Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ya-ta Boy]

I'm from Iowa and all my life I've had to put up with geeks saying, "It ain't the heat, it's the humidity". (Actually, where I'm from they say 'humid'ty', but that's neither here nor there.) Well, I'm sick to death of people saying it. Humidity has been getting a bad rap for mythological-being knows how long. It's time to stand up for humidity and be counted.

I'm an early riser and usually do my laundry around 6 am. For most of the year I can toss a load in the washer and come back 67 minutes later, hang it out and it's dry when I get home after school. The problem in the winter has always been that the shirts that I wad up in a ball dry out--at least the outside ones do. If I don't get around to ironing that night, then they all dry out and I have to sprinkle the whole pile before I iron.

Another thing people here complain about in the winter is the dry air being the cause of static electricity shocking them. I'm not particularly sympathetic to these people. I've noticed over the years here on Dave's that the vast majority of people who complain about this are people who I think would benefit greatly from some regular electro-shock therapy anyway.

Today was laundry day around the Boy household and as usual I did my thing before school. I was delighted to find when I came home tonight that my shirts are still damp as snot. I can wait two or three days and they'll still be damp. Cool! No need to sprinkle! (Although you do have to watch out for the mildew.) Yesterday during the rain storm I was sweating like a pig while I was teaching. Delightful.

I take these two events as a sure sign that Humidity Season is upon us once again. I don't care that the covers on my paperback books curl up or that the kids stick to their notebook paper. I like the clammy sheets on the bed. There's a certain wombiness to the feel. Happy days are here again, until at least mid-September. Whoopee.

I took the following article as kind of comforting that things back home are still the same, although there are a couple of comments (highlighted) that I just did not need to know.

(From Yahoo News)

Phoenix sweats most but Miami suffers more Wed Jun 14, 4:27 PM ET
Phoenix on Wednesday was named the sweatiest city in the United States, but Miami topped the list as the most uncomfortable American city due to its mix of humidity and heat.

The fifth annual sweat survey sponsored by Procter & Gamble Co. handed the dubious distinction to the Arizona capital for the third time. El Paso, Texas, earned the title in 2004 and San Antonio, Texas, in 2002.

The study of 100 cities estimates the amount of sweat a person of average weight and height would produce walking around for an hour in the average high temperatures of a particular city during June, July and August.

The latest survey found that the average Phoenix resident produced 26 ounces (0.77 litre) of sweat per hour during a typical summer day last year when the desert city's high temperature averaged 93.3 F (34 C).

[b]It means that in under three hours, Phoenix residents collectively produced enough sweat to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool[/b], said Jay Gooch, sweat expert at Old Spice, a Procter & Gamble Co. antiperspirant brand.

But Gooch said Phoenix's humidity was only 22 percent, making it much more comfortable than Miami, with average temperatures last year of 83.9 F (29 C) and humidity of 76 percent, according to government figures.

"In Phoenix you sweat much more than in Miami, but it evaporates quickly as it is such dry air so you don't notice as much. In Miami the sweat stays on your skin," said Gooch.

...

Well, duh, Mr. Gooch. Thanks for that bit of enlightenment. I too would like to put on my resume, "I was the head of the fifth annual sweat survey". Can you imagine his opening gambit at the singles bars?

[VanIslander]

[Ya-ta Boy]

[tzechuk]

I like the summer for laundry, too, but for entirely different reasons. We have a rooftop garden, I can hang out laundry in the morning and they'll dry in a couple of hours.

I sometimes end up doing ALL the laundry (I do different loads for different things - Letty's, white cottons, colour cottons, dark sythentics, towels etc. etc.) in one day and everything'll be dry!

I dislike humidity, but it's better than the dry air, I gotta say.

[mindmetoo]

Ya ta why is it that the socks and lonely drunks just don't get you? A friend moved out west to Alberta. There was this strange device attached to her furnace.

"What is that?" she asked the real estate person.

"It's a humidifier."

"Dehumidifier."

"No. Humidifier. It adds moisture to the air."

Coming from Windsor she didn't quite grok why and when you'd add moisture to the air.

[desultude]

[VanIslander]

Koreans pay money to buy humidifiers.

[seoulsucker]

[ella]

Dry air is awful. Single digit humidity means constantly red eyes, sore throats, nosebleeds, a voice that sounds like you've smoked 2 packs a day for 20 years, skin and lips that crack and bleed, hair like straw, more wrinkles, the slow but determined destruction of your car's interior... forget it. I'll take humidity any day.

[Hyeon Een]