Giles Snyder

I've been trying my best to post here at least once a week. And I have to say I've been pretty good about it. Since the beginning of the year, I've written mostly about how my luck has held up in the face of adversity. First, there was my car. It started acting up as the year turned. And then my rickety old heat pump threatened to take its last breath. Both situations sparked great anxiety for the health of my bank account. In the end, though, I made it through the financial crucible because the problems I had with my car and then my heat pump weren't as bad as they seemed at first blush. Sure I had to shell out a few bucks here and there, but each could have been a whole lot worse. At least, my bank account (such as it is) is still intact. In any case, I could acknowledge that writing a post a week was a New Year's resolution, but I'm not going to because that would mean admitting failure. But if I HAD made such a resolution, at least I would be in go

When I say I've had quite the run of good fortune since the beginning of the year, I don't mean that I no longer have to worry about how I'm going to see my kids through college on a public radio journalist's salary. After all, it's not like I've somehow beaten the odds and won the lottery jackpot. In fact, it's not even like my name has been called to "Come on down and play The Price Is Right"! Although winning the showcase showdown would be cool, it's not likely. I live and work closer to the wrong coast. No. My luck lately has been more of the "could'a been a whole lot worse" variety. If you've been reading my silly posts since the beginning of the year, you know what I mean. If you haven't, here's a cheat sheet - I've somehow avoided massive, painful, cringe-inducing bills several times since January 1st. I'm talking about the kind of bank account draining bills that make you want to stick your

The last thing I want to see is this month's power bill. That's because we were forced to spend about two weeks in January keeping the house warm by running the more expensive emergency heat. If you've read the first two installments in The Heat Pump Saga, you know why. Ours crapped out. You can find those posts here and here . The short version goes something like this - our ancient and infirm heat pump apparently suffered a life-threatening blow due to an ice storm back in November. It limped its way through December only to break down completely in early January. Our fixit guy installed a new motor to spin the fan. That was the easy part. Here's the rub: our heat pump also needed a new circuit board. The repairman brought a shiny, new one with him when he replaced the motor, but marrying new tech with old tech doesn't always work out. In the new circuit board's case, it didn't work out at all. And we remained on emergency heat for another