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Air conditioner woes.

It’s Murphy, has to be. When we moved into this old farm house it didn’t take long for things to start crapping out. First the water heater, I think that took like a week, then the dishwasher, eventually the furnace, the well pump, you name it we’ve replaced it.

We’ve been here 7 years.

We replaced the furnace because, well, I can’t exactly remember the reason, but I don’t remember the air conditioner being the primary reason but maybe it was. I seem to recall the furnace was actually what started it all but I could be wrong. In any event, we put in a brand spankin new Oil furnace and an over sized air conditioner because, well, we didn’t want to have to do it again for a long, long time.

We did get off somewhat cheap because our neighbor is a Sr. HVAC guy who works on very high end stuff. He also does residential stuff on the side for friends and family. Why? I really don’t know because he doesn’t charge enough.

In any event, the new system worked wonderfully for about 6 months. The first summer we replaced it, and the following winter. The next Summer we it didn’t take long before the AC went out, and it went out big, It burnt the leads right off of the compressor. The HVAC guy had never seen anything like this, and thought for sure they would replace the compressor. But they didn’t. They actually had a kit to fix it. This should have been our first clue I suppose of things to come.

Over the next year or two, we’ve struggled with things with this furnace and HVAC system. Goofy stuff too. Stuff that has just burned up, not much longer the following winter to be (or maybe the next I can’t remember) our furnace was non-responsive. We opened it up to find all the electronics. Well the controller, there really aren’t any electronics to speak of, burnt to a crisp. We were actually pretty lucky. It was all contained in the furnace.

This too was replaced and fixed under warranty but it still doesn’t work right. They don’t make this model anymore and they keep sending parts but the fan controller just doesn’t control the fan right.

Well this week the AC went out again. Sure enough, the leads to the compressor have burned up again. Nice.

This time they are replacing the entire compressor. Anyone willing to bet how long this one will last?

I used to think we had some funky electrical issues. Heck, I used to know we did. This old farm house had a very special 100 amp panel with 80am service pushed into it. But we had the service changed over recently and it’s all clean and up to code standards now. So that can’t be it.

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Big “Ben” Roethlisberger is Lucky

Big “Ben” Roethlisberger is Lucky and apparently he’d figured that out.

He was released today (actually yesterday) and he dully apologized to family, friends, fans and teammates for his stupidity.

He now has a new outlook on life. I imagine smashing your head through a windshield might do that to ya.

Go on-ya Ben. As I rode my bike home the last two days I passed by, saw or counted 17 motorcycles, only two other bikers had helmets. It makes no sense. I know these people read the news, watch TV too, yet none of them think it will ever happen to them either.

It only takes a fraction of a second.

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Big “Ben” Roethlisberger and Motorcycles

Yep, it’s big news today. The Number one quarterback in the NFL, Big Ben, smashed his face into the side of an automobile.

You might notice that I am in Cincinnati, and the category of this post is in Cincinnati sports. Let me assure you nothing I have to say has anything to do with me being a Bengals fan in any way. To wish ill of Ben would be in extremely poor taste for anyone. For any Bengals fan who thinks this is a blessing you should be embarrassed and ashamed.

Ben hails from this region. From Miami University in fact, but that also has no bearing on what I’m about to write.

I’ve been listening to the media reports all day, all the good, the bad and the ugly.

I’ve heard enough “Motorcycles are evil”

Here are the facts:

Motorcycles are dangerous (duh) so is playing football and so is driving or riding along in your car. Check this link if you don’t believe me.

As the saying goes; “You roll the dice and you take your chances.”

I’m not about to debate motorcycle vs. car death statistics, they are what they are. Yes motorcycles are more dangerous or can be. That’s a whole other post and debate and not what this is about. Fact is they are dangerous but so is life in general, and there are things you can do in any endeavor to reduce your risk. You can take precautions. With motorcycles; you can choose where and when to ride, what you ride, how you ride, and of course what you wear for protection. If you think people can’t survive motorcycle crashes. Check MotoGP and watch guys crash at 150+ mph and get up and walk away.

