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bookmark_borderFeeling Hot Hot Hot…

Posted on by Christine Elias

July 4 was the hottest day on Earth in over 100,000 years and two weeks earlier — on June 19 — our air conditioner stopped working.

Not that we heard it making any untoward noises giving us any indication it was going to conk out — it’s on the roof. I had never heard of rooftop air conditioners used in residential settings before — but I knew commercial buildings had them. I mean, I knew we had something pumping delicious cold air into the house, but out of sight, out of mind.

two rooftop ac units
This is not our roof, I don’t own a drone — but you get the idea.

Well, turns out we have two! Since the house is so tall, we have a furnace in the basement and one on the third floor. And so, there are two AC units on the roof.

One of them is still working, so the basement (where we never go, there’s just a small storage room down there, so at least Danielle’s camping equipment is comfortable) and the first floor are cool. The second floor (where we have our home offices) is not too bad, but the third floor (the bedroom) is not a fun place to be these days.

I don’t really care how rooftop AC units work — but I really care if they don’t work!

I imagine it will look like this, with me anxiously pacing inside.

So there are lots of things I could be writing about (and linking to) today — but this is what you’re getting. I am no mood to write about anything funny when my hearing aids are melting in my ears.

The good news is we’re expecting a quote today. And then hopefully then the company can schedule the crane.

Yep. A crane.

I have no idea how the company will organize a crane on a narrow one-way street with no driveways in Little Portugal. But my guess is they will need a Street Occupation Permit.

Is August supposed to be very hot, too?

bookmark_borderMy very own Wayback Machine!

Posted on by Christine Elias

I have a few days off. Some people like to go for long walks or sit outside enjoying a cocktail. I enjoy the latter for sure — the former not so much — but I’m also spending my vacation working on my website. Frankly the archives are a total mess — but it sure was fun looking at some of the old stuff. There are still hundreds of files to look at — but these amused me today!

  • This is still true. (I have no design talent whatsoever. I also still can barely figure out CSS)
  • This sure makes me feel super old — Flash, really?
  • What was I up to in the summer and winter of 2002? (Pretty much the same stuff I like to do in 2023.)
  • I still get paid to do this! (And will do so for about five more years … the countdown is on!)
  • And this is all still (mostly) true (I no longer live in East York, but I still enjoy footwear and have a subscription to the Economist. But now I am much closer to 60 than I am 40!)
  • I sure loved that camera — state of the art in 1999! (For the curious — or the young — that’s a Sony Mavica FD-73 with all of 0.3 megapixels. For comparison, my iPhone has 48 megapixels.)