Tag: NaBloPoMo 2013

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So, I think I’ve lost the NaBloPoMo challenge, since I failed to write anything yesterday. I had something planned and everything, but I’ve been blogging in the evenings, and felt sick last night and completely forgot that I even needed to. All I remember is lying on the couch, reading Les Miserables, and reading kids’ books to my son.

Although technically I did write a post for Speed Force on Wednesday, so I suppose I’m still in the clear.

It’s been an interesting process. I’ve found myself stumbling on topics to write about, observations that ordinarily I’d let drop, or in some cases start writing and never come back to again.

It’s also been a problem. Specifically with my Les Miserables commentary. I’m on page 1162 reading, almost at the end, but my posts are only up to page 843. I’d really like to get that going again, but while I had plenty of free time in the evenings on my business trip, now that I’m back to my normal life, I have a lot less free time.

If I’ve got half an hour, and an obligation to blog something, I’m going to use that half hour for something that I can write quickly, not to get started on something that’s ultimately going to take me three hours spread out over several days to finish. And that, IMO, is counterproductive to the goal of blogging more. I’m still of the opinion that in the long run, less frequent high quality content is better than more frequent low quality content.

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Usually when I get an envelope labeled “Important information about your account” it turns out to be a set of balance transfer checks, sent hoping I’ll use them to put more money on my credit card. It’s about my account, sure, but neither important nor information.

This one takes the cake, though:

Important information about your account! (Just kidding.)

It claims to be “Important information about your Verizon Internet service,” implying…but carefully not actually claiming that it’s from Verizon. It turns out to be an ad for Time Warner Cable. I suppose it is information, since it does tell you about TWC’s service, but it doesn’t actually say anything about Verizon’s service…and it certainly doesn’t say anything about my service plan, which it does claim to be about.

The fact that it’s addressed to “Current Resident” makes me wonder whether they would have sent me the same mailing even if I had their service.

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There’s an old children’s joke that goes like this:

“Did you know the word gullible isn’t in the dictionary?”

Then when the other child goes to look it up, you laugh at them for believing you.

On the face of it, it’s a lesson in not believing everything you hear.

But when it comes down to it, the child who goes to look it up isn’t necessarily being gullible; he or she is doing research to confirm their expectations. Yes, gullible should be in there, but let’s make sure. Once you’ve seen a number of dictionaries that all have gullible in them, you can safely ignore the next person who claims that it’s missing, and insist that they put up their evidence.

That’s science.

The child who says, “Really?” and then goes around repeating it? He’s the one who needs a lesson in skepticism.

So the next time someone sends along a bizarre “fact,” especially one intended to spur you to action…dig a little deeper. Sometimes all it takes is two minutes of fact checking to save your credibility. You don’t want to get known as the guy who really did think gullible wasn’t in the dictionary…over and over and over again.

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Last night I had to do some late-night laundry, and when I went in to move clothes from the washer to the dryer, I noticed water on the floor. My first thought: Great, the washing machine’s busted. On opening it, though, it looked like it had at least drained fine. So I checked the closet for the water heater.

Bingo: A fine jet of water spraying out the side of one of the pipes.

So I got out some duct tape, figuring it could block the leak for a few hours, and notified the landlord so he could call a plumber.

It was dripping again by the time I finished writing the text. Maybe it would have worked if I’d been able to shut off the water to that pipe before putting the tape on, but my plumbing expertise is…rather limited. I didn’t want to mess things up any more than I had to.

But I did know that you don’t want water puddling on your floor, even if it’s a concrete laundry room floor, so I put a container down to catch the drips (now that it was only drips). It was full by the time I came back for the clothes.

Then I noticed the wall vent near the damaged pipe. There was a small hole in the screen to allow an overflow pipe to run outside, and it was a few inches below the bottom of the pipe that the hot water was trickling down.

Lightbulb moment: Cut a Pringles can in half and make a trough to channel the water out through the vent and into the planter outside.

Problem: I don’t think I’ve bought a can of Pringles in over a decade.

Solution: A paper towel roll lined with foil.

I actually ended up using several toilet paper rolls taped together end to end, but it worked: The spit-and-baling-wire contraption diverted the water outside, keeping it from flooding any worse until the plumber arrived.

Yeah, it’s best to fix something right. But sometimes you need to patch it now and fix it right later.

Trickling Out