Encounters with Stupidity

My advisor - who is from Canada - compares Tucson summer to arctic winter. You don't go outside. Today is supposed to be 107 F. Last week I was in the midwest for a wedding and family visitation. When I arrived back in Tucson and walked out of the airport doors, I felt the blast of heat, but it wasn't so bad. That's the way one feels for the first day or two of the heat. It's something new; maybe even a "nice change" from 75 degrees and 90% humidity. But the heat gets to you. It comes in through the cracks along the window panes and the gap below the door. It comes right through the brick walls that stay warm from the sun all night. It keeps you up, tossing and turning and sweating under a thin sheet as the A/C cranks along all night. In the morning the sun meets you with relentless, pounding intensity. Shield your eyes and your face. Scurry to the shade from the nearest trees. Feel each individual UV ray penetrating your skin and shredding your DNA. Get in the car and bake in the 170 F sauna until you run the A/C for a few minutes. Still, be careful of the steering wheel which could burn your hands for minutes to come. There is no escape except for a few moments in a cool shower or a pool, if you have access to one. As summer wears on, drags on, burns on, the temperature of tap water rises until even the "cool" shower loses it's appeal. It's a bummer to be trapped inside, but really the heat is just an excuse for interior activities, much like a rainy day in other climes. "Save up for a 105 degree day" should be the phrase in Tucson. Still, a couple 105 degree days aren't too bad if punctuated by cool nights or a few days of 90's. As I turn my geographic gaze to other locales, trying to decide where I might want to live after Tucson, I consider places with slightly less heat. Salt Lake, southern Utah, much of Nevada. Yeah, they hit 100 F, but it isn't the same when it's a day or two at a time. Then it's a rainy day and not monsoon season. Despite all this complaining, my fifth summer in Tucson isn't as bad as any of the others. But it is still only mid-June. Summer in Tucson really begins to drag sometime in late September or October when the rains are gone and temps are still touching 100 F and the A/C is still humming late into the night, sucking money from your paychecks. Summer is a psychological phenomenon - it's nature-derived torture - and it takes months to sink in and start really getting you down. As your insulation erodes the heat penetrates dangerously close to the core of your being. One advantage of summer - like those rainy days - is that it provides time to dream of outdoor adventures you can't do because of the heat. Of course, winter in Tucson has a disadvantage too - it can be downright cold. Then you can dream of the toasty summers...