Next time I complain about air travel remind me that it can always get worse/scarier. For evidence I give you today’s emergency landing of a small US Airways plane at our very own Piedmont Triad International Airport. WXII has video of the landing here.
The short Greensboro-Charlotte flight is a very common flight for folks connecting to more distant locales from the Triad and so I think many of us can imagine ourselves sitting in that teeny-weeny prop plane and looking out the window to see one of the propellers stop working. When I flew from Burlington, VT to La Guardia last week I was on a plane just like the one with the problems today and I can tell you that one of my thoughts was, "I wonder if they ever have engine failures on these things." Of course you could think the same things about small jets too, but for some reason it seems so much more likely with a propeller. I realize it’s not logical to think that way, but maybe because you can actually see the propeller in action it seems much more vulnerable to failure than a jet with it’s turbine function all but invisible to the naked eye.
Anyway, I can tell you that if I was on that flight I’d have given the pilot a loud ovation the second we touched down safely. I also would have kissed the ground as soon as I was off the plane. Not sure how I’d have felt about getting on another flight though.
Well, it doesn’t qualify me for the Handyman Hall of Fame, but I pulled off a household DIY that, frankly, I thought was beyond me. Try to follow the technical explanation here; in our master bathroom the doohickey that you push in to make the water come out of the shower nozzle instead of the bath nozzle was regularly being expelled with force every once in a while. When I say with force I mean that the doohickey flew out of its home, heretofore known as the doohickey hole, with such great force that it would slam into the wall on the other end of the bathtub, which is approximately five feet, with enough force to sound like small arms fire. The first time it happened it missed Celeste by about two inches.
Anyway, for months we were able to finesse the doohickey back into its hole and it would work for a while and then, seemingly out of nowhere it would try to impale one of us. Finally, this week the doohickey refused to be finessed and it was time for repair. As I’ve documented many times here I’m no Bob Vila and this project intimidated me, especially since it took a plumber an hour to fix the drain system in the same tub. I figured I was in for a long week.
So, I pulled the face plate off of the faucet to see if I could figure out what to do. When I pulled it off I found that the doohickey was actually a part of a larger piece that screws directly into the whatchamajiget that tells the water whether or not to be hot, cold or indifferent. For a while I thought I might have to shut off the main water supply, but then I realized that if I kept the faucet off it would act as a shut off valve since it was located at the top of this particular operation. This was of great relief to me since the last time I shut off the main water supply we had all kinds of creepy noises coming from our pipes for days afterward, which of course deprived Celeste (aka Bat Ears) of her beauty sleep.
My next step was to jump online and see if anyone sold replacement doohickeys. My worry is that like everything else in this house our shower is a tad on the old side and I was worried that replacement parts would be hard to find. After a little hunting and pecking I found a plumbing supply site that had a picture of what appeared to be our shower equipment. Here it is:
It seems that our shower faucet is a Delta 602, and that the doohickey is actually called a diverter. After a little more hunting I found that the diverter is sold in most hardware stores, so this morning I went over to Lowes and purchased my shiny new doohickey. Once I came home I attempted to remove the old doohickey but unfortunately my wrench set seemed to be shy the 7/8″ size I needed and unfortunately my adjustable wrench and lock pliers were too bulky to get the job done. I gave it my best shot but despite my sweating and cursing I couldn’t get my crusty old doohickey out of its hole.
Unfortunately the lack of appropriate tools is common for my DIY projects so I made my way back to Lowes to buy my new wrench. I bought it and all the other wrenches over 5/8″ just to be safe (5/8 being the largest wrench I could find back home) and justified it in my mind by telling myself that surely a 1″ wrench will be needed at some point in the future for another project on the Money Pit. I also decided that while I was at it I’d buy a new knob for the faucet since our old one was crustier than the doohickey and I might as well do it while I had the whole thing torn apart.
Upon my return I found that the 7/8″ worked perfectly and I had the old doohickey off in a flash. I put some thread tape on the new doohickey and inserted it in the hole, tightened it, put the face plate (also known as the escutcheon) back on, put on the new knob and gave it a test drive. Miracle of miracles it worked on the first try and it didn’t leak. I’m thinking I’ve earned a mid-day beer.
Here’s a pic of our broken doohickey (click on it and the picture below to enlarge them). The white piece is what sticks into the water pipe to divert the water to the shower head. It’s supposed to be attached to the other parts, but it became separated from the “button arm” (which looks like a button when it’s installed) that’s supposed to push it into the pipe.
Here’s a picture of the part all separated. You see that the “button arm” actually fits inside a spring which fits inside the “sleeve” of the piece. When the water is running and you push the button arm in the water pressure against the white part will keep the spring from pushing the “button arm” back out. When you turn off the water the pressure against the white part decreases and the spring pushes the button arm back out allowing the rest of the water to drain out from the tub faucet.
