Today I passed my EPA license exam, which means that I am legally employable as an HVAC tech. I have to tell you, I wasn’t expecting it to be like passing the bar or anything, but I am relieved to have it out of the way. It’s kind of a bull shit exam, kind of like a driving test, where if you don’t know the answer most of the time, you really have no business messing around with it. Questions like, “Is R-503 able to be mixed with R-22 in the same system?” No—you don’t mix refrigerants at all, because different things boil and condense at different temperatures. BUT, if I was taking this test at the beginning of the fall semester, I might very well have thought, “Yeah sure, hybrid refrigerant—go for it!”

I feel like Georgetown Tech has been a really good school. Dollar for dollar, the education value is right up there with any other college I’ve gone to: Texas A&M, Emerson, Boston University. I’ve studied math and physics and especially electricity, and these are all areas where I had holes in my knowledge to say the least. So Tech has been valuable in a few ways: it’s brought me closer to finding a good job in the South. It’s trained my mind where my knowledge is weakest. And it’s given me a good perspective on other career tracks outside of teaching or writing fiction.

So here’s to the new future! HVAC!

“I’m real sorry ma’am. We did all that we could, but you’re going to need a new unit.”