#TMP

TMP — Finger Pointing

Fandango16 Comments

Every Monday, Paula Light, with her The Monday Peeve prompt, gives us an opportunity to vent or rant about something that pisses us off.

It really pisses me off when I’m dealing with two contractors and something goes wrong. Instead of working together to fix the problem, they end up pointing the finger at each other.

Fact 1: We have a whole house generator (because there are frequent power outages where I live) and we have a service agreement with a company to maintain the generator and to fix it if something goes wrong.

Fact 2: At the beginning of this month we replaced our old, inefficient central air conditioning unit and gas furnace with a new, state of the art heat pump for heating and cooling.

Fact 3: Whenever our power goes out, our generator automatically kicks on, which then automatically gets all of our lights, electric appliances, and internet WiFi up and running within 30 seconds. It also gets our furnace and/or air conditioner going as well.

Fact 4: The heat pump sales guy assured me when we closed the deal that the HVAC installer could configure it to kick in with the generator.

Fact 5: Last week, due to very high winds and heavy rains, which caused downed trees and power lines, we had two lengthy power outages. The generator kicked on, all lights, electric appliances, and internet WiFi came back on within 30 seconds. But the heat pump did not!

Fact 6: I called the heat pump sales guy. He contacted the HVAC installation manager, who told the sales guy, “The system, it seems, has to get wired in a certain way. We’ve never really installed any HVAC systems to any type of generators before. Tell the homeowner (me) to reach out to the company that installed the generator and have them take a closer look at it.”

Fact 7: I called the generator people and am waiting for them to get back to me.

So let the finger pointing begin. And I’m stuck in the middle! 😡

And so ends my peeve for today.

TMP — Lopsided

Fandango33 Comments

Every Monday, Paula Light, with her The Monday Peeve prompt, gives us an opportunity to vent or rant about something that pisses us off.

Maybe it’s my imagination, but now that my 50% weight restriction on my left leg due to partial hip replacement surgery has been lifted, I feel like that leg is slightly shorter than my right leg.

Maybe it’s because of that weight restriction, some of my leg muscles have atrophied a little and need to be built back up. Or maybe some ligaments have tightened up and need to be stretched out. Whatever it is, I hope that physical therapy will take care of it. Because I don’t want to end up with a limp for the rest of my life because one leg is now shorter than the other!

And so ends my peeve for today.

TMP — Cold Days Ahead

Fandango25 Comments

Every Monday, Paula Light, with her The Monday Peeve prompt, gives us an opportunity to vent or rant about something that pisses us off.

I’ve been struggling with high gas and electric bills since I moved into my house three years ago. A large portion of those bills goes for heating our home in the winter and cooling it in the summer. Our current traditional air conditioning unit and gas furnace is about ten years old, and by today’s standards is not very efficient. It struggles to keep our home toasty in the winter and cool in the summer. And twice last summer, during some 100+ degree heat waves, our air conditioning unit crapped out on us, requiring an expensive emergency service call and parts replacements.

So rather than continuing to deal with an old, inefficient, prone to failure HVAC system, I decided to upgrade to a highly efficient, all electric heat pump system. Installation is scheduled to start tomorrow and to take three days, maybe four if the installation crew runs into any unanticipated problems.

That, however, is not my peeve. My peeve is that first thing tomorrow, the installation crew will be removing my gas furnace. Thus, it probably won’t be until Thursday, at best, before our newly installed heat pump will start keeping our house warm. Hence, we will have no heat in our home for the next three to four days. And here’s our local forecast for that period:

We are going to be freezing our asses off with no heat once they turn off the gas and remove our furnace. Brrr.

I ordered two electric space heaters from Amazon that should be delivered today. One for the family room and the other for our bedroom. But how well will two space heaters keep us warm until our new heat pump starts warming our home?

So, in addition to living in the chaos of a construction zone for the next three to four days, we’ll also be experiencing what it’s like to live inside a refrigerator. I’m expecting frostbite on my fingers and toes.

Okay, I’m done with this peeve. Hopefully, for Paula’s TGIF on Friday, I’ll be able to post about how my home is nice and toasty again.

