Like a good idea at the time

[mdlbear]

I knew it wasn't going to be one of my better days when I cracked a sizeable chunk off a tooth (using a salt bagel -- apparently millimeter-sized salt grains are hard enough to cause problems on teeth weakened by fillings). So tomorrow I talk to the dentist about another crown.

Then Colleen and I went out shopping for a new pair of flourescent fixtures for the kitchen -- the old ones are well past their useful lifetime: yellowed diffusers and flaky balasts. Went fairly well, actually; only $100 for the fixtures plus the bulbs. Then came the task of installation.

I knew I was in trouble just after I removed the first screw: Here I am on a stepladder holding up the loose end of a rather heavy fixture. The other end is four feet away. Brilliant. Since I had put the ladder near the middle, I could reach the other screw. But I couldn't hold up the other end at the same time. Getting me out of this one required Colleen holding up the other end with a mop handle.

By this time my arms and neck are really tired. It looked like I'd be able to install the other fixture a little off-center and bolt it into the stud instead of using molly bolts. So I did that (it required using a nibbler to extend the hole for the wires, since the junction box was mounted alongside the stud rather than centered. Unfortunately, the new fixture was narrow enough that it didn't come close to covering the junction box. So down it comes.

If you've been keeping track, I have now done two de-installations, one bungled, and one bungled installation. The final installation required two stepladders -- fortunately I had them -- and the assistance of a tall teenager, meaning I had to wait until after the D&D game.

Grand total: 2 de-installs, 2 installs, about 4 hours. The second fixture will wait.

Meanwhile, last night my dialup ISP -- the hacker-friendly one I use for mail -- changed my static IP address (something, I gather, about changing his service provider to something less incompetent). I had scheduled the changeover for the night shift (I don't think Rahul ever sleeps) thinking that all I had to do in the morning was change the IP address in diald.conf and I'd be set.

Unfortunately I'd forgotten about the firewall configuration and the static routes, and Rahul had forgotten about the mail relay configuration and the IP-address restrictions on fingerd, which is used to run my mail queue.  It took all morning and most of the afternoon to get everything back in operation, meaning that I spent my breaks from playing electrician in the kitchen, in the office playing system administrator.  

Thank you, I will have another drink.

Oh, yes... I have meetings most of tomorrow and a doctor's appointment mid-Tuesday, so when I'm going to fit in a couple of hours worth of dental work is problematic.  And we're driving down to Westercon (in LA, about 400 miles S of here) a week from Thursday, which means that by Wednesday night we have to have all the food double-bagged to protect it from the poison gas -- did I mention that we're having the house tented for termites?  We're going to be out of the house for Westercon anyway...

It did all seem like a good idea at the time.

Comments

you're right

[rowanf.livejournal.com]

This is probably much more amusing in hindsight than it was in progress. Don't stint the dental work you need!

Re: you're right

[mdlbear]

Definitely more amusing in hindsight, and it was fun telling it, though it doesn't rise to anywhere near the level of an ``adventure'' in my opinion. The dental work is already scheduled (for Wednesday morning).