Boston Dispatch #6 - Humidity and the Hard Sell

Holy crap was it muggy today! It rained a bit in the early afternoon which pushed the water vapor to saturation. Then the friggin' Sun came out and wrenched the temperature up to the mid-80s. Not, I might add, as bad as Honduras in June but still pretty miserable when you're stuck painting in a house with little air circulation. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm not genetically predisposed to this sort of climate. I'm custom built for cool northern climates. Like the Artic or a Fridgeair.

I know this because of science...and my own personal observations. I remember reading a few years back about a study done on mitochondrial DNA (which, as I'm sure you all remember from biology, is passed down from your mother untouched by dad's genetic material. I think there are only 24 different types that have been identified, but I'm not 100% on that). The study found that people whose ancestors lived primarily in northern climates had a mitochondrial 'defect' built in that made the powerhouse of the cell less efficient than the mitochondria found in those whose predecessors kicked it near the Equator. Lack of efficiency means it requires more fuel to perform the same actions but also means more heat is generated in the process. As my wife will attest, I'm one very warm running dude. I can sit completely still and generate enough heat to warm a 8'x10' room from 60 degrees F to near-body temperature in a very short time. That said, you can imagine how freakin' hot and nasty-sweaty I was this afternoon in the kitchen when it was already an ambient temperature of 85 degrees with nearly 100% humidity. Now you see why I chose Denmark over Togo for my study abroad...

Enough science. I have two bits of weirdness to report today. First was a fairly ugly accident that occured on my corner this afternoon. I was working on putting up my second coat in the kitchen when I hearded this squeal and crash out the window. My first thought was 'awh, shit, I bet that was the electric motor in the A/C unit' since the bedroom is right next to the kitchen and that was the closest mechanical thing to me. Also, because that's just my freakin' luck. This thought was fleeting though, since I could still here the A/C unit plugging away (bless it's freon heart) so I ventured down from the ladder and to the living room window to see the carnage. It wasn't too bad, from what I could see, and there were a ton of folks on the street so I didn't feel obliged to run down to check pulses or call the police. Within minutes, every public service that cares to put lights and sirens in their vehicles was represented on the scene and the whole thing was mopped up in under 45 minutes. Tre impressive. In Atlanta, it would have taken at least an hour to get a tow truck...or a police officer, for that matter.

The second oddity occurred while I was out hunting for a rug and a liquor store (found the latter...not the former, though). I got stopped by a young Irish girl who was tried to get me to sign up to sponsor a child through Plan USA (http://www.planusa.org/index.php). To say she was persistent would be like saying it was slightly humid today. It took me the better part of ten minutes to get away from her (yes, without signing up to sponsor a kid). I felt really badly for her because this is her 'job' and, though I asked for the website for more information, she doesn't get any credit if I decide to sponsor a child via the site (which is bull-hocky, if you ask me). She spends 9 hours a day hawking kids on the streets of Boston, so she tells me. Her quota for a day's work: 6 kids. That's one kid for every 1.5 hours. I told her I appreciated her passion but I'm not in the habit of supporting organizations that I'm introduced to on the street. I was honest about wanting to know more about Plan USA and I figured that the website would be a great start in finding out about it. But the fact that she doesn't get any credit for it if I decide to sign up online totally stinks. Now that I've come home and actually taken a good look at their bio, I probably would sponsor a kid. I encourage you all to consider it. Me, I'm waiting until I see her again so she can get credit.

Finally (I know!), I went to the same Indian restaurant tonight. P&M came over tonight and we had a lovely dinner (hurrah for Taj Mahals!). I didn't get the option of Nineth-Circle-of-Hell hot tonight but it was tasty nonetheless. I tryed the Chicken Mushroom dish because Brooke loves mushrooms and I'm desparately trying to find an Indian dish that she can't live without so that I can justify going more often. Sadly, I don't think she'd care for it, though it was friggin' awesome. I'll try again tomorrow, I guess.

Cheers,
S.