I ’bout fell off my bicycle Saturday afternoon riding across Brooklyn through Crown Heights, when I rounded a boarded up pre-war apartment building and came upon this giant yellow monster.

So this is the Brooklyn Children’s Museum. Why didn’t anyone tell me Brooklyn had one of those? I really should get me a kid, so I can be in the loop on such swell goings-on.

Not only is the museum a gem to behold, it’s super-sustainable. Designed by Rafael Viñoly Architects and opened last September, the building achieved a LEED Silver rating for its use of rapidly renewable and recycled materials in construction. The big yellow building even has geothermal wells for heating and cooling purposes. Wow. I wonder what those look like.

And check out the Museum from above:

Photo: Michael Moran

Lovely. It’s incredible to see such bold design in a public project—plopped in the middle of Crown Heights, no less, rather than in Dumbo, Brooklyn, or some such trendy (read: ridiculous) location. This place for kids could hold its own against any boutique hotel on the Lower East Side.

Score: 1, NYC Department of Design and Construction. And one for Brooklyn.

It’s a Tuesday in early August in New York. And damn hot. But miserable as these conditions may sound, there are smart, energy-efficient ways to beat the heat. One solution is detailed below, with expert demonstration by a seasoned city dweller:

1. Find a spot in the apartment with ample room to sprawl out. Your position should be located strategically between open windows and oscillating fans for maximum circulation. Consider your preference for sun or shade, and gauge the sunbeam trajectory throughout the course of the afternoon.

2. Place yourself in your chosen spot in the following fashion: Lie on your back, belly up, legs extended, and tail out. Now, do everything in your power not to break this pose for as long as possible. Nothing else exists. The phone does not exist. Emails are not streaming in. There are no deadlines. No meetings. No errands. All you have to pay attention to is the back of your second set of eyelids, for the next God knows how long.

3. When at last you’ve returned to consciousness from your first extended nap of the afternoon, take a stretch by slowly shifting your front legs (or arms) to the opposite side of your body. As you begin to turn your head in the same direction, your lower half will follow suit. This will also afford you a view of what other creatures in the room are up to. You can yawn now.

4. Once you’re all settled into your new pose, you’re ready to drift back to sleep and wait for either (1) the temperature to drop, or (2) feeding time, whichever comes first.