This year was the largest turn out I have seen in the three years that I have taken the Plunge. About two hundred people showed up, many of whom were just there to watch people like my friends and I splashing around and pointing at the sky like crazed idiots. It was unseasonably warm, with the air temperature in the 50's, but the water was still a frigid 30-something. This year I had so much fun I jumped in a second time.

My friend Anthony took the Plunge with me for the first time this year, and after some thought, he put the whole thing in perspective when he asked: "If you didn't know anyone who was doing it the first time you took the plunge, what made you do it? Did you just wake up one morning and say 'I'm going to do that?'" Yep.