AC and the AC

On Monday, I posted this ↓ on fb for no reason other than I came across it and thought it was funny.

Later that day, somewhat surprisingly, it became necessary for me to call my credit card company. I thought of the cartoon quite a lot, while I was on hold for a rather long time just to make a two-minute call.

We had made the rather sudden decision to have both an air conditioner and a furnace replaced, and we had also decided to use the credit card and score the concomitant points in the process. The phone call would be simply to inform them that I would be making a very large transaction on the next day: the kind that might set off red flags had they not been alerted..

Who knows if it was the right decision, for both appliances were still working. The AC was limping along, after all, but it had been diagnosed with an irreparable problem and was living on borrowed time. (Just to clarify, I am referring to the other kind of AC and not to moi although, truth be told, I am limping along as well. Quite literally.)

We had been warned about the impending dilemma of whether to replace one or both for a couple of years already. The furnace was still holding up, but at 15 years, which is considered to be its normal lifespan, its future was highly  uncertain. Replacing both appliances now at the same time would result in some savings over having to replace them separately in the near future.

We reasoned that if it would become necessary to replace these units next year or the year after, and it likely would be, we might as well go ahead with the job and expense this year. We reasoned that whether we were to pay the piper now or in one or two years down the road would make little difference, especially considering that costs forever escalate and never decrease. 

Another consideration was to possibly avoid last-minute emergencies such as having the AC conk out in the midst of the world's worst July heat wave ever or the furnace perhaps giving up the ghost in the midst of a January deep freeze.

The final point was that we seemed to be getting a pretty good deal to do it now while the company still had some gaps before the impending summer rush.

In our mid-seventies, both units should last until we hit 90 or even beyond, and one doubts if one will live that long anyway.

We made the decision to just do it on Monday, and, by gosh and by golly, they would be here with bells on, the very next day. 

And that is why I sat on hold with the credit card company for a long while after posting that toon in the morning. Thinking of said toon, however, helped to keep me in a tolerable frame of mind whilst I was forced to sit and listen to the incessant messages that my call was important to them.