Calling All Real Men

As I mentioned in a previous post, we came home from the Lake Placid tournament to a cold house because our boiler had failed. I was talking to mom and she said the Amazing PR Man said to look in the manual for trouble shooting tips. Of course I ignored this and simply turned the thing off and then on, and I could have sworn the thing re-booted itself and was on it's way to heating the water before it fizzled out and died again. There were some flashing lights which were trying to tell me something, and had I read the manual I would have figured it out, but I didn't. Instead I did what I normally do in my time of need - I called someone who would know what to do. I called my friend and neighbor, JP, who is a licensed electrician and a senior facilities manager at the college. He was home and had some time so he came over with his tool bag and did exactly what the Amazing PR Man said to do, he looked at the manual.

In that manual it said that the flashing light that was seeing meant that the igniter to the boiler was not working. This would explain why the boiler was initially starting but then petering out. JP took it a step further and examined the flow chart of the electrical circuit to determine the proper steps to ignition, thus confirming where the problem was occurring. He then, like any real man, went about taking the boiler apart (I watched in awe) and removing the igniter, which was clearly fried. Truth be told, if I had the huevos to do it, I probably could have followed the same steps, but I never would have had the wherewithal to just do it. I would have been way too neurotic.

The next step was to find the part. JP got on Google and he located it on SupplyHouse.com, which has a warehouse in New Jersey. It said we could get it on Tuesday (this was Sunday), but JP said it was worth seeing if I could find it at a nearby plumbing store. On Monday morning I stopped by one of the big ones, FW Webb, and they said nobody around here deals with our brand of boiler, so finding that part was going to be hard. Say no more - I came straight home and ordered it. I just wanted to mention that I got amazingly good service from SupplyHouse.com, they said the part would come on Tuesday, and I ordered it on Monday. I almost didn't believe it, but sure enough, it came the next afternoon, and I didn't have to pay for expedited shipping. I used standard shipping at $5 and got next day service. That is a company I would use again.

Now I had to install the igniter. I'm always wary of fiddling with things that involve propane, fire, and electricity, but someone had to do it. You can't live in a house with two kids and not have hot water, so I dove in and did it, and it wasn't that bad. In fact, re-installing the igniter was very easy, though something I hope to do only once in my life. We'll see how that goes. I hooked up the wiring, re-opened the propane valve, crossed my fingers and held my breath, and flicked on the switch. The boiler came top life and stayed on. Success!

Boy was I stoked. Not only did I not destroy the house (or boiler), but we now had hot water. And best of all, we managed to do it for about $50 in parts and no labor costs. We have a service plan with our gas company but they (over) charge for parts and who knows when they could make it over. As I mentioned, days or weeks without hot showers when you're tragically hip is just not acceptable.

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I also managed to fix the toilet but that's a story for another time. Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to Laura for the pic.

Double Edged Sword

Life has been a little complicated lately with mom going back home over the course of the last month. With her away, it means that I need to be at home, which in turn means that I can't really go to work. This is fine when you're a SAHD as me because the jobs I do are all part-time and flexible, though it probably doesn't win me any points with the powers that be at the Inn. And, of course, it also means that I'm not earning the big bucks to support our fabulous lifestyles. Fortunately, with it being the holidays and all, work on both fronts is pretty slow. Things at the Inn have been reduced to a trickle because people just don't get married in the wintertime, and posters are pretty much on hold with the school break. Plus, poster-boy work is very flexible, as long as the work gets done.

And looking at the bright side, it's good that my presence is not a must because I really have been needed at home. While being destitute is never a fun thing, it has been nice being at home and not rushing out to get to work. Plus, work at the Inn has become a bit of a chore, with a bunch of good people leaving and the work becoming increasingly demanding. I'm finding the work environment somewhat depressing for several reasons, not the least of which is that the shifts are really long, morale is low (I'm not alone in finding it all depressing), the staff is shrinking, and it's really not that much fun. I'm definitely not excited about going in, and several people I've spoken with share the same sentiment. It's almost as if they see us as replaceable, which of course we are, but do they have to make it so obvious?

