water water everywhere but not a drop to drink

[sergebroom]

Wednesday night was further confirmation that I have no talent whatsoever for such real-world skills as plumbing. We had spent the whole evening moving everything out of the kitchen due to someone coming in the next day to refinish its hardwood floor. By the way, if you ever think of putting a hardwood floor in your kitchen, don’t. Maybe the house’s original owners all had the superpower of complete mastery over water spills. I discovered that I have no such power when it came to moving the fridge out. First, I had to disconnect its water line, which I had completely turned off 24 hours before as recommended. At least I thought I had and as I started unscrewing the line, I figured that the slight seepage was leftover water flowing back out. When the line completely came off, I found how wrong I was. I did manage to completely and truly turn things off before anything more than a bucket’s worth of water had poured out.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I stay away from plumbing-related tasks.

Besides that, I’ve been busy with an office project to validate that our backup server could be used, should the real server croak. It had been on my to-do list for some time, but other tasks of a more pressing nature meant putting it off. Last week though we had a situation where the backup server came close to being very much needed. That convinced my manager to rearrange my task list.

Anything else? Well, tomorrow is the 13th anniversary of my becoming an American citizen, a decision I haven’t regretted in spite of the White House’s current residents. That probably means a day of attacking the backyard’s overgrown weeds, followed by dinner at the nearby Flying Star.

Comments

[kouredios.livejournal.com]

Yeah. That's why we always get a professional for plumbing or electric. It's just too hairy if it goes wrong...

Happy anniversary! I'm glad you think it was worth it!

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

I always hire professionals for plumbing or electrical, but what could have gone wrong with just disconnecting a water line? Plenty, obviously.

[kouredios.livejournal.com]

Heh. True. I'm sure Jay would have done the same, with similar effect.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Well, men do have their pride. I certainly felt especially proud as I mopped all that water off the floor.

[miltonthales.livejournal.com]

What could go wrong? From personal experience, lots (http://www.linkmeister.com/blog/archives/002225.html).

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't dare try that with a toilet, especially now.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

I'm always alarmed by those 70s houses that have wall-to-wall carpeting in the bathrooms.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Me too. The first appartment I lived in had such flooring. Then I noticed that it was not glued to the floor and promptly removed it, thus exposing the actual tile floor.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

Ah. That was smart. A friend of mine has a house with carpeted bathrooms, and it frightens the heck out of me.

[kouredios.livejournal.com]

We're in the middle of stripping 4 layers of paint off the tile floor in the bathroom. And we've had to deal with paint over brick. But, at least, no carpet where it shouldn't be. 40s house.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

That's good! It's got to be a lot of work, though.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Painted bricks? Gross.

[kouredios.livejournal.com]

Yeah. There wasn't much we could do but replace the mint-green paint with white. :(

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Mint-green? Have mercy. I just ate.

[kouredios.livejournal.com]

It gets better (worse?). It was an accent wall to a room painted in a beige-pink monstrosity of a color. Which was actually newly painted over all the walls before we moved in. Except the bathroom, which was hot pink.

I think it was called nutmeg, but it didn't join with the mint to make anything tasty. Bleh. Hope your digestion isn't upset by this as well. :)

The kicker is that the woman who sold this house to us is a friend. A friend with bad decorating instincts, but a friend nonetheless.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

It's a good thing that my stomach is stronger than I thought. Heheheh...