Between Saturday and Wednesday of this week, I didn’t do a whole lot of sleeping.
Which is why I’ve been a bit absent. And cranky and spacey and tired and really, really cranky. And, did I mention cranky?
See, where I work, there is no air conditioning. I know, right? That has to be illegal, but it’s not. Ten hours a day, sweating my ta-tas off, choking down rotting garbage smell just to catch a breeze – if that’s not a testament to how much I love those bratty little kids, I don’t know what is.
The only relief comes when at the end of a hot, sweaty workday, I get to go home to my climate control(ish) apartment. Ish. I mean, it’s a window unit. It has its limitations. And on Saturday, it became apparent that my little window air conditioner’s limit was aboutâ€_ 79 degrees. Once it hit 80, the poor old thing couldn’t keep up. And I couldn’t sleep.
Every night, I camped out on the living room couch, which is closer to the coolest air. With Sir Hal stretched out next to me on his back (dude was desperate to get some relief for that furry belly), I wiggled and fidgeted and sweated myself into a frustrated half-sleep. It went on this way for several nights.
Apparently, in my sleepless delirium one night, I did a little online shopping. I say ‘apparently’ because it was only after I got a Your item has shipped! email from Amazon that I even vaguely remember it happening. Sweet god, am I glad I don’t drink heavily. I’m uncomfortable enough with the idea that I don’t remember buying books. I can’t imagine what torment I’d go through if I couldn’t remember how I got home or who this snoring, hairy-backed dude was sleeping next to me.
So, why not buy a new air conditioner? Well, there’s the cost. Which, frankly, became much less of an issue after a few days on the couch. I missed my bed. I missed it a couple hundred bucks worth, at least. Then there was the issue of getting it home and getting it into the window. Those buggers are heavy! And two things I have very little faith in are my physical strength and my aptitude for things which require common sense and simple mechanics. I’m more of an ideas girl.
But after days and nights of being sweaty and exhaustedâ€_. Well, see this cut on my finger? That’s the battle wound I got installing my brand new, kick-ass AC unit last night. All. By. Myself.
That’s right. I just watched the entire sixth season of MacGyver. There’s nothing I can’t do.
(Except save Pete from Glaucoma. Because even Mac couldn’t do that.)
Haha! That’s such a great feeling! You are woman, we hear you roar! Enjoy your new lovely cool apartment! (Perhaps the old one can go to your office???)
Awesome….I knew you could do it. Who needs a man (for manual labor anyway).
I am going through a similar situation I am staying with the parents for a little while and my father refuses to buy central AC when the “window units work just fine”, however, while the window units work just fine for the rest of the house, there is a WALL OF HEAT that hits you as you enter my room. So my father told me if I am too hot to buy myself a unit. HMMMM Being poor and cool or having some money and hot. I think I will have to break down and do the same. But damn it if I buy it he’s installing it. LOL
Hillary, great idea about using the old unit in her office. You should definitely do that fish!
ahhhhh, there is nothing better than reliable AC during a hot new york summer.
Congrats on the new A/C and enjoy. I’m a firm believer that comfort while sleeping is of utmost importance. I’m curious which one you got since I’m in process of buying a new one myself. Thanks!
When I moved from my central AC’ed apt. to one with no AC my dad asked if I wanted one & I was all, “no, I can deal with it.” Well, that was in March. After a couple of sweaty June NYC nights YOU KNOW I was not “dealing with it.”
Yeah for you, installing your own AC. I bet the cool air feels that much sweeter knowing you took care of it.
LOL! My sister and I bought our a/c after my sis stormed out of the apt in a fit of anger, because she couldn’t take the heat ANYMORE! Just getting that monster up to our 3rd fl. walk-up was a challege. But we did it, installation and all, totally testosterone-free!
Good for you! Now, get some rest.
Congrats on the A/C! We can do anything!
