God, I love the internet.

The heater on our central air is out (again! — it seems like it goes out every other year), so I had a repairman come out today. You know how these guys are (or maybe you don’t): they’re crooks, always looking to shoot an angle on you. He poked around for a few minutes, then came inside and announced: “It needs a new circuit board. That’s a $500 part.”

Yeah, $500. For a circuit board. I don’t think so.

So I thanked him for coming out, told him there was no way in hell we were spending $500 on a unit we put in just a few years ago, and sent him on his way. Then I came inside, sat down at my computer, and plugged the part number into Google. $98. So I’ll buy it online, pick up a six-pack at the local 7-11, and one of Beth’s engineers from work will come out and install it for me.

$500 part my ass. I’ve got a $500 computer in here with a high speed connection that’ll bitchslap you out of business every time.