from the office of...

Tuesday, March 09, 2004, at 08:31AM

By Eric Richardson

Ping-pong (or "table tennis", if you prefer) was on ESPN when I woke up this morning.

Current conditions? 87 degrees. Humidity, 26 percent. A nice variable 6mph breeze. No disrespect to those of you in other climes -- 'cause that's your choice and all, and I respect that -- but, why? Saturday I was waterskiing and wakeboarding. Yesterday I spent the afternoon getting work done at the beach. Today I'm hanging out in the shade, sportin' the pulled down low baseball cap to keep my gash from scarring, and it's amazing. In the shade you get that magic temperature where you really just sort of forget that there's weather around you. It's not hot, it's not cold, it just is. Then you get a breeze, or a little burst of a/c from an opened door, and it reminds you that you haven't lost all feeling and it really just is that nice outside.

I do have a midterm today. I do have to figure out what classes I'm taking next semester before I have advisement tomorrow. But you know, it's a whole lot easier to not worry about those when it's this nice outside.