Customer Disservice...

The Facts

We went to the movies. They wouldn’t accept our gift cards.

His Side

The only thing better than seeing a good movie in the theater is seeing a good movie in the theater for free. It’s nice when someone else pays for it, but that’s not really free. I’m talking really free. Let me tell you how that happened recently.

We invited another couple over for cheese fondue then planned to head to the theater and see 22 Jump Street (a film I had been looking forward to for a while). The only reason Kristi and I were willing to go to the theater at night, after matinee prices were far from over, was because we had gift cards. As a side note, if you are ever stumped as to what to get me for a birthday or Christmas, gift cards to the movies are always a solid choice. 

Anyway, we get to the theater and go to pay. We get carded for the rated-R film (which made me feel young again) and we got out our trusty gift cards. Without making a big deal out of it… as if it was just fine… like there would be no problem… the teller told us that their gift card system is down so they can’t accept gift cards because it freezes up their system for a couple of minutes. What? I don’t care if it freezes up the system as long as I get to pay using my gift card. I’ll wait a couple of minutes as their system thaws (after being frozen… get it?). But the teller kindly asked me if I had another form of payment. I had cash, credit card, debit card… but I just told them that this is the form of payment I planned to use and the teller directed me to the customer service desk which is ironic because what we received could barely be called customer service.

Once we got there, not a worker was in sight. We waited until a lady in a suit (the suit means she’s some sort of management) came up to us and asked what the problem was. When we told her, she said that the system is down and asked if there was another form of payment. Deja Vu all over again. We told her we would not be paying with by some other method and, with a bad attitude, she offered to sign us in as her guests which she made sure to tell us she wasn’t supposed to do about 15 times. Well, you aren’t supposed to not accept gift cards either…

While we were getting signed in as her guests, another couple came to the customer service desk with the same issue. She told them that she wasn’t supposed to do it (big surprise) but she would sign them in as her guests, too. That couple got a little more of an attitude with the manager prompting her to tell them (rudely) that a call has been made to reset the system… as if that was going to help us at that precise moment. But, we got signed in and headed for the concession counter to get a drink. When we asked about the system being down and paying with a gift card, that worker had no clue about any gift card problems. It seems like that should have been a piece of info passed down the line at some point.

So, we dealt with a little annoyance but got to see the movie for free. That’s a win in my book. We did end up paying for the drink with real money; however, a 6 dollar drink is a small price to pay when you think about how we didn’t have to pay 21.50 of the gift card in order to see the film. That means we get to go see another movie with that gift card money! Kristi will be thrilled about that because you know how much she loves going to the theater. 

Her Side

By now, you should know how I feel about movies… and more specifically movie theaters. But, in case you don’t, I’ll sum it up for you quickly:  movie theaters are terrible. Well, this fact was solidified even more for me the other day. Surprisingly, it all happened before we even stepped foot into the theater in which our movie was playing.

Nolan and I were getting together with another couple for dinner and a movie. So, we ate dinner at our house and made our way to the movie theater. We walked up to purchase our tickets and when we presented them with our gift cards, they casually said that their system for gift cards was down and we wouldn’t be able to use it… so, we needed to give them another form of payment. Hold up… No, I’m not doing that. We try to spend our money wisely and wouldn’t have gone out to a movie if we didn’t have gift cards for the outing. So, we kindly said that wouldn’t work for us and the lady at the register directed us inside to “guest services” where she claimed we would be helped.

Well, we walked in and no one was actually at the infamous guest services desk, so we had to wait for a few minutes (which was slightly annoying because we didn’t have all night… after all we were trying to see a movie that started at a SPECIFIC time). So, a few moments later, a lady appeared from nowhere to “help” us. We explained the situation and she said that she would try it again, but the systems had been down so she couldn’t guarantee anything. When the gift card still wouldn’t go through in their systems (something that is NOT my problem) she began to get a bit rude. We insisted that we weren’t going to use any other form of payment because, well, we shouldn’t have to. At that point she begrudgingly said she would check us in as her “guest” even though she isn’t “technically supposed” to allow us to do that. She made a point to tell us that multiple times. Ok, we get it lady… you’re a rule breaker.