After my ex left, my first ‘woman all by myself’ installation was putting up a clothesline. I was so proud of that thing! Ha.
Our temperatures here in rural PA aren’t so bad yet, a fan will suffice. Thankfully I’m not in the city, you’re a stronger person already for that!
enjoy your weekend of sleeping!
Way to go!
Long time reader, first time poster. Loved this entry as I can relate completely! I am spending my first summer in my Boston studio apartment and I managed to get my AC up the three flights of stairs and in the window ALL BY MYSELF – felt amazing, despite my cut finger! For an AC recommendation to another post, for smaller sized windows Fedders brand through Walmart (I had to order it online, store didn’t carry it) has worked great for me. Love this blog!
In northern Australia they have phrase for the madness that comes with unrelenting heat: going troppo.
Ya gotta love NY, cold enough for cabin fever in winter and hot enough to go troppo in the summer, truely a city with something for everyone!
Oh, and speaking of hot, women wrenching are seeexxy.
Congratulations! I did the same when I was living in Boston (only 4 years ago…and I still remember the cuts on the finger and fears of dropping it and it landing on a neighbor!). They don’t have window units over here in England – so VERY weird…but they do have air coolers and portable air conditioners (but you need to put a vent out the window so if you live on the ground floor you can’t use one). Luckily it doesn’t get too hot in London, too often! Enjoy your cool nights…looking forward to seeing your city starting TOMORROW!
I don’t know about NY, but some utilities offer rebate $ when you replace an old AC unit with a new one. It may be worth checking out.
the hot summer nites in nyc can be unbearable! one time, i fell asleep on my sister’s Soloflex as even my bed was too hot to sleep on.
This must have been air conditioner week, because I just loaded my old window unit into my mom’s car so she could take it to my brother who lives in Alabama and only has one (1) a/c unit for his whole house…… blech!
There is a longstanding criminal conspiracy among NYC landlords to ban central air-conditioning from their buildings. I have no idea what this means, but I’m sure it exists. But sweaty ta-tas? Hmm …
I live in Florida where it’s 95 during the day, humid as hell & we’re not even into the dead of summer. How the hell hot is it there right now?
I remember a certain someone figuring out how to install an air conditioner into her bedroom window a long time ago…I believe in you!!
(Dude, YOU helped me. You also helped me fix the vacuum. I’m lost without you.)
I have often wished that, if I had a superpower, it would be the power to condense the moisture in the air and make it fall where I wished. There would be a lot more clear, wonderful summer days if that were true.
Has anyone gotten one of those units you put in the center of the room? I’m interested in what those are like.
I was thinking that the best case scenario would be an air conditioner run on solar power. But I think you’d need some MASSIVE panels to get that much power.
If you only knew what a hot summer was like. I’d kill for some 80 degree weather!! it’s been between 95-103 for the past, oh, month down here!
All that aside, congrats on the accomplishment. I know how good it feels to do something like that for yourself!
I know hot weather. I’m a Texan, for pete’s sake! And I bet you work in an air conditioned office, or go to an air conditioned school. And ride to and from there in an air conditioned car. Don’t tell me I don’t know hot weather. It’s pretty relative.
That’s what’s up. It feels good to fix/install/assemble something all by yourself. Since you seem so adept at this stuff, do you wanna come over and figure out how to program my DVD/VCR to record my soaps when I leave the house?
Yes, I’m too cheap to get Tivo.
If you were all hot and bothered, you should have come over to my place! I have A/C.
And whisky!
The entire sixth season of MacGyver?
Wait, I have no room to talk. I just watched the entire thrid season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer…only without A/C. It made her trips to hell feel a little more authentic.
Take care Fish…stay cool
Up at 5.30am, woken by the whine of a kamikaze mosquito, discovering even a sheet was too warm … wandering out to the lounge in despair.
Congrats on the installation
Fish,
Just have to say that stopping into read is a real joy. There is so much inner strength behind your words. Just inspiring and you bring me to emotion. Even when your posts are sad and we hear your weariness, it’s still so humanizing and real.
