The Vent and Rant Thread

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

............A few days ago, the thermometers in my back yard, one in the shade and one in the sun, hit 38 deg. C. and over 50 deg. C. respectively. They don't even have numbers above 50 anymore........
This is just ridiculous. .......

You need to come and move here into the 'hot, steamy jungle.' It's 28 degrees outside my window right now... Middle of summer.


Stitchawl

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

The only spot cooler than my living room (@ 32 deg. C.) is the basement, but that's out of the question for living in, I suppose.

A few days ago, the thermometers in my back yard, one in the shade and one in the sun, hit 38 deg. C. and over 50 deg. C. respectively. They don't even have numbers above 50 anymore.

This is just ridiculous. Some years we don't see the sun even once; other years it actually freezes half-way through May, before 'spring' eventually starts in the beginning of June, and then, through July and August, we're boiled alive.

This is in the south of the Netherlands, by the way, which actually has a different climate than the north part of the country.

The south is usually the hottest during summer. I'm in Utrecht, the temperatures are a bit cooler but living in the inner city means it hardly cools down at night and it's always a couple of degrees warmer than the official temperature reading. This past week there has hardly been any wind, so opening windows to get some air flowing didn't work.

Luckily last night it was a tiny bit cooler than the past couple of nights and in combination with my fan and being incredibly tired I did manage to sleep.

Originally Posted by Hitch

Rump:

82F (28C) is the temperature to which we COOL our house. An air-conditioner can, realistically, only cool 40F, and where we are, temps above 110F are pretty common. So, I feel ya. Our bedroom is in the 80's each night, and more in the mornings once that desert sun rises--at least, in the summer. ;-)

My sister, who is heavy in weight, can't visit. She and her husband, who live in the NE US, cool their house to 68F all the time. When I go to visit her, I have to take sweatshirts/sweaters.

Hitch

I've never been able to take heat very well. I can remember summer holidays at my grandparents holiday place (there were two houses, we always stayed in one). My parents always insisted on us being outside as much as possible when the weather was nice. I always tried to get out of the sun and find a cool place to read, usually in the trees and shrubbery between our place and the scout field next to us and later I cycled a lot to cool off.

I have friends who adore this hot weather, whilst I prefer temperatures of 22-25C. But they enjoy sitting in the sun and doing nothing an I enjoy doing things, walking and cycling, when the weather is nice. And any temperature over 26C makes it too hot for me to do so.

[wodin]

Ummm, I have to turn my HVAC on every year to make sure the seals are lubricated and the Freon charge is still there. Such a bother!

[DMcCunney]

We run the A/C 24/7. including winter (though in winter it may be set to "Fan only".) Part of that is health related. My SO is asthmatic, and the A/C has an air cleaner function that reduces particulates. That's useful in pollen season, which we're in now. We did just have to replace it, as current small room models seem to last about two years.

I discovered a few weeks ago I was sensitive to Bradford pear pollen. There are a couple of Bradford pear trees planted on my street. NYC, like many other cities, plants male trees because they require less maintenance. What do male trees do? Produce pollen.

I went through a day where I was sneezing constantly, even inside behind the A/C. It turns out the Bradford pear trees were blooming. Our dentist lives in CT, with her internist husband. Unless he's scheduled to perform a procedure at an NYC hospital, he doesn't come into NYC during Bradford pear season because he's really sensitive to them. I quite understood his feelings.

I just grumble "Plant sex!", and reach for the OTC Benadryl allergy/sinus pills.
______
Dennis

[HomeInMyShoes]

I can say that I don't miss St. Louis for the summer heat. Oppresive and it's almost worse at night when the humidity skyrockets.

It was a normal July day at 26C yesterday. It felt hot though as we've only had twelve days since the beginning of May at 26C or above. Which is very weird. So much rain in June that the mosquitos are horrific so that is my rant. Go to h-e-double hockey sticks mosquitos!

[Hitch]

I posted about this here:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=243084

...because it's not really a "rant," but if anyone here has any ideas, I'd be grateful--a LOT. Need new desk recommendations to help my shoulders.

Hitch

[speakingtohe]

I am upset with myself. I was poised to preorder a Surface 3 Pro and I cannot find my credit card that has the extended warranty protection. I am pretty sure it is here and not left behind when I came North for the winter. Oh well they are mailing me a new one.

On the other hand the weather is a very decent sunny 18 degrees Celsius and cools off to about 12 at night.

