Since I spend much of every day watching The Weather Channel down here -- because it's too warm to go outside -- I'm aware that the Baltimore area is expecting a few inches of snow overnight. And, of course, I'm jealous.

I'm sure you understand. It can get a little old going to the ballpark every day under a boring, cloudless sky with the temperature invariably 75 degrees. Day after day after day this is what I see when I step out onto my porch (right). It's like working in a mine, except you're outside and there's always a balmy tradewind that invariably pushes your perfect eight-iron shot to the edge of the green.

It gets so bad, I sometimes have to duck into one of the beachfront bars to reduce the amount of UV radiation exposure and get rehydrated.

If I hadn't promised to bring you up-to-the-minute coverage of the Orioles for the first month of spring training, I'd come home right now, though my flight would probably be canceled and I'd have to stay here anyway.

I'll try to bear up.

Crappy Sun cellphone photo by Peter Schmuck