Yeah. That long pause after you said, "Gee, they don't give you very good tools for doing your job!" is me using every ounce of willpower I have to avoid making a wisecrack like, "Yeah, it's almost as if they expect our customers to know something about their accounts, or something."
* * *
The long pause in the global warming continues. What I especially like is the last couple paragraphs of the article. A dire prediction, indeed.
* * *
Speaking of global warming, we got something like five inches of it over the weekend; and now it's going to get fucking cold. Projected high for Thursday? 0.00° F. Whee! And then this coming weekend they're predicting a blizzard. It's just like that movie where global warming triggers an ice age, because fuck the laws of thermodynamics!
* * *
It'd be awful nice if this turned out to be true. You don't ask questions like that when you're preparing to increase budgets. The entire federal apparatus needs a good going-over with a liposuction machine.
* * *
So I get home, and it's like a friggin' meat locker in here. Outside air temperature is a balmy 14.7°F--virtually tropical--but once I get inside the house and take off my parka, it's like...cold.
Go into the hallway to turn up the thermostat, set it at 70° to warm it up a bit in here. We keep it at 69° for the winter, and that's usually on the cool side of comfortable. Too cold right now, so let's warm it up, and...hey, what does this mean, 66°?
I turn the thermostat up more, but no click comes from it. I get fresh batteries for it--I don't remember the last time I changed them--and there's no change. "Well, I can hotwire it if I have to, but I'd rather not," I told my wife. I go outside to look at the gas meter, but it's fine and there's no evidence that anything's been done to it. Gas is on, so I tap the meter, wondering why the heat is not working?
Next up, the furnace itself. Go down to the basement with a flashlight. Me: "Well, if we have to get the furnace fixed, that'll be entertaining. And expensive." Kept thinking that we could swing it, but it might put a dent in some of our plans for the next few months. (Like not having ramen for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.) Have a gander through the porthole at the diagnostic LEDs. They are slowly alternating, blinking red and green like a Christmas version of a railroad crossbuck. The label on the front says--I paraphrase--"Ignition failure or flame sense failure."
There is an outlet box on the furnace itself, a relic from the original, and it has a light switch in it. This switch controls power to the furnace, so I don't have to figure out which breaker is the one for the furnace. A quick flip off, count to ten, flip it on--presto, the furnace microcontroller is reset and we have heat again.
Still, not liking this, not one bit. I haven't got the faintest idea how one troubleshoots a furnace with a computer in it. If this isn't just a glitch, $5 says it needs a part that costs $8.50, but six hours of labor to install at $89.25 per hour. And you can't discover this fact without using a diagnostic device which is made by the furnace manufacturer and costs $4,000. Argh etc.
I can go downstairs and flip the switch when needed, but for fuck's sake, this furnace is a mere eight years old. It's three years out of warranty. I expected better.
...and of course it happens on the coldest night of the winter thus far, with subzero temperatures expected sooner rather than later.
* * *
Anyway, it could be worse. Managed to get through another week, and hopefully my wife and I will get to have a little fun on our "weekend". Could be worse.
* * *
It's the return of Starbirt and the Loch Ness Monsta!
* * *
And while looking for that link, I spied this hilarious juxtaposition:
Wonderduck didn't post that first part, but this made me laugh.
I mean, what's not to like? Dr.Ramah restores womb! He is a real and genuine spell caster!