Michigan's Really Cold

I don't know where you are right now, but I'm in Michigan. And I don't know when you're reading this, but I'm writing this in January on yet another day when the temperature failed to reach 20 degrees. 

It's been this way for days. One day last week was so bitterly cold that as I was crossing a parking lot on foot, I couldn't stop sputtering the F-word over and over into my winter scarf followed by the word me.   

It was the kind of day where even snowmen throw their branch arms into the sky and scream, but we can't hear them under our ear-muffs. 

The parking lot was large and there was no one around and it hit me that if I fell, I could be one stiff mitten before anyone found me - a sorry metaphor for the state in which I lived and now had died.  

As to me swearing my way across that parking lot, I'm not proud of that; I like to think I can "use my words" better than that. However, on that particular day there didn't seem to be any way around it. Spewing "F me" all the way across that empty lot felt like the only way to propel myself fast enough to out-shuffle Death should he happen to be after me, which it seemed he was. But here's the good thing: it was so cold that if Death was stupid enough to get out on a day like that, he would be shuffling too, so I felt relatively safe provided I didn't fall. 

This morning I woke up and checked my Facebook feed. In it was a post from my friend Pat, who lives in Australia. It read: "Today it reached a high of 95. We have a beautiful breeze that comes in through our front windows. No need for the air conditioner."

I wished for a plague of kangaroos to stomp all over her Bloomin' Onions or whatever it is that grows in Australian gardens in the summertime. 

I grew up in Michigan; I knew what I was in for when I moved back here from Maryland a few years ago. Still, shortly before my return, I had a nightmare about Michigan in the winter, one where I was trapped outside surrounded by nothing but frozen tundra - assuming there's any other kind - and asking myself over and over, 'Why am I here?' It was a rhetorical question obviously but it does have three good answers: Michigan in the spring, Michigan in the summer and Michigan in the fall. To get to them, you've got to get through Michigan in the winter. 

So, despite all my cursing, I am at peace knowing that spring will arrive in roughly 70 days, four hours and 27 minutes. And that it will take at least half that amount of time to thaw me out again. 

Sometimes It's Just Nice to Have Someone Do Your Work for You. Thank You, Help You Flunk Essay-writing Service!

Where is it written that everything should be written? Take this ad for the (let's call them) Help You Flunk Essay-writing Service. I found them when I was Googling around for something else. 

Dr. Bertha Baumgartner of 
Ainsworth, Iowa. Patience pays off.
Image by Teece Aronin. 

Please know that I am a gentle soul, even when it comes to other people's writing, and especially when said other people are writing in a second language. But when I saw this ad for an ESSAY WRITING SERVICE, I needed to be physically restrained. Please note that the italics are mine; everything else is all them. I also broke up some of their block paragraphs which were longer than anything you'll find in Manhattan:

Searching for websites that can write your essays? You are at the targeted place!

Students have a habit of doing their essays at the eleventh hour. This is because they are just too lazy procrastinating or at times there are some other commitments due to which they are unable to complete their assignments on time. Whatever the reasons may be Help You Flunk Essay-writing Service provides you timely essay writing service all at your home with ease and convenience. Just exclaim " Where to find websites that can write my essays?” and we will be most willing to help you out with your essays.

People generally tend to get confuse as they look for more websites that write custom essays online. With the advent of the internet, now students can approach these excellent websites that write essays more quickly. At Help You Flunk Essay-writing Service we guarantee all the students to have the most thorough professionals with our writers holding at least masters or PhD degree to ensure quality service. So don’t worry about the quality of the essays as we have got the best team all ready to assist you with your tedious essays. (Yeah, you lazy, stupid students and your tedious, TEDIOUS essays.)

Acquire credible services by a bunch of professional, knowledgeable writers at the best rates. (Who knew that professional, knowledgeable writers come by the bunch? Hey, Mr. Tally Man, tally me professional, knowledgeable writers,)

We are also known as one of the most reputable and committed team of essay writing services. If you are perplexed and double minded, then look at the myriad of benefits, which are offered by us.

• Our team is unswerving to excellence (Yup, they aren't a bit afraid of smashing right into it) and guarantees quality over anything. Our main motto is assuring our customers that their content will be reliable and involves rich content with accurate and detailed elements in it.
• There is no need to be concerned in terms of price range and packages, the rates are absolutely under the budget and are totally partial (Translation: If we don't like don't like you, we charge accordingly). We deliver unique content to our clients within the best affordable price deals.
• The content you will receive in the shape of essays is totally customized. They are perfectly tailored and designed to satisfy your academic interests and ultimately deliver according to that.
• Leave all your worries aside, as we offer essay writing services that are totally unique. We do not believe in copy pasted, recycled material and our expert writers make that sure as well. They rely on originality and ingenuity, which is depicted in the content.
• We provide a 100% guarantee that the allotted tasks will be delivered to you with in the prescribed time and with the availability of a speedy delivery.

Websites that write custom essays at the cheapest rates

With so many websites that write your custom essays online, the competition is getting tougher and the margins are shrinking like never before. Our company is well aware of the students’ needs and the competition in the industry. We know that students are living within a stringent budget for themselves and for this purpose we have devised the cheapest plan for them. Therefore, Help You Flunk Essay-writing Service provides you the best essay writing service all at an awfully affordable price starting from just $12.99/page. 

Furthermore, we keep on revising your work until you are satisfied with it (or until we get it right, depending on which party, you or us, gives up first) and never share your personal profile with any one to respect your privacy. So are you still reluctant about ordering your essays? (Hell, YES!) We are sure we have convinced you that we provide you with the highest quality essay writing service at the cheapest rates.

Customized essays online now available in US 

We would like to commend the team’s diligence that has finally paid off and officially announce that Help You Flunk Essay-writing Service is now available in US. We are constantly improving and growing our work to deliver you in the most efficient manner. No matter what lifestyle you have you don’t need to worry and compromise anymore. Many of you are sportsman or hardcore fitness trainers, others like to prefer travelling or reading books therefore they can’t write essays up to their peers’ standards. We would want you to be who you are and continue with your preferred activities because we are here in US to provide you with the most customized essays online. Just sit and relax and enjoy your day while we customize your essays according to your needs. 

We have been expanding our work ever since we started off with the venture with other countries such as UAE, UK, Australia and even Canada (because anyone can read online ads almost anywhere in the world and Canadians are too polite to say no) as our business place. Most importantly our academic writers are proficient in almost all the disciplines which include Micro Economics, Customer Relation Management, Art History, and other subjects. So hurry up students, don’t miss out the chance and order now to get customized essays for our website. We are hardly a few clicks away.

Teece here again. Note the case of Bertha Baumgartner pictured above. Baumgartner finally graduated from University of Iowa, Carver College of Medicine and is now a practicing urologist. She'd been a client of Help You Flunk since 1943 when the service still typed its essays on Underwood typewriters. Said Baumgartner: "Hindsight is always 20-20. Maybe I should have switched to another service, but I never change horses in midstream." 

"This is Memorial Day weekend and I decided that I deserved to phone this one in. So I kicked back and let the Help You Flunk Essay-writing Service write today's blog post for me. 

And it's staying here until I receive a cease and desist letter from their lawyer, which would have to be better written than their ad.