seriously? again?

Maybe he didn't use duct tape after all. Or maybe he did.

The air conditioner is busted again. It is currently 85 degrees in my apartment, which is, of course, much cooler than the 98 degrees outside. But this is not cool! I am shrivelling like a raisin here, all the moisture in my body is sweating out onto my clothes, the cat is moaning like she's in heat. Alex quit smoking yesterday (yay!) which means he's already feeling like crap, and since my job is to be nice to him until the worst of the withdrawal is over, I'm working double-time. How the hell am I supposed to be nice when it's too hot to breathe? How am I supposed to distract him from both cigarettes and hell-heat?! He's already a big wimp when it comes to heat, he needs AC when the outdoor temp goes above 73! I tell him to take a cold shower is good for the length of the shower, but a minute after towelling off, the sweat beads are already popping out on the forehead. Along the spine. In the knee-pits.

I've actually got a good story to write, about living in a brothel, but the heat generated by this computer is making me itch. It'll have to hold until this problem is solved. And how, praytell, will this problem be solved? BY BUYING A NEW FREAKING AIR CONDITIONER, ONE THAT WASN'T MADE IN AUSTRALIA, ONE THAT HAS PARTS AND SERVICE AVAILABLE IN THE GOOD OL' U S OF A! Seems that this unit can't be fixed, it needs to be replaced. Which we were told on the repair man's 3rd visit to us. He did give us a quick-fix solution: when it stops blowing cold, shut off the breaker for 10 seconds then turn it on again. Worked well like that for almost a week. But we've powered off and on 20 times today (Alex isn't terribly patient) to no avail. The owner of this apartment is hesitant to put more money into the unit, as he bought it for $300K and it's now worth less than a third of that (the economy is in good shape, John McCain??). That's the story of Vegas. Foreclosure capital of the country! So, I get it. His investment has already been blown, and he's not thrilled about pumping more money into this pit. But I cannot survive in the desert without Air Conditioning!!!!!
Make that 21 times we've powered down the unit. We're gonna give it a little rest. Again.