Fishing is my thing. Catching or not, just being on the water and not thinking about all the crap going on in life. Aquatic escapism, maybe?
My parrot doesn't start eating immediately when I give her food and water, she first boughs her head and touches my hand with her beak before starting, like a thank you. So polite. Makes me smile every time since it's not something I had to teach her.
That I'm old enough to not care what the rest of the world thinks. Is that the definition of a curmudgeon?
Not as far as I'm concerned. I'd call that a healthy, mature adult. This didn't make me happy, just inordinately amused. This afternoon at work, I received an email that won Most Bizarre Email of the Year award. (Yes, it's still February, but still). I work in accounts, and people regularly send me emails with documents that say "We paid you this much money, and here's why", with a list of invoice numbers etc. So, I received an document like that ... which quoted an invoice ... that was paid 10 years ago. ............................. later, when I picked up my jaw off the floor and stopped laughing, I emailed them politely and asked if I somehow missed anything, or what's going on? Their answer was a masterclass in avoiding blame. It basically said "The software sent it accidentally." Yeah, sure. Your software somehow developed sentience and sent this out all on its own, without any human involvement. And I'm Donald Duck. (I didn't say any of that, of course. I just let them make themselves look silly. They didn't need my help)
Happy for whomever did the plumbing setup in my house however many years ago before this ended up in the Not Happy thread. My kitchen faucet nozzle snapped off tonight. Metal fatigue. Happens all the time. No problem. But for whatever reason the faucet handle didn't shut the water off. No idea why. I'm not a plumber. But whatever, no problem. Kill the hot water feed line below the sink. That valve was dead. Not terribly shocking. Valves are notorious for pooping out after 20 years or whatever. We never notice because we never use them. Luckily for me, there was another valve below that that feeds into the dishwasher. Hit that, and it snaps off like a twig in my hand, diverting the faucet link from the sink to the cabinet under the sink. Not a crazy leak. Nothing a bucket can't handle for 5 minutes or so. Journey into the basement and up into a small dirt crawl space below the kitchen that was part of an addition to the house in the 1960s we think. Grab the flashlight, follow the pipes to locate another valve. Hit that. That valve is dead too. Now we have a bit of a problem. Keep following the pipes back into the basement. Locate one of those modern-ish 90 degree flow valve thingies. This one isn't leftover from the Nixon administration and probably still works. Hit that. Oh shit. That valve is dead too. Backing up further into the basement. Getting perilously close to the main water line coming into the house. One more valve. Say five Hail Marys and an Our Father. Shut that valve and success! Water has stopped leaking upstairs in the kitchen. Looking around. Dear Lord, let that valve be the one that only feeds the downstairs so the bathroom and shower upstairs works. Walk upstairs. Five more Hail Marys as I reach for the hot water in the shower. Turn that on. Hot water in abundance. Glory glory Hallelujah. Keeping score, that's five dead valves in a chain of six excluding the watermain. And the one that services the upstairs was the only one left working. So yeah, thank you, long dead homeowner, for over engineering the plumbing in my crib. Fortunately for me, my neighbor is a plumber who services all of our restaurants and was paid... wait for it... $27,000 in 2023 from just our company alone. Not my money. Owners take care of that. So he won't whack too hard to fix my house, but, Jesus. Skip the tech field, kids, and go be a plumber. Pay cash for your BMW. Pay off your house in 5 years. Work as much or as little as you like. Retire a millionaire at 40. The ladies won't care of you come home smelling like poop.
Good lord, that plumbing adventure read as a gripping flash fiction thriller. I think you just invented a new literary genre that all homeowners will relate to. And you're right - we don't really need more white-collar mouse clickers, so the real money now is in the trades. Jobs that can never be replaced by AI. Makes me wonder if I'm not too old to get back into shape and get my hands dirty, y'know?
Or as my neighbor plumber says, if you don't want to get dirty, go be an electrician. I'm looking back through the basement now, and 3 of those valves are along the same waterline. I imagine that somebody built the kitchen addition back in the day and added a valve when they extended the line. Then, probably in the 80s, when they added a dishwasher, they split it off the sink line and added another valve. What I can't figure out, though, is that with the upstairs and downstairs bathrooms stacked above each other like most houses, why the valve for the upstairs feed, the one I didn't have to kill, is on the other side of the house. It actually doubles back from the water heater. The house was built in 1930 when this neighborhood was still farmland, so it's possible that they were still using a well then and the sewers came later. The downstairs bathroom was part of that modern-ish division, so maybe it fed from the other direction originally. I don't know.
