Well, dear readers, the culprit was the coil. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, the culprit was the coil or, conversely, the coil was the culprit. I am, of course, speaking of the air conditioner/heater unit. The A/C man arrived at eleven. He told me in advance, just like last time, that he wouldn’t be able to figure out what’s wrong if we turned it on and it wasn’t doing what it’s been doing – that was the problem last time we had the problem. So, we turned it on and happily it WAS doing what it was doing so no excuses this time. After sussing things out on the roof and in the attic, he announced that the coil was the culprit and that he’d have to order the part, which he’s done, but with no ETA for its arrival. Hopefully, it will be sooner than later. He said what it’s been doing is just recycling the air in the house. That kind of recycling we don’t need. He’ll also put in a new filter. Prior to that, I got six hours of sleep and got up just before nine, thanks to the tree people – not the actual people dealing with the tree, but the machine in front of the house that grinds all the tree parts into dust. It was – LOUD. I got up (like I had a choice), answered a lot of e-mails, got an irritating text, which I, of course, ignored. Then the A/C guy came, and you now know that the culprit was the coil. Then I decided to try a sub place that is near where Marshall Harvey lives and which has been there for decades, called Santoro’s. I ordered the Eyetalian cold cuts, of course, and while it was a bit far away, it arrived in thirty-five minutes. When one has been only having fast food versions of sub sandwiches, one forgets what a real sub sandwich looks like and tastes like. Subway, Jersey Mike’s, Firehouse and others like those chains are all fine until you get the real deal and Santoro’s is the real deal. It doesn’t come with a huge amount of meat, which is fine because I don’t know where they’d put it, although you can order with extra meat. But I found it just right – salami, capicola, and provolone with seasoned and cut up tomatoes, pickles, and onions and some olive oil. Hard to describe, so I took an actual photograph of one half of the actual sandwich.
Now THAT is a sub sandwich. I’ll give Santoro’s a rave Yelp review. I also had some potato salad that was pretty good. After that, I did some work on the computer and made some notes on song choices but haven’t assigned anything yet. I couldn’t leave the house, so I didn’t bother calling the mail place. I went and looked at the tree progress. They were supposed to be finished by three, but I could see that was never going to happen. And so, they’re coming back today to finish, which means another early morning for me. Damn them, damn them all to HELL. Then I had an update via telephonic call and e-mail about one of the potential modern major miracles and it was all good and positive, although it’s all amorphous until it isn’t. I’ll need a couple of modern major miracles sooner than later. Then I watched some YouTube videos. I’ve been having fun watching house and apartment tours of houses and apartments for sale or rent in Las Vegas. You can really rent some great houses there – big, spacious houses – for half of what I pay here. I’m talkin’ three to four bedrooms, dining rooms, big kitchens and big bedrooms. The only downside I can see is that you’d have to live in Las Vegas. I’m not sure I could ever do that, although it is only an hour by plane. Brent Barrett lives there and loves it. The videos are fun there. The houses for purchase are also bargains, with several nice ones under 700K. Yes, they have multi-million-dollar homes, but those are really huge mansions with five bedrooms, four car garages and 3,500 square feet of living space or more. That same house that you could get for 1.5 million in Vegas would cost 5 million in LA. The other big upside is no state sales taxes. Of course, I also watched some irritating first amendment auditor videos – or frauditors as the channels who hate them call them. There was one where the guy was beyond stupid (most of them are and most of them are ex-cons who have found a way to grift on YouTube by doing the crap they do, which is basically harass and annoy everyone until they get a confrontation, all under the guise of protecting first amendment rights – only they don’t really understand the first amendment and just lie over and over again. They don’t know the actual laws but act like they do, or they know them and lie about them and hope staff and cops don’t know them. They’re all horrible swamp creatures. I left some rather pithy comments on the stupidest guy’s channel, but almost every comment was making fun of his idiocy. I mean, how can you take anyone seriously when, in the video, they’re trying to file a false police report and say, “I had my picture tooken.” Followed by “It’s a law and you can Google the statue.” I told him I Googled the statue and all I came up with was the Venus de Milo. Of course, the idiot meant statute. I was actually really funny and several people complimented me on it. He commented at one point, that what something someone did was a felony, to which I replied, “YOU are a walking felony.” I recommend you don’t go down that particular rabbit hole because it will infuriate you to no end.
After that, I sat on my couch like so much fish and watched a sequel I’d never seen to a film I really like called The Stepfather, from 1987 – a terrific little low-budget thriller, well directed, and wonderfully acted by Terry O’Quinn as the titular character, and Shelly Hack and Jill Schoelen. It had a great screenplay by Carolyn Lefcourt, Brian Garfield, and Donald Westlake. Since Ms. Lefcourt has almost no other credits besides this one, one has to believe that Mr. Garfield (screenplay and novel for Death Wish) and Donald Westlake (one of the great mystery writers) did most of the screenplay, especially Donald Westlake who I’m quite sure supplied most of the satirical humor. It was a minor hit, but they made a sequel and it was exactly what you’d expect – the same movie over again, with Mr. O’Quinn once again starring, with Meg Foster. O’Quinn is great in it, Ms. Foster is not so great, but it’s just a retread and not nearly as good, although it’s fairly well directed. The Weinstein idiots insisted on a bit more violence, which the director refused to do and which Terry O’Quinn refused to do. So, it’s very obvious what those shots are. I started watching The Stepfather 3, a TV movie sequel, but I’m only ten minutes in and Mr. O’Quinn is nowhere to be found, which is a big liability. I may or may not finish it. The first two films, sans end credits, run about eighty-six minutes for the first one and eight-three for the second – which are perfect lengths. The third one runs an hour and forty-four minutes. Oops. And that was about it and here we are.
Today, I assume I’ll be up early due to the grinder noise. I’ll answer e-mails, do whatever needs doing, try to choose some songs, I’ll call the mail place and see what’s what and if there’s anything there, I’ll go retrieve it after the tree people have left. Hopefully, the A/C guy will come with the coil, but I really don’t know how long it will take to get it. I’ll pray for some modern major miracles, I’ll eat something fun, and then at some point I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is more of the same, some meetings and meals, and then I’m not sure what the weekend holds in store.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, probably be up early due to noise, answer e-mails, do whatever needs doing, choose some songs, call the mail place and retrieve whatever’s there IF there’s something there, hope the A/C guy comes with a coil, pray for some modern major miracles, eat, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to finally know that the culprit was the coil.