Today is a lovely day. Yesterday and the day before were hot, with highs over 100 degrees. Now, before you chime in with comments about how much worse you have it wherever you live, I would like to state for the record that your comfort levels have absolutely nothing to do with my comfort levels. (See "abscond with your popsicles," July 2002.) When people chime in about how much worse they have it than the person who has the gall to complain about, say, 102-degree DRY heat, they are essentially saying, "You are a huge wuss. Me? I am the Rambo of All Things Weather." And folks, that's annoying, because even if you were correct about your Rambosity in some sort of objective sense--which is doubtful--that would not change the fact that when it's over 100 degrees in my house, I get heat rashes, sit around sweating all day, and find it very difficult to get any work done.

We got an estimate recently of how much it would cost to fix this situation by installing central air. We were expecting it to be spendy, because installing central air is fundamentally spendy. Then, the guy started looking around.

"That's asbestos right there," he said. Ch - ching! went my mental cash register. "We'll need to get an abatement team out (ch - ching!) to remove that before we install anything."

"Your electrical panel needs to be upgraded," he informed us as we stood in the back yard. Ch - ching!

"Oh, and there's more asbestos up there." Ch - ching!

As it turns out, the mental estimate we started with plus four ch - chings! total around $10,000. That's less than we were expecting as the estimator tossed around phrases like "bubble suit" and "could kill you," but it's more than we were expecting for a house that's just under 1200 square feet.

So here's the part where I ask those of you who have a portable evaporative cooler which kind you have and whether or not you would recommend it. Jeff's study and mine are the hottest rooms in the house, but they are both small, so I imagine we could each get a relatively basic cooler and be comfortable enough to work during the day. (The only concern there is that Jeff does a good deal of work with computer hardware in his study, and we're not sure whether or not the moisture added to the air by an evaporative cooler would be bad for the boards he uses.) We might get one or two more coolers--perhaps bigger, perhaps not--for the living room and bedroom. Let me bask in your knowledge! Thrill me with your consumer savvy!

Just don't tell me that 100 degrees isn't actually hot.