We Be Chillin'

The title, while grammatically incorrect, is a reference to 80s rap - but, I think it should be You Be Illin'? Anyway...

August 1, 2006 - a day that will live forever in the memory of the J family - the day the central AC was powered up! Get excited people - this is a MAJOR milestone for this house. Do you have any idea how nice it is not to have the window units making their horrible racket? Do you have any idea how nice it is to be able to hear the TV without having to decide between TV and AC after LJ has gone to bed? Do you have any idea how nice it is to be able to sit on the back porch in the afternoon and not feel as though the sun in boring through your skin? Do you have any idea how nice it is to be able to turn on the oven and not think about how many degrees this is going to set you back? Do you???

It was a long road and a tough one to travel. It turns out there is a lot more to installing central AC then I ever imagined. There is a lot of electrical work that has to be done. City Code says that there has to be all kinds of things that we didn't have, receptacles in the attic, lights in the attic, drains from this to that, etc. There are all kinds of calculations to be performed, checked, and rechecked before you go ahead and drill holes in your ceiling and in the side of your house. Never mind that the HVAC industry seems to be operating in the Stone Age (I noticed this and RJ informed me just how un-21st century the industry is)...for example, you use tape to secure the ducts to the vents. Tape! The same technology I use to wrap Christmas presents (ok, ok...that RJ uses to wrap Christmas presents) is the technology used to hold this whole AC system together. Granted, it is advanced tape, but it is still tape. Oh, and you think you are buying the AC unit and that is all you need - ha! If you think that, you are a rookie (as was I). Sure, you need vents and ducts you say. True, but you also have to construct many many many boxes out of fiber glass board-like stuff and you have to TAPE all these boxes together and make all kinds of things poke out of these boxes. Make boxes? Crazy, if you ask me.

But, you know what the most amazing part of this whole process has been...how unbelievable smart and capable RJ really is. He did it all - with help from his brothers and his father - and he knew how to do it. There is some serious electrical and plumbing work involved...RJ figured out what he had to do and then knew how to do it. Then, there is the whole HVAC component - RJ knew how to do it. He and his brothers would talk about this, that, and the other - and I'd be so impressed at how much they know about something that is not their occupation...not even close to their occupation. It is just so amazing how much LJ's father knows - I hope that LJ will take an interest in learning from his father.

Next order of business - take the window units out of the windows and look at a view we've not seen!