Thursday, February 15, 2007

How about a show of hands: who here thinks Valentine's Day is silly? I know I'm not alone in this assessment. That said, I think, in my vast wisdom, that it's probably not wise to spend too much time in front of the computer and not with my wife, so I'll be brief.

I was going to launch into a polemic against the Valentine's Day thing, how it's a manufactured holiday (and a rip-off at that--$30 for a dozen roses?!), how it forces artifical gestures of affection, and how it's totally depressing to those who aren't in relationships, but I think that's inappropriate. Besides, we all know those things are true, and yet we keep buying into it anyway. Oh well. I guess you just have to capture that spirit and not be such a poor sport about it like I am.

An update to the furnace saga of last night. Turns out my jubilation over the repair was short-lived--the pilot went out again after I published the post. Fortunately, I knew that the gas line had been choked off (for some strange, unknown reason), so I re-lit the pilot and pulled the choke back a little, and it seemed to do the trick. If I was paying for the new thermocouple and the repair job, I'd be mad, but I'm not, so I don't care. It needed the new part anyway.

By the way, I tried to find a picture, or at least a reference, to our furnace on the web, just to show you all what I'm dealing with, but, alas, I couldn't find anything on this vast world-wide web about it at all, besides a website all about the repair and maintenance of mobile homes. I know, the furnace was built with the house in 1973, so it's unlikely that I could have found a reference, but come on, it's the internet! In case you were wondering, it's a Coleman 8680-756, which means nothing to you, but what it does mean is that Google will now have an entry matching that query. Cool.

One other thing: the weather. Yes, it was cold today. When I woke up, it was -28, with the windchill bringing it down to -38. Lovely. Walked to school in it, though, like a good prairie boy. But good news: it's warmed up substantially through the day, and it's now only -14 (which is warmer than it got all day yesterday, when we officially got to -31). Better news: it's supposed to crack the good side of zero tomorrow! I'll believe it when I see it, but man, that'd be so cool. It's shorts and T-shirt weather, for sure. We'll see.

And that, my friends, is all for this evening. 12 minutes of blogging, a few paragraphs, and still time to finish off the evening with my wife. When you're good, you're good. See you tomorrow.