Heat Wave

Posted August 7th, 2007 at 03:27 PM by IlliniPundit
in

It's incredibly hot this week, and looks like it will be this way for a while.

Please keep an eye on your family and neighbors who might need help coping with it.

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Glock21's picture
On August 7th, 2007 at 04:05 PM, Glock21 said:

Mother nature knew I was moving this week... and she's living up to her title.  Ugh! 

 

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Glock21 Op/Ed

On August 7th, 2007 at 04:23 PM, bettycat (not verified) said:

I'm at my job and the air is NOT working.  This morning it seemed like it just wasn't keeping up, but it was soon obvious that it is not working at all.  One guy is sitting out in his truck with the AC running (let me know if I get any calls).  I have a fan strategically placed so when no one's looking I can let it blow up my skirt.  It's not helping a whole lot.    We have our hair clipped up in a variety of lovely impromptu updos and there is some serious sweating going on.  Just under two hours to go.  aaaaagggghhhh.

I need to remember the thousands of residents including elderly and those in poor health who have no AC in their homes.  And those who must work outdoors.  And that it's not all about me, me, me.  But ya know what?   I AM FREAKIN' UNCOMFORTABLE.

 

Loren Heal's picture
On August 7th, 2007 at 04:27 PM, Loren Heal said:

Me, I like it this way.  Drink lots of water, dress down, and surrender to it instead of compaining. 

In Kuwait, the high is 114° to 116°F and the low 91°F.  The low is 91 degrees Fahrenheit .

In Baghdad, they've had a cool front pass though. The forecast for tomorrow is a chilly 107°F  Time to break out the hot cocoa and earmuffs.

See the Academy, where we start at pretension and never look back.

Glock21's picture
On August 7th, 2007 at 04:30 PM, Glock21 said:

According to the weather channel the High today in Baghdad is a toasty 110 degrees.  Suddenly it feels a little nicer out.  Time to load some more boxes.

 

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Glock21 Op/Ed

On August 7th, 2007 at 05:19 PM, ThoughtPolice said:

See, the problem arises when you are in the A/C environment - you get used to it too quickly. If you don't use/have A/C, the heat's not a problem at all. I figure that hominids have survived for millions (or 6,000, for some people) of years without it, so it won't hurt too much. I hate going to stores and other public places in the summer - their A/Cs are FREEZING cold, and I can hardly stand it. I don't get it - so many people keep their houses colder in the summer than in the winter. They complain about it being "cold" when it's a balmy 60 degrees inside in the winter, but have no problem with it during the summer.

akibare's picture
On August 7th, 2007 at 07:58 PM, akibare said:

Yeah but in Baghdad, isn't it at least a dry heat?

I realize it's not too much help at 110, I've been to Arizona and hiked around in Utah on a piece of flat rock that must have been God's own pizza brick...  plus I'm sure it extra sucks when there's no fridge and even ice is crazy expensive, OR you're walking around with 100 pounds of crap on.

My own house has a single window air conditioner. It struggles, and it's by no means cold in here, but it does take the edge of the humidity, when I actually run it during the dog days.  It's on now.  Walking home from work, I'm drenched.

I notice U of I is trying to reduce energy use, they could start by lowering the amount of AC in my office.  Sure, we have desktop terminals, but it isn't a server farm (that's downstairs). 

As a kid in Japan there was no A/C, and it's plenty hot'n'humid over there, lemme tell ya. But one of the best things ever, near my house there were tunnels cut into the mountains left over from WW2.  The entrances were all bricked over, but in order to have air flow, some of the bricks were metal vents.  This meant that in summer, we could stand in front of these, and COLD air was constantly blowing out.  We had your typical thin cotton kid summer clothes, and it was amazingly, amazingly great.

Loren Heal's picture
On August 7th, 2007 at 09:25 PM, Loren Heal said:

Having spent a year on Okinawa, I can agree that it can be quite warm and humid.  Like 95 and raining. Heaven!

At the time I was a mainframe computer operator in the Marine Corps.  Step outside from 65 degrees to 95 and you dew up.

Of the places I've lived, I think Albany Georgia, Arlington Texas, and Okinawa are the nicest for weather. C-U is too cold in the winter.  But you can't beat May.

See the Academy, where we start at pretension and never look back.

On August 7th, 2007 at 09:34 PM, Run4cvrlib said:

Akibare, is there actually an A/C unit in your window? Many of the buildings are on a chilled water system now, while you can control the temp in your area of building or room the chilled water flows anyway.

"If you don't use/have A/C, the heat's not a problem at all." Yeah right come and work in a warehouse without A/C moving heavy materail most of the day and we will see if it's no problem.

akibare's picture
On August 7th, 2007 at 10:21 PM, akibare said:

No no no, the window AC unit is at HOME.

Work is hooked up to the chillers, as far as I know. It's powerful, at any rate. I have to keep a sweatshirt in my cube.

So I leave work, and it feels great out there in the 95F for about 30 seconds, then reality kicks in.  I try to keep to the shade, sweat sweat, get home, and stand in front of the window unit for a few minutes while drinking some ice wheat tea.

 

 

On August 7th, 2007 at 10:31 PM, Run4cvrlib said:

Yes, it has been fun; I think you spelled sweet iced tea wrong though :).

On August 8th, 2007 at 12:52 AM, ThoughtPolice said:

Yeah right come and work in a warehouse without A/C moving heavy materail most of the day and we will see if it's no problem.

At least you have shade, some air movement, few (if any) biting flies, and the humidity is the same as that reported. Once you spend a day in one of my bean fields, taking notes, cross-pollinating, and weeding (like I do, every day), I'll head over to that warehouse. Soybeans are great at providing no shade, blocking the wind, harboring lots of nasty bugs, and drastically increasing the relative humidity.

mjerryfuerst's picture
On August 8th, 2007 at 01:10 AM, mjerryfuerst said:

There's more hot air in Urbana than in Champaign this week

 

Michael Fuerst

On August 8th, 2007 at 07:25 AM, Run4cvrlib said:

Ok, sounds like you can relate, just don't make me cross pollinate with anything, if I come over to help you.

Glock21's picture
On August 8th, 2007 at 07:51 AM, Glock21 said:

When I was younger I don't remember the heat bugging me a bit.  I'd run around and play all summer long.  The schools didn't have A/C yet and can't recall ever really thinking anything of it at the time.  My earlier jobs weren't all that cozy either, and there was even one summer in H.S. where I had a roasty toasty warehouse job moving and stacking appliances by dolly and hand.   That honestly was a bit much.  I think it was my first computer job that pansified me more than anything.  I had to look "presentable" and you just can't do that when you're dripping with sweat (something about sweating your butt off and slacks is a horrible combo!).  So I moved to an A/C car (I could afford it then) and working in the A/C all day... after that I didn't mind working outside in the heat over the summer if I was in *work* clothes as opposed to *job* clothes.  But as I got older the heat seemed to bug me more and more.  Throw a TBI on top of it and now it's enough to make me dizzy and give me the shakes real bad... on bad days I have to watch myself carefully so I don't pass out even after a little bit of work in the heat.  On good days I'll usually be alright but I'll feel punch drunk afterwards and sleep for 12-24 hours straight afterwards.  No fun at all.

 

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Glock21 Op/Ed