AC or not AC, that is the seasonal dilemma...

It's been warm in Chicago the past couple of days. The temperature has gotten up into the mid-80's at least, away from the Lake, and stayed there during daylight hours.

And there's actually been sunshine.

Not constant, of course -- this is Chicago -- but enough to make it warm in the Sun... and even warmer in a largely unshaded den that sits in a one story addition out behind the Curmudgeon's Northwest Side home.

The rest of the house has been temperate, even pleasant in some areas, but that matters not to the Curmudgeon's offspring because the Internet connection is in the den. The cable TV is in the den. The offspring are therefore in the den. And they want the air conditioning in there with them too.

Never mind that the den is the hardest room to heat in the Winter or cool in the Summer. Never mind that cool air from the air conditioning will be funnelled, if at all, into that room through an elaborate system of floor and table fans that Long Suffering Spouse will soon set up in the cooler, better ventilated regions of our home. From the kids' point of view, these are mere quibbles. The kids -- especially Oldest and Middle Sons -- want the AC on and they want it on yesterday.

(This is not a picture of our backyard -- but you'd never know it the way the kids are talking.)

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My youth was divided between two houses, one in the City and one in a distant region of Exurbia where Christ was rumored to have lost His shoes. Neither of these houses was equipped with air conditioning.

Somehow, however, despite this deprivation, I managed to survive to adulthood.

I moved to a place of my own -- one which I admittedly selected, at least in part, because it was air conditioned. My dwellings since have been similarly equipped.

I can't complain about not having AC growing up, but I think, maybe just a little, I'm still sort of peeved that my parents put AC in just as soon as I moved out. In fact, I think it was the very next afternoon. But I digress.

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Air conditioning costs money to operate -- and this year will be particularly expensive because the electric company has raised its rates.

It raised its rates because its supplier is charging so much more. And the supplier? Well, the supplier is a sister company of the utility. But don't worry -- there was a competitive bidding process.

Right....

Anyway, aside from the cost, there's also the wimp factor: Even my pampered offspring ought to be able to handle one warm afternoon and night every now and again. Granted, when the 90º days start backing up, one after the other, I'll be the first to throw the switch and take my chances about paying the bill. But for just one or two 85º days?

If the den is too warm in which to watch ESPN for six hours at a stretch, couldn't the kids maybe go to another part of the house and, say, read a book?

I guess I really am a radical kook after all.