Last time I checked, when you work in customer service (which I did for a few years) you don’t make the customer feel like they have done something wrong (especially when they haven’t). As a line from one of my favorite movies, I Am Sam, proclaims… “The customer is always right.” Perhaps she was having a bad day or perhaps she just isn’t cut out for a customer service related job. Whatever the reason, I hope she realizes that interacting with us in the manner she did didn’t exactly leave us feeling all warm and tingly.

So, as if Nolan didn’t already have a hard time getting me to go to the movies with him… this is just another reason on my list of why I don’t like going.

Brand New (pet) Parents...

The Facts

We adopted a dog. He’s adorable. His name is Fletcher.

His Side

The idea of having an animal live in your house with you just for fun had to be a crazy notion whenever the first person decided to do it. Now, though, if you don’t have a pet, you may be the minority. I grew up with pets. We had a cat named Honeysuckle who ended up meeting her demise via the sliding door of a van (horrific accident and very traumatic to a child no older than 5 at the time). We had a female cat named Jasper (named after one of the bad guys in “101 Dalmatians”) who, while we were living in an apartment complex, ran away and came back a few days later pregnant… like a rebellious teenage girl. Then, we kept one of her kids and named him J-Bear (it’s a long story as to why he was named that). He was an outside cat while we kept Jasper inside. His shining moment was when we watched him leap up and take down a bird IN MID-AIR via a claw to the stomach. It was impressive. Being the immoral creatures that cats are, Jasper and J-Bear ended up getting together… which led (not surprisingly) to a litter of one. This little guy was all black with just a white tip on his tail. So we named him Tippy. He also kind of tipped over when he walked. He had problems (presumably because of his family tree not branching out too far). He ran away, or go eaten, or something… but once J-Bear and Jasper passed away, we were done with cats for a little while. Until we rescued Kiwi from the beach. Kiwi looked gaunt and disheveled so we would give her food while we were on vacation at Edisto Beach, SC one summer. Like a college kid does to free food, Kiwi kept coming around. We started to really like her so we convinced my dad to take her home. We got her checked up, got her shots, got her fixed, and she has found a loving home with my parents.

I say all that to say I have always been a cat person. I know I could have said it more succinctly, but what’s the fun in that, right? So, being a cat person, naturally I would marry a woman who is allergic to cats. It’s not horrible allergies, but it’s more than she would want to deal with on a day-to-day basis. So, we were not going to get a cat and she isn’t willing to get anything out of the ordinary like a rabbit, lizard, scorpion, or gerbil… so we decided we wanted a dog. I had a bad experience with a big dog when I was very little so I am not a fan of big dogs. The one dog we had growing up was named Hobo and he stayed chained up in the back yard. He was bigger than me and all he would do is bark and scare the living daylights out of me (at least that’s how I remember it). Also, big dogs could just snap one day and eat your face… so that’s not cool. We really need a completely fenced in back yard before we get a dog, but you can’t control when fate puts the dog you want in front of you. 

One night, Kristi was telling me how it doesn’t make financial sense to get a dog right now. The next day, Kristi was looking at dogs… naturally. And she found the cutest little puppy ever. A black and tan Yorkie that was 10 weeks old. His picture was to die for so we just had to see him. We discussed everything and decided that we could get a dog right now so we drove an hour to meet him. As soon as the lady brought him out and Kristi saw him, I knew I was going to be writing a check. Okay, so I couldn’t say no either. He was adorable. The problem, though, was that we were going on vacation in 2 weeks and we didn’t want to take him home, then leave him for a week. The lady said we could leave him with her until we get back then come get him. That’s what we had to do (we thought). It was so hard, though, to leave without him.

My parents, who were with us, could tell how badly we wanted to be able to bring him home, so they offered to house sit/dog sit for us while on vacation. It meant so much to us that they were willing to do that and, of course, we took them up on it. So we drove an hour again to go get him. The hour home was rough on him, though. He had never ridden in a car before and an hour is a long first ride. The combination of nerves and carsickness led to him puking… three times… twice on Kristi. We got him home, though, and he has been adjusting well. It took us forever to name him but, after going around and around, we chose Fletcher. He just looks like a Fletcher!

