Temperature fluctuations

California had an unseasonably cold and wet spring this year. This has been very nice here in Davis, which is generally disgustingly hot and altogether unpleasant. Until this week. Bam, summer finally hit. Which brought with it the revelation that the air conditioner in my lab was broken. Without ac my lab is irredeemably screwed. We're on the 2nd floor, receiving all of the warm air from downstairs (which had a functional air conditioner, so it was actively sending all of its warm air our way), and we have something like 17 computers (although this bout of heat actually killed 4 of them), all working hard to further warm the room.

So we opened the window and the door, trying to get a cross-breeze blowing. I'm lucky; I have the best seat in the lab: right in front of the window. So it was slightly more bearable at my desk than elsewhere, but it was still bad. Plus, scrub jays kept flying in through the window to check us out. (And thank you everyone for asking, but no, we obviously don't have screens.) This was amusing until we discovered that they were pooping in lab. Bright purple poop, no less. We now have a few indelible blue stains left by the purple-pooping birds.

Of course, even having a breeze from the windows stopped helping after lunch, when temperatures in the lab surpassed 90. That's when the computers started getting really stressed out. Mine was particularly loud and I think it even started smelling funny. Which gave me a perfect excuse to go home! That and the warmth was making me really sleepy.

So the fact that the air conditioner is now fixed is bittersweet. We've moved from being uncomfortably warm to uncomfortably cold (boy am I glad I brought tea!) and while I can still vow to go home once it hits 90, chances are that condition will never be met.