I love my older brother, but he is quite a conundrum of a human being.
As kind, intelligent, and grounded as he is, he’s also an irrational mess. Ever since his girlfriend of 11 years broke his heart through despicable means, he hasn’t been the same person. He moved out on his own and began trying to take care of himself for the first time in his adult life, and it has been a tale of relative successes and failures. He did a good job locating an affordable house to live in, and he’s managed to keep up with his utility bills, mortgage, and neighborhood fees. However, when it comes to taking action and improving his home, he has not been very motivated. That’s why he still has two boarded up windows, a sagging roof, and a yard full of weeds. He also barely has an HVAC system. I should be clear that the heating and cooling units are in place, but they are hardly operable. The furnace is well over 15 years old, and the air conditioning unit must be about 12 at this point. When he moved in, the temperature control equipment clearly needed professional services, but he has never bothered to have an HVAC company come out to inspect his ventilation whatsoever. Instead, he continues to live with an unreliable furnace that randomly shuts off in the night all winter long. In the summer, you can count on his air conditioner providing sub-par treated air that comes out of the air vents about 3 degrees cooler than it was to begin with. Worst of all for his health and well-being, however, is the nasty old air filters on the HVAC equipment, which must be fully clogged with his beard trimmings and frequent farts.