TMP — Christian Nationalism

Fandango30 Comments

Every Monday, Paula Light, with her The Monday Peeve prompt, gives us an opportunity to vent or rant about something that pisses us off. I know it’s Tuesday, but Paula has specifically stated that our response doesn’t have to be on a Monday.

Today’s peeve will likely prove to be very controversial. But I’m ready for any slings and arrows this post might generate. Because my peeve today is about the Christian Nationalism movement in America.

In case you are not familiar with the Christian Nationalism movement, let me tell you about it. It has very deep roots. It’s a worldview that has been with America since the founding of the country. It’s the notion that America was destined to be a promised land for European Christians. While most Americans today embrace pluralism and reject this anti-democratic claim, majorities of white evangelical Protestants and Republicans remain animated by this vision of a white Christian America.

The basic tenants of Christian Nationalism are:

  • The U.S. government should declare America a Christian nation.
  • U.S. laws should be based on Christian values.
  • If the U.S. moves away from our Christian foundations, we will not have a country anymore.
  • Being Christian is an important part of being truly American.
  • God has called Christians to exercise dominion over all areas of American society.

Sounds pretty extreme, doesn’t it? Do people seriously feel this way? But, according to a Public Religion Research Institute/Brookings Institution survey published last week, nearly two-thirds of white evangelical Protestants either adhere to or are sympathetic to these Christian Nationalists tenants and more than half of all Republicans “harbor a set of extreme beliefs at odds with pluralistic democracy.” And nearly six in ten QAnon believers are also either Christian Nationalism adherents or sympathizers. It seems that Christian Nationalism, a troubling anti-American movement, has now become a major force within the GOP.

The survey asked participants whether they agreed with the statements I listed above, such as “Being Christian is an important part of being truly American” and “God has called Christians to exercise dominion over all areas of American society.” More than half of Republicans responding to the survey either mostly or completely agreed. Worse, seven out of 10 Christian Nationalists agreed with the “great replacement” theory — the belief that immigrants are “invading our country and replacing our cultural and ethnic background.”

Half of the Republicans surveyed agreed that we need a leader “who is willing to break some rules” in order to “set things right,” and 40 percent said that “true patriots” may have to resort to violence.

The promise of America is that it’s a nation where people can come together as equals, where our different views and perspectives can be accepted and do not cause arguments or violence, where we can recognize that, while we are not all the same, we should embrace our differences and bring them together. In America today, there have been many debates on what it means to be American. To be American is to be free to be yourself regardless of your race, religion, ethnicity, gender, or background.

Christian Nationalism is unAmerican. Period. Understand, I’m not saying that Christianity is unAmerican, but the belief that the only way to be a good American is to be a Christian Nationalist most certainly is.

Okay, I’m done with this peeve.

TMP — Activities of Daily Living

Fandango35 Comments

Every Monday, Paula Light, with her The Monday Peeve prompt, gives us an opportunity to vent or rant about something that pisses us off.

Okay, maybe I should be grateful that, after having fallen off of a ladder and fracturing my hip, I can still do these things at all. No, check that, I am very grateful that I can still do these things at all. It could have been worse. But that doesn’t mean I can’t grouse about it, does it?

What am I talking about? I’m talking about activities of daily living. Things that those of us who are able-bodied take completely for granted. Things like hopping out of bed in the morning and jumping into bed at night. Like getting dressed and undressed. Like going to the bathroom, taking a shower, grooming. Like walking.

Yes, I can still do these things, but not without a bit of a struggle. Most of these activities take me anywhere from five to ten times longer than they did in the before days (before I broke my hip). Getting dressed is an ordeal. I have to use tools, like a grabber, a hook, a device to put socks on. I have to use a leg lifter to get my leg up on the bed at night.

Sure, I could ask my wife to help me out, but my occupational therapists says it’s important that I learn how to use these aids and do it by myself.

And even sitting down or getting up from a chair takes concentration. I’ve got a 50% weight bearing limitation on my left leg, so I need to focus on what I’m doing so that I don’t inadvertently put too much weight on that leg. Even walking using a walker requires concentration so that I don’t take a misstep.

And then there are the half a dozen or so home exercises the physical therapist has me doing: three sets of 10 repetitions for each exercise three times each day. It’s all so fucking exhausting!

Okay, I’m done with this peeve.