BRING ON THE HEAT.
Yeah, that’s right, bring it on. I’m ready for it.
I have a freakishly hot apartment. During my first week at Epcor, the thermostat didn’t drop below 25 degrees and spent most of the time doing the rubber chicken at the high end. Not being a morning person to begin with, getting up for a 7:30 start time has been that much more hellish, and I’ve actually fallen asleep in my cube these past two days (it’s nice and cool, I’m pretty isolated, it’s quiet, it’s kinda dark…). After the sweatfest that was Thursday night, I couldn’t take it anymore.
For years I’ve debated the pros and cons of getting an air conditioner. But usually by the time I’ve decided one way or the other, it’s either too late in the season to justify it, or I just don’t have the money. As it turns out, my brother’s new condo has an even worse issue. He bought a “portable” air conditioner early in the season and, although it doesn’t exactly make his condo into a meat locker, it did drop the temperature a few degrees once it got fired up.
After a week of less than five hours of sleep a night and waking up in sweat, I resolved to get myself one of these things. Unfortunately, the rest of Edmonton had the same idea.
Jon, bless his heart, drove me all over Hell’s half-acre (aka every big box store north of the river) looking for a portable air conditioner this week, but none were to be had for less than $700+. Everyone was out of stock. On several occasions the store clerks would simply announce to the crowd that they were out of stock.
Thursday night Jon and I were discussing potential alternate purchase points, and he mentioned Best Buy. I hadn’t thought of it, so I went online to bestbuy.ca and started scoping things out. Paydirt–a portable a/c for $499.
But then I started checking inventory in stores. Not a one to be had in Edmonton. I checked Calgary–every location sold out.
In desperation I checked Red Deer. Just on the off-chance And lo and behold, ONE LEFT.
I called Jon–at 12:15 in the morning–just to confirm. As it turns out, he didn’t have anything on his calendar Friday night.
Road trip.
Yes, Jon, like an angel of mercy, drove me to Red Deer and back for a portable air conditioner. From the look sof it, possibly one of the last left for purhase under $600 in the province.
I picked up a Haier 9000 BTU model. Single-hose exhaust system. Does it work? Like a damn. It’s not exactly mounted according to spec–instead of using the adaptor panel (which is too big for my living room window), I just use the pane to hold the hose up to the screen (if that makes any sense). There isn’t a lot of space on either side so it works pretty well. The unit itself isn’t as heavy as I expected–the body is all plastic, which helps, but also makes me wonder about durability. The instructions have their share of Engrish, but are decipherable. And, granted, I can’t get the remote control to work.
Do I care? HA. It cranks out the BTUs and isn’t any louder than the ancient table fan I’ve had running non-stop since the hot weather kicked in. It beats going to bed with three icepacks and a huge floor fan blaring all night. And it can’t cost me any more than spending as much time as possible anywhere but in my apartment–it was so hot that any movement fast than a slow, lumbering sway would result in rivers of sweat. My hair refused to dry. And I was generally cranky and miserable.
Not any more. I can roll it into my bedroom if need be. I run it for 10-15 minutes at a time and go back to the table fan otherwise to conserve electricity. I spent all day at home today and did not once curse the sun.
Hopefully it’ll ease my morning commute once work starts up again on Tuesday. But I’m going to spend ths long weekend basking in the cool breeze my portable air conditioner gently exhales, like the breath of (insert name of benevolent Egyptian god/ess here) across the Gobi Desert that is my apartment.
July 1st, 2006