maarmie's musings

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Spoiled rotten

I grew up surrounded by air conditioners. In every house and apartment, every workplace, every store, every car. Screw global warming. It's fucking hot down here!

North Florida is considerably cooler in the wintertime, but, in the summertime, it's just as hot here as it is in Central Florida where I grew up. One of the many things I had to adjust to after my move to New York was the fact that air conditioners never come standard there. Although temperatures there reach into the 110s in the summertime, air conditioning is still considered a luxury that must be purchased separately.

I say all this to say that my air conditioner started blowing outdoor-temperature air two nights ago and that two nights is all I can take. I know it's only April, but it's already well into the 90s during the day here. This thermostat reading shows the temperature in my apartment at 11 p.m. last night:



The first thing I did when I got to work this morning was call my landlord to see about getting it fixed. It's a new central heat and air unit, and he doesn't seem too happy about having to go take a look at it. He sounded suspicious, almost like he thought I had something to do with it not working. Please! I'm spoiled rotten where air conditioning is concerned. You would be, too, if you lived down here.

Update: 10:30 a.m. EST. My landlord has been out to my place. The problem isn't some kind of cutoff switch near the compressor like he first suspected. Time to call in the big guns - and pay the big bucks!

Update: It's 7:45 p.m. There's a zero percent chance of rain, and it's a cool 74 degrees.

9 comments:

Jeremy QA Gibbens said...

Growing up, we never had ANY A/C whatsoever in our farm house. Not even a window unit. Granted, I grew up in North Dakota, home to 40+ below windchills during the winter. But even there, it gets hot and muggy for stretches of the summer. We just had fans running during the hot stretches of summer. Of course, my parents waited until I was halfway through college before springing for central air.

Now I can't live without it. I have trouble sleeping if it's even much above 70.

The Dog of Freetown said...

There is no need whatsoever for air conditioning here. Which is quite depressing. I'm going to move somewhere I can complain about the heat. So long since I saw the sun - what does it look like I wonder.

maarmie said...

Kieran: You must be from the UK! The temperatures in Oregon are more to my liking. Year round, it's between about 40 and 85 F. The only things I couldn't stand were the cloudiness and rain. No sun for four months. Rain for four months straight. After a few weeks every winter, it seems like everyone gets seasonal affect disorder there.

maarmie said...

Jeremy: Aren't they allowing homesteading in North Dakota again to try and attract more people there? It's not working....

Jeremy QA Gibbens said...

Yes, but it's mostly people just abandoning their homes to move to civilization and out of state squatters moving in. Last I heard, the house I grew up in was occupied by twelve hobos.

palinode said...

Florida is crazy with the air conditioning. I remember drinking at an Integrated Entertainment and Merchandising Installation in the Keys one summer. All the doors were open and leaking air so ice-cold that it felt almost nauseating.

maarmie said...

Ahhh! I know just what you're talking about! I love that air that's so ice-cold that it feels almost nauseating! Can't live without it. It's sad, really.

Anonymous said...

Unstick those windows, then kick back with an ice cold milkshake.

maarmie said...

They're painted shut!