Today I'm gonna...

[pmcd9]

Go meet Jorge, he's a very nice guy.

[Asherdan]

Nassau


St. Maarten


St. Thomas


St. Thomas, Charlotte Amelie, Sidewalk Bar


I had a Vodka Gimlet.

[linnea]

Oh god those tropical pictures are insaaaaane. I am so jealous. I hope your vacation is incredibly relaxing and fun.

I am petsitting for some friends of mine. I would like to say that their cat is inconsiderate and does not even have the common decency to flush the kitty toilet. Heinous.

[jay-ell]

On Monday, I removed a leaky, outdated, water-guzzling toilet and replaced it with a more efficient model. I also swapped out the leaky faucet for the one we removed from the bathroom we remodeled -- it's old, but it works fine. Hopefully this will be sufficient to see a drop in our water bill.

When my dad heard from Mom that I'd successfully replaced the commode without his help (or anyone else's, for that matter), he called me and talked around the fact that he's proud of me for almost five whole minutes, while I demurred the not-quite-compliments he was offering. It went kind of like this:

J: "Hello?"
D: "So, I hear you're a plumber now."
J: "Well, you only have to know four things to be a plumber."
D: "That's true, and now you must know at least five."
J: "It wasn't that hard, I just followed the instructions in the box."
D: "That's more than most people can do."
J: "There were pictures."

etc.

You need to understand: my father never, ever calls me on the phone just to chat. The only time he ever dials my number is when he's dropping by to fix something, drop something off, or pick something up -- and half the time, he makes my mom call for that.

So getting a call from Dad so that we could chat about my new toilet made me feel like a Handymom Diva-Princess. IMMD.

[AugustWest]

Let's see, a new toilet? 

Unbolt old toilet, detach water line from back, remove.

Remove old wax ring, replace, seat toilet, bolt down, reattach water line.

Good stuff.  Like you say, it's so rewarding discovering new stuff you can do all by yourself.

[Asherdan]

I am petsitting for some friends of mine.

Please do better than our pet sitter. She went out on the upstairs balcony to enjoy the view and left the french doors secured improperly. We had some weather and it blew the door open. When she showed up that night she was unable to lure in one of our three cats from the roof. She tried over the next couple of days, leaving food out and all but no kitty.

She feels terrible, of course, and I'm playing it off lightly because it's over and done and there's no sense roasting someone at this point.

But GODDAM! I pound rescued that cat when it was less than a year old as a April 1999 Easter present for Spouse. For 12 years she'd been MY buddy, all coming to me most evenings quiet times for scritches. We had our own games, dammit.

So yeah. I'm sure you'll do fine and dandy, Linnea.

ALSO: Jay-Ell? You have been adopted in the man conversation clubhouse by your Pap. Congratulations on your honorary weiner. Actually, a lot of men conversate best through the projects they've been up to and your pater was complimenting you. I'm glad you recognized it.

But if you want to stay in the club you can't play false modesty all the way. At some point you need to tell an under-emphasized no-big-deal tone story about one of the problems you overcame with the project. Then he can relate his experiences with that kind of stuff and maybe you guys can go crack a brew an chew the fat.

[Asherdan]

Let's see, a new toilet? 

Unbolt old toilet, detach water line from back, remove.

Remove old wax ring, replace, seat toilet, bolt down, reattach water line.

Good stuff.  Like you say, it's so rewarding discovering new stuff you can do all by yourself.

See?

But somewhere in there you need to mention how the mount was rusted out so you ran down to the Ace and grabbed a new one to switch out, and you know how those bolt heads can be a pain to get at after they've corroded up for years.

[wombat]

OK, I don't want to be a wet blanket here but... the Tech Staff is good at this kind of stuff, but if I remember correctly, the one time he did this, we eventually realized the toilet was leaking and had to call a plumber to re-do it. So, maybe keep an eye on it. You don't expect to do most things perfectly the first time, right?

[jay-ell]

OK, I don't want to be a wet blanket here but... the Tech Staff is good at this kind of stuff, but if I remember correctly, the one time he did this, we eventually realized the toilet was leaking and had to call a plumber to re-do it. So, maybe keep an eye on it. You don't expect to do most things perfectly the first time, right?

Dad checked it out. In fact, he came by because after the whole thing was installed and we turned the valve back on, the *valve* started leaking. So he had to come replace the valve for me because I don't know how to solder (yet). No leaks on the toilet proper, though. And Dad would know.

ALSO: Jay-Ell? You have been adopted in the man conversation clubhouse by your Pap. Congratulations on your honorary weiner. Actually, a lot of men conversate best through the projects they've been up to and your pater was complimenting you. I'm glad you recognized it.

But if you want to stay in the club you can't play false modesty all the way. At some point you need to tell an under-emphasized no-big-deal tone story about one of the problems you overcame with the project. Then he can relate his experiences with that kind of stuff and maybe you guys can go crack a brew an chew the fat.

Well, the new toilet actually came about because I was trying to repair the old one. I took the whole thing apart so that I could get to the gasket that seals the tank to the bowl, but the bolts were so rusted (and, of course, I didn't get new ones because they cost a whole $1.50) that I couldn't get it back together. By this time, the hardware store was closed, so I had to leave it for morning, and by then I'd been able to convince my spouse that if we were going to replace every bolt, nut, washer, and gasket in an effort to get this thing to stop leaking (I had already replaced the flapper and seal), we may as well spring for a new unit and save ourselves 3 gallons per flush as well.

The modestly isn't false, BTW. I have a really hard time accepting compliments, generally. "Nice dress," my friend will say. "Oh, this? I got it off the clearance rack at Kohl's last fall."

Also, the bolts *WERE* so rusted that I couldn't get them unscrewed, so I just took a pair of channel locks and broke them off at the base. (Note to self: buy a hacksaw.)

Next up: GFCI!

[AugustWest]

and you know how those bolt heads can be a pain to get at after they've corroded up for years.

Oh hells yes.  You ain't lived til you've spent an hour kneeling by your toilet hacksawing a mounting bolt off.

[AugustWest]

Next up: GFCI!

The trouble I have with those is either the wires are so short it's hard to get them connected to the replacement outlet or the wires are too long so it's hard to cram them all back into the box when you're done.

Which reminds me, I've got an outlet I need to replace in the basement.

[side_show]

Let's see, a new toilet? 

Unbolt old toilet, detach water line from back, remove.

Remove old wax ring, replace, seat toilet, bolt down, reattach water line.

Good stuff.  Like you say, it's so rewarding discovering new stuff you can do all by yourself.

Well, uh for the young pups who might read this, it should be noted that you must first turn the water off, and drain the old toilet.  Turning the water off is a pretty important step.

[AugustWest]

Well, uh for the young pups who might read this, it should be noted that you must first turn the water off, and drain the old toilet.  Turning the water off is a pretty important step.

Shhhhh.

Next I'm going to send one of 'em to get my left-handed monkey wrench from the truck.

[jay-ell]

Shhhhh.

Next I'm going to send one of 'em to get my left-handed monkey wrench from the truck.

My dad used to tell the n00bs, "You cut this 2x4 too short, go get the board stretcher from the truck."

[greenkoolayd]

i was in boy scouts for a time.  when i was a n00bscout, i actually went back to the leaders' truck to fetch the 'left-handed smoke-shifter'.