Chilled

Today was Day 3 of a conference about food and sustainability that I'm attending. This is third conference I've been to in the last month (well, second if you exclude the unconference) and it has been interesting to note common themes and gauge the level of the conversation being had in these different forums.*

My biggest complaint about the conference, and this is actually a complaint that I have almost any time I am indoors during summer, is that it was fricking freezing. It was like they were trying to refrigerate us, not just provide some air conditioning.

I spent the first day teeth chattering, verging on hypothermia.

Day two I wore long underwear underneath my professional clothes.

Day three I pondered earmuffs and mittens. I really did.

The joke is that in SF in August it isn't exactly warm outside. In fact, it has been pretty chilly and gray during the day, probably not much above 65. So why are we using god knows how much energy to air condition the conference room to be capable of safely storing meat?

My favorite discovery was this: there are little heat vents set up just inside the revolving doors. So, literally, you come in from the chilly outside, get nice warm air blown on you, and then move into the excessive air conditioned conference space. Does this make sense to anyone?

During every break I made a beeline to stand underneath the vents and bring the feeling back into my extremities.


*I first wrote "fora" but then I immediately hated myself and had to change it.