Well well well, here we are again. I think yesterday I said that I was diagnosed at 41 which is incorrect. I was diagnosed at 40… dang Parkinson’s. Yep that’s my new blame all… if I mess up. “Dang Parkinson’s”. Well enough of that jibber jabber let’s get on with it.
Propane furnace / trailer heat…. So a friend from back home, as I was saying yesterday, offered to pay for the control board which is essentially the “brains” of the system. So I contacted Scott from Reed Street early to let him know that the RV place was indeed open! I talked to the RV place owner and he looked up a credit they had wiped out from just under 2 years ago. He offered to apply it to the total, brining it down from $180 to $140. I gave Scott the information and he called down, payed for the board and then notified me. My local friend drove me over to the RV shop, I picked up the board and headed home nervous as to what would happen after installed. Would it actually be the high limit switch too or just the board. They could have “tested” my old board but there was no need and there was a fee. I already knew it was trash, I had home fixed it twice or maybe three time. Both with solder and super glue (lol) but it’s worked for almost 2 years that way. I got home, turned off the breakers, flipped the kill switch on the heater itself and proceeded to exchange boards. First two problems, wrong connector and different mounting method… Well the different connector was actually genius, instead of using an adapter like my old unit this new one had the blade connection built into the board itself and I just didn’t see it. Problem one solved! So it would fit on the mounting points and would go on almost all the way, but this board has standoffs and the previous just has mounting holes. So I got it pressed onto the pegs and then used a bit of hot glue on each corner and the back to hold it on. Yep it’s safe… that box doesn’t get above 100 degrees so that glue will not let loose. It still fit just fine. I got it all installed and turned everything all back on. Lastly I flipped the kill (reset) switch. BAM fired right up! So I went in turned it off and back on a few times. Then tested the cycling of the system, making sure that when the temp dropped it would kick on. All successful. I was elated. I messaged Scott right away to tell him. So the test was would it last more than a few hours and over night. I felt very confident at this point and by last night was sure. This morning everything is still working and we still have heat! So from the bottom of my very warm heart, thank you my friend, you saved me. (tears)
Now some more good news! Energy Assistance finally sent me the letter. The bad news… it’s almost 3 month late. I’m pre-approved (like I’m buy a car or something) for this year. That doesn’t guarantee that I will get funds or there will be enough funds. So I got the paper work filled out right after I installed the control board and then got it sent off. What’s funny is the thing that threw me off the most was trying to find someone with a stamp. Since when do government programs not sent a pre-posted return envelope? Cheap bastards… Anyway I got the letter off now I have to wait for a month or probably two in order to hear back. I have enough propane for almost that long. About a little over a months credit at the feed store left. So let’s hope I get another pledge this year to the feed store again. That’s also an option instead of donating me monetary funds, you can add to my account directly. The owner will ensure you it’s for propane and propane related items only. Like if a tank goes bad, I can use the funds to get a new one like I did last year. Let’s just hope Energy Assistance comes though and the government can pay for me heat since they like to jerk me around on SSI when I’m clearly disabled. Moving on…
Next an old friend came by and brought me a box that had been shipped to the company that “let me go on good terms” due to “cooperate restructuring”. Let’s talk about that for a minute. I gave them 9+ years of hard dedicated work. I also donate much of my free time helping at events to further help the company. For every year I was there, I got letters of praise and raises. I had recently got to move to my own new office and had gotten another raise. I was then diagnosed officially with Parkinson’s and they suddenly decide to restructure. I thought we were like a family there. Well the friend that stopped by gave me an update. After I was let go, with basically no severance package after 9 years… it was found out that the owner was misusing funds, double billing and more. He not only lost three of his great employees, he lost his the investment firm that basically funded his operations department. Operations of power plants was a major part of of the business even though it was an engineering firm. So from how I understand it, the owner probably took a big hit. Guess karma is a bitch. When you sit a distraught man down that just got diagnosed with a terminal disease, doesn’t have proper care, is in the middle of a crises, surround him with a circle of people and force him to sign a letter or leave with nothing… What kind of person are you. I’ll let you fill in the blank to that question. They now take advantage of a guy that’s so nice it hurts. I honestly feel bad for him, hope he’s at least getting paid well. Treat each other well folks and take care of your fellow humans. I’ll also tell you ZERO people that actually work at the engineering frim ever even called me to see how I was doing after. I have kept in touch with a couple guys that are fantastic people but that’s about it… enough of that. NEXT!
The end of yesterday was finishing up Snailiens and trying to perfect the Xenachu prints (both by Geoff at Hex3D, amazing artist). I’ve got more things planned but one at a time. It can be a real challenge to setup supports and get a 3D resin print right. I’ve learned this little machine fairly well. Now I want to print, paint and sell so I can afford the bigger machine. It’s only $500 so that’s possibly an accomplishable goal but it will take me many months. Guess I better get to work!
I wrapped my day up falling asleep in front of the 3D printer waiting the last 11 minutes for a print to complete. Think I was out for around 30 minutes. I wasn’t feeling well, next thing you know bam out cold. Lucky I had picked up on the event and sat down leaning against the wall for support. I felt horrible when I came back. Finished cleaning and curing the prints, then went straight to bed… Took my new dopamine medication for at night and actually slept all or most of the night. I might have woken up once and that’s actually really good for me. Parkinson’s makes sleeping hard, it’s a whole technical thing but basically my body doesn’t self adjust like most. I just wake up in massive pain having to move, work out the pain out and then get back to sleep. It kinda sucks but I’ve gotten use to it.
I woke up a little later than normal today. Kicked off a 3D print for testing, took care of the puppers and directly to the blog. Now I’m going to get back to painting until the new test prints are done. I need to cut some vinyl decals today and get a couple boxes packed / repacked to send out. So hopefully it’s an uneventful day of what I call “work” now. Unless the event is very positive like someone giving me some cool stuff or a million dollars lol.
Well with that onward and upward! Today will be a successful day, I can feel it! Remember be kind and rewind 🙂 YOU ARE ALL VERY MUCH APPRICIATED! Yes I just screamed that at you… MUCH LOVE my friends. I hope your day goes swimmingly.