Helen

[Rumpelteazer]

Several years ago I got a Logitech Squeezebox radio, since rebranded to UE Smart Radio. I love it and listen to it almost every day and use it as alarm clock.

However, I don't like Logitech. They often have maintenance to the servers, never announced and often at the time my alarm is supposed to go off, which means it doesn't go off.

A couple of times a year they have server problems, which can last up to several days. Which can happen, however, Logitech doesn't handle those problems very well. They usually don't say anything about the problems until it's either solved or when the forums are full of people complaining.

Last night it wasn't working, so I assumed they were doing maintenance, however this morning it still wasn't working. I ran the diagnostics for the connection, which was good. Rebooted the radio and even reset it to factory defaults. And it still doesn't work. A couple of people on the forum are also reporting problems.

So I'm again looking for alternative internet radios. There aren't a lot of options that have everything I want (most importantly the alarm option and sleep timer) and are affordable. Or the manufacturer is very vague about how long they will support the product and how long they will keep the servers running if they discontinue it.

Right now I'm looking at Sonos, which aren't cheap but seem to have a good reputation. The only thing I don't like about it is that you have to use your smartphone or tablet to control it.

[PeterT]

@Rumpelteazer: Why not have some fun and build your own Internet radio device? You will find some guides out there on how to use a Raspberry Pi along with a WiFi connection to make one. Of course, I think those only handle the Radio portion and not the alarm portion

[covingtoncat73]

Yeah. No. I don't think I'm going to keep taking this Norvasc (Amlopodine). It causes fluid retention when I already have that issue and have been taking my fluid pill. It causes my face and the tops of my feet to flush and maybe the tiniest bit of nosebleed. All that and spaciness (more than usual), too. At least it is keeping the pressure down. I haven't really been able to get a good response/phone consult from anyone about this. I might try calling the pharmacy again. I do have a follow-up with a nurse at my Drs. office about it tomorrow. Maybe a lower dose or something else?

[badgoodDeb]

My neighbor just started on a different blood pressure drug, and had to get a quick prescription for a diuretic too -- her feet were swelling something fierce!

FWIW: I'm on Diovan and haven't had any of those issues. But your milage may vary, of course. I don't recall if I started on a different drug, or used this straight off. The web says "Usual dosage ranges from 40–320 mg daily." I'm on 320, in the form of a 160mg tablet both morning and evening.

Good luck in finding the best choice for you!

[covingtoncat73]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

My neighbor just started on a different blood pressure drug, and had to get a quick prescription for a diuretic too -- her feet were swelling something fierce!

FWIW: I'm on Diovan and haven't had any of those issues. But your milage may vary, of course. I don't recall if I started on a different drug, or used this straight off. The web says "Usual dosage ranges from 40–320 mg daily." I'm on 320, in the form of a 160mg tablet both morning and evening.

Good luck in finding the best choice for you!

Thanks, Deb. I have always had fluid issues (at least since I've noticed when I was 20), so this BP med is just making it that much worse. I'm refusing to take it for the second day in a row but am seeing a nurse in my Drs. office tomorrow morning to talk about options. The BP wasn't high yesterday or this morning, despite not taking the medication. They put me on a 1Omg and it did take several days on it for it to make my BP low but the BP is now low. I am thinking a 5mg of the Norvasc or something else.

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by PeterT

@Rumpelteazer: Why not have some fun and build your own Internet radio device? You will find some guides out there on how to use a Raspberry Pi along with a WiFi connection to make one. Of course, I think those only handle the Radio portion and not the alarm portion

That sounds fun. I've been looking for an excuse to get a Raspberry Pi and I also want an extra internet radio for on my desk

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

That sounds fun. I've been looking for an excuse to get a Raspberry Pi and I also want an extra internet radio for on my desk

For a project at work I needed something that was more powerful than a microcontroller, but not as powerful and expensive as a full-fledged computer, so now I've got a whole bunch of these things

Look into Raspbian. Stripping that is much quicker than building up Arch from scratch. (And I've experienced Arch to be buggy; it won't reliably update for some reason.)

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

I can say that I don't miss St. Louis for the summer heat. Oppresive and it's almost worse at night when the humidity skyrockets.

It was a normal July day at 26C yesterday. It felt hot though as we've only had twelve days since the beginning of May at 26C or above. Which is very weird. So much rain in June that the mosquitos are horrific so that is my rant. Go to h-e-double hockey sticks mosquitos!

It's 44.44C in Phoenix today, and yes, bygod, I'd managed to arrange an appointment out of the office today. I'm positively wrung out.

Hitch