There was definitely a learning curve that came with moving down south.
Just from a cultural standpoint, I had a lot to try and get my head around. I so didn’t want to come off as some abrasive northern transplant. Plus, I really loved the slower pace and easier vibe down here. Sure, Summer can be brutal and comes with plenty of air conditioning. But really, as long as you have decent residential HVAC, you’re pretty golden. For sure, all the stores and shops I go into have great commercial HVAC so it’s not like I’m sweating while I’m shopping. And at work, there is even zone controlled HVAC so I only sweat going back and forth to the parking garage. During the Summer, I stay inside the commercial HVAC of the building and eat my lunch in the break room. But during the rest of the year, I love ditching the air conditioning for the nice little courtyard bench just a couple of blocks down the street. It’s the perfect little spot that’s a perfect spot for a quiet lunch outside. At home, I learned really quick that you simply have to pull the curtains every single morning before heading to work. Direct sunlight heating is the number one enemy to heat pump efficiency. I never had to deal with that when I was living up north. Shoot, we hardly even had to run the air conditioning all that often. But down here, the direct sunlight heating will send the utility bills through the roof. So I make sure that all the blinds and shades are pulled and the thermostat is set high during the peak heating hours of the day.