So for those of you who may face your own battle with a Delta faucet here’s the glossary of terms and steps for repair:
Glossary
Doohickey – Diverter
Face Plate – Escutcheon
Whatchamajiget – Valve
Steps
I just stumbled across this Winston-sponsored Flinstones episode. It begins with Fred and Barney sneaking a "Winston break" while Betty and Wilma do chores, and then later you see a piece where the announcer says the show is sponsored by Winston and then Fred sings a jingle. Here it is:
I was in one of the circles of hell, the Wal-Mart on Hanes Mall Blvd., when I spied two signs by the doors to the employee section. One was "motivational" and the other a sign posted above the computer terminals to be used by job applicants.
First, motivational: Today’s Stock Quote, 57.67. Tomorrow Depends on You!
Second, the job applicant (I’m paraphrasing): As part of its selection and hiring process this company engages in drug testing of otherwise qualified employees. These tests are very sensitive and will detect any trace of illegal substance. If you have used illegal drugs recently don’t waste our time, or yours, by applying. Any positive result will also prevent you from being hired in the future.
Questions I have, and I’m being serious here: How many retail workers at Wal-Mart are shareholders? How many Wal-Mart retail employees are motivated by the company’s performance on Wall Street?
Also, what kind of atmosphere does a company have that they feel they need to have a sign worded like the drug warning? Sure it’s a good idea to tell them that you have standard drug tests, but why be so belligerent with the "don’t waste our time" stuff? You think Costco approaches their hiring the same way?
You reap what you sow.
Last week I posted about the Senate investigating offshore banks like UBS in an effort to thwart wealthy US citizens from evading their tax obligations to the tune of $100 billion. Well, according to this article that Fec linked to UBS is discontinuing its offshore banking operations for US clients. From the article:
UBS, the world’s largest private banking group, stunned the
financial world yesterday when it shelved all its offshore banking
services for US residents and appeared to rip up the traditional Swiss
franchise of secrecy, saying it was co-operating with the US’s tax
authorities to expose tax cheats…"I am here today to make it absolutely clear that UBS genuinely
regrets any compliance failures that may have occurred," said Mark
Branson, UBS’s Zurich-based chief financial officer of global wealth
services."We have decided to exit entirely the business in question," he said
of questionable banking services for US residents. "That means UBS will
no longer provide offshore banking or security services to US residents
through our bank branches."But he also announced that UBS was now working with the US
Government to "identify the names of US clients who may have engaged in
tax fraud".He said while Swiss banking laws prevented client disclosure, "such
privacy protections do not apply when disclosure of client names is
requested in connection with an investigation of tax fraud". Mr Branson
said the 80,000 worldwide employees of UBS — the investment bank has a
substantial presence in Australia — were alarmed by reports of
misconduct.
I’m feeling suddenly heartened, at least a little bit.
Two weeks ago I posted a rumor I’d heard about South by Southwest, closing its doors (I had a VERY reliable source) and that post was picked up by Smitty who confirmed that the restaurant had indeed closed. Today I read in a post by Laura Giovanelli on the Journal’s food blog that in addition to South by Southwest the Cotton Mill had also shut down. I never made it to the Cotton Mill, but based on Laura’s opinion of it I’m truly sorry I missed it.
The restaurant business is brutal any time, but during tough economic times restaurants, particularly higher end restaurants, struggle even more. When money is tight the first place most people will cut their expenditures is eating out, and when you have the combination of higher food prices and higher gas prices like we have now a restaurateur has to work very hard to get people through the door. As Laura says in her post:
Sometimes, I try to brush off all the economic gloom and doom. Maybe
I’ve listening to too much NPR, I’ll think. But it’s been obvious for
months now that local restaurants are struggling, particularly the
higher end ones, the ones with white tablecloths and the like.
I’m fairly certain we’re going to see quite a few more "white tablecloth" restaurants close their doors in the next year or two. Of course others will eventually replace them, but that doesn’t help the many owners who have worked so hard to build their businesses and develop a loyal fan base. From a selfish point of view it also doesn’t help the customers who lose their favorite dishes, or the places that house so many cherished memories like anniversary dinners, graduation celebrations, etc.
To end on a positive note I recommend that you check out the Journal’s food blog Dishing it Out. It’s coauthored by Michael Hastings and Laura and they do a great job of keeping it fresh. Personally I think it’s the paper’s best blog now (sorry Ken).
Well, we have a winner for the "And I Mean Kinda Close" contest from Tuesday. It’s Andrea Burke who emailed her entry just minutes before the next entry yesterday. She’ll be receiving a nice, 10 year old, coffee stained mouse pad that’s been stuffed in a closet for a few years.
Andrea’s correct that the house pictured for the contest is on Styers Ferry Road just across from Runny Mede in Lewisville about two miles from the Shallowford Road exit off of 421. Rumor has it that the owner of La Casa Elefante Rosa is also the owner of the Mi Pueblo restaurants, and as Esbee mentioned in the comments of the contest post the design elements of the house and the restaurants are more than a little alike.
Befuddled 