I really want to go metric. I’ve been overseas long enough to know that it’s reasonable and it’s possible. And it’s altogether practical. Let’s come in line with how the rest of the world measures stuff, please. I’ve even gone so far as to make it the one thing that’ll get my vote in any election – I might even have voted for Trump if he’d promised to go metric (a safe statement though – he’d never go metric because “America first” and all).
But even after more than 20 years living in a metric world, there are still a few things that trip me up. It’s about those numbers. Hey, kph is a great measurement for speed (and it really helps that most American car speedometers have a double ring of numbers to help you). You can get by with 20, 40, 60, 80, 100. Why not? It’s better than 15, 25, 35, 45, 55, 60, 65, 70. I mean, in America, it’s never legal on public highways to go “100.” In Korea, I do it all the time.
But the thing that trips me up is weight. I mean, it’s easy. But it’s hard when you step on a scale. Because “100” doesn’t really sound that bad. Hey, if I weigh “100” (I don’t) I’m doing pretty good. I would think that way even if I knew I was measuring in kgs. But if I weighed 220? Well, I’d be really concerned. Even though they’re both about the same thing.
So at home, sometimes my wife will switch the scale over to kgs and I don’t mind because I have an idea of when it’s starting to get bad (right after the holiday season). But still, 86 isn’t bad right? I mean, at least I’m not 90. But when you tell me 86 is about 190, I think “Whoa. Christmas is starting to catch up to me.”
We’ve got to start somewhere I suppose. But it’s not really going to be that hard. All we need is the resolve to get it done.
And with that, I’ll leave you with the best of Hank Yarbo from Corner Gas, season 5.
🤣
I try to use the metric system… the closest I’ve gotten is using Celsius though so I haven’t been successful.