GAP's Rant

Okay, so continuing on from my last blog. (Yes, I know I said I’d do that tomorrow, which was many days ago. I have no excuses except that I’ve been busy, my house is a wreck and I didn’t feel like it.)

So my back thing was on the mend and I headed off to Portland for the ComedySportz World Championship. This is a yearly event where nearly all the groups that do ComedySportz send a team to perform in a pre-designated city. This year it was Portland, Oregon. Next year is ComedySportz’s 25th anniversary, so it will be in the city where it all started, Milwaukee.

I’d never been to Portland and I have to say I was impressed. It’s a really liveable town… very clean and very “green” (as in environmentally correct.) It’s a bit of a hippee city… a lot like San Francisco, but for fewer hills and not nearly so densely packed. My favorite part of town is the Pearl District… it used to be a bombed out industrial area and has been regentrified into a shining new neighborhood. It’s widely considered one of the best large urban renewal projects ever.

We had great weather, did tons of walking and sight-seeing, and enjoy some amazing local cuisine. And, of course, I got to immerse myself in all things ComedySportz. Our stage time consisted of a Friday night match vs. Chapel Hill, which was a BLAST.

Once we got back home, our addition AND change-over of our heating system finally kicked into gear. We’ve since signed with a contractor for the new bathroom and gotten underway… and that brings us up to the present.

Well, sort of. Let’s talk heating system first.

Earlier this year, we decided to take the plunge and replace our smelly, inefficient old oil furnace. When heating oil hit $4.69/gallon and our monthly heat bill was over $350 (on a relatively warm month), we both knew it was time.

We opted to switch to propane, since natural gas isn’t available (unless, of course, we want to spring $8000 to bring a line in from up the street. Even the guy at Yankee Gas recommended propane instead.) This meant having propane tanks and a line installed, and that process started in June.

Then came the snag. The City of Norwalk came to inspect everything and, lo and behold, no permit was ever pulled for our shed. Great. This means we need to have the shed “legalized” before they’ll sign off on the propane line… not a real problem since I have to get permits pulled for the addition anyway. It just brought everything to a screeching halt.

So, for all of July and most of August, our backyard had a three-foot deep trench running through with an exposed gas line at the bottom. It was majorly unsightly, but there wasn’t a lot we could do about it. Once we got the permits in place, the company that did our central air conditioning took over and began installing the new, propane-fueled boiler/tankless hot water heater combo.

These devices are COOL. They’re wall mounted and the size of a large cabinet. They’re silent (compared to the roar of our old behemoth), odorless (also compared to the stankly thing that crowded our utility room) and heat the house and hot water about 8 billion times more efficiently. I’m honestly looking forward to seeing what our fuel bill is gonna be like. Even if the system was as efficient with a gallon of propane as the old one was with a gallon of oil, our bill will drop substantially… propane’s only $2.59/gallon.

However, getting this thing install was a bit of a nightmare. It took a solid week… during which time we had no hot water. This meant Bill and I were up early every morning to schlep to where I work and use the showers in the company gym. In all, it wasn’t really so bad… but I have to admit, I was glad to get my shower back.

Since then, I’ve fallen in love with this system. The old furnace would roar to life once every 15 minutes of so to keep our old hat water tank full of hot water… the new system heats water on demand and makes NO NOISE. None. Which is really great, because the old furnace was near our TV, and trying to hear over it meant the volume on the tube would have to go up… then down when the furnace stopped… then up… then down…

On the same day that the furnace guys came, the carpenters also started on the addition… and that little odyssey will be recapped in my next blog. But if you want a sneak peak go to:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=149605&l=9a708&id=904650620

Tschuss for now!