A. got one of those digital weather stations for Christmas. It has a sensor that goes outside, with the readout screen inside. The screen has lots of information on it: moon phases, weather forecast icons, time, and of course, temperature and humidity. It displays the temperature and humidity both outside and inside. And here's where it gets good. Not only does it tell you what the temperature and humidity are in your house, it also has a little icon that functions as a "comfort level indicator." The icons are happy and sad faces.
Oh yes, they are.
If I may quote directly from the teeny tiny instruction manual that measures perhaps three inches and features minuscule type guaranteed to cause eyestrain:
"The comfort level indicator:
Comfortable: A happy face icon indicating a temperature level between 68 degrees F. and 78.6 degrees F. and relative humidity reading between 45% and 65%.
Uncomfortable: A sad face icon indicating any value outside the comfortable range."
Well. Guess where Blackrock falls on the comfort scale? The room the weather station is in currently reads at a toasty 43 degrees. SAD FACE. It's going to be many months before there is any happiness in that room, according to the weather station.
What I would like to know, however, is who decided that 68-78.6 degrees is the comfort range? I mean, maybe for a room you're sitting around reading in. But a bedroom? I can't sleep in a room that's 68 degrees. Why do they not take personal preference into account? Why is the weather station judging my comfort with a SAD FACE? How dare the weather station attempt to dictate my happiness with its soulless electronic measurements?
I'm telling you, the world is going to hell in a digital handbasket.
Um.. maybe you should blame Santa for assuming you'd enjoy having your comfort controlled by a sad or happy face :)
ReplyDeleteAs for me.... if I ever put the heat up to 64 degrees it's a major event.. not sayin' it's comfortable but neither are those heat bills!
That's too funny. We would always be in the sad face zone as well. We don't keep our house as cold as blackrock, but we keep it as 60 during the day and 55 at night. This is plenty warm for us, we cover up with a blanket in the evenings while reading/watching TV if we get cold. Keeping our house between 68-72 would make me very unhappy - who can wear a sweater at that temp?
ReplyDeleteWe have a baby bathtub that has a little plastic thermometer strip on the bottom of it so that - if you have no ability to gauge temperature yourself, I guess? - you can tell if you're going to scald the baby. There aren't any numbers on the thermometer, just little baby faces. My favorite one is the one at the top of the thermometer, which is basically a screaming cartoon baby face. Hee.
ReplyDeleteI got a weather station for Christmas five years ago and I LOVE it. Of course, I ignore the happy/sad faces. Mine broke recently though and will no longer display the outside temp/humidity. It was a sad day.
ReplyDeleteI'm a knitter. I can only wear my woolies if the indoor temp is 60 or below. Silly weather doesn't know jack about people who love the winter.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the baby? Will the house be warm enough for a tiny little happy face? It doesn't need to be 68, but you might want higher temps than 43.
ReplyDeleteToo bad you can't set your own Happy/Sad thresholds. I mean, you might not be technically sad until your pillow freezes to the wall.
ReplyDeleteI'd be interested to see how many days during the year that thing registers as "Happy".
I have been a "lurker" so far and I love your blog - I read it every day! But this post is forcing me to comment!!!
ReplyDeleteI live in Canada (in a cold part!!) and I thought we were used to low temperatures but your numbers are plain crazy!!
Our power was off for three days last January and it got down to 15 degres celsius (60 farenheit) inside - we wore our coats in the house!
You girls mean business!!
-Sarah
We actually had one of those once and one of my bigger kids put a happy face sticker on the sad face guy on the screen. I must say it didn't help the 50 degree house feel any warmer!
ReplyDeleteStay warm and have a happy and healthy (and productive) new year! Kim