Unexpected HVAC issue

I am in an extremely pessimistic (glass half empty) mood today, which is not my general tendency. To be totally honest, that isn't exactly true... I am pessimistic by nature, but I have been trying the last few years to train myself to be optimistic. For the most part I have been doing very well. When I got the ticket the Wednesday, I didn't freak out, and tell myself all kinds of horror stories about why this was bad. Instead, I told myself with my self imposed optimism, that since I have now gotten a ticket the police probably can't ticket me again.

Bowling update: As I mentioned yesterday, last night was our first night of bowling. When we arrived, our team (Retalix Strikers) was started in second place slot in our division. This position was based on our total team pin count from last year. We bowled against the team listed in first place within our division. Well, we haven't bowled since the end of last season which was this past May, and if you would have happened to have watched our games last night, you would have assumed we had never bowled in a league before. Needless to say we were a little rusty, and we lost the first two games without question. However, we did squeak out one win with the last game of the match, but for the night, we only took 2 out of 7 points.

FYI: A match is made up of three games, and the winning team of each game gets 2 points, and the team with the most pins over the three games gets an extra point. So each night a team can win up to 7 points.

It could have been worse, and if I wanted to look at things as an optimist, I would be saying we did a good job and that we were lucky to get two points! Yippee..! But the pessimist in me sees that the glass is less full than it is empty, and that we lost most of the points. So, the optimism training has failed me for today. After the game, as I was driving home, telling myself that I should be happy that we got two points in bowling, and that we still had 31 weeks to make up for the measly 5 points we lost last night, I got a phone call from my son, "Two". He informed me that the house was still very, very hot, because the central air conditioning was definitely not working. Earlier before bowling, I had him check the thermostat and the switch, and both appeared OK. So I told him to turn off the air conditioner (A/C), and open the windows. I only have a few windows in my side of the duplex building, so opening them didn't help very much. The building is only one story and has a flat roof, and there is very little attic air space, so on a sunny day like today the building turns into an oven. We ended up sleeping in a building that felt like a whole house sauna, even though the temperature outside was in the low 70's. This morning I called a local HVAC company to check out the A/C unit on my roof (no yard so the only place for the A/C unit is on the roof). He told me that the compressor on the unit was "seized up" and not working, and he could fix it with a new part that costs around $1,200 or so. He also said that since the unit was so old, it really wasn't worth spending the money on the repair, and I would be "throwing good money after bad. Besides", he said, "the price of a new unit is only a few bucks more". So what's a guy to do? Instead of getting a simple A/C repair, I told him to give me a quote on a new unit, and while he was at it to see if he could get me a quantity discount for two units so I could provide my tenant A/C as well. (I had promised my tenant when they moved in that I would have A/C in their apartment by next summer. I have felt bad for them the last two months, since I know how hot the inside of the building gets in the summer. ) Anyway, he called me about a half an hour later and said that he could install a new single A/C unit for my building, including labor (which includes lifting the A/C new unit to the roof) for approximately $2,100. He also said he would give me a discount of $400 if I did both units at the same time since it would be cheaper for him to do two at once because he would only need a lift one day instead of two, and only one crew. Yep, you guessed it, tomorrow I am going to be around $4,000 lighter in the wallet. Actually since the wallet is empty, the credit statements will actually be heavier. The day wasn't all bad news, there is good news. As a matter of fact the good news for today is two fold... It's Friday WOOHOO!! And I don't have to work for the next two days, and I got my car into the shop today, and it passed it's inspection without needing anything, which is I believe the first time that has ever happened to me! See, even when I am pessimistic, my optimism training kicks in and finds something good for the day. :-) Later Lou

Bowling season starting with a ticket...

Today we start the new bowling year for our league. I belong to the team "Retalix Strikers". Retalix is the name of the company I work for, and they have sponsored the team by getting us team shirts. This is the logo that is on the back of our shirts.

The team is made up of my boss here at work, myself, my brother, and two of my brother's co-workers. It's a a men only leauge, which is a sore spot with a few of my women co-workers. Last year we made it to the playoffs, and ended up making it to the "Super Bowl" of the league, and played the number one team. We didn't beat them, but we did win one out of three games against them, but just making it to the final playoffs was worth it, and a new experience for our team. If you are interested in watching our statistics you can check them out at this link on "League Secretary".

On a different topic, I mentioned yesterday that we were going to the old marital home and doing some major yard work. Well I got home later than I had planned, and we didn't get started until almost dark. We got an hour's worth of work into the place, and most of the yard was mowed and trimed. The hill side in front of the house still needs work, and the small piece of land next to the garage where "Ex" spread broken cement block needs to be done. Even though there is still a lot of work to do the place looks 100% better.