We are working on paper-training Fletcher so he doesn’t just pee and poop wherever he pleases. That’s going to be a long road but he does well sleeping in his crate. He only whines a little, then passes out. And, of course, he’s the most adorable little puppy you’ve ever seen. He’s very playful and loving. He even plays extremely well with my brother-in-law’s dogs. We have a lot of years of fun with him to look forward to!

Her Side

When Nolan and I began dating, I knew instantly I would have to change one thing about him… I would have to convert him from a cat person to a dog person. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t like cats. In fact, we had one when I was growing up. My problem is that over the years I have grown allergic to most cats. Also, the most recent family pet we have had is a dog, so I’m partial. If any of you know the family dog, Winston, then you know he’s probably not the best dog to use as an example of why you should like dogs more than cats. Winston is 10 years old and with that age has come a much more ornery, stubborn, and sometimes antisocial personality. Despite Winston sometimes being mean, I somehow convinced Nolan that, if we were to get a pet, it should definitely be a dog.

So, this is how the story of our new puppy goes…

One night the other week Nolan and I were having a discussion about getting a pet. He was all for it and I was actually trying to talk him out of it. I mentioned how expensive pets are and how they tie you down a bit more. Despite all of this talk, Nolan still seemed convinced we should get a dog (I surmise it might have something to do with biding himself some time before we delve into having a kid… this would be practice, if you will). Previously, we had perused the internet in search of a cute dog, but nothing quite ticked off everything on our checklist. We even took a trip to Pawmetto Lifeline (a local shelter) to check out the dogs available for adoption. Still, none of them tugged at our heartstrings.

Naturally, the day after trying to convince Nolan we didn’t need a dog, I searched for one and found the perfect one while browsing the internet. He was small (something we both wanted), he was a puppy (something that was a must for Nolan), he was a breed that doesn’t tend to shed much (something that I desperately wanted… I didn’t want to have pet hair all over me constantly), and his little face stole our hearts immediately. The little guy was located in North Augusta, which is a quick hour trip from our home. There was not one thing about him that either of us had reservations about. So, I quickly e-mailed the rescue organization that had him to make sure he was still available and we rushed our application through. We initially saw him online on Wednesday and were set to meet the little guy three days later on Saturday.

Nolan and I had some long talks about what would be deciding factors on whether or not we adopt the puppy. I was proud of us because it seemed like we were thinking of all possible factors and questions and were taking the process extremely seriously… after all a dog it a lifetime commitment. As we drove to North Augusta on that Saturday, I know both of us had silly grins on our faces. I can’t speak for Nolan, but I definitely had some butterflies in my stomach, too. I would almost equate it to going on a date for the first time. Questions fluttered through my head:  “Is he going to like us?” “Will we like him?” “Is he going to be everything we thought he would be?”

We arrived at our destination to meet this little puppy that may or may not become part of our family. The lady who had him is a foster mother to a ton of dogs (that’s not even an exaggeration; she had at least 15 dogs that came running out of the house when we got there). As the dogs ran out, I kept looking for the beloved puppy and the smallest dog that came running out wasn’t quite what we had in mind… I was concerned. Then the lady walked out and asked which puppy we came to see and she went back inside to get him. As she walked out the door with him in her arms, Nolan and I were immediately in love. He was so tiny and he almost looked like a stuffed animal. He is exactly what we have been wanting. We tried to contain our excitement and ask questions about him and his care (you know, so we could seem like responsible pet parents); but, inside, we both knew he was meant to be ours without any further questions.

The only problem was our vacation that is coming up. I had already cleared it with the lady fostering him and she agreed to keep him for 3 weeks until we got back from vacation since it would be better to have consistency for him rather than uproot him for 2 weeks and then have to uproot him while we are on vacation as well. So, we went through with the adoption and went on our way, leaving our sweet puppy behind. That night, Nolan and I were lying in bed and both agreed that it broke our hearts to not have our puppy with us. I think Nolan’s parents (who were in town) could tell that we desperately wanted to bring the puppy home, because they so graciously offered to fix our vacation issue. They offered to house/dog sit while we are on vacation! What a blessing! So, the day after we adopted him, we drove back to North Augusta to pick up our precious pup.

