Working without Air Conditioning

What do you do when you are working in an environment with NO air conditioning?

I’m a work-at-home baby boomer mom. Last week, the air conditioner went on the blink. It just stopped working for no reason at all. At first it wasn’t so bad because the house was really nice and cold. It had to be because I’m a baby boomer mom in menopause and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Unfortunately, when the temperature continued to rise, the cool air started drifting away. Even my dear, sweet husband---who ALWAYS complains about how COLD it is in the house—was feeling the heat. I went outside to have a talk with the thing. I asked it did it not care that I was a woman in menopause and I could flip out at any moment and throw it down the embankment next to my home. I could also go on a rampage in my neighborhood forcing my unsuspecting neighbors to call 9-1-1 to have me committed.

But during these hot times, I must keep a cool head so here are some of my tips to share on how to keep working without air conditioning:

1) Reduce heat gain by closing your drapes and window blinds during the daylight hours.

2) Use portable fans or ceiling fans and the "Fan Only" setting on your heating system's thermostat to keep the air moving. By doing so, you will feel comfortable in a room that is 2 or 3 degrees warmer than a still room. If your home has a whole-house fan, turn it on to extract warm air.

3) Use heat and electricity sparingly in your home during the day. Cook outside if possible. Dry clothes outside on the line, and run a fan or vent while showering. Keep lights turned off in rooms you aren't using.

4) Once the sun goes down, open all windows to let in the cool air. Certain rooms will be cooler due to airflow and insulation, and these are the best rooms to sleep in.

5) Don’t drink alcohol or eat spicy foods. Both are bound to make you feel hotter than you already are.

6) Take a long, cool bath or shower. Also, use cool washcloths and put on skin moisturizers to keep your body feeling rejuvenated.

7) Stay Hydrated. Keep your body well hydrated. Even if you don’t feel thirsty, drink water and other fluids to keep your body well hydrated to replace fluids as your body perspires. Try drinking beverages with electrolytes and avoid those with tons of sugar.

8) Work in the nude. This tip might be a little extreme for some but if you’re home alone all day, why not?

Living without air conditioning has shown me how spoiled we can be. Air conditioning is a luxury---not a necessity. Maybe it’s just better to grin and bear it.

A Twist of Fate

My mama always used to say when you do bad things to people it comes back to you.

That may be the explanation for syndicated columnist and former "Crossfire" host Robert Novak, who has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. Novak issued a statement today saying the tumor was found Sunday after he had been rushed to Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital from Cape Cod, where he was visiting his daughter.

You remember him. He was the first to publicly reveal the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

And just last week, The 77-year-old post baby boomer was given a $50 citation after he struck a homeless man with his black Corvette in Washington. Novak kept going until he was stopped by a bicyclist. The fact that he kept going should've landed him in jail but it didn't.

The Chicago Sun-Times columnist also said in his statement that he is suspending his journalistic work for an indefinite, "but God willing, not too lengthy period"

Now is as good a time as any for Mr. Novak to ask for forgiveness, don't you think?

Share Your Emergency Room Experience

Yesterday, my daughter and I finally decided it was time to go to the hospital because our conditions weren't getting any better. We ended up in the Emergency Room at Duke Medical Center. I brought excerpts from my upcoming book, my cell phone and some writing materials to keep me occupied for what was sure to be a LONG wait.

I've blogged about going to Duke's ER before. Going there has never been pleasant. I always get the feeling there are never enough people on staff to handle the onslaught of people who need their care. Yesterday, one lady was complaining that she had been waiting for four hours and still hadn't been seen. Another woman claimed she had once come to the ER and waited 14 1/2 hours!

Maybe we looked really sick or the staff recognized me from previous visits because we were in an out of the ER in less than four hours---and on top of that---everyone was exceptionally nice and attentive. I'll be the first to tell you that has never been my experience in the past (11/23/07).

The attending nurse even commented on how some people had to wait up to eight hours just the day before so, in spite of the fact, that the ER was busy on the day we came, we got lucky this particular time.

So what has you ER experience been like? What do you think the overall problems ER staff members are faced with? How can they improve?

Men Do Suffer Through Menopause and Sometimes It's Funny

I'm trying to understand what the hoopla is over a so-called joke comedian Bernie Mac made about menopause during a fundraiser last week for democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Many of the media headlines read: The star of "The Bernie Mac Show" joked about menopause, sexual infidelity and promiscuity, and used occasional crude language.

His exact comment was: “I can’t take it. My house is so doggone cold all the time.” Men, like Mac, do suffer through menopause and sometimes they just have to laugh at it or they'll end up in divorce court.

