Time Off, HVAC Filters, Fergus vs the Big Black Ball
It was Saturday, March 29, and I’d just finished posting the episodes of The Politics Guys that I’d recorded earlier that morning with my co-host Jay. I looked at my calendar and realized that I could theoretically take the entire week off. I had it all planned out: I’d start Sunday morning and spend the next eight days not reading the news, sitting in front of my computer, or scrolling through my phone. That would free up a vast expanse of time, which I’d fill with literature, music, meditation, and mindful movement. By April 6, I’d be back at it, rested, revitalized, and more than ready to handle whatever the Trump administration might come up with next.
It could have worked. I’m sure of it. For instance, if I’d rented a cabin in the middle of a vast forest with no internet or cell service. But there was no cabin, and it turns out I don’t have anywhere near enough self-control to go completely offline here at home. The only day of my break that more or less went as I envisioned came about because I slept horribly the night before and woke up with vertigo that lasted until lunchtime. It was the best day off I’d had since the last time I was sick.
Kimberly knew how the week would turn out for me, but she supported my Quixotic endeavor, even volunteering to take on my share of the household work for the week so that I’d have more time to do all of the things she knew I wouldn’t end up doing.
The lesson here is clear: I need to get sick more often. Or find a cabin in the woods.
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Yesterday, I spent 45 minutes buying HVAC air filters. In the Olden Days, I would have put ‘HVAC filters’ on the Home Depot list and picked up a pack the next time I went out. A few years ago, I would have typed ‘HVAC filter 20 x 25 x 1’ in an Amazon search and hit ‘buy now’ on the first multi-pack that didn’t cost too much and had reasonable overall ratings. (Though that raises the question of how one rates an HVAC filter. I’ve been putting air filters in my various HVAC systems for decades, and if you asked me to rate any of them, I’d say, “Eh – seemed okay to me.” What’s that translate to in rating stars?)
But in 2025, with GPT, Claude, Gemini, and a seemingly endless scroll of YouTube HVAC filter reviews, the process has become considerably more complex. After perusing YouTube for only a few minutes, I learned that I was almost certainly using the WRONG filter and DESTROYING my HVAC system in the process. That didn’t sound good, but there were so many hours of videos recommending so many different filters that I ended up more confused than when I started. (As a general rule, I’ve found that the more I learn about anything, the more confused I tend to become. I’d like to think that says more about the world than it does about me.)
In the end, I decided to trust Project Farm. The guy who runs the site is something of a maniac – he built his own HVAC air filter testing rig for his comparative filter experiment, which is something he does for just about everything he tests. It’s clearly working for him, because his HVAC filter video currently has 2.3 million views, making Mr. Project Farm the King of HVAC filter YouTube reviews. Go with the king, I say. (Actually, I’ve never said that before, but cut me some slack – it’s been a weird week.)
I didn’t want to watch the entire 12-minute, 55-second video (Who has nearly 13 minutes for HVAC filters?), so instead, I looked for a transcript. There wasn’t one, so I asked one of my LLMs to review the video for me. (I picked Google Gemini because Google owns YouTube, so I thought that if any LLM could handle a YouTube video analysis, it would be Google’s LLM.) At first, Gemini seemed to be doing what I wanted it to do, but after reading its summary, it became clear to me that it hadn’t actually reviewed the video and was simply pulling from and extrapolating on the video description.
That wasn’t going to stop me – I plugged the URL from the YouTube video into a site that downloads the audio from YouTube videos, then ran the audio of the video through an AI program called Whisper that creates transcripts from audio. I then gave Gemini the transcript and asked it to use that instead of the video it was initially pretending to have reviewed.
In the end, I spent about half an hour in order to not watch a 12-minute 55-second video. I did, however, end up with what I’m certain will be absolutely fantastic HVAC filters. (They’ll probably change my life in ways I can’t even imagine at present.)
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Yesterday, Kimberly brought a big stability ball upstairs to her office for a change of pace from her office chair. Fergus had never seen it before (we had it stored in the unfinished part of our basement), and to him it was the Best Toy Ever. Letting a rambunctious dog like Fergus play with an inflatable ball not at all intended for dogs wasn’t the best idea, but in a ‘hold my beer’ moment, I one-upped Kimberly by taking the ball and throwing it into the front yard. Fergus thought this was an absolutely fantastic idea ... until about 10 seconds later when he – you know what’s coming – finally punctured the thin plastic membrane keeping all the air in.
I managed to patch the ball (duct tape is a beautiful thing) and reinflate it. I’m guessing this won’t be a repair that holds up very well, but the important thing is that Fergus had a good time.
You never fail to entertain me with your wit. Loved this one.