We were ecstatic and our puppy seemed excited to be with us. Now, I don’t know if it’s because he hasn’t been in a car much or if the excitement of the day got to him; but, when our journey home was almost complete, he threw up down the front of my dress… and threw up on me again as we pulled into our driveway. It’s funny because that sort of thing would have completely grossed me out before but I took it so graciously and even told him that I couldn’t be mad at him for it.

Since we weren’t prepared to bring a puppy home that weekend, we had to rush around to get the appropriate accoutrement and quickly began our search for the perfect name! After much discussion and many suggestions, we settled on the name Fletcher. It is the perfect name for our perfect little dog.

We have had him for just over a week, and we are already enamored. We decided even before we got a dog that one would never sleep in the bed with us, so we have been crating him at night. I was very skeptical of this process since I had gone through it with Winston and it lasted for only a night or two. But, I am elated to say that little Fletcher has slept great in his crate. He might whimper for a minute or two and then he’s out like a light! Our next big thing is to get him to potty where he is supposed to and not all over our floors. But, he’s a puppy so we just have to be consistent with him.

So far, I can tell you that Fletcher LOVES attention and affection. He also loves chewing on things… especially things he isn’t supposed to chew on (we’re working on that). He loves playing with my brother’s dogs and he loves playing with Winston (my mom’s dog… although the feeling isn’t quite mutual). He’s an energetic little fellow which I’ll admit I’m quite envious of.

It’s a great feeling to walk into a room and see him run toward you with such excitement! Although I’ve never had a child of the human variety, I can’t help but notice how much having a puppy seems to be like having a child. You have a love for them that you can’t explain and you can’t say “no” to their cute little faces (if only that would work for me with Nolan… haha). Having another living being relying on you to survive is quite a task, but I’m so glad that Nolan and I have entered this wonderful adventure together. We have found ourselves just sitting on the couch watching Fletcher play or sleep and it’s better than any television program we could dream of watching. Go ahead and make fun of us if you want, but when you stare into Fletcher’s little puppy eyes I think you’ll understand how and why we’ve turned to mush over him!

Can't Get The Picture...

The Facts

We inherited a camera. It malfunctioned. 

His Side

I like photography. I have a Canon T3i Rebel and it’s nice. The Canon 40D is nicer, though. We inherited one and I still haven’t really taken the time to figure it all out because I got used to the Rebel and became complacent. I plan to figure out how to use the 40D a little better, though. I would have started on that quest already but, when we pulled it out the other day to take a picture for this blog, it wouldn’t work. A mysterious message popped up telling us to format the memory card (there’s a fancy name for it, but it’s really just a memory card). When we obeyed the camera’s command and tried to format the card, it wouldn’t let us. We were getting mixed messages from a machine and it wasn’t fun.

We figured it had to be a problem with the card so we bought a new card. It didn’t work. The same mixed messages had us stumped because it was a brand new card! Kristi was very upset over this. Not just because our camera was broken but because of the camera that it is. Her dad was an avid amateur photographer but had some professional quality work. He was good. And this particular camera was something we inherited from him. When we called Canon, they said one option is to trade in our broken camera for a discounted, newer version, but Kristi’s dad didn’t shoot on a newer version. He shot on this exact camera. You can’t put a price on sentimental value.

My initial thought was to go to some of my colleagues to ask them because I know some cinematographers that have shot on everything from RED (very high end digital video camera) to Canon DSLRs (like the 40D). I figured that if anyone could help us, they could. Because of the sentimental value of the camera, though, we wanted the professionals to handle the problem… so we went straight to the source:  Canon. To fix our issue, we had to ship them the camera, they would send us an estimate, we would approve the estimate, they would fix the problem, then ship it back to us (and we were told they would pay the shipping back to us). 

Kristi was wary about shipping the camera but I told her there is nothing to worry about because FedEx does this for a living and they wouldn’t be in business if they continuously broke things or lost them in shipping. So, we packaged it up and sent it out. It arrived there right when we expected it to and everything was fine… just like I said. The estimate wasn’t even as bad as we thought it would be (though they are charging us for shipping). It turns out there was a bent pin in the car reader slot. I jokingly asked if we could just get some pliers and fix it ourselves, but that’s not a good idea.

