Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitch
73.4F? Dear Lord, you'd be mighty unhappy here! On a really good night, in the summer, we turn our thermostat down to 78F, and our bedroom, which is across the house from it, is not remotely that cool. If I had to guess, I'd say it's 80F. But air-conditioning units can only cool a maximum of 30 degrees, Fahrenheit, and that's only if you want them running non-stop. When it's 115F outside--which it will be shortly--it can make for some toasty nights! (Ceiling fans are our friends!)
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We have a combo heating/cooling unit, replacing a former in window A/C. The old A/C was set to keep things at 76F. A few days ago, I turned the current unit down to keep things at 72F.
Years back, my then employer sent me to Alamogordo, NM for a couple of weeks in July. We were opening a facility there, and I was part of the tech team making it live. My first response was "You want to send me to a place where it hits 100F or more in July?" I was not thrilled. But the old adage "It's not the heat, it's the humidity" proved true. Temperatures were 95F to 100F during the day, but relative humidity was 10%-15%. It was hot, but I could deal with it. I called home to NYC. It was 90F and 100% humidity, and my SO was a
very unhappy woman. We would have frequent thunderstorms, but it would still be 100% humidity afterward. I thought "You know what? I think I got the better deal!"
I'd have been happier if the hotel I was booked into didn't have a
heated pool in the dead of summer. The Front Desk Manager I talked to didn't understand it either, but that was what the owner wanted. (While I was talking to him, a woman came to the front desk to complain about it, trailed by her 12 year old son who tried going for a dip and came out resembling a freshly boiled lobster.)
There were joking comments about transferring me to Alamogordo to be resident tech manager at the facility. I said "Okay. First, you double my salary. Then you pay my relocation expenses and rental on the housing while I'm there. Next you pay for my T1 connection to the Internet, and my unlimited charge account at the local book and record store. And last you pay for my supply of really good drugs, or I will go straight up the wall in about 2 weeks flat!"
Alamogordo reminded me of a story an old friend had told me. He was an industrial designer, living in Philadelphia where I lived at the time, whose office was in a suburb. The plant that made what he designed - rooftop A/C units - was in Jackson, Tennessee. His boss floated the idea of him relocating, to have the lead designer of the product located where they were actually made.
He said "How thick is the Yellow Pages?"
"Huh?"
"How thick is the
Yellow Pages?" If it isn't at least an inch thick, there isn't enough of what I consider necessary to a decent quality of life, and I'm not moving!"
That was my thought about Alamogordo. A nice little town 100 miles from anywhere, with little of what I consider needed.
I
did get to see the Alamogordo Air and Space Museum, with things like the rocket sled where Air Force Colonel Andy Stapp set a record in the amount of G forces experienced by a human being (and had long term vision problems because he got detached retinas in the process.) I think I was the only one there aside from museum staff who knew what I was looking at and sitting in. And I got too see the famous white sands of the White Sands proving ground.
It had some attraction as a tourist visit, but not as a place for this Northeastern city boy to live.
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Dennis