I'm a little concerned about supply chain issues getting worse.

 

Several months ago, I mentioned that it took forever for me to get this replacement head unit for my air conditioner. Supply chain issues prevented it from being manufactured and delivered in a timely manner. Today, I watched a video that makes me think that this incident may just be the tip of an iceberg...

One of the things I've noticed when I went to the beach with FH last years was the presence of cargo ships sitting outside New York harbor.  They had yet to cross under the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge and enter the Ports of NY/NJ for unloading. Today's video came from someone who seemed to be a survivalist by nature, but had a valuable insight to what's happening on the West Coast.  His most salient point in the video had nothing directly to do with the problems with world shipping.  Instead, it had to do with the Russia-Ukraine war.  Even though Russia is not well integrated into the Western economies, we lose a lot by cutting off trade with Russia, and he focused on their fish and fertilizer exports.  He also noted that Ukraine being a bread basket for the world.  Couple these factors with supply chain issues at major ports, and we likely will soon see major food shortages - even in the USA.

I feel that we will have to learn how to live with sudden short term periods of scarcity as supply chain issues work themselves out.  Smart people will need to learn how to maintain inventories of things they need, so that they have reserves for when selective items are temporarily scarce and hard to find. Strangely enough, this will pump up our economy while making things worse.  America has always been a land of plenty, and this period of temporary shortages will be a hard thing for Americans to get used to. It will likely cause major social disruption, as our culture defines America as THE land of plenty (for a price) when we're not in the middle of a world war.

You may ask, what does this have to do about being transgender?  The answer is simple.  When times get bad, people become more conservative and prone to populist insurrections.  January 6, 2001 was just the start of a problem for us transgender people, as people in "Red States" now feel free to enact laws regarding what we can and can't do with our bodies (think of abortion laws and transgender participation in sporting events).  As things get worse for the general population, politicians will make minorities like us sacrificial lambs to deflect attention from the fact that they aren't getting anything done to solve the problems average people face.

I can still remember the name calling that FCP did after the unfortunate dissolution of our friendship. In many ways, it showed the true nature of what she felt inside about me.  (Just drop the words of anger, and focus on internal definitions...)  We will see a lot of that in our friends as things get hard for them.  They will be saying that there are more important things to worry about than gender identity, expression, and preference.  And from their perspective, they may be right.  But from our perspectives, it reaches deep into our identities of self - and this could be a live or die issue for many.  I am lucky NOT to have severe gender dysphoria.  But what about those who do?  Can they live, much less, prosper in stealth mode?  I don't know.

As the fictional Margo Channing once said: "Fasten your seatbelts; it's going to be a bumpy night." I'd change that to say it's going to be a bumpy year or two at best....

Guess what came in today....

 

Guess what I unexpectedly found on my doorstep today.   A box!!! 

But what could be in it?  You may ask....

Inside, I found two boxes like the one below:

 

 Hmmm...  This is getting interesting.  Could it be something useful?

So, I opened one of them, and saw the following goodies, plus an instruction sheet:

 

This looks amazingly familiar....

But what could it be?

 

Yes, miracles do happen!!!   It is the replacement control unit for  my air conditioner!  YAY!

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As you can see, some disassembly/assembly is required.  And I do not plan to do this while the NYC Tristate area can expect several days of 90+ weather.  So the boxes will sit for a while, waiting for a "cooler" day for me to work on this project.

 

A Quick Air Conditioner Update

 

I figured that I'd make another quick post about my Air Conditioners....

On Saturday, I sent a quick message to Friedrich regarding the Firmware for my AC.  Today, I received a reply telling me that it is back ordered, with no shipping date yet available.  So I asked the gentleman another quick question: Do I need 2 separate shipments?

I'll keep you informed.  At least, I'm keeping cool up here....

A quick note on life passing way too quickly

 

It's hard to believe that I haven't found the time to write a new entry for several days.  So I figure that I should put down some bullets to let you know what's happening in my life....

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First, I'm still waiting on getting a fix to the broken Wi-Fi connectivity on my air conditioners.  Later today, I'll be writing Friedrich's CEO to let him (or one of his flunkies) know that I'm very upset that they don't have a solution to my problem yet....

Believe it or not, I'm still going to my mind numbing job.  I don't know how long I will last there.  But I can use the money, I enjoy going to work as Marian, and I have nothing else to give me reasons to get up in the morning at a schedule that most people consider normal.

And last, I am going to see my friend, LK, the former student clinician from Mercy who helped me with my voice training.  It will be a rushed dinner, but something we've wanted to fit in for a long while.

It's now 2 weeks since I first started to call for tech support, and still nada....

