Lion and Magic Boy

In case you’re wondering, yes, the heat’s back on. I had a nice talk with my landlord, who apologized again for not having come out to meet me (I’ve been here eight months) and was highly concerned about my lack of heat. A nice guy, even if he’s an accountant (I won’t hold it against him). He gave me the number to call (furnace is under warranty), and the heater-guy was out here by 2 pm.

So this guy comes in with a uniform, he may have been old enough to drive, I’m not sure, and he opens up the panel of the furnace and starts literally ripping wires and stuff out of it while assuring me that he knew what he was doing. He did. The trouble was a faulty inducer motor, the thing that draws fresh air into the unit to be heated and then blown into the house. He sees this all the time, he says.

So he goes back into his truck after warning me that he had about 45 minutes’ worth of paperwork to do there, and comes back eventually. Within 2 minutes he had the heat working, new motor, everything is wonderful and I’m running to the thermostat to turn it down because he’s got it cranked up to 87.

Meanwhile, I am standing on the window sill, busy drilling little holes into the window jambs so screws can be screwed in there that hold up the little brackets for my new mini blinds. Yes! I am Installing Blinds! Myself!

Before we moved in we were warned that window coverings were our responsibility, meaning that I had to buy and install window coverings that I’d likely eventually end up leaving here for the next tenant. So I wasn’t all that keen on running out and spending hundreds of dollars on blinds and all, not with my tenuous financial situation. The realtor who connected me with this place was extremely kind and bought some temporary paper shades while laughingly telling me that she had even seen some people move out after a year and never replace them with permanent shades! Imagine! I knew, of course, that those people would be me.

So here it is, eight months later, and I am finally getting around to the blind thing. It turns out that I found a blind source that costs $1 cheaper per window than the paper ones. Ironic, wouldn’t you say?

It turns out also that installing blinds is far easier than I thought it would be. I did six yesterday. And afterward, turning a little wand or pulling a cord to open the blind is far easier than painstakingly folding up a flimsy paper shade and then reclipping it. Trust me.

The light looks a lot different in here, though, and it’ll take a while to get used to, but I think I like it.

And the drill? That’s the best part. Everyone should use power tools.

[tags] power tools, testosterone, window blinds, furnace [/tags]