The one thing that can make a big difference in your overall mental well being is the temperature of your environment. It may seem like a minor thing, but if you've ever been sandwiched between two very large and hairy men in a crowded subway without air conditioning in August, you'll know exactly what I mean.

I'm not looking forward to the day when nature forces the occasional, unwelcome hot flashes. Maintaining balanced temperature control on a normal day is challenge enough. It seems to me these days, that the only perfectly balanced temperature is outside. Outside, where the air is fresh and natural is the place God intended for us to be. Alas, that argument has never quite worked with my boss, so we must count on our body's natural gift for adjusting to the ridiculous extremes of artificial temperature assumptions.

In the cold summers in San Francisco, we used to put the gas heat on often. You don't have air conditioning there because (everyone, repeat the bad cliche with me) "it has natural air conditioning" (for you non-Californians, that would mean "fog."). With the exception of a couple of days, you don't actually need AC. California, generally speaking, has utterly perfect temperature, regardless of where you land in the state. If it's hot, it's dry heat. If it's cold, at least it ain't snow.

Texans have the right idea. They are the masters of central air conditioning and regulating temperatures to exact comfort levels. That makes the-state-that-was-once-its-own-country aces in my book. The whole Tex Mex and BBQ thing simply seals the deal.

New York has the be the worst. This city deserves sugary valentines for its many fascinating virtues, but its management of temperature control within the many edifices on this island is dreadful, horrendous, poor. Aw, let's not sugarcoat it--it simply SUCKS.

When I first moved here, my aesthetic for the clean line was greatly disturbed by the thousand of decrepit AC units hanging precariously from apartment windows. It was like getting a great big MOON from the building. Not only are they terrible eyesores, but they appear to be at risk as a falling hazard. I live in fear one will come lose and tumble 14 stories, braining me in the process. I can see the 18 point type in the NY Post: "Air Conditioner Permanently Cools Pedestrian." While these very unattractive units are the norm for the antiquated apartments that are a fixture of this island, they are incredible inept at sufficiently cooling more than a few square feet in a given space. My 2006 summer uniform was a tank top and ratty gym shorts, with good reason. I sweated out of places I didn't know existed.

In office buildings here, it's notoriously difficult to regulate heat and air conditioning. I believe one must study great tomes, meditate at length and learn a Latin code in order to actually control 30 floors of temperature comfortably for others. In the summer, the AC blasts as cold as the Russian tundra, which makes swaddling in a blanket inevitably necessary. When Hollaback Girl was working out in the NY office this summer, I couldn't tell you what she was wearing because it was obscured by the great red wool blanket she cocooned herself in at all times.

In contrast, in winter, the heat levels in the office are utterly depleting. Today, when it was 67 degrees outside, it was close to 85 in the office. Jewels, red faced and miserable in this Turkish sauna, announced he needed to go home. "Are you ill?" I asked with concern. "No," he replied, "I need to change into something more suitable to the environment. I'm thinking a tank top and a jockstrap." I knew exactly what he meant.

In the old pre War apartment buildings here, there are heat risers that extend from floor to ceiling, straight through each apartment. These risers, which are unattractive pipes that stand in the corners of the rooms, give off tremendous heat. Because of this, I don't turn the heat on in the apartment until it gets to the low 20s outside..and even then, I sometimes don't need to, Those wacky Edwardians. They certainly loved the novelty of indoor plumbing and heating . Sometimes, I have to put the fan on because it's so incredibly warm. Call me crazy, but I think it's unnatural to lie on top on the covers, naked and sweltering in mid December.

My colleague Stormy put it best. "Oh my God. It's unacceptable. Dress in layers and start peeling or adding." I guess that's simply the way to go.