 

Air conditioners are relatively simple mechanical devices. A pump compresses a refrigerant (Freon was once the most common one used), passes it through a nozzle which cools a refrigerant that is then passed through a radiator to cool the air in a room. (I hope I got the process correct here.) Waste heat from the warmed refrigerant is passed through an external radiator to the outside of the building. With the exception of the refrigerant being changed over the years to protect the environment, the principle used in today's machines is the same as that used several generations ago.

What has changed is the electronic circuitry controlling the units.   It has grown much more complex, so that it can maintain a constant temperature as desired, turn the machine on and off at selected times without operator intervention, and conserve energy which was wasted in older air conditioner design.  In the case of my two new air conditioners, the manufacturer has implemented a Wi-Fi interface, so that one can control the unit from one's own cell phone.  By today's standards, this is not rocket science.  But it is something that Friedrich as gotten wrong.  Both of my units have faulty Wi-Fi connectivity which has not yet been corrected by a manufacturer supplied firmware update.  

As of the time this entry was written, all I have is a case number and some nice words from tech support.  No fix has yet been shipped. And I expect that the manufacturer does not care much about quality control, as it rushed to send these units to distributors (and on to retail customers) before it verified that the product was ready to ship.

So here is the second letter I sent to the CEO of Friedrich:

Dear Mr. Campbell,

This is the second time I’ve taken the time to write you due to support issues I’ve had with my Friedrich Wallmaster Air Conditioner.  Unfortunately, when my second new unit arrived, it has the same Wi-Fi issue as the first unit – I cannot use the Friedrich Connect app on my phone to control either AC unit.

On Friday (7/9), I was able to reach the same polite gentleman who assisted me on the prior Tuesday (7/6).  This fellow told me that he was a little backed up, and that he couldn’t get the case number established that day – but he gave me one (20536) on Friday.  However, he wasn’t able to send me the firmware update at that time to allow me to get my Wi-Fi connectivity problem fixed. 

On Saturday (7/10), my second AC was delivered and installed in my bedroom. I then tried to connect my phone with it to no avail.  When I checked the unit’s firmware, it was at the same level as its sibling in the living room, thus explaining why it also had connectivity problems.

Case number:  20536

Living Room Unit: Bedroom Unit:
Model: WCT16A30A Model: WCT12A10A
Firmware: 1.02 Firmware: 1.02

As of today, I have not received the help I need to get the Wi-Fi functions of my Wallmaster units working properly. The last time I was in contact with this person at tech support, he noted that it would take 3 days to receive a tracking number. There was no mention on when I would receive the fix that I need to use all the features of my air conditioner. When I contacted him again on Tuesday (7/20), he still had no idea when I could get my AC’s Wi-Fi fixed.

I would appreciate any and all help you (or your office) can give me to get this issue resolved promptly.

So far, I have had no success with Friedrich.  Soon, I plan to let the people who sold me my air conditioners know what is going on so that they can be aware of potential problems in the units they sell.  Additionally, since they have more influence as distributors than I have as a customer, maybe they can get the word out to the people at Friedrich who can get things done.  Who knows?

I only wonder when I'll have this issue resolved....

 

 

It's been a week since my first service call.

 

Since I don't have much news to report from the home front, I might as well talk about my air conditioner saga for a little while longer....

As, you, my readers know, I bought 2 air conditioners on a staggered schedule.  The first AC was delivered several weeks ago, but came with a firmware flaw which prevents me from using the Wi-Fi link to control the device from my cell phone.  This past Tuesday, I had the opportunity to talk with a nice service representative, and he got the process of getting updated firmware in motion.  Today, I called to see what's up, and I spoke with him again.

Hopefully, by this time next week, I'll have two fully functional air conditioners being controlled from either my iPad or my Android phone.

- - - - - -

I may have mentioned that I am replacing a semi-functional AC in my bedroom.  Yes, it works, but I can't rely on it.  So I'm spending the extra $1,000 to be sure that I have a working air conditioner that will last me several years.  How do I know it is doing something?  First, I've seen physical evidence that some cooling is going on: when I had the air filter touching the "cool-air radiator", I found that there was some ice on the filter.  Second, I'm seeing an occasional water droplet drain from the air conditioner when I look at my unit from the outside.

Will I get my $1,000 worth when the new bedroom AC comes?  I hope so.

 

 

 

PS: The bedroom AC unit was installed on Saturday, and it feels like it's cooling off the room much better than the old one.  Additionally, it has the same Wi-Fi issues as the one in the living room.

Yesterday, I bought an air conditioner.

