pitch, tripled in the 12th and scored the two Sox runs, including the winner after his triple. He also made two fine catches in LF. I hope that the rest of American baseball fans discover what Pirate fans have known for four summers: Jason Bay is a heck of a baseball player.