And today’s post? Gave me a total moment of kick-ass girl power glee! Follow Hilary’s advice, take it to your office! Brilliant!
I just moved into a new space and am about to have to invest in a new unit myself. Ahh the terrifying thoughts of it plummeting to the ground from my 3rd floor as I try to install it!!
Congrats and hope you have lovely sleep that requires blankets!
Sorry about the heat. Yeah, I’ve lived through 6 NYC summers with my old crabby units from my previous apartment. Not fun!
Having grown up in the Deep South, where everyone (even those without indoor plumbing) had central AC, I can’t understand this primitive aspect of life in New York. In the past, I’ve resorted to standing in front of the open refrigerator door.
Hi! Love your blog. Heat with no a/c sucks- especially when you get no relief at home or school. Schlepping the a/c unit reminds me of the scene in the movie In America where they haul one all across town on some rickity cart. Enjoy the newly found cool air!
nice blog
best wishes
ah, I am proud of your girl-powerness. Unfortch, I gave in to P.C. Richard’s siren song and spent the $60 for some other poor sucker to haul my new window a/c to my 6th floor walk-up. And then called my building supt. to install it. But I helped hold the window down while he did!
ah, fish, go on with your bad self. there’s always a huge sense of achievement when you acomplish something “manly” all by yourself. we are intelligent people, we can figure this crap out!
i remember my little house in college station TX with its window units…sounded like a jumbo jet was gearing up for takeoff every time we started the old thing in the living room. now, see, we had the opposite problem that teahouseblossom described, in that i would periodically stand near the opened oven door to heat up in the faux winter.
I’m sorry, 80F, I think that converts to 25C … is that hot? Does your town have an inversion layer and it holds in humidity/pollution as well (which would make 25C disgusting as opposed to not that hot) … just wondering?
Anytime someone starts off with, “I’m sorry” you know they’re a) going to say something contrary and b) they aren’t sorry in the least. Just an observation.
When I first moved to New York from the swamps of Louisiana, during the summer of 1999, one of the hottest most miserable on record, trudging across the streets in a frickin suit and then going into buildings (including my apartment) that were barely (if at all) airconditioned, I thought to myself: “These people are so backwards.”
To the gent or lady who surmised about the conspiracy against central AC… No conspiracy. You have seen the electrical wiring in these old buildings right? They can barely handle microwaves and TVs over 21 inches. Imagine trying to put a central unit it. And where would they run the ducts?
And the old window unit. There’s nothing like the thrill of installing one of them in an upper floor New York apartment, wondering if you’ll slip and it’ll go hurtling to the pavement, wasting your couple hundred bucks AND killing an old lady. Then, you spend all summer questioning the quality of your handywork? What was that noise? Did it just slip a little? Is the window about to give way?
See, where I work, there is no air conditioning.
Oh Hell no. That really should be illegal. It’s one thing for those little brats to sweat, but the workers have to endure it, too?!
Oh, the KIDS have air conditioning in the classrooms. But we don’t have them in the back office. Life is sooo unfair. ;P
Am so with you on this. 5th floor window looking right down on MacDougal St. SO worried my roommate or I would lose our grip and the thing would go tumbling down on someone eating below. Installed it fine, checked the window nightly for about a week to make sure it was down snug on the top of that thing before i finally slept well.
Congrats and here’s to cool, restful evenings!
hey MARK … I’ll start the hell any sentence I like with I’m sorry … it’s just what I do …. in this case I would have thought the QUESTION MARKS would have helped you work out that I was asking a question … obviously not. And you know what you can do with your ‘just an observation’!
PS … I really would like an answer to the question i originally asked …. is there any inversion layer that keeps the humidity etc in?
I’m afraid you’ll have to look that up on weather.com or ask jeeves.
Wow. I’m impressed.