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Thursday, November 29, 2007

I’m kind of feeling blue. You see, after long last, my wife and I decided it was time to do the unthinkable. We visited a lawyer and prepared our last will and testaments. There was a lot more to it than that, however. There was a Durable Power of Attorney, a Medical Durable Power of Attorney and a Living Will.

Okay, so no big deal, right? Well, does anybody remember the sitcom, Home Improvements? I had a real connection with Tim the Toolman Taylor. He was kind of a caricature of sorts with me. I could relate to a lot of what was on the show. I was that guy that wanted bigger, faster, more power. In fact, I remember looking at the air conditioner at my first home and wondering how I could make it more efficient. So I spent like $100 on copper tubing, a solenoid valve, and some agricultural spray nozzles.

WARNING! TECNO TALK: I tied the solenoid valve into the furnace’s fan wiring tapped the copper tubing into the house’s water supply, ran the tubing out to the air conditioner unit and hooked it up so the spray nozzles would coat the unit in a fine mist when it kicked on. The water would help the cooling fins and increase the efficiency.

Well, of course, I shorted out the motor on the first attempt, luckily I didn’t ruin it, I just scorched some wires and tripped the breaker. My second attempt failed, because I didn’t realize the fan kicks on HIGH SPEED when cooling, but medium speed for heating. But after a third attempt, it worked like a champ. Two weeks later, my air conditioner was coated in white calcium from the hard water, which I didn’t even think about and I yanked apart my hodgepodge of wires and tubing and they still sit on a self in the workshop of my current home.

Okay, so that really has nothing to do with what this Blog is about, except that I can relate to Tim Taylor. Oh, I remember his wife being an exaggerated version of mine. “Turn it down, it hurts my ears!”

Anyway, I remember the episode where Tim does a Will, (not me, his last will). He was despondent because his father died shortly after preparing his will and by do a will, he felt he was admitting his mortality. He was acknowledging that he was going to die. I’m feeling the same way right now. Another similarity; my father died shortly after preparing his will.

So, next blog, I’ll cover the Living Will. Now there’s a document that will open your eyes when you read it.