my big fat new a/c unit :)

[floatingleaf]

So, I went to see my parents on Sunday, and they asked how I was coping with the heat, given my ancient a/c unit. I said I was fine, if a bit toasty - and my dad said that's great, but should I need a new air conditioner, he can buy one for me and deliver it to my place (since he has a car and I don't). He also happened to mention that he is off work until Thursday. I said thanks, but I'm fine, really. The next day, however, the temperature went up (into the hundreds), and my old unit decided it can only do so much. It was creaking and groaning and blowing air that didn't seem any cooler than the air in the room. By evening, it had gotten so oppressive inside I was ready to lose my wits. I just couldn't handle it anymore. By the way, I also decided to clean my place that day - yes, it was too hot, but I was wading ankle-deep in dust-bunnies, and my desk was so filthy my sweaty palms were sticking to the surface (no joke). So I said, dammit, I gotta clean if it kills me... LOL. And I did. And it nearly did kill me, too. I sort of passed out midway through... and then again after I was done. By then it was evening, and I was feeling so hot and sticky I wanted to crawl into the freezer and sleep there.:D So I called dad and took him up on his offer. And he did deliver, LOL. It took him half the day to find a suitable unit for me, though, since a/c equipment is currently in high demand and nearly everything was sold out. The one he ended up buying was the only one left in the store (the fifth store he had visited) - except for some huge industrial units that wouldn't have fit into my apartment. It's still very big, and it was an excruciating task to bring it up the stairs to the third floor (I live in antique building with no elevator) - but we managed somehow. It's a free-standing unit, at least, so it didn't have to be fitted into a window - it just has this huge exhaust pipe that takes the hot air and water outside through the window. It is very fancy, with a myriad settings and a remote control.:) I haven't read the instruction manual yet - I'm going to play with it tomorrow.;) Dad set it up for me, though, so it is working right now (OMG I have REAL A/C, people!... it's so freaking COOL!!!...:D :D :D).

Not everything went smoothly, though. For some reason, which eludes me entirely now, we decided to see if we could have both the old and the new unit running at the same time - and OF COURSE that blew the power circuit (I should have known it was going to happen, since it's happened every time I had the a/c and my little toaster oven running simultaneously, for example). And I thought I knew where the fuse boxes were in the basement - but I hadn't been there since forever (the basement in my building is a dark and scary place, stuff of bad horror films and nightmares, no joke), and I was hot and exhausted and dizzy and my brain wasn't working properly, so I went into the wrong section of the basement and fiddled with someone else's fuse box - to no effect, obviously (other then, well, some innocent unsuspecting neighbor temporarily losing power, I suppose...:D). Then dad went downstairs with me and we both tried to figure out why it wasn't working (he, of course, had no idea we were fiddling with the wrong fuse box, since I told him peevishly I'd lived here for five years and I KNEW where my fuse box was... LOL). Until finally it hit me that PERHAPS I should have gone into the door to the left of the staircase - not the one to the right (apartments on both sides have the same numbers, because the house number is different, so it is really easy to confuse the two). *HEADDESK*

To my dad's credit, he didn't roll his eyes too emphatically at me - but he was beyond exhausted by the entire enterprise, since he just can't handle high temperatures. He was literally bathed in sweat, and wishing he'd brought a change of clothes.:/ I feel bad for him. Also, he didn't want me to pay him back for the unit, even though he spent almost $400 on it (taxes and extended two-year warranty included). Just... wow. Parents are useful sometimes.;D

I'm still sweating in here, btw. The place had gotten so swampy it will take many long hours to cool it down, even with such a powerful new unit. But at least it doesn't feel like hell's antechamber anymore...

To sum things up: I haven't really done much on this extra-long weekend, since for most of the time I was stretched out on the sofa, panting with sheer exhaustion. I did see an interesting movie, which I might talk about later. I still have some LJ and email catch-up to do... hopefully, that will happen tomorrow. Now I think I need to get horizontal again... *wipes brow*

Oh, and here's a picture of my cool new machine:



:D

Comments

[floatingleaf.livejournal.com]

Yep. It pays to be nice to them... LOL.