Sure, the paycheck is nice, but one thing I've learned as I've gotten older is that money isn't everything. I generally make a bigger paycheck with the Inn than I would with private caterers mainly because the Inn shifts are longer, usually twice as long, so I usually make twice as much at the same rate. Problems arise, however, when the rates are not the same, and this happened this year. We worked a few weddings and made the same amount as a private gig (while working twice as long), so it begs the question, is it worth it? My thinking goes something like this - no thank you.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'd just as soon work a shift that's half as long, in a nicer work environment that can actually be fun (go figure), and have more of my day for my life. Another bonus with the private gigs is that we basically set up, serve the meal, clean up, and we're done. At the Inn there is a lot more setup and breakdown, which includes moving tons of furniture, and then we have to set up for the next event the next day. It's a lot of heavy lifting and believe me when I tell you that it's a drag knowing that once the event ends, there are 2 more hours of work ahead of you.

Okay, I've gone off on a tangent of epic proportions, but it's something worth thinking about for next year, especially if I want to maintain our fabulous lifestyles. I will say this - I don't think I need to save up for any new surfboards... I think.

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Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Amir Zhafri Abdullah for the pic.

Pet Care, Inc.

We do a fair amount of pet sitting, and for N it works nicely because it's sort of a job for him. It's not a constant situation, but enough so he can make a few bucks here and there. The people who “hire” him are usually generous and understanding that he's just a kid trying to earn some extra dough (to support his fabulous lifestyle). I'm more than happy to help out by driving him to certain locations, though in some instances he can simply ride his bike, which he does. We don't expect payment from our friend, HH, because she's practically family, so how can we possibly charge her?

Interestingly enough, every now and then we get the perfect storm of pet care and are watching over upwards of 3-4 households, sometimes with chickens, as well. That's when things get a bit more complicated. This holiday season we fell into this routine, and coupled with mom being away, we were jumping through all sorts of hoops just to get these pets cared for. One of our regulars, JC, lives a little far away, so we have to drive over on remote dirt roads to get there. Our good friend HH was also leaving town, as well as S&T and their three cats and chickens. There were only a day or two of overlap, but even when things are staggered, it can get a little crazy. Again, when you add chickens to the mix, it brings with it a whole new dimension of responsibility and worry.

On top of all that, we had to feed the animals on Christmas Day, and we got slammed with a big snowstorm. I woke up this morning to see all the white stuff and thought, “There's no way we're getting out of our driveway.” This presented us with a problem for HH's animals, because they have a dog and he needs to be walked twice a day. You figure he's gone all night with a bathroom break, so the morning walk is important. With the snow raging outside, I contacted HH and told her we were in a bit of a bind, and she contacted her neighbor who said he could do the job. Boy was I relieved, I really like HH's pets and felt like I was letting them down. Also didn't want to have a doggie accident in their house. I mean, can you blame the pup?

That leaves us with doing S&T's cats and chickens. Their situation is complicated by the fact that they live on a massive hill, and their driveway is a long sheet of ice. We park at the end and walk in, and even that's a challenge with the conditions as they are. Sometimes on Christmas Day, all you want to do is sit around the house and eat Christmas treats.

Oh well, at some point we're going to have to make the sojourn up the hill. I just hope our car makes it.

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Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to Ramon Bataller for the pic.

White Christmas

Merry Christmas to all out there, hope all is well with you this year. We've had a strange and disjointed holiday season, with mom gone for almost a month taking care of important stuff, so it's been hard to fire up and really get into the holiday spirit, but now she's home and we'll get to enjoy the holidays. She flew back on Saturday, so we got to spend Christmas Eve together baking cookies and watching holiday movies, and today we'll have our usual Christmas supper together - this year we decided to make a ham, which is unusual because I never think of cooking a ham. It's not usually high on my list of meal favorites, but we found a nice nitrate free ham at the Coop and we should be able to make it work. We'll go heavy on the vegetables and sides.

