I woke up this morning groggy, with many fewer clothes on than what I went to bed wearing, and the face of my tuxedo cat inches from my own.

"Meow," she told me, her pitch whiney and pathetic.  She blinked at me while I stood, used the little girls' room, and wobbled into the kitchen, rubbing the bruise I got on my shoulder from running into the doorhandle at the gas station after a mad dash to FedEx and then to the bank last night.   Since there was food in her bowl, I can only imagine that she was reporting on what I already knew:

It's hot in Seattle.

Wait, no, let me rephrase: It's FREAKIN' hot in Seattle.

Sigh.  For a city that's used to muggy days and rain falling on our heads in droves, this summer's heatwave has been murderous to our way of life, our work, and naturally, our moods.  Most of the houses and apartments here are built without air conditioning, mostly because our "summer" usually lasts all of two weeks at some point at the end of July or early August.

The ActiveRain offices have been affected, too.  Today will be our hottest day ever in the history of Seattle, and yesterday's build-up to that point was evidenced by the hollow, shadowed eyes that our workers came in with, indicating that the heat had made their sleep restless and unfulfilling.  Joel stated that he was just going to sleep in his pool from now on, while Kerrie railed against the heat -- admitting that she'd left the windows open all day the day before.

It's interesting to be detached from the bulk of the office, as shut up as I am in my own little square of space in the corner.  They laugh about me having bionic ears because I can hear every detail of every conversation out there, but as the heat ratchets higher and people get less sleep, their moods are changing, tempers are flaring faster, some are more ADD than usual.

I guess it's fair to say that the AR Staff is just as human as the rest of the world.  Most of us are aware that we're tired or feeling stressed or just unfocused, but it's so hard to keep on the straight and pleasant narrow when you just can't seem to get enough shut-eye or when you walk outside and Washington's turned into Texas for some ungodly reason.

We've been under an excessive heat watch and a non-precipitation warning for the better part of the week (I have a plug-in on my firefox that shows me these lovely things), and fires are cropping up around the state caused by lightning storms and other threats to the environment.  People are toting two or three bottles of water at once to stave off heat exhaustion. 

My vet even recommended that I shave my short- and medium-hair cats.

I'm fully convinced that my hometown has gone more and more insane as the mercury rises; honestly, for the sake of the office and my coworkers, I can only hope that it cools down soon so that we can all get some rest and stay hydrated.  I think I speak for everyone when I say, "Give us some rain, already!"