Hace Calor!

Hot town, summer in the city

Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty

Been down, isn't it a pity

Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city

All around, people looking half dead

Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head

-- Lovin' Spoonful, "Summer in the City"

Summer doesn't really start in Los Angeles until July. As the weather began to heat up over the last few weeks, I bragged to folks that it wasn't "hot" as far as I was concerned because I grew up in Phoenix and handled a lot worse in my younger days.

Over this last week, I've had to swallow my pride and admit that it is definitely "hot" in L.A. now - oppressively hot. The daily high temperature in Downtown has hovered in the high 80's, even hitting 90 a couple times. That's not too bad, but the combination of those temps with the recent spike in humidity (50% or higher each day) makes it pretty nasty outside. People who live in outlying areas (further from the ocean) are contending with temps in the 90's and 100's.

Central air conditioning was invented for days like these, but that's a bit of a luxury item here in L.A. My apartment has a small wall-mounted air conditioner, but it's placed in a corner of the living room, so running it is not very practical or cost effective. There's a ceiling fan in the dining room but it doesn't help much. All the windows in the apartment are open, but they're all on one side, so there's no cross-ventilation to speak of. As hot as it may be outside, it's even hotter inside! And it stays that way 24 hours a day. It's been hard to sleep at night.

I have Fridays off, and after spending a few hours sweating in my apartment today, I realized it was time for action. It had become impossible to feel comfortable. I went to Target to buy fans; not surprisingly, the fan aisle had been completely ravaged. Thankfully there were a few small Honeywell fans still available for $15, so I picked up 3 of them (2 for the living room, 1 for my bedroom). It is now somewhat more bearable in here, and one of the fans is blowing on me as I type.

The icky heat will remain at least through the beginning of next week.