Still hot, but could be hotter

Posted on July 23, 2006 by Gene

Things could be worse. Even though it is 100° right now in San Jose, the humidity is an astonishing 23% — that means that the heat index is 98°, it feels cooler than it is. If this had been DC, the humidity would have left it feeling 120° by now.

I was prepared today: I closed the blinds and drew the curtains before it got hot (although, it was already in the 80s when I got up this morning). The air conditioner is set at 85°, and I spent nearly the entire day in my bedroom under the ceiling fan. I admit that I didn’t go out walking this morning, but since it was already hot I figured that discretion was the better part of valor, especially when talking about walking in excessive heat with heart trouble.

Last night as I was drifting off, the phone rang with a call from my sister, who got married yesterday. I was supposed to be there — but sitting in a narrow, confined airplane seat for 6 hours only a week after a heart attack seemed like a bad idea.
I certainly wouldn’t have stayed up past 1am drinking with my siblings; still, I missed being there, not just to see my sister’s big day but also to see relatives I hadn’t seen in years. Time is flying by for all of us, and since I see some of these people once every 10 years or so, I feel like there are some relatives that I might not have the chance to see again.

And to my brother Pat, who is certainly reading this: you may have been drunk last night, but you still promised to stop smoking on Monday. Don’t want to make heart attacks run in the family, you know.