Mr Troutbend (himself) writes:

"A truck from Buenos Aires Air Conditioning was going around the neighborhood and I happened to be working out front and talked to one of the guys. They were offering a free computerized A/C system check and adjustment in cooperation with Nevada Power (they had an official-looking flyer), and so with some trepidation I let them go ahead.

They were here for over an hour and believe it or not it didn't cost me a cent (they wouldn't even take a tip). They checked out both units, topped off the freon, put certification stickers on, and told me about their service contracts (but also showed me the maintenance I can do myself, cleaning that I could see needed to be done once the covers were removed).

They said they could tell these were the original units, and they seemed a little surprised that they were working so well because they typically last 10 years. Anyway, we might see some efficiency gains next summer with the added coolant and my cleaning of the fins on the coils. Maybe less noise in the lines also."

I'm sitting here wondering Since when did Nevada Power care about anything but raising rates and getting paid on time? But then I remembered sometimes in order to get government approval for big projects such as building power plants these companies have to say that they encourage conservation measures, so maybe that's what this was about.

I've never heard Mr Tbend use the word 'trepidation' and yesterday in an email he used 'awesome' with respect to my description of rampaging mutant beavers cutting down our trees along the river. I'm not saying he's illiterate, but he doesn't waste words and doesn't usually wax eloquent.