Lazy family is killing me

I’m at my breaking point, and I’m starting to freak myself out these days. Everything is so overwhelming that I can’t even breath. I have trouble seeing straight or making simple decisions on a daily basis. I’m exhausted, and I’m always prepared to break down and cry at a moment’s notice. Yes, I am talking about stress. I feel so out of control of my whole life these days, I don’t know how much more I can take. It’s not really fair how many things I have on my plate, especially when I have a family that theoretically could help me to accomplish some of my household tasks. For instance, maybe someone could bring their dishes to the sink on a regular basis, let alone wash a glass. Perhaps another party could feed or walk the dog. It might be possible for somebody to clean out the fridge once in a while. Or, you know, maybe they could just try to make a phone call for themselves when the freaking HVAC system breaks down. Apparently, they would rather realize that the house is feeling warm and stuffy, and do nothing about it for hours. Sweating their butts off, no one even bothered to touch the thermostat for 5 hours. Not until they realized mom wasn’t home to make temperature adjustments. When they finally examined the temperature control panel, they figured out that the AC unit was offline. One might think that they would contact a cooling specialist at that time, or maybe they would call up one of their parents for HVAC advice… but apparently they prefer to sit outside for fresh, relatively cooler air all day long, waiting for help to arrive from a 12 hour shift before even mentioning the burning hot air waiting inside our home.

Energy saving help

Anyone else creeped out by hotels?

Until recently, I really loved staying in hotels.

I guess that they were deeply tied to family vacations and excitement from my early childhood days, and that feeling carried over into adulthood.

I used to be giddy at the thought of packing my stuff, checking in, and watching someone else’s TV all night. These days, I am not enthusiastic at all about hotel living. You see, at a certain age, you start to realize just how freaking gross hotels really are. We already know that the room will light up like a christmas tree if you shine a black light, but what most people don’t know to watch out for is the in-suite HVAC system. I recently read an article in Nature about the bacterial and viral cultures that were collected from large hotel chains. I tried not to gag as I read that the worst of the contaminations were collected from the indoor temperature control systems. Apparently, compared to the door handles, carpet, TV remote, and toilet seat, the air filters and air vents of the tiny temperature control systems had the largest prevalence of harmful microbial cultures! It seems that most hotels do not properly service the unit HVAC systems. Bacteria are caught up in the air handling system, and then evenly dispersed through the air as it is pushed through the front vent. Apparently, your entire room could be contaminated with billions of foreign airborne pollutants and little critters. Every surface would be coated with invisible invaders, and air intake system only works to redistribute the contamination in an endless cycle. Looking up from the article, I eyeballed the suite heating and cooling system suspiciously before gathering all of my belongings and checking out a week early.

Energy saving tips

Mid-life crisis HVAC school

What is your biggest fear in life? Flying? Being murdered? Spiders? Well, those would be some pretty common ones, anyways.

Personally, my biggest phobia is aging.

There are so many aspects that scare the crap out of me. I don’t want to get gray and wrinkly, or to see my skin get all papery and thin. I don’t want to watch people dying around me from freak medical incidents. I also don’t want to wind up alone and forgotten. I guess it’s been all of these ideas floating around in my head that recently inspired me to quit my job, leave my family, and start a new life. I think it’s for the best. For 25 years, I’ve working in the financial industry, but not anymore. My new plan is a little cooler. I’m going to school to become a central cooling and AC specialist in my brand new city! I made the decision as I was driving away from my old home, several states away at this point, and passed by a large billboard tauting a brand new HVAC certification program. Well, I figured that was as good a place as any to establish my new roots, and I pulled over the car. I rented an apartment, and enrolled in the HVAC trades school the very next day. It will be an 18 month program, at which point I’ll test for my heating and cooling technician level I certification. Then I should be attractive as a ventilation intern at one of the local HVAC shops, if nothing else. I’m excited for this new life I’ve created, and I can’t wait to get started on all my heating and cooling equipment coursework.

Find a local HVAC supplier

Undercover HVAC inspector

Sometimes I stop and wonder about all the random jobs that exist, which I have no idea about. There are so many invisible working parts underlying our modern society that we don’t acknowledge or appreciate. For instance, who develops the bus schedule? Who decides traffic light patterns? Who keeps an eye on local businesses for safe practices? Well, just recently, I learned a little bit about the last question posed. You see, I was minding my own business, quietly working at a coffee shop last week, when a huge interruption pulled my attention away from my project. A man walked into the shop and nonchalantly walked around, looking diligently at the structure. He said nothing for a long while, until he asked to talk to the manager. Boom! Everything changed! He revealed himself as a public health agent, who was sent into the establishment to examine the current HVAC system, and the shop devolved into panic. The man circled the walls, taking air vents apart and shining light into the air ducts. He disappeared into the back, where he was presumably looking into the furnace and kitchen ventilation devices. Then he circled to the side of the shop and loudly banged on the air conditioning system for a while. During this whole ordeal, the manager was on the phone with the owner, whispering about HVAC maintenance schedules. Clearly, people were not feeling confident that air handling devices were up to code, which made me set down the rest of my croissant and latte. The next day when I walked past the coffee shop, it was closed for unknown “renovations.”

 

Follow this link for more information

Spiteful power switch

Periodically I wonder about people, namely, I wonder if my teenager is out of his damn mind, because he sure doesn’t know how to act appropriately.

It’s as if he has no concept of consequences, & just assumes he can go through the world acting like an ass if he so chooses.

Well, that’s not how it works out on planet Earth, & it really isn’t how things are going to be run in my own household, I can tell you that. This little snot decided that he was immune to helping out with home chores last week, for example. When I lectured him on home responsibilities he ran off & locked his door. I let him sulk & figured I would deal with his excruciating attitude the next day. When I woke up the next afternoon, but, I found that the home was horrifyingly cold. Rather than worrying about my son, I had to deal with the thermostat. I went down the hallway & checked the temperature control device, expecting that the ambient temperature had been changed on accident. Instead, I found that the smart thermostat unit couldn’t connect to the central heating device. The touch screen monitor indicated that there was a power outage on the end of the boiler, & I was completely puzzled over the heating device. I figured that before calling a ventilation professional I would go inspect the power source myself & located the power box out in the garage. I was surprised to find the furnace switch was flipped off… How could only the boiler be affected by a power outage? That’s when I realized my son was already out of the home & put two & two together. That little shit, blatantly he was still so warm headed in the afternoon that he attempted to freeze me out.

heater maintenance