The reason I was late getting home last night wasn't because I left work late, but rather than I got pulled over by the state police for speeding. Apparently I was going 77 in a 55 mile an hour zone. Well, he found that my car's inspection sticker was expired, and made me an offer. He said he would only give me one ticket, and I could choose which one I wanted. I could either have the ticket for speeding or the ticket for the expired inspection stickers. It wasn't much of a choice since the speeding ticket is a moving violation and would add "points" to my driving record and cause my insurance rates to go up. So I chose the expired inspection ticket, and it came to $107.50. I am thinking of starting a legal defense fund, so if you want to donate to the cause, please Email me! :-)

Later

Lou

Winter

Winter has arrived in Western Pennsylvania. This past week has been full of snow, and ice, the first real bit of winter this season. All of December, and most of January were very mild this year, almost like an extended autumn. We didn't get the severe winter that a lot of the mid-west got with the ice storms and heavy snow falls, but still enough to throw a couple of snowballs, and if I really wanted to I could probably make a snowman. I have family in the north west side of the state of Missouri and I got an Email from them a few weeks ago telling everyone that they were without power, and that they were sending the Email with the laptop's battery reserve. They said that the storm was so bad, that many stores ran out of product, and fuel stations were sold out, and they had been heating their home with portable kerosene heaters. So far, that kind of weather hasn't hit here, and I am being selfish, and hoping it doesn't in the future either! I will update you when I hear from them again. This past weekend my son, Josh, went to a Boy Scout function that was a two and a half hour drive up into the "mountains" of western PA to a small place called Heritage Reservation in Farmington, PA. Of course this little adventure of his also happened to be the weekend of the worst of our winter weather. I made it there and back both times (drop off/pick up) ok, and I only got stuck once. It happened when I went to pick him up on Sunday. I drove into the camping area, and to get to the spot we agreed to meet, I had to go over a small hill that ended in a small dead end parking area. As soon as I started down the slope I realized I had made a big mistake, but it was too late. I had passed the point of no return. At the bottom of the slope in the parking area, I got turned around with the help of the camp ranger pushing the front of my car while I backed into an empty parking spot. Josh met me and I began back up the slope, and only made it half way. I backed back down the slope and tried a second run, but only made it to the same spot. I believe I was an amusing specticle to watch, and when I stopped trying a group of young scouts jumped out of a nearby truck and pushed my car the rest of the way up the hill. Maybe I should consider winter tires? My new HHR came with "All Season" tires, and although it handles pretty well in the wet and slushy roads, it just doesn't have enough grip to get up an snow and ice covered hill... unless I get enough momentum going first. I guess I should stop calling my HHR "new"... I have had it for 6 months, and it definitatly has "wear" marks. :-) I will tell you more about those in a future post.

Stop Driving...

Ok... ok... I have heard the pleas... I have parked the car, put on the parking brake... for a few minutes... While I sip my tea, I will make a post! Not much to tell, except what everyone has guessed, and that is that I have been out driving my car too much. I have already put over 2,500 miles on it, which is about 130 miles a day since I bought it. I better slow down, or I will have almost 50,000 miles on it within a year. Yeah, I like my car! Most of my trips have been to visit my son at camp. He is spending the summer at Heritage Reservation's Camp Freedom. This Boy Scout camp is 10 weeks long, and he is living on camp as a paid staff member. The drive is about 115 miles one way, which takes a little over 2 hours to drive. I have been to the camp (up and back) seven times in the 4 weeks that he has been there. This upcoming weekend will be the first weekend that I will not be going to visit. Enough about him, you can read about his adventures in his own blog: "A Little Deeper". This past weekend I got to spend time with my girlfriend, Marianne. She called me at work Friday afternoon and told me she had three free VIP tickets to a concert at Post Gazette Pavillion, our local "outdoor" ampitheater. She told me who was playing, and even though I had never heard of them, I said "Yeah, by all means, let's go!". I was thinking "free tickets... cheap date!". She wanted to find a third person to go so we wouldn't waste any of the free tickets, and after a few minutes, she found a co-worker that had never been to the Pavillion, and was interested... I left work a little early to pick Marianne and her co-worker friend up and away we went to the concert. The Pavillion is a nice 30-45 minute drive depending on the traffic, and which "short cut" you decided to take, so we all talked and joked along the way, and enjoyed the trip. About 2 miles from the Pavillion I asked Marianne how we got into the concert... She said we just had to call her friend that gave her the tickets, and she would meet us and in we go. The VIP tickets gave us free parking, access to the VIP tent with free food and drink, and great seats for the concert, so we were all excited and couldn't wait to get to the VIP tent and start chowing down, and drinking. Marianne called her friend and asked if they were still serving food, even though it was still a whole hour before the concert started, which of course they still were. Her friend said they had no trouble getting in, the food was great, they were having a great time, and couldn't wait for us to get there. Marianne told them the three of us were just getting ready to pull in to the Pavillion. All of a sudden Marianne's tone changed from excitement to concern, and was saying "really", "Are you sure?", "oh my", and "I don't believe it", into the cell phone. She hung up and said "We have to turn around"! I was shocked... Everything seemed to be going great. We were just about ready to pull in, why would we have to turn around now? About this time I recalled something I had said to my brother earlier in the evening. He had invited Marianne and I to go watch "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" with him and his family. I told him, "I can't go. My luck's changing, and I got free VIP tickets to tonight's concert!". This is probably what "stirred up my bad luck pot". If you need a refresher about my bad luck read my post from April 2004 about luck. Anyway, back to the story... As she hung up the phone, she explained that her friend did not have 3 tickets, instead, she only had 2. There were three of us in the car, so we had to choose to either not go, only two of us go, or the third person would have to buy a ticket (if available) and sit in a different section, and miss out on the VIP tent and food... To not avoid a scene and hurt feelings she decided, and rightly so, that we shouldn't go, and instead go get a dinner together. So we drove to Chester, WV, and visited "Connie's Corner Kitchen" (I think that's the name), after passing the "World's Largest Teapot". We had a wonderul, and delicious dinner there. So even though we missed the concert we had a great time. The following day, we were driving once again to the camp, but this time to take Marianne's son with the rest of his troop to stay for the week. We brought my son back from camp so he could go for a doctor's appointment today (Monday). Marianne's Dad rode with us to see the camp and enjoy the sites along the way. He said he had never been to Uniontown, or to the camp, so he got to enjoy our tour of the area, and he also go to wish his grandson a pleasant goodbye at camp. Next weekend I am thinking about digging up a golf course in an attempt to play on a Par 3 course... I hope someone has warned them I am coming! :-)