And, to help fuel the Christmas spirit, we're getting loads of snow! I can't recall ever having a white Christmas, but this year we've been getting a fair amount of snow, and sure enough, a storm rolled in last night we woke up to loads of the white stuff. As of this writing, it's still coming down in a steady stream. They're saying we're going to get 4-8 inches, but it usually ends up being more than they forecast. As long as the wood box is full and the fire is raging, we're good to go. I think it may be time to hit the slopes.

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Until the next time, thanks for reading. Merry Christmas and thanks to Peter Bihr for the pic.

Home For Holidays

We've been having to get used to life without mom, and it's a crazy and a little bit disconcerting and depressing. We're more than capable of dealing with the logistical stuff of running the household, but mom is definitely the glue that holds us together. I think the best way to put is that we can survive with her absent, but when she's here, we can really live our lives. We sure do miss her.

She was away for about two weeks about a month back, then she came home for what seemed like a couple of days before she had to head back to her parent's house again. Talk about a whirlwind - here today, gone tomorrow. She'd been away for another couple of weeks before she returned home for Christmas. Traveling has been a challenge recently, as well, because the weather has not fairly rough, with lots of winter storms. Her first flight back had several cancelations, and she had to change her plans this last time because yet another big storm came through, but she made it safely (thankfully). Today, Christmas, we have yet another storm, so she just squeezed in to get home. Whew!

Now that she's home we can resume our normal lives, which to some may seem boring but suits us just fine - just hanging out and enjoying each other's company. Nothing fancy or crazy, at least not most of the time, but when you really get down to it, when you can celebrate your time together doing next to nothing, then you're really onto something, because that's what most of our lives are really about, right?

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Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Sarah Brighton for the pic.

Rock Stars

A's band jammed out at the local school this past week, and it was a cool show. Being the boring and out-of-touch parent that I am, I'm not completely clued in as to what's cool with kids these days, but when I was growing up, being in a band was the thing. It didn't matter if you could play or not, just getting up there on stage and making an appearance was enough to make you too cool for words. It sure earned my respect. A's band rocked out and they did a nice job. In fact, all the bands played well, and most of them were comprised of the audience's classmates. I enjoyed the show, but on some level I couldn't help but think the crowd had other places to be. It's a shame because it takes a lot of courage and wherewithal to get up there and play. These performers deserve the audiences respect. They sure as heck would have gotten it when I was a kid, but times have changed.

Today kids seemed to be more jaded about what I thought was cool, maybe because of technology, or maybe because they're just more sophisticated. I can't say for sure, but these guys didn't seem as interested or enthused. Even still, I give the bands top marks for just doing it. Like Woody Allen says, 87% of life is just showing up. You're not always going to get the response you want, and maybe that's just an important lesson in life. You can't always play just for your parents, who will give you unflinchingly enthusiastic support. Life, as we all know, just doesn't work that way.

We had a good time, nonetheless, and I was stoked because N got to hang out with his hockey teammates, most of whom attend the school. What's cool is that they recognized and acknowledged him, enough to where he broke off from me and sat with them, despite them being surrounded by kids he didn't know. That's pretty huge.

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Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Vince for the pic.

Puzzle Master

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This may not be a big deal to some, but to me it's pretty amazing - N figured out how to solve his Rubik's Cube. I think he may have had some online help, but even still, it's pretty impressive to me. Not only that, but now that he's figured it out, he can solve it over and over again. In fact, when I'm laying in bed at night I can hear him twisting and turning the thing. Just a small note about our lives, proving once again that it doesn't take much to impress me.

Thanks for reading, and thanks to Jauy Salikin for the pic.