Holy crap was it hot last weekend. As a person sans air conditioner, and with a slightly crazy side, I forced the boyfriend to help me clean the house (as was previously planned) leading to nearly dying from heat exhaustion. Fortunately for him, I sent him down to Foti’s after cleaning for some gyro goodness for dinner – there was just no way I was going to turn on the (now sparkling) stove on Saturday. So yes, we missed out on the Organic Brewfest at Overlook park, and besides a multi-store grocery and Laurelwood run on Sunday, we didn’t much leave the apartment (though I might have, had I read the Dave Knows suggestions).

I started bike commuting a few weeks ago with partial hopes that it would help me adapt to the rising temperatures, among other things. Since my ride in to downtown is mostly downhill, and the mornings are still cool, my cooldown time before entering cube-land is short, but on the way home, with the all-uphilledness of the region and hot patches of air, I’m sweating something fierce by the time I get home. As a convenience I sometimes stop by the Whole Foods/Wild Oats on Burnside to pick up groceries, and I’m a bit embarrassed by the being hot and having helmet hair while I’m walking through the store with my pant leg tucked into my sock. With a city such as this with a ton of bike commuters, I would assume that the employ would see plenty of people like me, but even with the pile of bikes out front (Dear Whole Foods, please get more bike parking, kthx), I didn’t see another person looking disheveled in the store.

I’m not an easily embarrassed person, but I’m wondering what the consensus is on this kind of situation: Do you hop into the store with your hair plastered down and mingle with the hipsters, or do you go home and cool down, then go back the mile and a half to the store while looking at least somewhat presentable?