Best-Case Scenarios

Scenarios. Now there is a funny word. Maybe it means something like what might happen in the future? Actually, it is a theatrical term meaning the outline for the plot of a play. I like to think of it as series of events that lead to a conclusion. With a play, the playwright gets to choose the events and the ending. As applied to reality, you choose the events and who knows how it will end.

It was my birthday in February like every other year, but this year was one of the milestones, the 65^th. It is one of those years like turning 50 when you have your mid-life crisis. It catches your attention early. In my case, I was thinking of my 65^th on or around my 60^th.

I decided that I wanted to enjoy my mid-sixties and to do that I would need to be in good physical health. My idea was to be in better shape when I turned 65 then I was at 60. Luckily I have a good genetic make-up, and I wasn’t in bad shape to start. I usually passed the annual physical without a hitch.

However, like many men of my age, our doctor’s focus is on our prostate health, since cancer in that gland is very common. One of my coworkers has been bravely fighting it for at least five years now with chemo, surgery, experimental drugs and who knows what else. He is working exclusively from home, lending his years of experience via the cell, text and what he calls the “inner-web”, and always with a cheerful disposition.

Luckily for me, my urologist determined that my dangerously high prostate numbers one year were nothing more than normal fluctuations. Of course, I do get it checked every year, like you should if you’re a male over 50, or whatever age the medical community or your doctor recommends. How about that for a disclaimer?

So, for the last five years, my focus was on exercise and eating what my wife says is healthy (when she’s around). I found you don’t have to always be working out or always watching what you eat in order to get in better shape. There were plenty of times, especially early on, when exercise was interrupted or a binge lunch was scheduled. My experience was that as I got in better shape, it was easier to do the right things, and only occasionally order an extra cheese coney at the local chili parlor.

This January, since I ended up being in much better shape than I originally expected, I announced to my wife that I wanted to go snow skiing on my birthday. As a husband, I have to check with my spouse about things like this, especially since she wouldn’t be going on the trip. She has never skied and hates the cold. I have skied for fifty years now and tolerate the cold fairly well. One morning in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, it was 30 below zero on the morning news. Turned out to be a nice sunny day for skiing.

The trip was approved and I proceeded with the planning. As with most things in life, plans change and evolve. A good friend decided that he could get away for a few days to share my birthday adventure. We agreed on a resort in the northern part of the southern peninsula of Michigan. As the date approached, a major winter weather event was being predicted by every weatherman. One prediction would be more dire than the previous.

As a stubborn person that wanted to get his reward for five years of getting in better shape, I wasn’t going to change the date. My friend was still in and now wanted to also ski the night before. I got on the road early and picked him up on the north side of Columbus Ohio before ten. The roads were clear and dry up to the last half hour, when it started to snow, which is what you want when you’re going skiing. So far, so good.

We were on the slopes for three hours of night skiing in a very light snowstorm. I hadn’t skied in eight years, but it’s like riding a bike. At the end of about the sixth run, when I tipped over from exhaustion, we stopped for the dinner break. Maybe I’m not in that great of shape.

The next morning was sunny and clear as we skied a full day in near perfect conditions for Michigan. We took a lot of breaks, with a tequila shot at lunch to celebrate being 65. No injuries, despite our wives’ predictions.

The predicted snow apocalypse finally happened overnight, but to our south. The drive back from the Great White North was uneventful on recently plowed roads. My appreciative shout out to the road crews of the Michigan and Ohio Departments of Transportation. Safe at home, I realized how my little adventure had turned into a best-case scenario.

But enough about me. This article is supposed to be about what helps you, hopefully with a hot water or steam heating system. How I’m trying to help you is with hope. All my above stories had happy endings, to get you in a positive frame of mind, to encourage you to realize that my best-case scenario can be yours. Not literally my little adventure, but any series of your planned events that would lead to a favorable conclusion.

This could be as short as the steps to troubleshoot a leaking relief valve, or as long as a five-year plan to increase boiler sales. Get in the habit of planning the steps to achieve a determined outcome. Then, follow through with what you planned and celebrate the successes. Make yourself, your family, or your trade better with best-case scenarios.

I will get off the soap box now. Next month’s column will get back to hydronics and hot water boiler sizing and/or mis-sizing.

Patrick Linhardt is a thirty-five-year veteran of the wholesale side of the hydronic industry who has been designing and troubleshooting steam and hot water heating systems, pumps and controls on an almost daily basis. An educator and author, he is currently Hydronic Manager at the Corken Steel Products Co.