How do you deal with winter?

Aside from taking up drinking as a sport, how do you guys handle the time change and serious cold?

It just hit me today that winter is really here, and I'm starting to feel a bit down.

I don't drink/drug/etc. Maybe it's time to pick up some video games and electrical projects.

Live in the south.

Then all you have to do is deal with the summer.

The time change kills me. It goes from being dark when I get to work to being dark when I get off work. In a month or so it will be dark when I go to work AND leave. I hate the time change. At least give me one hour or light after work!!! Is that too much to ask for?!?!?

I'm usually kinda busy with just "life" until after the first of the year. Then it's just tough out Feb & March by dealing with the weather, reading, thinking of spring summer projects for the car, rent some good movies, try to get out of the house a bit--even if it's just for a drive to look out over The Sound; more thinking about the projects."Visit" the car in storage a couple of times. More reading on stuff I'd like to buy, cruise ebay and CL, and just put up with what is.

A good friend or two helps lots... And then it's Spring, and talk of racing starts up, start to make plans on what races to go to/must see on the tube...

No real secret, just try to stay a bit busy, and study parts catalogs...

Taiden wrote: I don't drink/drug/etc. Maybe it's time to pick up some video games and electrical projects.

If you're into audio gear, a tube amp recap project is fun and pretty easy. Find an amp from an old console. They almost always work great if you put new capacitors in them. I have several and really enjoy them. Plus, they keep you warm!

P.S. it snowed today. WAAAYYYYYY earlier than it usually does. So, it may be a testing winter...

I like to take up drinking as a... oh.

Amazing things could happen in a heated garage, but I don't have one. I really don't know what I'll do. Get a night job?

Taiden wrote: Aside from taking up drinking as a sport, how do you guys handle the time change and serious cold?

Uh, I know for myself the racing activities do not end in the winter.

I'm lucky in that I've been at the same job for almost 20yrs., and have so much vacation time it's crazy. I save two weeks for the first two weeks of Dec. I get up early, so that I get more sunlight. Even though I'm used to going home in the dark (2nd shift here is 2p-10p), the days still drag because the sun sets earlier. You figure it's been dark for two hours, it's time to go home..and then realize it's only 8p.

The reason I take the time off in Dec. instead of right smack-dab in the middle of the winter is because I absolutely, positively, and with no reservations or apologies at all, HATE the X-Mess. Taking the time off in December, and then staying home with no radio or TV shortens the height of the X-Mess season by about a half (although I still hear the occasional reference to it, and see the decorations in the stores the day after Halloween). Reducing its length makes it bearable.

Pull SUVs out of snowy ditches every so often - offroading on snow trails. Rebuilding a kawasaki motor in a toasty basement and if it's too much - head to Fla for a while.

16vCorey wrote: The time change kills me. It goes from being dark when I get to work to being dark when I get off work. In a month or so it will be dark when I go to work AND leave. I hate the time change. At least give me one hour or light after work!!! Is that too much to ask for?!?!?

It's worse here because we're right on the line for central time, too...

iRacing, heated garage with broken race car, 2 kids who want me to take up snowboarding so I can destroy what is left of me.

I usualy just go to work, do AWD donuts in snowy parking lots in the WRX, and play video games, but now I can go to work, do AWD donuts in snowy parking lots in the WRX, play video games, AND work on my cars, because I now own my own house and it has a garage!!! Now, I just need to figure out a cheap way to heat that garage and I'll be all set.

I use the time to do all the things I wanted to do in the summer, but was too busy having fun.

Motor buildup on my car this winter, some speaker building, and if we get any snow, this...

I'm just happy to be here.

Watch TV, get crazy drunk, play X-Box, take dog for walks, wrench on the car.

In Atlanta it doesn't really get that cold.

Snowmobiling, snowboarding, drinking, work in the garage with the heater on

Let's see: ride dirt bikes, ride bikes with the kid, work on the race car, drive the race car, various other outdoor activities... oh, sorry. But like Toyman sez, down here from early July till probably the second week of September it's the closest thing to hell most people will experience. 95 degrees with 90% humidity.

hibernation

Apparently I might be moving. I put in an offer on a house with a 4+car garage, with about 500 s/f above it, its own heat/electrical... pretty sure I could live in it.

I dig into house projects. They all go on hold in the summer when I do car stuff, so winter is a great time to get inside and redo a bathroom or build a workshop or whatnot. Work on it a little bit on most days and you'll be done before too long, just be sure to only do ONE project at a time. Nothing is worse than having the whole house torn apart. Keep the destruction confined to one area and you will feel much better about it.

What's all this talk about winter? I'm still waiting for the leaves to turn color. How to get through it? Never really thought about it. Some days it's warm outside, sometimes it's cold.

Ice hockey. I stare at the pond, daily.

Celebrate it!

Ice hockey, indoor and outdoor, playing and reffing.
Sledding... Not just for kids
Cooking. Lots of fun.
Movies, I become a fanatic in the winter. Always the same movies though.
Friends. I don't see them so much during the school year, its easy to catch up over winter break.
Trips to Chicago and Milwaukee--both are an hour away for me. Find the big city near you. Just walk around, have some fun.
Get excited for Christmas/Chanuka/Winter solstice/whatever else I left out, Thanksgiving, New Years... It may be commercial and trivial, but thats no reason not to enjoy it.
Play guitar.
Go bowling.

Appleseed wrote: Ice hockey. I stare at the pond, daily.

Where are you exactly? I'd come out to play if its not too far and you are looking for a game...