Heat Wave

It has been hot, friends. Too hot to think. As I'm sure I've mentioned previously, my apartment does not have A/C. (Which renders this kind of long holiday weekend completely useless for getting work done. It's extremely frustrating.) But I have figured out how to keep my brain from boiling in my head.

Here are some things that work for me:
1) Spray bottle. It mainly acts as a cat torture device (for training, I swear), but it's extremely pleasant during a heat wave. I spray it toward the fan, or the ceiling, or straight in my face.
2) Freeze a filled up water bottle. Stand it next to you, or (my favorite) roll your feet and ankles on it.
3) Wet a washcloth, wring it out really well, and freeze it flat. I put it on my head/neck/lower back. (This is effective for roughly 5 minutes.) 
4) Freeze a pillow case before going to bed.
5) Ice cream. Lots of it. Preferably homemade.
6) Stay relaxed. The more emotionally tense you are, the worse the heat feels.
7) Workout. This is counter intuitive, but I find that when I'm working out I feel like I'm sweating because of the workout, not because it's 93 degrees in my apartment. (Bonus: it helps with #4.)

If all else fails, just look at photos of people who lived before A/C was invented. It's surprisingly effective. (More photos after the jump...)

(Photos via flickr commons. Taken in 1911, during a NYC heat wave which killed hundreds of horses and claimed the lives of 146 people.)