God bless America it’s been hot. Sure it’s been in the 80s – pushing 90 – in Knoxville for the last few days but at some point last week the capacitor went out on my heat pump, therefore there was no cool air being pumped into my house. I think it happened on Monday but we finally figured out something was wrong on Tuesday when we came home to a 78 degree house. I put in a service request to R&M Climate Control. This is where things get super fun!
My confirmation email from a James Turner says “I have made a request for someone to be out at your home tomorrow morning” and that they were experiencing a high volume of demand. It’s the first week of super hot weather, so I understood that. The first appointment window was 8am to 10am. On Wednesday morning I got a call at 9am from R&M wanting me to confirm I wanted to cancel. Apparently Mr. Turner didn’t put me on the schedule and it made it appear to the team as though I had canceled the appointment I had tried to schedule. Once I told the lady I did not wish to cancel, she said someone would be at my house but she couldn’t promise when.
“Jimmy” showed up at my house at 9pm. Strapping on his headlight he came to my back yard and took the panel off of my heat pump. Sure enough – it was the capacitor. He grumbled about how Carrier makes their parts with odd specs, making them more expensive and harder to find. He dug around in his van and found that he didn’t have the right part to fix me up. He flipped through a parts booklet and found one that “would work” for about $200, but he didn’t have it on his van. He found another one that “would work” for about $230, but he also didn’t have it on his van. He then announced that he’d have to come back the next day with the part to fix me up. When I informed him I’d been waiting for him at my house for 13 hours he said that someone would call me first thing in the morning to let me know when to expect him. Before he left, though, he found one more piece in his van that would work and would only set me back $300. I told him it wasn’t happening and that I’d see him tomorrow (after coughing up $99 for the service call).
On Thursday I spent the morning looking at capacitors online and found that even the most expensive ones aren’t more than $40 or $50 – the one I needed could be bought for as little as $20. I hadn’t heard anything from R&M so I started researching how to replace it myself. I was confident I could do it and for about $180 cheaper than they had quoted me. I finally got a call from them at 2:30pm wanting to go over the quote with me – $130. Better than $200 or $300 and it included labor. More expensive than $20 but at least they knew what they were doing and I was liable to get electrocuted. I asked when he could come out and install it – she said they needed to order the part and once it came in they would call to schedule an appointment. I had gone to bed in a nearly 80-degree house every night that week, so I told the nice young lady in the most polite way I could to shove it and I ordered my capacitor that evening, Amazon Prime 2-day shipping.
Saturday we got to hit one of our favorite conventions: Full Moon Tattoo and Horror Festival in Nashville. For its 14th year the fest was being held at the Nashville Music City Center in downtown and may I just say that it’s been the best venue thus far. The ballroom was spacious and easy to find, parking was a breeze, convenient and secure, and the venue, itself, was incredibly easy to get in and out of. Major props to both the festival and the venue for providing the most positive experience at this festival we’ve ever had, and we’ve ALWAYS had positive experiences at it.
Inside you’d find the typical tattoo/horror convention fare: celebrities signing autographs, vendors selling everything from freak taxidermy to t-shirts, dresses to action figures, original art to shady pirated B (and usually C) movies. The tattoo artist’s area seemed larger than in previous years and we saw some incredible art in progress and flipped through some seriously wonderful portfolios of some of the area’s top talent as well as some that were a few states away. I was sporting my favorite 2 Ton Tattoo t-shirt but, unfortunately, didn’t receive any new art. We picked up some clothes, a few novelty items and a sweet squid tentacle in a glass vase. Celebrities ran the gamut with talent starring in the Devil’s Rejects, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, The Boondock Saints, Halloween and several from various sequels of Friday the 13th. I picked up an autograph from Ginger Lynn for my Devil’s Rejects poster and Robert Mukes for my House of 1000 Corpses poster (it has been YEARS since I got an addition to that poster!).
Not wanting to waste our time in the fine city of Smashville we decided to head northeast to Hail, Dark Aesthetics for a look at some of the oddities, antiques and weirdo collectables they have to offer. I was introduced to their shop a few months ago when they did a contest on Instagram to win a human mandible. While I didn’t win the contest I certainly did enjoy browsing their shop – lots of devils and black metal memorabilia, bones and taxidermy, antique medical supplies and original artwork – I’m just glad the place is in Nashville and not Knoxville else I wouldn’t be able to spend money anywhere else. We ended our day in the Music City with a trip to the Opry Mills Mall specifically to go to the Lego store. While in Lego we poked around and made mini figureines of each other – they’re cute and I’ve included photos below. I’ve also learned that Lucky Brand are beginning to be my favorite place to shop.
Horror cosplay, haunted house props, findings and Lego minifigs are below. As usual, see them and more full-res over on Flickr.
When we came home it was dark and around 9:00. My capacitor was waiting on my front porch. I took the panel off of my heat pump, discharged and removed my faulty capacitor, installed the new one and buttoned the heat pump back up with a total working time of less than 10 minutes. We hooked the thermostat back up, turned the fan on and stood outside waiting for the heat pump to fire up. It seemed like a century had passed (likely 2 minutes) and suddenly -BAM- the fan fired up and cold air was being pumped into my house. $20 + 10 minutes was all it took to fix my heat pump. I celebrated by having a brief Old Time Gospel Hour in the back yard with a short rendition of “What a Friend we Have in Jesus”. It was definitely a moment worth praising.
You’d be doing yourself a favor by liking and following some of the freaks I’ve mentioned above:
Full Moon Tattoo and Horror Festival Online
Full Moon Tattoo and Horror Festival on Facebook
Full Moon Tattoo and Horror Festival on Twitter
Hail, Dark Aesthetics Online (Tumblr)
Hail, Dark Aesthetics on Facebook
Hail, Dark Aesthetics on Instagram
Hail, Dark Aesthetics on Twitter
Beard Hair In My Coffee 5.0 
oh I would like to go to some horror festival like that! cool photos!
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Thanks! They are a BLAST! Keep your eyes and ears open for events in your area – they’re well worth a short trip!
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