andrew61

Confessions of a Slacker
2007-05-25 00:00:00 (UTC)

Update

Salted left me a comment on my last entry that made me chuckle. It was about the A/C not being on in my building during this recent heat wave.

What’s funny is that today — after we’ve had a cold front come through and it’s dramatically cooler outside, high today only 70° — now they finally have the A/C on, after days of sweltering heat have already passed.

In my building, between the heat and A/C, only one can be on at a time, and that’s what the entire building gets. Furthermore, they can’t just flip a switch and change over from heat to A/C instantly… it takes up to two full days to make the transition.

Now, they don’t like to put the A/C on before June 1, because of Chicago law that says a landlord has to provide heat between September 15 and June 1 any time the temperature falls below 55° outside.

So this time of year can be tricky. The weather can change from hot to cold overnight, and the building wouldn’t be able to switch from A/C back to heat in that short a time. The problem comes when it abruptly gets cold again, the heat isn’t on yet, and someone calls the city and complains that the building isn’t providing any heat. Then the city inspectors show up, and the building management gets in trouble. The city’s very strict about that.

It’s a nice highrise overall — in fact it’s considered the premier lakefront building in my part of town, and has recently won many design awards — but the heating/cooling system here is rather primitive, and that can cause problems during the Spring and Fall, when the weather is very fickle.

Most years it’s not a big problem this time of year… it often stays chilly and windy on the Chicago lakefront right on up through Memorial Day, and sometimes even beyond, but this year’s been an exception. I don’t know if it’s due to global warming, or if we’re just having a fluky year.

I guess I shouldn’t complain too much, because the A/C is included in my rent and I don’t pay for it… only for the electricity to run the blowers which only costs me a few extra dollars a month, at most. But the past couple of days have been rather miserable in here.

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I’ve been trading e-mails with the guy who’s renting out a room in that big, beautiful house… we’ve been talking about our lifestyles and how we live, and so far it sounds like we’re pretty compatible. We set up an appointment for me to go see the place tomorrow morning. I’ll report back how it goes.

I have a very good feeling about this, however.




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