Yesterday it was warm enough for us to turn on the downstairs AC unit so I flipped it on before heading into the garage to finish up a piece. I was in there maybe ten minutes, and when I came back into the house the unit had shut off and the downstairs thermostat was flashing an -AC error.

I informed the Brit who immediately did some research and found out that -AC meant the power had been shut off at the control panel up in the attic, most likely because the float valve (which senses the amount of water in the drip pan under the condenser) had triggered, or a fuse had blown. He went up there today and lo, the drip pan was completely full of water. Since we don’t have the equipment to blow out the drainage system he tried scooping it all out and we let the pan dry out, at which point the thermostat started working again. So we switched the A/C back on. Three minutes later it cut out again with the -AC code.

On one hand, this means we have to call our HVAC company out on Monday to come blow out the drainage system and get it working again, and we really, really didn’t need a major repair bill right now. On the other hand, at least we know what’s wrong and the outside unit is still functional, which is a relief because we were told we’d need to replace it sometime this year. Hopefully the drainage thing won’t be too terribly expensive.

In the meantime we’re letting the cool air drift down from upstairs to cool off the downstairs. It’s a bit stuffy down here, but the weather’s only in the mid-80’s at the moment so it’s liveable. I grew up in Chicago during summers like this with only a window AC unit in the living room—if I could deal with it then, I can deal with it now.

So I got my second bivalent COVID booster yesterday, and today WHO announces that COVID is no longer a public health emergency of international concern (basically because it’s now an established and ongoing health issue like the flu). I’m sure this is so reassuring to everyone with Long COVID and the immunocompromised who still have to worry about catching it.

I’m fine, by the way—my arm is sore and I’m a little hot and achy, but that was my reaction to all of my previous boosters so this is expected. And people are still wearing masks even in this reddest of red counties in Texas so there is still clearly concern about catching it. At least the pandemic made mask wearing normal so people … well, I was going to say that they don’t catch flak about their masks but I’m sure that in some parts of the good old US of A they still get called names for wanting to protect themselves.

I freely admit I stopped wearing masks back in November when we went to Arkansas to visit my aunt. We traveled from Texas to Arkansas, had dinner in multiple restaurants and went out to a bunch of stores, and we never caught it (or if we did the RATs didn’t pick it up). But I’m not running the same kind of risk that someone who is immunocompromised or elderly is, and if I go on a plane or to the doctor’s office I still wear a mask. And if someone does ask me to put on a mask I always have one in my purse and will respect their wishes.

Long story short, I feel better than I got my booster, but I’m not sure that the WHO’s move was the best one.

And also with you. Yeah, I know, but I can’t help it.

In other news I just got back from Walgreens with a booster dose of the Moderna bivalent vaccine in my arm, so let’s see if I develop some cool superpowers THIS time. I mean, really, is it too much to ask for teleportation or the ability to fly?

I also think that I’m going to hire an appraiser to come appraise our house so that we can submit a protest for our property tax rate hike. At first I thought, “Eh, just let it ride,” until I found out that the tax is set by computers measuring comparative prices for houses in our neighborhood. A human can do a walkthrough and say, “Oh, hell no, this place isn’t worth that much.” And it’s worth the upfront fee to get that sorted. Also, apparently the state tax office legally has to accept the appraisal from a state-certified appraiser as the basis for our property tax. It’s worth the fee, as far as I’m concerned.

I bet you thought our cable saga was over? Oh, no—there’s more.

Yesterday we got an emailed change order from the ISP confirming the time the tech was supposed to get here to install the new modem … and it turned out the rep told me a wee porkie over the phone. She offered me an internet bundle with a phone line for $140. I said we didn’t need a phone line—she said, “Oh, it’s free for a year.” By that point I had been on the line for 75 minutes and was tired so I said fine, we’ll take it.

Until I saw the change order. Yeah, no. According to the change order this “free” phone line is $19.99 a month, and that’s a promotional price that goes up after a year. So I went back to the ISP storefront to talk to the folks who handled the cable equipment (steam may have been coming out of my ears). I knew they had nothing to do with this so I wasn’t going to get mad at them, just the company.

Turns out they were confused as well while checking my equipment back in because they knew all I wanted was internet, no additional phone line. Also, apparently the phone reps are known for this kind of crap and that I am to come directly into the office if we have any more problems (it didn’t hurt that the manager I was speaking with was named Fletcher and his family came over on the Mayflower so it’s quite possible that he and Lyndon are related. When he found out what I’d been quoted for just the internet he said, “Uh, no. We can do better than that”).

Long story short: the new billing cycle had already started and they don’t prorate so we’re locked into the stupidly high cost for one more month, but after confirming that 1) we already had a wifi modem, and 2) I was married to a telecoms engineer who could install a modem on his own, they blew away the rep’s service change, handed me a modem, and set up a new service change with no additional equipment charges and no tech visit. Total price should be $89/month, which is about a third of what we’re paying now.

