So Worth It

[plumtreeblossom]

Of all the indulgences that may one day seem extreme in retrospect, I will never regret the money I spend on air conditioning. Yesterday was like a seething kiln outside, but I stayed the hell in the house enjoying cool AC breezes and being productive (if the definition of "productive" includes a few hours of YouTube). And I'll keep doing it until autumn has well and truly arrived.

Something I've learned about New Englanders is that they seem to find virtue in enduring temperature extremes unaided by man-made conveniences. No AC in the summer, and I even know a few who don't use ice or keep any in the freezer. In the winter, their thermostat is locked at 50F. And they're proud of it, like it's a character-building accomplishment that they get a shiny sticker for. In this regard, I will always be a transplant.

vanguardcdk is a rockin' roommate because we're both gluttons for climate control. We each have AC in our bedrooms, and we now have a behemoth window unit that luxuriously cools the living room and makes the kitchen tolerable. In the winter, the heat cranks like a bonfire. Sure we're broke every spring, but we have all our fingers and toes, and which is really more important?

Today the outside temperature has dropped enough that I just turned off the behemoth. But my bedroom unit doesn't get the day off.

Comments

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Speaking as a New Englander born and bred: if your experience of living doesn't change with the seasons, what's the point of having seasons?

In any case, real discomfort usually has more to do with temperature differential, not absolute temperature. One can be fairly comfortable at 65 degrees, or 85 degrees. But going from one to the other is uncomfortable.

But as long as you're hydrated in the summer, and wearing enough clothing in the winter, you can maintain a reasonably comfortable living temperature.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

if your experience of living doesn't change with the seasons, what's the point of having seasons?

My experience of living does change with the seasons, but I don't want that experience to include discomfort. Extreme heat is profoundly uncomfortable for me. As a child growing up in an un-airconditioned house, I used to throw up from the heat. I probably still would if I had to endure it for any length of time. At the other extreme, I don't want my limbs constantly numb from the cold, which they are if the heat is only enough to keep the pipes from freezing.

I think I would move out of any dwelling if I didn't have control of the temperature. I did exactly that when I first moved to Boston, when I was living in a rented room in Dorchester where the heat was only kept at about 45F. I would go sit all day in the Boston Public Library just for the warmth, and I had to pay the landlady and extra $75 a month just so I could run my electric space heater at night. The landlady thought quite a lot of herself for being able to live with temperature extremes. When I moved to my own place in Davis, it was like heaven to be able to feel my feet again.

[http://users.livejournal.com/urban_faerie_/]

yeah, I just can't function if it's too hot or too cold. Extreme heat gets me close to emotional breakdown. I can't sleep if I'm overheated.

I've never felt guilty about using the AC responsibly so that I can live a normal life when its' hot and muggy. I don't know how people get along without it at least in the bedroom!!

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

What she said.

[beowabbit]

I was so nonfunctional yesterday! I need to set up AC in my bedroom or my office.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Something I've learned about New Englanders is that they seem to find virtue in enduring temperature extremes unaided by man-made conveniences. And they're proud of it, like it's a character-building accomplishment that they get a shiny sticker for.

They're insane.

[mangosteen]

They're insane.

I'll put forward another possibility.

They're cheap.

"Sweaters are cheaper than oil.", and so on. It's not about the character-building experience of being uncomfortable in less-than-amenable indoor temperatures, it's that climate control costs money, and it's some of the most ephemeral money one can spend, specifically for the purpose of comfort, so it feels extra-wasteful.

Note: I'm one of those people, although I will turn up the heat when company comes over.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Specifically, the ones who claim character-building, or better moral fibre are the ones I think are insane.

If you're saving money by using less energy, my feeling is that you're on quite eminently defensible ground. (This is, for example, my Dad's argument for keeping the thermostat extremely low in winter; a policy which worked great until the pipes froze one winter night, and created a shower from the basement drop ceiling. That incident definitely made him raise the thermostat.) We can argue about the particular cost-benefit balance we each choose, but the argument is at least logically sound.

But if you're doing it because you're in it to save money, have the courage of your convictions and say so. (As, I note, you have, so my beef is not with you.)

It's the ones who are being cheap but insist on claiming the moral high ground--the people plumtreeblossom referred to--who I think are insane. Self-deluded, at least.