How Hot Was It?

It was a so hot that I was tempted to eat cold bacon right out of the fridge, but I thought better. By 8:00 AM it was already 85° and climbing, I peeled my face from a sweaty halo and jumped into a cold shower. The morning news annouced to all people going to the Puerto Rican Pride Day Parade that the high would be in the 90s but it would feel like it be in the 100s with the humidty. I ran my errands while it was cooler: returned DVDs, picked up laundry, dropped off laundry, bought something cold to eat for lunch. Showered again. Got some light programming done. Showered again. I bought a Yahoo! store but it was too hot to sit through the white papers. By late afternoon the news announced that gasoline has risen $4.50 per gallon in some states, and President Bush will declare national disasters in Indiana, Wisconson, and Iowa. I watched clips of tornado and flood damage.

I noticed that the power started to surge up and down. That's when I hatched an evil-genious plan to have pizza in an uncrowded AC room. But where? I brought a book, caught an icy-cold Q train to an even colder 4 train to Grand Central, went downstairs to Two Boots and bought some slices (Bayou Beast). There were more armed guards than comuters milling about. I finished eating I went to the sitting area to read "The Silmarillion". The ride home was fine, not many delays switching trains. I can't believe I pulled this off without a hitch on a Sunday. I got home and took another shower, then headed out for a cold beer at Freddy's. As I walked down the Flatbush I noticed flashing lights and Con-Ed work trucks on several corners. People were out on their stoops sitting on dark streets. The Boerum Hill power grid had blown out, but not at Freddy's. Cold beer and good conversation in an air-conditioned Oasis —how can you beat that?

Spring 2008, tri-state heatwave, fuel crisis, food crisis, local and global natural disasters... all we need is a plague of insects and we can describe this spring as "biblically hot".