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Ben on the other hand is a Professional football player, an elite athlete getting paid millions of dollars. In a sport where nothing, not even the money, is guaranteed. That’s right NFL money is NOT guaranteed.

To risk that to look “Cool” not wearing a helmet is asinine. To risk all of that because it’s uncomfortable is imbecilic. To risk all of that because there isn’t a helmet law is beyond words.

Do helmets save lives? Yes they do. Do they always save lives? Nope, and neither do seat belts and air bags. (just check the link above again if you want confirmation that the world is not a safe place to live in).

Accidents happen. For Ben to be super safe and to ensure his career and limit his ‘window of risk’ he should in fact stay off motorcycles until his NFL career is over. All what 10 years of it?

But no, he wasn’t that smart. I truly, honestly hope he fully recovers and plays again at 100%, I really, really do. If he gets on that motorcycle again I hope he’s smart enough to wear a helmet. But I bet no club will touch him or renegotiate a contract with him that won’t have a no-dangerous activities clause in it which in his case will include motorcycles. Because he’s proven he can’t take care of himself.

From what I understand the accident was just that, an accident, and wasn’t even his fault. That’s usually how it goes with motorcycle accidents. So why take the chance? Why not give yourself the best chance you have?

Given the extent of his injuries as we know them today, a helmet sure as hell would have saved him a lot of pain and suffering. Would it have kept him injury free? We have no way of knowing for sure? Could it have made things worse? I don’t know. I doubt it, but anti-helmet advocates will probably argue that it would.

I would venture to guess, he’d still have his teeth, would not have broken his nose or jaw. But that’s just a guess. I have nothing other than the times I’ve slammed my head on the ground in a dirt bike helmet to gauge that on. Again, that is only my opinion, nothing more nothing less.

Ben owes his family, Pittsburgh, his fans and everyone an apology.

Helmet use does NOT need to be legislated. It regulates itself. Those too stupid to wear them do not and that’s the point.

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Draining the pool

After two weeks of having “Perfect Chemicals” and putting in clarifier, and running the filter to no avail, and still not being able to see the bottom.  We’re giving in.

The draining process has begun.   By this time tomorrow we shall see what lives beneath the murky depths (if anything).

We had to do this a couple years ago too.  Rather than chase the water for months to get the chemicals right we just dumped half of it and started over.

(It’s just easier if you ask me.).

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1st annual Ridem don’t Hidem

Wow it’s taken until June 10th before I finally got out for a decent ride.

Dad and I took of early to head to Winchester for a Vintage motorcycle “Ride-em Don’t Hide-em” get together.

The weather pretty much blew. When I got up at 6:30am it was pouring down rain here in Trenton. The weather radar didn’t look any better either but we could see that it wasn’t raining where we were going (about a hundred miles south) so we geared up and headed south.

It rained on us pretty much all the way there but when we got to Paris, KY it stopped and we had a good time in Winchester. Had Lunch with Gar, saw some neat old bikes, rode some good twisty roads, got lost, and headed back towards Cynthiana on the route that we had chosen.

About 2pm I noticed Dad’s lights weren’t working properly. He had brake lights but no turn signals or running lights. He also had no head light. We stopped to check that out. It was worse I guess than expected. Even his electric windshield wasn’t working.

It was intermittent when I was riding behind him. So we decided to call it a day and head home.

Again we hit rain about 70 miles from home.

It was still a good day. ~320 miles give or take. Hopefully Dad’s electrical issues are simple. He just had new shocks put on front and back and something’s just loose.

Zed ran pretty well but it’s still too lean at idle.

[tag]motocycle[/tag][tag]Day_trip[/tag][tag]vintage_motorcycles[/tag][tag]KY[/tag]