Do you turn the air conditioning up or down to get warm?

In response to last week’s questions, “Do you turn the air conditioning up or down to get warm?”, my college roomie John observed, “it seems that one needs to say something like, "turn the A/C up, it's too cold in here". I say turn up the A/C to get warm; that’s how the thermostat looks. Also, I will bet that many of us grew up without A/C (I did), but now I hear people moan loudly if they do not have A/C in the summer. Personally, I prefer to sweat than shiver.”

My friend Tracey concluded, “You turn the A/C fan down to get warmer although you turn the A/C temp up to get warmer.” My dad referred to his engineering experience and said, “It’s about the thermostat. I turn the thermostat down if I want the air conditioning to run; the opposite would be true if you want the heating to run”…..unless, as my friend Royce wrote, “you have a dyslexic installer.”

My friend Ed observed, “This is the A/C paradox: You turn the A/C down and the temperature goes down, but your electric bill goes up and you end up getting hotter. You turn the A/C up and the temperature goes up, but the bill goes down and you get cooler. Positive feedback. Thermal runaway.”

Many of my friends, including Blair, her mother Marlene, Kurt and Richard all agreed simply, “You turn it off” while my dad’s beach buddy Bob said, “Leave it along because it might be just right where it is.”

“In a Georgia summer,” my published friend Kathleen wrote, “I just walk out on the porch and I get warm, then hot...then go back inside to get comfortable again.” My running friend Tony expanded on the Southern Summer explanation, adding, “I believe that the Southern phrasing helps answer the question. So to make it warmer you "push up the air". This phrasing, however, creates another question in how you push air up.”

Then my sailing and writing friend Rich came to the conclusion: “Turn the AC down till your wife gets cold and needs to snuggle.”
Please share your thoughts about "things that make you go 'Hmmm' ":

Why is the 0 on a phone and keyboard after 9 instead of before 1?

Live well...laugh often..be happy and have a good week…

How do you know what a deserted area looks like?”

In response to last week's question, “How do you know what a deserted area looks like?”, my friend Royce, birthday buddy Jon and colleague Bob all agreed: “Google Earth.”

My temple president friend observed, “after saying: " I've often found that a deserted area is what one finds immediately after asking “Do I have any volunteers to help with…?”” My sailing friend John referenced “Lake Lanier when the wind is blowing 20-25 and the temp is 20. Nary a boat was out there.” John also suggested “Peek into “New Employee Orientation” at GM or Chrysler?” My colleague Bob added, “ask someone who fled said deserted area for their insights: “Once the levee broke I figured it was time to leave the 7th ward for good! The place was wet, very wet.”

My neighbor Dick wrote, “We're going to a wedding in Walsh Colorado (population 659) in June. I will be able to report what a deserted area is like after that trip. P.S. if you are curious where Walsh is located, take out a map of NOWHERE and look right in the middle of it.” My colleague Chris added, “it is full of deserts…”

My neighbor Al wrote, “An egotist would say, "When I leave the area, I just turn around." My college roomie John, clearly not an egotist, wrote, “a deserted area is what the place turns into when I go out for a fun night.”

My quilting and sailing friend Jodie and new-dog owning friend Gian prefers to “think about desserted areas thank you very much.” To which my Dad noted, “If the deserted area is the one at the end of the buffet table, I am sure it would all look good to me.” Note: The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. :-)

She was not alone as my friend Steve wrote “It's got all the cakes and pies.” My running and music friend Ed said “You see cheesecakes, crème brulees, ice cream, etc.”
Tracey said it is “whipped cream with a cherry on top” while my friend Ruth added, “and chocolate.”

My sailing friend Kurt blew me away with his connection to the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment, to which Kurt concluded, “Observation destroys the paradox” Whoa! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger's_cat

For more: My flying friend Ted shared his Top 10 areas that should be deserted immediately (bottom of email).

Please share your thoughts about "things that make you go 'Hmmm' ":

Do you turn the air conditioning up or down to get warm?

Live well...laugh often..be happy and have a good week…
Hal

10 Areas that Should be deserted (courtesy of Dr Ted)
1- A Nude beach for a retirement home
2-A British Culinary School
3-A German Police Academy
4-A French Engineering Firm
5-A Mensa Club of a certain European country
6-An Alabama Dental Clinic ( The British Dental Clinic runs a close second)
7-Venezuela (My Venezuelan cousin did this 6 months ago)
8-A Jewelry store full of Jewish wives
9-The Titanic II
10-Buffalo NY ( Trust me I've lived there!!)

Can you routinely break your routine?

In response to last week's question, “Can you routinely break your routine?”, my college roomie John wrote, “Yes, especially if you are consistently inconsistent!”

My wise friend Marlene explained, “Now that I am truly retired, I make it a point to break my routine daily--or go MAD!!!” As my golden retriever rescue friend Kate agreed, “Everyday.” My friend Marya added, “I do it all the time! Although, I have to admit the Catholics in WI really stick to Lent (Friday fish fry.....LOL)!

“Based upon Ralph Waldo Emerson's 1841 essay "Self-Reliance," my knowing friend Richard shared, “we not only can vary our routines, we should. To wit, Emerson's famous quote: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." My dad’s beach buddy Bob supports Emerson, responding, “Routine?, What Routine?” For ways to follow this sagely advice, see my insightful colleague Chris’s suggestions at the bottom of this email.

While published friend Kathleen observed, “You can always break your routine, but if you do it routinely, it becomes routine.” To this, my birthday bud Jon responded, “If you do, it becomes a new routine, which you can then break by going back to the original routine. Which you will then need to break, of course. So that the breaking of the routine becomes the routine. And that, of course, is how they invented rotini.”

My sailing buddy and writer Rich warned, “As long as you make breaking your routine part of your routine.”

In a twisted response, my wife’s former roomie Ruth responded simply, “Sometimes.”

Please share your thoughts about "things that make you go 'Hmmm' ":

How do you know what a deserted area looks like?

Live well...laugh often..be happy and have a good week…
Hal

My insightful colleague Chris believes anyone can routinely break their routine and here are 10 ways to do so…

Ten Ways to Routinely Break Your Routine
1. Hold a conversation with yourself every day.
2. Waste time walking through any store especially in the clearance section.
3. Use your lunch to watch how others practice their routines 4. Read books from the Dummies series on subjects you have no use for.
5. Play with Legos and Tinker Toys and Lincoln Logs.
6. Try writing a short story about nothing in particular. (Make sure to add A LOT of adverbs: i.e. the day was really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, long)
7. Expose yourself to a wide variety of music (I draw the line at disco however and no amount of creative inspiration will cause me to cross that line).
8. Change your schedule: If you normally arrive at work at 8 a.m. try 8:24 a.m. or 7:43 a.m or even 10:39 a.m (That’ll throw off everybody’s routine and not just yours).
9. Run into any store and ask the manager rather loudly and with great enthusiasm “Are you open on Tuesdays?” and when he says yes, just turn and walk out without saying another word (He’ll be telling his grandkids about you for years to come)
10. Respond to emails marked as (how to start your week) and write a list of ten ways to routinely break your routine.