 

This is a tale of two air conditioners.  The first, a Friedrich (above), is one designed to fit my Fedders sleeve perfectly.  The other, a GE (below), is one that fits in a Fedders sleeve, but needs a supplied adapter kit to make a proper seal between the unit and sleeve to be both attractive and cool effectively.

I had to make a hard decision between these two units, and I needed the help of a friend to make me secure in my decision.

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But first....

As I may have mentioned before, both my Living Room and Bedroom air conditioners were having problems after being repaired.  The master circuit board on my living room air conditioner was on the fritz late last AC season, and it would not turn off.  After unplugging it for 8 months, the AC would not turn on properly. Either the AC fan would run without the compressor (no cooling, and a waste of electricity), or the compressor would run without the fan (a bigger waste of electricity).  A second repair on top of last year's repair would cost me as much as replacing the unit, so I decided to bite the bullet and replace this unit.  However, this left me with some decisions to be made with the bedroom unit.  A couple of years ago, the unit had a coolant leak which forced me to call factory authorized service for repairs.  This year, the unit doesn't seem to be cooling properly, and I didn't want to risk another repair which would only be a band-aid on the problem.  So I had to choose between repairing or replacing the unit, and then choosing which unit with which to replace the bedroom unit.

Because my two Friedrich units were lemons, I figured that I'd look for units which would fit into my sleeve with the help of an adapter kit.  None of the stores selling air conditioners gave me that option when I bought my living room AC.  So, I bought the Friedrich AC that would fit my sleeve with the highest cooling capacity.  And I am happy with it.  However, when I shopped for my bedroom AC, things were different.  The Friedrich AC that would fit my bedroom sleeve was out of stock.  And the salesman tried to steer me to the GE unit which uses an adapter kit. I was both unhappy that this option wasn't offered to me the first time I went to the store, and that I needed to choose between two imperfect solutions to my problem.  So I called my friend Vicki.

As my readers know, Vicki has been the voice of sanity in my life.  She is my most reliable and rational friend, now that my friend WDS has likely passed away.  When I reached her, we talked about my options and helped me come to a quick decision.  Although the GE unit would likely work and fit my needs, the Friedrich unit would do a better job for me.  We ended our chat when I reached the second store, where I bought the Friedrich unit.  Although it won't be delivered until after the next heat wave is over, it will be a welcome replacement for a unit which has become unreliable at too early an age.

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Given that I live in a top floor apartment with little cross ventilation, Air Conditioning is a requirement for me.  My persistent "complaining" kept the repair of my bedroom AC sleeve on top of the essential repair list.  So I'd have been foolish NOT to do what was needed to stay cool in the hot summer.  

What do you think I have should done?  Which AC solution should I have chosen?

PS: This question has been made more complex by a matter I'll discuss in my next post.

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner with another friend

 

Even though I still am in contact with an ex, I don't say everything about what I do to her, and the same with her not saying everything to me.  She won last year's battle, but at a great cost to both of us.  And I think that cost is trust in the other person's motives.  

Why do I bring up the past, even in passing?

My air conditioner sleeve was being reset today, so that water condensate would drain outside instead of inside.  The ex made a comment (very true) regarding my use of the air conditioner and its use to me.  It is one of the things we can safely talk about without dredging up uncomfortable topics.  Since we got off on the wrong foot after our breakup when I talked about dating again, I don't want to talk about any of my dates with her.  Even then, I brought up FH, as this was another woman who left me with a sour taste in my mouth.

I've been chatting with a woman in New Jersey for a while, and it is time to see her in person.  Hopefully, we will get along in person over time as well as we've been getting along on the phone.  It is not the time to mention this to the ex, but not because she would object.  Instead, I would rather wait until I have a new relationship before mentioning it to the past one.  No, not to rub things in.  Instead, as part of a healing process we both need to go through.

- - - - - -

Contractor personnel was on site early in the day, and I had to let them into the place to get an idea of what they would need to do in the afternoon.  Starting around 1:15 or so, they were done with inside work around 3:15 or so, but were still working on the outside of the building after 4:45.  I can only guess what contractor will be charging for this work.  And when I do find out, I won't be mentioning it here, as this is between only the board and the contractor.

Back to the dinner....

We had agreed on a Chinese restaurant that I had gone to before.  When I got there, I found that it was open - but not for dining in.  So when my date arrived, we had to punt.  Instead of having Chinese again (I had eaten at a local Chinese joint the day before), we decided to eat at the Pizzeria next door.  Although the place was noisy, the food was good and the conversation was pleasant.  Afterwards, it was dessert at an ice cream shop down the road - another place I knew of because of TCL.

We'll see what happens with this woman.  She has a nice personality, but I'm not so sure if I'm attracted enough to get physical with her.  (And of course, I still have to reveal Marian to her....)