Very Cool

You may already know that Toronto summers can be hot, muggy, and sweltering. My apartment seems to channel all the heat from everywhere else, right into my work area. Having the computer on all the time doesn't help, either.

So today I finally got a new air conditioner installed, and life has become very cool indeed. My son, the future Avionics Technician, has helped me fly by doing all the installation and fine tuning on the machine. He's quite clever when it comes to making square pegs fit into round holes.

Remember Apollo 13? The scene where the techs are instructed to come up with a way to make square filters fit into round scrubbers, or vice versa? Apart from that being a fighteningly laughable design flaw, seen too often when the various contractors on a project don't talk to each other or know what the others are doing -- aka "specifications problem" -- it is a testament to technical ingenuity. We know now, of course, that they were successful and the Apollo 13 astronauts made it home safely.

While my air conditioner is not quite as high profile as a NASA command module, it is still mission critical technology for me. I spend a great deal of time at the computer, and during the summer, it can be brutally hot. RJ had to figure out how to make an air conditioner that was designed for double-hung vertical windows fit into a sliding horizontal window aperture. Half a roll of duct tape later, we have lift off! IIRC, duct tape figured prominently in the Apollo 13 solution as well.

That's the mark of a great technician. He not only fixes the problems he can see, he fixes the problems he can't see, and has the creative vision to use the tools and apparatus at hand to make a solution where none seems possible. Clever guy, my eldest son. Thanks, RJ!! Now I can have a cool summer, and do cool work. Totally!