Category: Stupid Things

Plumbing

This month seems to have been the month for plumbing mishaps.  First, I finally got fed up with the valves under my sink which had been leaking on and off for months.  After tightening and band-aiding the system for far too long, I decided it was time to just replace the fittings.  As I tore into the project, I realized that the plumber didn’t even use standard brass compression fittings to put the valve on.  He used some kind of crappy aluminum/plastic combo compression fitting.  On one of the sides, the plastic had basically disintegrated.  Three hours, one trip to Lowes, and plenty of muttered obscenities later, the sink was back in good order.

The good news was, I had my helper – who crawled over on his own volition to see what daddy was doing:

This morning, I woke up and smelled a faint smell of gas.  After poking my nose around, I found the source – the pipe next to the oven.  This same pipe had a leak about 4 years ago when I had overnight company visiting from my home town.  (It’s always heartening to company to walk into a house with a gas leak in it and know they are staying the night.)  Thankfully, the gas company has people on call 24/7 for fixing such issues – and they were called.  Now, the same spot is leaking again.  Argh!

I’m convinced that whatever crackpot plumber they got to plumb this house when it was built was high on PCP or something.  *Sigh*  The joys of home ownership!

Halloween and The World Series

Last night, we enjoyed sitting on the couch, watching game 3 of the world series, and handing out candy to the local children.

Did we decorate our house?  No.

Did we dress up?  No.

Did we have to give away some of the good candy?  Yes. (But I saved most of the Kit Kats)

Did we have any teenagers come and take candy by the handfuls and put it in their pillowcase?  No.

We turned off the light at 9:15, watched the game through the top of the 6th inning, and went to bed.  (Without setting our clocks back, nor informing the sun to not come and wake us up as if it were Standard Time, rather than daylight savings time.  But I won’t complain about that, since the extra hour has allowed to me to catch up on blogs and write this blog.)

I hate baseball.

I know hate is a strong word, but I really don’t like it a lot.  It’s SOOO long and boring.  Moreover, it is NASTY!  Does everyone in Baseball have some kind of mouth problem where they have to spit every five seconds?  Especially when the camera is on them?  I realize this is from a long history of chewing tobacco, but even those who don’t chew anymore still find necessary to spit every few seconds.

Spitting in high def is extra nasty, too.  And so are the nose hairs hanging out of the team manager’s nose that you can also see in high def.  I’m now starting a campaign to revert MLB to standard def coverage.  If you would like to join me on this, please enter your credentials in the comments area.

My Life According to U2

OK… It’s been a while since we did one of these… so here goes…

Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. Pass it on to 20 people you like and include me (presuming I’m someone you like). You can’t use the band I used. Try not to repeat a song title. It’s a lot harder than you think! Repost as “my life according to (band name)”

Continue reading My Life According to U2

New Retail Strategy

lady with moneyRetail has always had catchy slogans to help train the masses of employees and customers they try to get to buy stuff.  I’m thinking:

  • “The Customer is Always Right”
  • “We sell for less”
  • “Where’s the beef?”

Well, I’m here to inform you that there’s a new strategy out there.  It must be due to the recent recession, so I’m calling it Recession Strategy 09 or RS09 for short.  It appears to be: “We pay you to shop here!”

Three examples from this past weekend:

Continue reading New Retail Strategy

Oh Bernie…

2009-02-21-MadoffPrison.edgeBernard Madoff arrived at federal prison yesterday to begin his 150 year sentence.

That means he’ll be released in 2139.

Somehow, I just don’t think the aged man will make it that long…

Maybe we should change how we punish our white collar criminals in this country…  Just think: how many of the most brilliant, creative minds are relegated to regimented recreation time, laundry duty, and Wopner/Jeopardy time?  Is the best use of their time allowing them to watch time pass by the nightly aging of Pat Sajak?  Perhaps we should sentence them to being hall monitors at elementary schools or something… I’m sure we could utilize their talents much more in society rather than letting them waste away behind bars.