So they are supposedly fixing it as we speak and we should get it back well before we leave for Idaho. Which is good because we will certainly be taking some pictures out there!

Her Side

Things break. That’s a fact of life. Sometimes they can’t be repaired and sometimes the object that broke didn’t mean much to you. Other times, the object has so much sentimental value that not only is the object broken, but you are broken as well. Normally I try to have a positive outlook on things when something goes awry. This time, that wasn’t so easy.

My dad had a huge passion for photography. He did it as a hobby and almost anything could turn into a photo shoot for him. With the hobby came some nice equipment. Before my dad passed away, he decided that he wanted to keep the camera equipment in the family and split it up among myself and my two brothers. So, that’s just what we did. I’ve always wanted to get more into photography, and to have a camera that was my dad’s is very special to me. I have used it on several occasions to take photos here and there. I recently pulled the camera out to take some photos for our blog and discovered that it wasn’t working. Since Nolan and I don’t know the workings of these complicated cameras, I asked my brother what he thought the problem might be. We settled on purchasing a new Compact Flash card for the camera in hopes that the one I had was just faulty. So, Nolan and I purchased one off of Amazon and I eagerly awaited its arrival. Sadly, its arrival was quite anticlimactic as that didn’t fix our problem. All I could think is how irresponsible I must have been to somehow break a camera that was so precious to my dad and that was now in my care. As I tend to do, I overanalyzed the situation and figured that the problem must have come from when Nolan and I took pictures during the recent snowfall in Columbia. Could some itsy-bitsy, teeny-tiny snowflake have caused this damage? Was I not careful enough to clean the moisture off of the camera before I stored it away?

Once I realized that there was nothing that Nolan or I or anyone else close to us could do to fix the camera, I BROKE down. Crying over a camera may seem silly, but that’s just what I did. I cried and wished the camera back to working condition. Neither tears nor wishing would fix it, I know… but it’s all I could bear to do. We eventually called the camera company to see what could be done and they retorted with “Oh, just ship it to us and we will check it out!”  Normally those would be fantastic words to hear, but I couldn’t imagine shipping THIS camera to someone I don’t know, who doesn’t know the history behind it, who doesn’t appreciate what it means to me. What happens if it gets damaged in the mail, or worse… LOST? My mom and husband eventually talked sense into me and convinced me that the only way to get this camera working was to send it away. So, that’s what we did and think I’ll be anxious up until the moment it arrives back in my arms.

Sometimes you don’t realize just how important a material item is to you until you teeter on the edge of losing it. Just because something is physically with you doesn’t mean everything is good on the inside. So, take the time to check up on it once in a while. Appearances aren’t always what they seem. (Oh yea, and this applies to the people around you too!)

Maybe We Shouldn't Talk About It...

The Facts

The first and second rules are to not talk about it. We’re going to talk about it.

His Side

If you ask me what my favorite movie is, I cannot answer. It’s too hard to select just one. I can, however, give you a list of some of my favorites. And, as of now, I’d say I could give you a top 3 (It’s quickly getting to where I can’t even do that anymore). But, for now, my top three would be as follows (in no particular order):  “The Departed” (amazing cast, supremely quotable, funny, dramatic, action-packed), “Dumb and Dumber” (one of the best, most underrated comedies of all time and I can quote the whole thing), and “Fight Club”. I am well aware of the rules as listed in the movie, but I’m going to talk about it anyway.

Since “Fight Club” is one of my all time favorite films, Kristi wanted to indulge me and watch it. It’s longer than she might like, but she knows how much it means to me. So, she sat down to watch it with me. Somehow, through all the years since 1999 (when the film was released) and despite the popularity of the film, she had never heard any spoilers in reference to the big twist at the end. That is amazing to me. So, I was excited for her because there is nothing quite like the first time you watch “Fight Club” and that twist hits you full on. I found out, though, it may be a bit ruined for some people now because everyone has heard there is a big twist. Even if you don’t know what the twist is, expecting a twist makes it less effective than if you don’t have any expectations. I had a great first time because I didn’t have any expectations at all. I didn’t know there was going to be some kind of twist or anything so I was BLOWN AWAY when it hit. 

