0: Introduction
In the summer I turned 30 years old, I underwent a major life change and moved from Nashville Tennessee to Minneapolis Minnesota. There are plenty of differences between the two places, be they mundane and technocratic (I can tell you plenty of advantages and disadvantages to a planned grid based civic layout vs one that… wasn’t), or cultural (while Minnesota Nice and Southern Hospitality have a lot in common, they are still profoundly different phenomena). The biggest difference of course between the places is the climate, especially at winter. Winter in Tennessee means grumbling about needing to wear a jacket and long pants as you continue to enjoy the outdoors. Winter in Minnesota is a stark reminder that we’re all going to die and that the sky is trying to kill you with ice. So we mostly stay inside in the wintertime in Minnesota, and we cope. A surprisingly excellent conversation starter among such terse people as Minnesotans is asking them what their favorite wintertim