I know the GCP has its flaws, but I like mine a lot. Definitely get a backflush basket and some cafiza to clean it regularly. And then also look into the OPV 9 bar mod from Shades of Coffee if you want to tinker a bit. Sounds intimidating, but it's just a replacement spring for the over pressure valve. I enjoy the resulting espresso more after I made the mod.

Yeah, it's hot as fuck out here. But as a southern Arizona native, this heat wave doesn't seem too much worse than most summers in recent memory. I'm curious if this is more a result of increased homelessness (and declining resources to support them) rather than drastically raised temperatures.