Apart from having one of the best executed twists in film history ("The Sixth Sense” is up there, too), it is also simply a great film on so many other levels. From the epic journey through the inner workings of the human body shown in the opening credits (provided by some great graphic artists and David Fincher’s vision), it draws you in and sets you up for a visceral, in-your-face experience. The acting is superb as well. Edward Norton nails it. Nobody can do the perfectly monotone, sarcastically witty, bleak and glum voiceovers like him. These voiceovers so perfectly capture the mood of the film and the protagonist’s outlook. Then, of course, there’s Brad Pitt’s portrayal of mayhem incarnate, Tyler Durden. He is electric in this performance. Did you know he’s only won one Oscar… AS A PRODUCER?! He’s never won an Oscar for his acting. I’m not the biggest fan of his, but the scene in “Fight Club” where he tries to convince the owner of the bar to let them continue to have their fight club in the basement… it’s stellar.

The best thing about the film is that you pick up on something new every time you watch it. That’s what I look for in a movie that might be a contender to make it on my “top films of all time” list. If I could watch the movie every day and still enjoy it on the 100th day as much as I did on the 1st day… that’s a contender. I would put “Fight Club” up as one of the best movies of all time and I would back it up to anyone who contested it. It’s not on the American Film Institute’s top 100 but it is number 10 (as rated by IMDB users) out of all the movies on IMDB. So yea… it’s pretty great.

It means a lot to me that Kristi was willing to not concern herself with run-time of the film and watch “Fight Club” with me because I like it so much. I’m going to have to talk with her about her time limit she’s imposed on movies, though, because movies are getting longer and, let’s face it, no movie worth watching is an hour and a half or shorter. “Buried” is close at 95 minutes and it’s great. You probably hadn’t heard of that film until now but, find it and see it. You’ll thank me. 

I’m also very glad that Kristi enjoyed the “Fight Club”. It’s always a treat for me when I successfully select a movie that she enjoys. The more I pick that she enjoys, the more willing she will be to have movie nights with me. So it’s a touch selfish, I guess.

Her Side

I recently did something that I’ve never considered doing before. In my book, it should be considered illegal… so I guess that makes me a law breaker of my own rules. I willingly sat down and watched a movie that exceeded the strict time limit I’ve imposed on movie watching experiences. I watched the 2 hour and 19 minute long (not that I was counting) thriller known as “Fight Club”. This is a movie that my husband has wanted me to watch with him from day one since it’s on his list of all-time favorites.

Let the record show that I suggested we have a movie night… he was shocked at my suggestion but quickly took me up on the offer before I came to my senses and snapped out of whatever trance I must have been under (which is clearly the only reason I would suggest such a thing, right?). I also feel the need to point out that I didn’t moan, groan, or hesitate when he suggested we watch “Fight Club”. I knew it far surpassed my time limit… why else would I be putting it off for so long?

The movie was nothing like what I expected, although I’m honestly not quite sure what I expected… but it certainly wasn’t what I saw. I didn’t hate the movie and might actually say I liked it. Although, by the end of the movie I was getting a bit restless as was indicated by the constant movement of my legs and shifting back and forth on the couch.

This experience was all about filling up my hubby’s love bank. I stepped outside of my comfort zone and did something with Nolan that is such a huge part of his life and is a true passion of his. I like making him happy, what can I say?

With that said, I’m still in shock that I actually sat through a movie that long… willingly. I think I need to go lie down and re-evaluate my life.

I’m kidding. Sort of.

It's Gettin' Hot In Here...

The Facts

It’s hot. Our air conditioner broke.

His Side

It gets hot in Columbia. It always seems to be 10 degrees hotter here than anywhere else in South Carolina. I’m not sure why it is, but it’s a fact. With that being said, air conditioning is very important. And it’s also something we take for granted. I’m not sure what people did when they just had those little window units that jut out from the side of your place… that had to be awful. But there’s nothing like a reality check of having something you take for granted suddenly fail. 

Our air conditioner had been working overtime. Kristi really likes it cold in the house when we sleep, so we would jack the temperature down at night. Sometimes, though, we’d forget to set it back to a reasonable temperature while we were gone to work. This is evidenced by our latest energy bill (it’s ugly). Whether or not the over use of it broke it or not, it broke and it was not fun at all. We got someone to come look at it in hopes that they could fix it that day because we had already been one night without air and we didn’t want to relive that.