Your plumbing adventures are fascinating, Homer. I wasn't sure if all those breaking valves were high drama or slapstick comedy, but I loved the adventure. Ooo, think of the titles in the Sweet Plumbing Romance genre: Love Among the Pipes, Gently Flows the Wet Vent, Dancing in the Drain. Spicy Plumbing Romance would be a little dirtier, of course. The deal we had with our kids: you can be whatever you want to be, but first, you learn some kind of trade. We didn't care if it was carpentry or making coffee drinks, but something. (We practiced what we preached. My husabnd is an all-around fix-it guy, and I'll bet you with a little bit of instruction, I can still operate any kind of farm machinery or road construction equipment you show me.) The trouble we had getting our son into the trades programs in high school twenty years ago- uff da. You'd have thought we were trying to break him into prison. Guidance counselors regarding the trades as something kids went into if they were f***-ups or didn't get good enough grades for college. The idea that someone would go into a trade because it interested him or her was simply beyond the ken of The Highly Paid Educational Professionals. Son was a smart if quirky kid, ergo, he should be on university track. We finally rattled enough doors to get him into the building and trades course. By the time he was eighteen, he was making more money framing houses than I was with eight years of higher education. Side note: when my daughter came along four years after her brother and wanted to take welding, no one protested, so perhaps guidance counselors are teachable.
I like this. How about Taking the Plunge, My Leaky Heart or The Greywater Affair? Okay, that last one's a little gross.
I couldn't agree more about acquiring a trade. Instant, perpetual employment anywhere in the world at anytime. #restaurants. Saga continues here. I have successfully removed my kitchen faucet so I can replace it tomorrow. I can do that much. I will still need the plumber to replace the valves, but I will have the new faucet properly installed and connected to the feed lines. Or at least enough to have my plumber make sure I did it right and maybe clean up an oversight or two. #mancard. #nottooproudtoaskforhelp. What I found fascinating was that out of, I don't know, 300 pieces in the socket wrench kit my uncle bought me for a house warming gift 4 years ago, none of them were big enough to fit the bolts. Neither the 7/8 nor the 22mm were large enough, which seems strange, but #nothandybutresourceful. And there was less than 4 inches of horizontal wiggle room between the back of the sink and the wall, less than a foot of vertical room between the garbage disposal and the double U joint of PVC pipe for the drain line. #IdontreallyknowwhatImtalkingaboutbutIwouldntbeawriterifIcouldntsoundlikeIdo. So I had to work a channel wrench in a vertical position to get the bolts off. Which took forever but there was no way in hell I was letting that bitch defeat me. And my wife seems fairly impressed, so, yay me? #haveanotheroneHomer
I was nominated for an award at work i dont do my job for the recognition... but after how hard i worked in my previous job only to be crapped on constantly...it feels so nice just to be recognized. it makes me feel like i'm actually doing a good job, that i am an appreciated member of the team, and that my being here is valued. i want to cry!
Finally got my tax forms from my employer, so I did my taxes this afternoon. I was looking at my past couple of returns before beginning this year's, and realized that I did not claim some credits last year. The result being, I get to add a few hundred bucks to an already decent refund. So, I went ahead and ordered a new mattress and box spring, and can't wait for them to arrive. It's nice to have some pocket money ! Treat. Yo. Self.
> Does his own taxes two full months before the deadline. > Reviews prior tax returns while he's at it. > Retroactively applies some missed deductions. > Uses the money to buy a new bed. This post is so adult it hurts. Children under 18 shouldn't even be allowed to read it.
*shrug* I do my own taxes in advance. Doing my taxes was a little difficult the first time or two, but you get used to it. But I agree, kids under 18 usually don't worry (or have to worry) about doing their taxes.
With three business incomes between my husband and me, we no longer do our own taxes. Finding a decent accountant is about as challenging as figuring it out for ourselves. This year, my husband caught several mistakes the current one made. Sigh. I miss our nice Asperger's accountant who had dead-on concentration and never missed anything, but she retired.
LOL It never even occurred to me how lame that sounded. It's what Ned Flanders would do haha. Rest assured I'll be spending at least a little of that on beer and pizza! I always do my taxes as soon as I can, because I know I will always be getting a refund. And I have a simple life, which comes with a simple return.
I have multiple incomes as well as my own business; so to the tax lady it goes. She has the personality of a trapped raccoon but does excellent tax work.