New Car

For the first time in my life, I purchased a brand new car. For some of you this may be a regular occurrence every few years, but for me this has been a once in a lifetime thing (so far!). Almost a year ago, I walked into a Chevrolet dealer near where I work sign some paperwork for my ex-wife. She finally traded in the car we had when we were married, and she needed my signature on the title. As I was walking through the show room I saw a cool looking car, and since I had a few moments, I stopped to admire it. Of course the first thing I looked at was the sticker price, which I found was very reasonable. After a very few moments, I realize I must have been drooling, because it didn't take very long at all for a salesperson to stop and talk to me. I told him I had never seen a car like this, and I asked him if it was new? He said "Yep, brand new, we just got it in, and we haven't even sold one yet." Well, I was more than intrigued, so I asked a bunch of questions, and I liked all of the answers. I finally asked if I could take it for a test drive. He arranged it, and away I went. I have never been one of those people who "love" a car... To me it's always been just a piece of machinery to get me places. But car was different, I really liked this car... I wanted it. Spurred on by the fact that my ex-wife just got a new vehicle, and that I hated my current car, I started the process of purchasing the car. I was excited when the salesperson told me that I could trade in my current car, purchase this new one, without much difference in my monthly payments! I was in heaven. Well, the pull of gravity from my credit history brought be back down to Earth. After he did the credit check, he found he could not get me in the car for the price I wanted, it would cost me much more a month, well out of my price range... (sob)... I left the dealership with a sad feeling, but hopeful that some day soon, I would be able to "turn that frown upside down"... (My Stuart Smalley quip of the day) I talked with people at work, friends, and family, and most of them had never heard of the car. I looked it up on the Internet, and found a few sites about it, and one that had setup a "Fan club" for the car. Now, before I reveal the car, let me just say, this isn't a sports car, or some other "power-mobile" like a Mustang GT or a Hummer. In otherwords it's not the "must have" car of 2006/07, but it has become one for me. It's been available for almost year since I first spotted it in the dealership showroom. You have most likely seen one or two of them on the road. You might even think it is a PT Cruiser at first glance. When I point it out to my girlfriend says it reminds her of a "hearse". I am not sure how she gets that.... I mean I know the car is long, and it is a station wagon, but do you think it looks like a hearse?

Well, this past Tuesday, after many months of waiting for the right time, I was finally able to do it. I now own a 2006 Chevrolet HHR LS model. Actually, I share ownership with the bank, but I get to drive it! Because it has a retro Chevy Suburban body style, it reminds people of the PT Cruiser. It's bigger than the PT, but not it's not a full SUV size. I got the 5-speed stick shift with the "sport red" body. To keep the costs down, I did not get any of the addons (spoiler, luggage rack, running boards, foglights). I drove it off the lot with the odometer reading "000005", and when the odometer read "000006" it's value had gone down by about $3,000 according to Edmunds.

I won't be able to eat lunch for the next 5 years, but I can go outside instead and enjoy my new car. It's one way to go on a diet.