Tag: testing

The 95 Dream

My wife I were with others in a tall white office building. The rest of the people were strangers. We were there for testing but kept segregated in different rooms, so I had no idea how many people were present.

The way the testing went is we’d be called into the testing room in groups of six at a time. The test administrator was a tall white woman, brunette, in a lab coat, carrying a clip board, wearing glasses, a scientist stereotype. Several younger people, mostly men in their early twenties, assisted her.

Of the actual testing, I know nothing. In the dream, I’d see the door, enter, and then return. That’s it.

While milling around after the fourth test, rumors began spreading about grades. Someone, they said, scored 95. 95 was unheard of. The usual recorded high was in the upper eighties, and several were in that zone. Another person then came to me as I circulated, waiting for the next round, and said, “You’re the one who scored a 95.”

I dismissed that as rumor, pleased, but also sure that it wasn’t me with that score. I didn’t want to get my hopes up only to be let down.

Then the final two test blocks were finished and testing was completed and the head verified I’d scored a 95 and lauded me for the achievement. finishing by presenting me with a trophy.

Well, cool, I liked that but disliked all the attention. With the whole thing over, the staff began cleaning up. I rushed to use the restroom before leaving but one of the male assistants, apparently realizing what I wanted to do, rushed ahead and blocked restrooms so they couldn’t be moved. I thought was a dick move and confronted him. He and I argued. I ended by shaking my head and saying, “Your organization rewards me because of what I achieved, and then you go and pull this shit. Just shows how little that trophy and recognition really means.”

Dream end

2

A/C DIY Completed

I finished another DIY project — a repair — yesterday but I made several errors with this one. I’ll go into those. I want to also mention that I stayed overly zealous about throwing circuit breakers, ensuring everything was off, and cautiously touching wires. I won’t dwell on it, but I took constant steps to stay safe and unharmed. I was messing with 240 V a lot of times, and I stayed respectful of that.

Our air conditioning went out. Fortunately, the weather here hasn’t been too hot this year; we’ve yet to break 100 degrees F, and temperatures have been dropping into the upper 50s/low 60s at night. We also haven’t been inundated with wildfire smoke, so the air remains relatively clean, fresh, and healthy. It’s a mighty confluence of good fortune. We’re able to open doors and windows at night and in the morning to air the house out, dropping the inside temperatures to about 72 F. We just need to be aware of wildlife like skunks, raccoons, bears, deer, and cougars in the area, and make sure none of them wander in. Then we close almost all back up for the day, including the blinds, and keep the house cool. This works pretty well; it rarely pops over 82 F in the house, and that feels oddly comfortable. We do have a fan that we’ll kick on if we feel the need.

But one day, my wife said, “Turn on the air,” and I did, and it didn’t. The house blower went on but there was nothing from the condenser or fan. I immediately said, “Capacitor.” It’s gone out twice in the seventeen years we’ve owned the house, which was bought new. I ordered a new one, turned off the circuit breakers, pulled the A/C switch, removed the panel, and replaced the capacitor. All good, right?

No. I inspected the capacitor. Didn’t see any swelling or anything unusual. Wires were all connected. Hmmm.

Continuing on my mistake-strewn path, I powered the unit up and manually pressed the connector’s pull in. Power to the unit. Condenser and fan went on.

Well, damn. A bad connecter then? I ordered a new one and duly installed it. No change. Say what? I’d photographed the wires before swapping the part and poured over them now, ensuring I had them all right and secure. They were. Nuts.

Well, then, it must be the thermostat.

I’d replaced it last year. Maybe I’d done something wrong. I checked all of its wiring. Everything was correctly connected and tight. I replaced the batteries so they were new. No change.

I started searching the net for what the heck was wrong. This is something I should have done in the beginning. Pulling out the multimeter, I checked power at the unit — yep, 240 running into it, no surprise, as it fired before. No low voltage going into the connecter.

Whaaat?

The wires all looked good. Connections were solid, but nothing registered. Nothing. No damage visible. No nests, spiders, or insects. No traces of mice. Huh.

Back at the thermostat, I placed my probes against the red (power) and yellow (cooling) wires. 24 volts.

Then it must be on the furnace control board.

Nuts.

We have a side mounted furnace. It’s up in the attic above the garage. It’s a low, hot space. I dislike going up there and working on the furnace. It means pulling the car out, and using two ladders. One must be climbed to remove the access panel, but that ladder isn’t tall enough for me to safely climb and get up into the space. I must use a second, taller ladder, putting it into the access panel’s open space to climb up into the attic.

The furnace’s control board’s green light was lit but blinking. That’s how it usually is. I removed the access panel with the idea of checking all the wires. Yep, five into the thermostat connections, just as shown on the videos. Second was the fuse. Fuse was great. Next, I was going to check the low voltage power out of the stepdown transformer. As I was approaching that, I noticed a wire not connected to anything.

A yellow wire.

Now, you might think that’s obvious. In hindsight, it is. But there’s a large coil of installed but unused wires up there. That gave me uncertainty; maybe it wasn’t meant to be used.

I was thinking about all I learned but I still had just a nascent understanding of everything. Back down I went to videos. I really enjoy the Word of Advice series on Youtube. He’s patient and thorough.

I watched his video on the control board’s fuse because he was talking in general about the control board and all the wires and their purposes. And he said, “There should be five wires going in for the thermostat and two going out to the outside unit.”

Ding.

I had one going out. The blue one. No yellow one connected.

Power was cut and the connection was made. Success was achieved. The condenser and fan fired up and the house cooled.

Everything was reinstalled, closed up, and powered up. Success, but it was sloppy and haphazard. I should have been methodically testing and studying and not leaping to conclusions without testing. Lesson learned, I hope.

4

The Knives and Rain Dream

I was back in the military once again, but this wasn’t like any military experience of my life.

As a senior NCO, I was standing off to the commander’s right, facing the troops. They were at attention. One troop, Ryan, a former co-worker (but not in the military), stood in front of the rest. At the commander’s order, Ryan pulled a knife from his clothing. About the length of a machete, he threw it at a target above my head and behind me. I was shocked by his cavalier approach and thought, this won’t go well.

The knife bounced back off the target, striking Ryan on the right side of his front. He went down.

As I expected, I thought. I ran to Ryan, took a knee, and said, “Call nine one one.” I looked over at the commander. He held up one finger. I nodded, indicating that one knife had struck Ryan. As this took place, I realized that Ryan had thrown two knives. As I said, “One knife,” Ryan said, “No, two.”

I looked on his other side. Both knives had bounced back, striking and injuring him. An ambulance arrived. I left him in the professionals’ care.

The commander left. The troops parked their cars and assembled to take tests. They were at desks, but the desks were outside, yet arranged like they were in rooms.

I wasn’t testing, but overseeing the process. I discovered that one of the test-takers had parked in my parking space. I didn’t care, and was more amused by it, but the guy thought I was bothered. He went to move his car, telling the rest as he did that he was doing it because I was upset even as I tried telling them, I’m not bothered. When he moved his car, they went to another area of desks to take their tests. Shaking my head with amusement, I left.

I awoke up in my dream. I was in an apartment with my wife. I was worried about others outside, and open windows. Rain was falling, and the wind was blowing. Growing concerned about rain coming in, I went around, checking on the doors and windows, closing some of them. Waking my wife, I asked her, “What’s wrong with you? Why did you leave those windows like that?” Befuddled with sleep, she turned away.

I checked on our pets. They were all fine. Nobody had broken in. I realized that we’d been sleeping with the lights on.

The dream ended.

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