Jeff Burmeister

I'm not sure how much longer I can take this "normal" Minnesota winter. You see, over the last five years we've had it pretty easy in Minnesota with the conditions of our winters. But now the weather is starting to swing back around to the cold stuff, it is getting pretty hard to deal with. Well, at least I'm starting to have a hard time with it.

The nice part about living in Minnesota during the winter is some of the outdoor sport activates. Cross Country Skiing, Snowmobiling, Sledding, Snowboarding, Ice Skating, big bonfires, etc. But this year with the average temperatures down in the minus range, no one is getting outside and enjoying it. Basically, Winter sucks this year.

Personally, I've only had one opportunity to go and try to enjoy this winter. I took a bike ride on New Years Day with my Snow & Ice bike. But during that ride I took a pretty good fall so that kind of bummed out that experience. So really, I'm lacking any type of good winter experience this year. So I find myself held up in the house, at work, or at the YWCA trying to figure out a new way to deal with this winter. Yes my loyal reader, my wedding in Fiji and the thoughts of sitting on our private beach in eighty plus degree weather watching the waves is helping my emotional state but not as much as I would hope it would. But man I love to stare at those photos, they are great! {editor, use your best Tony the Tiger Voice here}

It is during winters like this that people begin to believe that things like Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) or Cabin Fever are common. While I'm not going to comment on Cabin Fever 'cause in my mind that is "just people becoming really bored," I have see people with SAD and I've experienced what it is like to see a normal rational person become rather bipolar during the winter months. I wouldn't say that I have it, but there are days when all I want is some warm weather, the bright sun light hitting my face, and my car starting with out having to worry that the battery is frozen… Yes it seems that dreaming of the warmth will be my only escape this winter.