He figured out that the blower wheel was broken and he could easily replace it… if he had a part. Apparently our system isn’t a common system that they use so the part was tough to find. They found one but couldn’t get it until the following day. He promised it would be in and they’d be able to install it after lunchtime the next day. That was fine. He said he would call me once he “had the part in his hand” so that he could set up a time to install it.

The next day, at work, I was pretty busy. So, I didn’t really realize that it was approaching two o’clock and I had not received a call because he apparently didn’t have the part in his hand. Kristi texted me, asking if he had called… that’s when I started to wonder if we were actually going to get our unit fixed that day. So she called them and they had the part. That eased our minds but I’m wondering what they were waiting for on calling us…

I wasn’t there when the guy came to install the part, I just know that I came home to a nicely air conditioned house. That was nice. I learned, though, that the guy was under the house for barely an hour and the bill was quite a bit more expensive than I thought it should be since WE ARE UNDER WARRANTY. Apparently the warranty only covers parts but it costs just south of 100 dollars for them to come out just to look at the system. Then it costs labor fees… I wish I made a quarter as much per hour as these guys. Maybe I’m in the wrong business.

The interesting part about not having air conditioning for a couple of days is that it makes 70 feel cold even though we would sometimes have the temperature at 67 or lower at night. So, now, we don’t run the system as hard and we make sure to keep the temperature manageable when we’re at work. That’s really more because of the high energy bill, though, not the broken air conditioner fiasco. 

Her Side

When it rains, it pours at our house (figuratively speaking of course). After recently going through a side yard renovation, dealing with a broken garage door, a clogged sewer line, and a leaking tire, I thought we were in the clear. I mean, what else could go wrong? Clearly that’s never a question to even think, because it’s almost like a challenge to the universe that came to us in the way of our air conditioner.

It’s Memorial Day weekend and we have been relaxing and enjoying our time together in the hot and humid state of South Carolina. All of the sudden, I begin to notice a noise coming from the air vents that isn’t normal and, quite honestly, I hoped would go away. My initial method of turning the TV up in an effort to drown out the noise leaking from the vents didn’t quite work out how I envisioned. The noise took that as a challenge and got louder and more menacing. Begrudgingly, we decided that something needed to be done. My brother, Jonathan, was on the way over to the  house to drop off a ladder and I asked if he would just listen to the noise and see if he had any ideas of what was going on. He graciously agreed to listen and even crawled under our house to investigate further. Upon inspection, he said the awful noise was coming from the blower (I didn’t even know the air conditioner such a part). So, we shut the air conditioner off in the hopes that it just needed to rest a little bit… after all it was doing some pretty hard work in this heat. I’m sure Nolan and I had the same hope that the next time we turned it on the mysterious noise would disappear.

Well, it didn’t really happen that way at all. The noise was even worse and, this time, it was to the point where we knew the air conditioner could not run unless we wanted to chance completely ruining it, and trust me… that’s not something we wanted to do. We called to make an appointment to have it looked at and, since it was Memorial Day, they couldn’t come out until the next day (unless we wanted to pay an outrageous “holiday” price).

Night one of no air conditioner was not fun. I like it COLD in the house when I am attempting to sleep and the 5 fans I had going just didn’t offer that same feeling (okay, so that’s a slight exaggeration… I ONLY had 3 fans). The gentleman who was to look at our air conditioner showed up and quickly came to the conclusion that our blower was broken. So, he called around to find a replacement part and, just as luck would have it, there was none to be found that day. He promised it would be in the following day, so that meant another night of warmth was on the horizon. I was less than thrilled, but we added another fan to the mix… this time it was for Nolan’s benefit since I was hogging all the others.

I’m happy to say that our air conditioner is now working wonderfully, and perhaps even better than it was before. It was painful to fork out the kind of money those people wanted to fix our air conditioner, but it was a small price to pay when it comes to our comfort. I think I can speak for both Nolan and myself when I say that I sure am glad we’ve had the forethought to plan and save money for times like this. Now, if we can just have smooth sailing on the “things going wrong” front for a while, that’d be great.