more whining about heat sensitivity
Aug. 21st, 2004 07:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
adrian_turtleIt would be awfully expensive to keep the air conditioning running all the time, even if I had an air conditioner that was effective for more than a section of the living room. (I don't know if it dehumidifies a larger volume than it cools. But I'm dubious.) But it's turning out to be surprisingly expensive to NOT have the air conditioner running all the time. This summer, the most intensely hot or humid times have generally been of fairly short duration, so I could get through them by being elsewhere. Or taking cold baths. But all the time I'm in a comfortable, air-conditioned library (or uncomfortable, nominally-air-conditioned-but-not-usually-fooling-anyone, laboratory), I've been leaving all my stuff in my apartment. And the STUFF takes heat damage. Or humidity damage.
I can keep transdermal medications in the refrigerator, on the theory that cold is probably less bad for them than heat. There doesn't seem to be an actual phase change, at refrigerator temperatures, and the adhesive DOES melt. The labels recommend storage at "controlled room temperature," or "at 25 degrees C, with occasional excursions to 15 or 30 degrees C." Is that possible for anyone? (Come on, really?) And I don't mind putting them next to food. Unlike the liquid dishwasher detergent, which separated and made the sides of the plastic container swell alarmingly when I kept it in the cabinet over the refrigerator. Or any kind of spray with propellent.
I used to think I could save money by buying stuff in bulk. I can keep a fair amount of stuff in closets and cabinets. But my ability to store stuff in the refrigerator is much more limited. Chocolate, spices, shortening...lots of things that can go in the pantry in winter have to be refrigerated now to keep them from melting into puddles.
And the furniture! My bookcases aren't fine furniture, but they do have the advantages of holding my books. Well, most of my books, now. And they all go together. (Not that all my stuff has to match. I'm not obsessive or anything. I'm trying not to be.) Presumably due to humidity, the thin particleboard backs of the bookcases are warping badly after only 18 months. The books aren't in a position to warp, but damp isn't good for them, either.
I can keep transdermal medications in the refrigerator, on the theory that cold is probably less bad for them than heat. There doesn't seem to be an actual phase change, at refrigerator temperatures, and the adhesive DOES melt. The labels recommend storage at "controlled room temperature," or "at 25 degrees C, with occasional excursions to 15 or 30 degrees C." Is that possible for anyone? (Come on, really?) And I don't mind putting them next to food. Unlike the liquid dishwasher detergent, which separated and made the sides of the plastic container swell alarmingly when I kept it in the cabinet over the refrigerator. Or any kind of spray with propellent.
I used to think I could save money by buying stuff in bulk. I can keep a fair amount of stuff in closets and cabinets. But my ability to store stuff in the refrigerator is much more limited. Chocolate, spices, shortening...lots of things that can go in the pantry in winter have to be refrigerated now to keep them from melting into puddles.
And the furniture! My bookcases aren't fine furniture, but they do have the advantages of holding my books. Well, most of my books, now. And they all go together. (Not that all my stuff has to match. I'm not obsessive or anything. I'm trying not to be.) Presumably due to humidity, the thin particleboard backs of the bookcases are warping badly after only 18 months. The books aren't in a position to warp, but damp isn't good for them, either.
