Friday, June 18, 2010

A picture is worth a Thousand word....

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  But let me be clear about this.  A picture is worth a thousand words...only is you can see the @#$% thing.
We put in a window air conditioner in the office today.  What should have taken all of about 15 to 20 minutes, took over 2 hours.  AND we read the directions.  The problem is someone at LG must have heard that saying about pictures, so instead of tell you what to do, they drew up these cute little cartoons to show you. 
One of the directions reads and I quote:  "Insert frame guides (10) into the bottom of the cabinet."  Okay sounds simple.  You take the funny little plastic piece in the parts list and attach it to the bottom of the cabinet.  No screws to put in so this will be a snap.  Then you realize they didn't tell you were on the bottom to insert it, or how.  Well there is a picture let's see.  The picture has an arrow that points to the bottom of the unit, it doesn't show the the little plastic piece attached.  It does have a inserted picture with a hand and the piece.  BUT the picture is smaller than the size of a dime, and they show the hand going toward the unit, not inserting anywhere.  They could at least show the bottom with the piece attached.  But that would be to easy.  Okay at this point I have started using my government words.  We finally figure out were and how to insert the  darn thing. And it was easy IF you knew what to do.
Now let's add the braces and get this thing on, because the heat index is now hovering somewhere around 100 degrees.  All we have to do now is add the standoffs and slide in the unit.  Simple right.  Wrong.  The standoff attach to the bottom of the unit and rest on the window sill to support the air conditioner.  But the last adjustment on the unit puts the support bolts about 3/4 of an inch pass the window sill and into thin air.  More government words spoken loudly this time.  Finally got the dang thing in the window.  The side panels are not sealing because if the unit is tipped back 1/2 inch to allow the water to drain like it is suppose to, this makes the bottom of the panels...you guessed it 1/2 inch from the window.  At this point we could careless. I'll just buy some thick foam insulation and pack it around the gaps to seal them off.  AT LONG LAST we turned on the unit and there was air...FINALLY.
Oh and one last thing.  How come in the instruction manual  there is a man putting in the unit correctly, and the woman is plugging it in wrong, and making all the mistakes.  If you don't believe me check out the manual online.  Home Depot has it listed with the window units on their site.  Someone over at LG manual division is a serious sadist.

WOW, This is a really good book.

On these hot days its nice to curl up and read a book in the air conditioning when the heat index is over 100 degrees outside.  I just finished reading 'The Quickie' by James Patterson and Micheal Ledwidge. It was really good. Just when you thought you might have it figured out, you get something thrown in out of left field. It definitely keeps you turning the pages. Only it makes it real hard to put it down and do anything else, (like fix something to eat or clean).  This team is the same one that wrote "Step on a Crack' also a page turner.  If you haven't read either of these books, treat yourself.  You won't be disappointed.
Before that I read a Mary Higgins Clark book 'Mount Vernon: A Love Story'.  That woman can write.  This was one of her first books.  It's about George and Martha Washington. It goes back and forth from the last day of Washington's Presidency to the road that brought him and Martha to that point in time.  It is well worth your time to read this story.  You get a whole new outlook on our FIRST First Family.
Speaking of air conditioners. (I was in the first line of this blog. Remember.) Our air conditioner was out for a while, and  I wasn't sure we would survive much longer with out it. Thank goodness it is fixed now.
How the heck did our ancestors live with out it?  They were definatly a much stronger person than I am.  If it goes out again maybe I can channel them, or just go sit in the creek until it gets fixed.