BFLO :: June 21st, 2003 ::
I wanted to let you know that we made it to Buffalo without incident. And what’s more, Jessamyn made it to Toronto without a problem, and last I heard was doing some truly excellent things up at the ALA conference. Good for her, you might think in response to that news.
In any event. I spent part of today installing a shower head in my aunt’s bathroom. It was an activity that required my stopping by the local Home Depot to pick up a small piece of plumbing equipment (which I learned was called a “bushing”), since the new shower head had a slightly bigger measurement than the pipe that came from the bathtub. That was a fun experience, and I had the chance to get a crash course in the vocabulary of the home plumber (terms like “nipple,” “bushing,” and “flange” now have a sepcific, technical meaning, as well as a familiar one for me). I got the thing working without incident, and now except for a very small, almost imperceptable drip, the shower works just fine, and I’m feeling quite accomplished, thank you.
My Home Depot experience was somewhat interesting, and bears some further explication. When I made my first pass through the plumbing department (which was, of course, the size of many old-school hardware stores) the specific part I was looking for (a 1/2” to 3/8” bushing) appeared to be out of stock. But with a little digging through the random parts and detritus that had fallen behind the display, I was able to find the exact part I was looking for. It was dirty and partially unwrapped, but it was there nonetheless. So while I don’t know if my behavior would have been sactioned by the people running the store, I feel that the you-can-do-it attitude that has made Home Depot such a famous and lucrative venture was upheld with my rooting around in their junk.
But whatever. Tonight it’s more family time for me, and it sounds like that will entail going through old pictures, talking about geneology, drinking beer, and hanging out with extended family. That should be nice, I think.
