Jul. 11, 2003 - 16:29 MDT

THE WONDERING JEW

Its That Time

I've sort of got into the habit of the Friday Five routine.

1. - Do you remember your first best friend ?

A. - Oh yes, from first grade through two years of high school. 1a. Who was it ?A. - Muggins I'll call him.

2. - Are you still in touch with the person ?

A. - I was up to two years ago and then he dropped out of sight, can't find anyone who knows where he is - dead or alive.

3. - Do you have a current close friend ?

A. - I haved many cyber close friends and have met and enjoyed Jeannie's company when she is here. I do have a close friend who used to work where I did. Joe and I date back to about 1980 and both of us went through the mill, just in different directions.

4. - How did you become friends with this person ?

A. - Cyberwise, on the net. Joe - we worked close enough to each other to establish a dialog and found that we had similar thoughts and feelings and way of life.

5. Is there a friend from your past that you wish you were still in contact with ?

A. - Muggins of course, we had so much in common and similar life experiences since we parted in high school.

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Simple things get complicated sometimes. Carol was talking about trying to fit a new air conditioner into a space that crowds her water heater and the complications of trying to make it all fit together. Reminded me of a simple thing here in our apartment. The mixing faucet on our kitchen sink began to malfunction. It could be turned on as normal but could not be shut off without being pressed down on the top. Wasn't so bad, but I feared of the thing blowing its stack and spewing water all over the place. So I called the apartment manager, she had an emergency man come in who decided that there was no immediate emergency and put in a work order for building maintenance.

Time passed, the man who takes care of building maintenance for this building stopped by - took a look decided it would have to be repaired and said he would check his catalogue for parts. Some number of days passed and he stopped by and told us he was ordering a new one as parts for the old one were no longer available. Meanwhile telling us that pressing down was okay and that the faucet wasn't going to blow its top. Some number of days passed. I saw the maintenance man in the hallway the day of our 60th wedding anniversary party and he told me that he had the faucet and would be by the first of the week to put it in.

First of the week happened and Tuesday he came by. He spent a great amount of time trying to get the old faucet disconnected and even with the help of the official plumber couldn't get it done. Palaver between the two of them and our man asked me if they could install a new sink, and I told them, "Whatever it takes as long as I don't have to pay for it."

To enable the man to get in the area the collection of undersink stuff, Windex, Resolve, SOS pads and all of that grody other undersink stuff had to be set out so he could get in. So it had been setting out for a bit. From years of leaks the bottom of the compartment was warped and sunken. Our man said he would put a new bottom in when he was done with the faucet.

The two of them got the old sink out and the new one with faucet already installed in and fastened down. Everything hooked up and was working. The plumber departed for other work and our man stayed to finish out the testing of the installation. Everything worked okay except that when the garbage disposal was run when the sink was full of water there was a leak around its seal. (acid test)

So, more delay, next day he brought up a new garbage disposal and installed it. The rest of the day was spent in him getting material sawed up and a more or less sub-strate built to nail the bottom to. He used sealant on the joints and asked us to wait until tomorrow to put stuff back to avoid getting stuff sticky. So, after some time we have a new faucet, new sink, new garbage disposal and a new floor on the bottom of the compartment. From a simple thing, it sure got complicated and long winded.

So on Fridays comes the Five alive again, Its That Time . . . . . . . . . .

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