I'm so broke I can't even pay attention, and life is definitely piling on me.

My furnace is still broken. I ordered the new control board from Appliance Parts in Chicago. It arrived in a timely fashion, then it took me an extra few days to arrange for an appointment to have it installed, which was yesterday. It didn't work, the flame sensor wasn't functioning on the control board, so it would fire up then shut down immediately. Poor Mr Townsend worked on it for an hour and a half, but the board tested bad. I called Appliance Parts and was transferred to their warranty dept. They're shipping another one that should arrive Monday, and surprisingly they don't want the bad board back. I don't really understand this way of doing business, it's almost as though they know they'll have a certain percentage that are defective. Did I mention it cost $214? The whole thing is crushingly depressing especially since my bike is also out of commission, and I'm still paying co-pay medical bills from this spring. Chrish's mandatory immunizations and lab tests for grad school added an extra $400 to that. Each year seems to become harder and harder to survive on the money I make, but paste on that grin it's time to go serve the public in another interminable string of Saturdays.