So let's get real. What man in America doesn't have something to say about his wife in menopause? It's either too cold in the house, or she's acting like a B**** or if he chooses to ignore it, it might mean he has another chick on the side.

Furthermore, sexual infidelity and promiscuity are REAL ISSUES. Ask Lynne Spears mother whose 16-year-old daughter Jamie Lynn recently had a baby out of wedlock. Or what about CBS News Chief Foreign Affairs correspondent Lara Logan, who cheated on her husband WITH TWO men (one married) while on assignment in the Middle East.

Granted, Bernie Mac is NOT one of my favorite comedians. He is crass and vulgar at times. Obama's people should've known that in advance and asked him to tone it down or not had him perform at all.

Once again, the media is grasping at straws to make a mountain out of a mohill. Let's stand up for the purity of America.

My mother used to say "the pot can't call the kettle black if they're on the same stove!"

Death Brings Back Memories

I learned yesterday that a woman who served as my high school Forensics Speech Coach my senior year passed away. My first reaction was shock because she wasn't that old--only 59--which means she was barely out of college when she began teaching at my high school.

Then I started thinking about how she treated me at McKinley. She wasn't very nice to me and even though I was a state and national champion, she made it obvious that she preferred another student over me. If it hadn't been for her assistant (Ms. Harriet Weaver), I would've quit the team and gave up any opportunity to receive scholarship money to continue on the Forensics Team in college.

Now, this is where I could throw out the race card and say she was prejudiced. I don't know that for sure but I can tell you I made no effort to contact her over the years to tell her of my progress in life.

I do believe it is wrong to speak ill of the dead so all I have to say is "may she rest in peace somewhere."

Baby Boomer Jesse Drama

There’s an old saying in the black community: God looks after babies and fools. Well, we know Jesse Jackson is NOT a baby……

I, just like the majority of black America, am stunned over the comments the reverend made about democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama during a conversation with a Fox & Friends guest before a live interview Sunday from Chicago. Thinking his mic was turned off, Rev Jackson whispered to a fellow panelist , "See, Barack been talking down to black people on this faith based ... I want cut his nuts off ... Barack ... he's talking down to black people."

Now Jackson claims he was reacting to the fact that he felt Obama's speeches "can come off as speaking down to black people" and that there were other important issues to be addressed in the black community, such as unemployment, the mortgage crisis and the number of blacks in prison.

Irregardless of what he was reacting to, Jackson ought to know better. First of all, he should’ve been smart enough to know anything you say can and will be used against you in front of a mic and in the media’s presence. Secondly, Jackson should be one of the last people to criticize anybody on the issues of faith and morality. Isn’t he the aging baby boomer who had an affair with a woman 20 years younger and fathered a child with her while married?

Now, to Jackson’s credit, he did issue an apology right away---even before the news media got a chance to blast it. He issued this statement:

"My appeal was for the moral content of his message to not only deal with the personal and moral responsibility of black males, but to deal with the collective moral responsibility of government and the public policy..."

There’s another saying that goes: Open mouth, insert foot---but in this case---how about a Choc Full of NUTS!

Where do people like Jesse Helms go when they die?

I'm a baby boomer woman who believes in God. I believe in Heaven and hell. I believe in the Ten Commandments---one being “Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself.” Now I’ll be the first to admit that’s not always easy to do because there are some people who do everything in their power to get on my last nerve. But then I think they probably don’t know any better so I just forgive them and move on.

So here we have former North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms who died on July 4 at the ripe old age of 86. He spent his entire political career as a hate monger and he was never ashamed or apologetic about it. He was a master at creating fear in the hearts and minds of white, rural North Carolinians by pointing out the fact that if he weren’t in Congress to fight for their “white rights” black people would take over and take away everything they rightfully owned.

Many of the people he catered to were white baby boomers and seniors.

Today, as I watched a portion of his funeral on TV, I heard the minister called him a good, decent man who loved God and loved the people he served for thirty years. But what about the people he didn’t love?

Does loving God—but hating minorities—give him a free pass into Heaven? My pastor always says “How can you love a God whom you never see and despise your fellow man here on earth?” That’s what Jesse did all of his life.

And no, he didn’t have a come to Jesus moment right before his death---where he apologized for any past sins he may have committed. He didn’t come out and issue a statement saying he loved everybody and was just playing the political game of the times.

So tell me, where do people like Jesse go when they die? Does he think he’ll enter a segregated Heaven? Oh, and wouldn’t it be something if God didn’t look anything like some churches paint Him out to be?