Air-conditioned office has been achieved

[hrj]

 Per yesterday's desperate inspiration, I've accomplished the first two steps in the cascading reorganization plan. The computer desk is now installed in the guestroom and the portable AC unit has been set up and is demonstrating its effectiveness. Once I started doing measurements and grid layouts, I determined that the couch-bed could stay in the guestroom, though when expanded to bed form, there isn't much floor space left. (And the computer desk can't be accessed when the bed is expanded.)

So currently the (emptied of all contents) wardrobe is sitting in the middle of my living room, with the former contents piled on various surfaces. Since the project meant pulling a bunch of my costumes and random SCA paraphernalia out into the open, I may expand the project to include sorting through my costumes and picking only a few to keep. (Obviously this is trumping the kitchen re-org.)

Another side project that isn't currently in the way of anything else, but has been at the back of my mind is to do another trim of the fiction collection. When I was preparing to move to Concord, I got rid of about half my previous fiction holdings. Now, as I was tidying up the two-deep shelves, I'm reminded that the owning of large numbers of books I'll never read again isn't bringing me joy. So my target is to bring (and keep) the fiction down to what will fit one-deep in the existing shelves. (Mind you, one entire case, stacked two-deep, is my to-be-read case.) But that project isn't a priority.

Sorting out the SCA clothing/gear might make sense as the next step, since it's very much in the way at the moment. But the next actual re-org step is to pull things out of the master bedroom so I can clean the carpets. This will result in even more clutter in the living room on a temporary basis. Since I've accomplished the must-be-done-today part, I'm not going to tackle anything significant, but I'll probably measure things and play around with a possible new arrangement of bedroom furniture. I like to move things around every once in a while to get a feeling of newness. There are a limited number of possible arrangements of bed, dresser, side tables, and wardrobe such that everything is accessible and convenient, but I have an idea for rotating the bed 90 degrees and putting the headboard at the windows. It was one of the options I thought of originally. 

Today's about 10 degrees cooler than yesterday, and tomorrow will be about 10 degrees cooler still. But one thing you can guarantee is that it will be hot again on a regular basis, so the new office setup won't be wasted.

Comments

[hrj]

5/28 (thinking of you, Mom, on your birthday -- miss you) - temperature 97.4. I have plans for a carefully socially distanced dip in my BFF's pool this afternoon. Otherwise, no excursions planned.

[oracne]

Feel free to update us on your book culling. I have been keeping a list of the books I culled, both to count and to see what I got rid of.

[hrj]

Since I keep a spreadsheet of my book holdings, when I cull books I move them to the "deaccessioned" page. The theory is that this prevents me from buying them again in the future under the impression that I've never encountered or read them before.

[oracne]

That is very satisfyingly organized.

[vittoriosa]

out of curiosity, what kind of portable AC unit do you use, and how do you like it? this will be my first time spending the entire summer in LA since i moved here, and i suspect AC will be a necessary investment...

[evil_macaroni]

V - I just purchased a unit for my house. We opted for an 8000 BTU portable AC manufactured by Toshiba. It does a very good cooling our master bedroom. Installation was a bit of an issue, as the unit was designed to go next to a window (so the exhaust hose can pump hot air out of the machine), and we just have sliding doors. Mr Macaroni had to use his DIY skills to install a hack. It's ugly and not portable, but it works. There are extension kits, but they were $80+ and not available at the store we patronized. Plus, they had a different manufacturer, so we weren't sure if the kit would be compatible.
The AC excretes a non-negligible amount of water (condensation from the cooling unit, I assume, because we don't have the dehumidifier running). When I had it set to 72 on the hot day, I filled up a quart jar TWICE. Since then, I've upped the setting to 75, and it has generated much less water. That's not a deal breaker, but just be aware of the issue if you're running the unit overnight.

[vittoriosa]

that's helpful to know -- thanks!

[hrj]

I got one of the Toshiba ones too -- I'd have to get up and move to check which power it was. As Evil_Macaroni says, "portable" ignores the fact that it needs a window insert for the exhaust hose. But it does mean I didn't have to deal with installing brackets in the window or anything. After some experimentation, it appears that setting it at 75 works for me. I'll post more about the practicalities in my next post, but I'm quite happy with it so far.

[oracne]

It's a Kenmore, a fairly small window unit. I like that you can remove the filter and wash it. I've not had any issues of dripping.

[evil_macaroni]

Congratulations on obtaining coolth! I took similar steps for my work space, though there was less re-organization necessary, and I could also justify it because it's my primary bedroom, and the lack of A/C has been a perennial issue there.