Oh, and after Lyndon installed the modem our download speed is now 280 mbps, up from 80 mbps. Muuuuch better. And yes, I know other people have 1 gbps down but we don’t download movies or do anything that needs that kind of bandwidth. Frankly, the 280 mbps makes us perfectly happy.

I spent 75 minutes on the phone today trying to get the cable portion of our cable/internet bundle cancelled because 1) we just don’t watch it any more and 2) they tacked on an additional $40/month last year and nobody has that kind of money.

I don’t like talking on the phone at the best of times. I rely on seeing someone’s expression to know how to respond to them, and talking into a handset to a complete stranger makes me so deeply uncomfortable that I used to have to write scripts of what I was going to say when I was younger. I’ve gotten better at it over the years, but it is still not my idea of fun so you may understand why I really, really want a drink at the moment.

During my 75 minutes in retail hell I was offered various special cable packages five different times, turned them down five different times, asked why I didn’t want to accept these packages, and finally had to tell the rep, “We do not watch cable. We are not interested in popular channels. Please just cancel our cable subscription.” I know this wasn’t her fault and I did my best to be nice because I know she’s expected to try and upsell. But Jesus, Allah, and Zoroaster, that was tedious for both of us.

She then put me on hold twice, said there was something problematic with her system and she had to reach out to her tech support and could I hold? *sigh* Yes, I could hold. Apparently we were on an older system and it was very slow according to the rep. I think I wound up on hold five times as well. Granted, we’ve had this account since (I think) 2008 so I’m sure breaking up this bundle is complicated, but is it really this complicated?

Apparently it was because in the end they couldn’t separate our bundle as it was just too old. So I picked an internet service that comes with a speed upgrade and a handset that we won’t use but by that point I just wanted to scream. At least it will be about $130 less than what we’re currently paying.

However, because they have to move us to a new system and a tech needs to come out tomorrow and install the cable modem they’re charging us a fee for that. The time the tech is coming is also the one time that Lyndon has a training session tomorrow and can’t lose internet access. He’s trying to see if one of his colleagues can take it—if they can’t, I’ll tell the tech to come back later.

And I really need that drink now…

I have no idea why but I woke up anxious AF this morning, spent the day stumbling around the house like a zombie, then plumped for Braum’s for dinner because I couldn’t bring myself to cook.

At which point something clicked and I checked the weather forecast for this week. Have I mentioned that I get weather migraines? They’re not painful but they do behave like little reversible strokes where my left side becomes next to useless, I get exhausted and anxious, and I can’t really focus on anything.

According to the weather report we’re going to start getting rain Tuesday night with a possibility of severe weather on Wednesday. That explains much. I’ll hit the store tomorrow and pick up some necessities (mainly TP and dinner stuff at this point), then rack the car in the garage for Wednesday and hope for the best.

And now, if you’ll excuse me I’m gonna go to bed early and hope that my brain calms down enough for me to get some sleep.

One year ago today I was in a hospital bed recovering from total knee replacement surgery on ShitKnee. During that time I learned that I will vomit copiously if given IV opiates and Zofran is the only thing that will stop it (good to know for future surgeries), the inside of my joint looked like a bomb had gone off in there, and that the nurses, CNAs, and PTs at Medical City Frisco were incredibly professional and kind. Also, my surgeon had one hell of a good stitching technique.

Today the knee is considered to be 100% healed and I pretty much have full mobility. There is some scarring on the outer side of the knee that has nothing to do with the surgery and everything to do with 38-year-old adhesions. one of which I broke last May. That area is still a little tender but it’s getting better and better as I keep moving and wearing down the little buggers.

In the picture above, taken about this time a year ago, I have my nice grippy socks, an elastic wrap and the cooling pad of my ice machine below my brace (the black thing with the blue stitching), and a pump on both calves that squeezed them intermittently to keep blood flowing and prevent blood clots. The blue foam pillow is an instrument of torture designed to promote my knee straightening to 0°. Going to the bathroom required a nurse to unhook me from my IV, ice machine, and calf pumps, and I used a walker to get in and out of the bathroom. But I was able to do it on my own, and I astounded the physical therapist when I walked to the end of the hallway and back to my room the next day.

One thing i learned and will pass onto anyone looking at joint surgery—do prehab. These are exercises that will get your joint into the best condition possible for the surgery and they will cut down on your recovery time. I am living proof of that. And keep doing your post-surgery PT exercises. They suck, but they keep your joint mobile.

Today is also another interesting milestone in my life in that I am now officially in menopause. My last period started on 4/18/22 and ended on 4/20/22 which means I have gone a calendar year without a period and am now a Crone. Personally, I’m relieved. Perimenopause was no joke (imagine going through a second puberty, only with this one you get hot flashes, night sweats, and gum problems along with the pimples and body changes) and I’m glad to be done with all that. I just threw out some really ratty t-shirts which means there’s room in my drawers for a new one—I need to find a really good Crone t-shirt.