convert to metric

I mean, I still live in an English-system society but I feel like I could at least kind of get by in a metric world.

Because of the inherent bias in this society towards US standard measurements, I’ve often got to catch myself but I tend to use the metric system almost exclusively now unless I have to translate for someone completely unfamiliar. Nurses loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove me. :p

Parts of this goal:
*Car odometer and mileage (kilometerage?) in metric -DONE
*be able to estimate distances in metric-halfway
*know my height and weight in metric-DONE
*measure and maintain my weight in metric-DONE
*cook in metric
*be able to estimate liquid and solid liter and gram measures by eye
*know temperatures in metric-halfway, I check the weather in metric anyway.
Feeling pretty close to checking this off. The real problem is maintaining it. I mean, when I really look around and think about it, how can I fight against EVERY SINGLE THING around me being in the english system? I wish sooooo badly that the other measurement system would just go away!!

And I’m getting distance pretty well. Volume, not a clue yet. Maybe I will try cooking in metric to get those. Weight, I can’t find me a metric scale for sale in the US. But at least I know I weigh 61 kg. It’s becoming easier.
Am I missing anything else?

I now use metric measurements in most of my references and hybrid in some when having to explain it to people who don’t know.

Most of the phlebotomists and pharmacists I come across are the main ones who know the metric system the best while…frighteningly, a few of the others in the medical field are very unfamiliar. Considering most of the measurements…are in metric…it’s quite scary.

How are you going to give me a milliliter of anything if you don’t know what it is?

How many centimeters tall am I again?

How many kilos do I weigh? How do you exchange that into pounds?

0_o

Anywho, practice practice practice. As soon as I can get some tape, I’m going to be putting little reminders up all over the house so I can go even further towards using metric. Plus it will keep me out of the 36 degree weather we’re going to be having today. I baked enough yesterday. I was almost 100 kilos and managed to drop down to 96 on the heat alone. :-/

What do I do about my spices, which are too light for my kitchen scale (unless I use WAY too much)? Is there such a thing as a metric 1/8th of a teaspoon equivalent measuring spoon?

I’m sick of the english system or whatever it’s called. It’s a really outdated system and I’ve been waiting since grade school (when we had to learn both) for the country to get with it and change over, but nothing’s happening so screw it, I’ll change over by myself. I know the conversions, but I still “think” in english units, miles, cups, inches, etc. So I want to get to a point where I think in metric. So when someone from the rest of the world tells me it’s 40 degrees out I know immediately whether that’s hot or cold. Whether 60 kilos means I’m fat. English system, I wash my hands of you!

Temperature is where I have the most trouble. When it’s 15 degrees, I can never figure out whether it’s in the coolish high 50’s or low 60’s. So it got up to 86 degrees, which would be unsurvivable if it were in Centigrade (?) but is actually around 25 degrees in metric.

Liters are another matter! I noticed the gallon jugs of Ozarka water aren’t a gallon anymore, but much smaller, so I suspect they’re offering less water for the same high price. Bottles are uglier now, but I digress.

I want to do this because I will live in China for the next 10 months, teaching children English, and mainly, because I’ve been asked how tall I am, how tall he is, how tall that building is, how far the school is from my apt. etc. And, every time someone tells me how hot it has been, I have no idea how hot it really is. It has actually been mildly debilitating. I hope to continue using metric when I return to the States…seems so silly to be the only country on a system that is so critical to many comparisons in life.

The first step was to take a look at the sites KaliTime Camaralzman offered up. Thanks! They are a good start!

I’ve been using the metric mode of explaining things in my conversations. It’s normally quite confusing for others but I feel better for doing it and when I’m talking with friends who aren’t in the United States, they understand me a lot better.

I just wish they’d switch the shoe sizes over to a more uniform system. I wear size 9.5 (US) mens shoes (11 womens) but people keep hearing what they want to hear and will keep insisting on offering me size 9.5 (US) womens shoes even though my feet are obviously a good deal larger than the shoes.