Commemorating My 200th Post - Hey I Can't Breathe!

I've been trying to decide how to commemorate my momentus 200th post. Maybe the American Airlines flight that crashed into the Hudson River last week? Nah, old news. Everyone lived. Maybe something regarding the Palestinian/Israeli conflict that is directly affecting members of my extended family? Nah, too charged. Don't want to get into it right now. Oh, hey, I know... how about the fact that the air in the Salt Lake Valley has been deemed "Toxic" by the Utah Department of Environmental Quality? Yeah, that will work. Take a look at the picture above. It kind of just looks like a smattering of grayness at the bottom of a mountain, right? Possibly taken at sunset? Well guess what? That's actually the view of downtown Salt Lake City, today. I promise, there's a city underneath all that crap. I've been there, I've seen it before. I don't think it went anywhere.... Technically, the situation is being called a "Red Air Quality Alert" but come on. You might as well be breathing exhaust strait from the tail pipe of your car at this point. There's probably a higher level of oxygen in that as compared to the air in the valley. This picture was taken by Odum from the 16th floor of one of the high-rise buildings downtown.

You might be wondering why our air is so dirty. Well, here in Utah, we experience "Inversions" during the winter. This happens when (I think) warm air settles on top of our valley (and since we're in a giant bowl surrounded by the mountains the wind doesn't move through here much). This traps all the cold air and particulates underneath, and it won't dissipate (or blow the hell outta here) until we get another storm. Not a problem in Utah in the middle of winter, right? Wrong. We haven't had a storm in about 2 weeks. Hence, the soup that has blanketed our city.

So yes, with my lungs in the shape they're in after having pneumonia, outside is the last place I want to be. The fact that it's freezing helps me not want to go out... a lot. Well, here's to my 200th post, and a big toast to at least 200 more!