Fight the (A/C) Machine

It has been a little warm in Minnesota over the past month or so.  It gets up into the eighties during the day, but it cools down at night.  Last year it was crazy hot during the summer.  We ran our air conditioner quite a bit and it was glorious!  It was also expensive.  Because that's what air conditioners do.  Suck money and spit out cold, refreshing air.  I know there are hotter areas of the country right now, so just shut up.  It's hot and humid here. 

Since I have been back from vacation, I have refused to turn it on.  I can handle sitting in the apartment and sweating a little bit.  And besides, I'm gone to work for half the day.  When I get home, the high temperature of the day has all but passed so I just have to wait out the heat.  I have been using a couple of fans in the window and in the balcony door to circulate the air to try and cool down the apartment.  It works mostly.  There are points in the day when I want to just be cold.  This is why I miss winter.  You can bundle up in sweatshirts and jeans and wear slippers to keep your feet warm.  What can you do in the summer if you don't want to turn the A/C on?  Get naked?  That's about it.  Putting on shorts and a tee-shirt aren't going to cool you off.  Just the A/C will.  And if you don't want to pay for it, you are painted into a corner. 

I made it a point not to turn it on in the month of June.  I made it, and I was proud of myself.  Then I thought, the heat so far this month hasn't been too bad.  I can handle it for a little bit longer.  I'm sure that as July rolls into August, the heat and humidity will rise and we'll fall to the temptation to use the air conditioner.  Until that time, though, I stand defiant.  A little sweaty, but defiant nonetheless.