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Last week was record hot in Menlo Park. Chris and I have been here for nearly a year and haven’t experienced this kind of heat. It got up to 100 degrees in our apartment. For about 4 days it was between 95-100 degrees. I think everyone in Menlo Park was suffering from some form of heat exhaustion. I was particularly concerned for my sweet Penelope. I knew she was really hot because she was fussy and bright red. I just didn’t really know what to do.

Chris and I agreed that we needed to get some kind of air conditioning unit, and fast! So, Thursday night we went to Home Depot and found the cheapest, smallest unit. We weren’t quite sure what would fit in our window, so we thought the smaller the better. We went home and installed the unit to find out that it didn’t even dent the sweltering heat in our apartment. Home depot had already closed for the day, so we were stuck for at least the rest of the night. Chris, knowing that Friday was going to be another hot day, woke up at 5:30 am to un-install the unit, drive to Home Depot and exchange it for a more powerful unit right as they opened at 6:00 am. My dutiful husband promptly came home and installed it so that Penelope and I could have a pleasant day inside. Do I have a sweet husband, or what?!?

The 10,000 BTU unit worked a lot better than the 5,000 BTU unit we purchased the night before, but by the time 5:00 pm rolled around our apartment was at 85 degrees with the unit on full blast. Our neighbors found a 12,000 BTU unit at Costco for less than what we paid at Home Depot, so when Saturday morning rolled around we made the switch again for the even more powerful AC unit. I’m pleased to say this one works fabulously. It has kept us nice and cool (now that the heat wave is over), and it’s more energy efficient, Yay for us for being green! I have to brag at how ghetto our installation is… Since we have side-sliding windows, and very small window sills, we had to improvise with the installation. We could have done something a little more graceful and appealing, but we never go out on our patio, and we never use that chair or that suitcase. Ta Fixe.