Busybusybusybusybusybusybusy and a break.
Jul. 21st, 2006 10:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sylvarAs soon as I got home, I saw that the Sears repairman had come and fixed the dryer. The labor charge was $120, and the parts (a genuine factory-approved drum belt) cost $20. That didn't include hooking the dryer up to the exhaust vent properly, as I had chosen a vinyl hose a year or two ago, and he said it'd be illegal for him to work on it.
Then a Freecycler came over to pick up our spare dining room table for which we had no spare dining room, and when she and her helper monkeys had left, I went to the hardware store to get a proper metal exhaust hose and two worm-gear cinches. While in the dryer-tchotchkes aisle, I saw a belt like the broken one the technician left behind. It cost five bucks. Well, I guess there's truth in the joke.
When I got home, I began to realize that if I wanted to use (or even fix) the laundry facilities at night, I'd better fix the overhead light. I could have waited for maintenance to do it, but then I'd have lost valuable laundry time. (Laundry practically does itself if you're assiduous about keeping it moving from hamper to washer to dryer to closet, but that half-parallel method does require you to be at home for a long stretch of time.)
So I started to take the light fixture apart, and then realized Charles Darwin was looking over my shoulder. I retreated to the breaker panel and figured out how to turn off that circuit, then returned. (Those of you who have installed software on a Unix system are probably thinking to yourself: "Uh-oh, this is going to be the dependency tree from hell". I was thinking that too.) I took it apart and realized that the socket/switch was broken. So I took it to the hardware store, bought another one, and headed home.
First, though, I stopped at the grocery store for some Budweiser Select, since nothing says Friday night in Florida like beer and amateur electrical work. (Disclosure: I'm a BzzAgent and I got a coupon for the beer, though I didn't use it tonight. Also, since I'm still alive, you must realize that I'm smart enough to save the beer for *after* the amateur electrical work.)
It all fit together just dandy once I realized I had to break off the little metal cone that guides the pull-switch in order to get the socket nestled down in the porcelain doohickey far enough to thread the other porcelain doohickey onto the outside of the socket and hold the whole thingamabob together. And once I did that, it was damned difficult to screw the whole assembly back onto the recessed ceiling mount. I assume the sun was up when they first installed the thing with those silly non-pointy screws, but the flashlight worked well enough, eventually.
Having lit the room, I was finally able to cinch the exhaust hose onto the dryer and the vent, wiggle the dryer back into the laundry room, and declare the project done for the night. I'll start the laundry tomorrow.
And you know what? Budweiser Select tastes *really* good after you've been doing hard work and can finally reward yourself with temporary inability to get much done. (After two of them, I've switched to store-brand raspberry seltzer with a splach of lemon juice for the rest of the night.)
Looks like it's time to call Jodi back -- she's enjoying herself, meeting great people, learning gobs of stuff, and eating Peachy Paterno ice cream at the PSU Creamery. She's glad she only has to live in the dorm for another week, though. Her roommate? Awesome. Walking down the hall to take a shower? Not awesome. Eating dorm food all the time? Although they have vegetarian options as well as Creamery ice cream (with a new flavor rotated in for each new meal), not all that awesome.
So good night, LJ readers. I'm sure I'll be complaining/bragging again tomorrow.
Then a Freecycler came over to pick up our spare dining room table for which we had no spare dining room, and when she and her helper monkeys had left, I went to the hardware store to get a proper metal exhaust hose and two worm-gear cinches. While in the dryer-tchotchkes aisle, I saw a belt like the broken one the technician left behind. It cost five bucks. Well, I guess there's truth in the joke.
When I got home, I began to realize that if I wanted to use (or even fix) the laundry facilities at night, I'd better fix the overhead light. I could have waited for maintenance to do it, but then I'd have lost valuable laundry time. (Laundry practically does itself if you're assiduous about keeping it moving from hamper to washer to dryer to closet, but that half-parallel method does require you to be at home for a long stretch of time.)
So I started to take the light fixture apart, and then realized Charles Darwin was looking over my shoulder. I retreated to the breaker panel and figured out how to turn off that circuit, then returned. (Those of you who have installed software on a Unix system are probably thinking to yourself: "Uh-oh, this is going to be the dependency tree from hell". I was thinking that too.) I took it apart and realized that the socket/switch was broken. So I took it to the hardware store, bought another one, and headed home.
First, though, I stopped at the grocery store for some Budweiser Select, since nothing says Friday night in Florida like beer and amateur electrical work. (Disclosure: I'm a BzzAgent and I got a coupon for the beer, though I didn't use it tonight. Also, since I'm still alive, you must realize that I'm smart enough to save the beer for *after* the amateur electrical work.)
It all fit together just dandy once I realized I had to break off the little metal cone that guides the pull-switch in order to get the socket nestled down in the porcelain doohickey far enough to thread the other porcelain doohickey onto the outside of the socket and hold the whole thingamabob together. And once I did that, it was damned difficult to screw the whole assembly back onto the recessed ceiling mount. I assume the sun was up when they first installed the thing with those silly non-pointy screws, but the flashlight worked well enough, eventually.
Having lit the room, I was finally able to cinch the exhaust hose onto the dryer and the vent, wiggle the dryer back into the laundry room, and declare the project done for the night. I'll start the laundry tomorrow.
And you know what? Budweiser Select tastes *really* good after you've been doing hard work and can finally reward yourself with temporary inability to get much done. (After two of them, I've switched to store-brand raspberry seltzer with a splach of lemon juice for the rest of the night.)
Looks like it's time to call Jodi back -- she's enjoying herself, meeting great people, learning gobs of stuff, and eating Peachy Paterno ice cream at the PSU Creamery. She's glad she only has to live in the dorm for another week, though. Her roommate? Awesome. Walking down the hall to take a shower? Not awesome. Eating dorm food all the time? Although they have vegetarian options as well as Creamery ice cream (with a new flavor rotated in for each new meal), not all that awesome.
So good night, LJ readers. I'm sure I'll be complaining/bragging again tomorrow.
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Date: 2006-07-22 12:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-22 03:11 pm (UTC)