Some Days in the Life - June 3, 1999
As expected, today's been kind of a "hurry up and catch up" day, mostly for other people but they need to hit my office as part of it, so we've been busy. Eileen's been run ragged and in a way so have I. I especially have had a lot of parents come talk to me today, about any number of things.
On the other hand, I'm not wearing a tie. That seems to make all the difference.
Important meeting at 1:00 pm just got deferred to 1:30 pm, so I have a few seconds to tap away on this.
Viva le Decadance! I have cool, refreshing, humidity free air in my apartment now. Perhaps too cool, refreshing and humidity free, but this I think I can cope with. Dad came by with a G.E. unit that's rated at 10,000 BTU's. I'd had 12,000 BTU's recommended but it was an order of magnitude more expensive, so I thought "we'll try it. We can always take it back."
Assembly and installation is a ten minute job in a standard window. You take out and assemble the framing pieces and the accordion sides, set it in the window and close it, slide the AC in, add a few screws and you're done. Next comes cool air. That's a standard window.
I, however, have a side-sliding picture window. And it doesn't know the first thing about those.
Ultimately, we took a couple of sheets of plywood and built a "window" of wood to go over the unit, and a second sheet, balanced on blocks to properly tip the air conditioner as it's supposed to, which the unit rests on. We braced the second sheet with a 2x4 outside, and the whole kit'n'kaboodle screws into the framing pieces. All without adding screws or nails to the existing window.
It took a couple of hours, but is a plywood masterpiece. Dad and I both managed to cut ourselves, but that just means the Air Conditioner sacrifices were made. We slid the unit into place. We secured it all. We plugged it in.
...sweet cool air....
And then the circuit breaker blew.
We have methodically tried every outlet in the apartment, and have a good stopgap. It was working full well. I smiled. Dad smiled. We went out to eat at Jo Green's and had good food. We came back to the apartment....
Remember that the Air Conditioner was lower than was recommended? I'd psyched myself for disappointment. Not for... er... exceeded expectations. There was practically frost on the ground. I expected to see liquefied oxygen falls in the bathroom. It was cold in that apartment.
So, I took it off "High cool" and "6" and moved it to "Low cool" and "3." It seems very happy there.
I had dry nose and throat last night, mostly a combination of the remaining cold and the sudden lack of humidity in my apartment. But I adjusted quickly.
I slept like a charm last night. I love my air conditioner.
For those following tales of my mucous, it's much better today. My voice is coming steadily back as well. Both of which gives Eileen and Fran hope, since they've both caught the damn thing. They're unhappy with me. When I say "hey, at least you don't have to give a speech like this" they glower at me. This hasn't stopped Eileen from swimming after work, however. She says the water is beautiful. I may have to check that thesis out.
Just spoke to Bob, the landlord of the apartment I'm in. He's going to upgrade the electrical systems inside the apartment to higher load circuits (for both the A/C and all the computer equipment) and put in an extra outlet or two. I offered to pay but he dismissed that. Bob's good people. He told me one of the supermarkets had a major fire -- I'd somehow missed it. That's a pity. You don't want your supermarkets burning down, as a matter of course. Especially not now -- we're going into the Tourist Season, which is Big Money for the local economy. It's like a toy store burning down two days before Thanksgiving -- it's worse than insurance, it's lost revenue.
Bob's connected to a competitor of the business. They're pitching in and helping. This is why I live in a small town. Especially one close to a larger city.
Speaking of cities, Robin Whelton, who's an old college friend who I made reference to in the "Marblehead" description, commented on it. Her mother's still in Salem, and she reminded me that she's still in Boston, which isn't that far away, Damn It. In addition, my friend Greg has been reminding me that he works in Boston and isn't that far away either, Damn It. Frank and John are reminding me that it's been too long since I was in Ithaca, Damn It.
I'm beginning to get the impression I've got some traveling to do this Summer.
Robin (and Andy and Ernestine and whoever else is still there from Boston University) would be a lot of fun. I haven't seen them since I was... well, thinner, for sure. It's been a long time, and the last trip was kind of strange. It would be nice.
Anyway, this thing's way late, so I'd better get it in.
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