Ghetto or Creative?? I vote both.

According to Weather.com, Philadelphia has been issued a severe heat alert. "Oppressive heat," the sites warns. Downsizing to a 3rd floor apartment with no air conditioning last weekend has proven (and will continue to prove, I fear) to be definition bad timing. I need to find air conditioning, and I need to find it fast. My nightly "cool down trips" to stores with reasonable temperatures has not only diminished my bank account; it has destroyed any effort to unpack the plethora of boxes still sitting in our living room. Sorry, Amy.

Since we don't have windows in this third floor apartment, AC window units are out of the question. On Wednesday we purchased what we thought was an oscillating AC unit to place in the secret door between our bedrooms, cooling each of us equally. When we split this purchase, we debated over what would occur if either of us starting dating someone and wanted to close the secret door for privacy. Together we decided that the newly non-single lady would forfeit her access to AC and would instead suffer in the scorching heat. It's only fair. But after the continued sweaty sleepless nights, we've since realized that our new appliance is merely a fancy fan with an excessive amount of buttons. So both of us still suffer.

Never have I been so enthusiastic about coming back to work after a long weekend. I was downright giddy thinking about the AC the entire way here. Did I mention that my car's AC also died last week? After seeing a man driving with his top down this morning I concluded that no person without air conditioning would ever want a convertible.

Aside from the fact that my previous roommate got married last month, one of my main reasons for moving in with Amy is that both of us could use a financial break. So when I began researching portable AC units this morning and saw that the cheapos start at $300, it goes without saying that I was sad.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. This will be my new experiment tonight: Create a Homemade Air Conditioner. Thanks to instructables.com, I now have a plan. See Directions


I am fully aware of how ghetto this is. But I'm really willing to try anything at this point. This one goes out to all of my fellow low-income people, just trying to stay cool in the summer sun.