It's COLD outside

Big Frank is cold. OK, winter is coming, and when it's winter and you live in Washington state, you will experience cold. Still, even knowing that it was coming; Big Frank is cold. He was thinking this morning about one of those questions that people ask, you know, when you are asked to choose between two equally disagreeable outcomes, like would you rather lose your right hand or your left one, or would you rather be left alone in the desert or in the jungle? Well, one more of these asks, would you rather be really really cold, or really really hot? Right now, Big Frank would rather be really really hot. However, it's cold Big Frank is experiencing and writing about so how about some tips on how to best handle the cold?

Tips On How To Best Handle The Cold
A. Ideal but probably not realistic:
1. Eat as much as you can, grow (or buy) a thick winter coat, reduce your body temperature and find a hole in the ground where you can hibernate,
2. Go to Singapore
3. Sit in your bathtub full of hot water with a stocking cap on.

B. OK, getting real now
1. Behavioral things to do
a. Eat high energy food; it increases your heat production
b. Exercise; it also increases your heat production
c. Shiver - this can increase heat in your muscles up to five times (but can cool your core from loss of blood) - not a good thing long term!
d. Wear multiple layers of clothing - the trapped air in between acts as insulation.
e. Wear a hat (over 50% of heat loss occurs through you head!)
f. Mittens will keep your hands warmer than gloves
g. Light a candle (they produce a lot of heat)
h. Cook! This warms the house - and you get to eat those calories
i. Take a hot shower or bath and then put lotion on your skin; it acts as insulation
j. Use a humidifier - it can increase the apparent temperature in your home by 15%
k. Find a friend (a close one!) to snuggle with; any warm blooded creature is a furnace unto itself

Finally, Big Frank welcome more tips from all of you readers out there. Let's beat this cold. One last thing - Big Frank is not sure what the effect of poetry is on the cold; he's still ruminating on that one.