A Different Approach

How did you spend your Friday?

Here in the Rust Belt we started off our day with a trip to my in-laws. They needed some help with stopping the leaks from their 30 year old windows in their sun room. I told the husband that we were going to spend at least 5 hours putting plastic up to only have it come off over the next couple months because of the way their windows are. Did I mention also that they are not going to be real happy when the paint on the moulding peels off when they take the plastic down. How do I know this? Been there and much cursing has been done in the past by me.

So we assessed the windows, I tightened up some screws on a window they couldn’t get closed and explained to my father-in-law what we have experienced in the past with stopping leaky windows. When the husband and I told him that we just built all these interior window storm he told us to do it before we finished what all this entails. Our list of things to do had just increased.

It was a rainy day and we were off. A stop to the vets – dogs nails trimmed. A stop to the lumber yard to check on baseboard mouldings. Went to lunch to fuel up. Off to Lowes for materials. Picked up tools at our house and off to build interior window frames for the in-laws.

This time we tried a different approach – MDF. Well lets just stay it was interesting to work with and we found out rather quickly we had a design flaw.

Can I tell you that MDF is weak, just weak. These windows are big, 55″ x 61″, the size was causing the center to bow. So it was time to put on our thinking caps and figure out how to beef up the weak-ass material. We tossed around some ideas and I’m the kinda person that like to take the path of least trouble. I suggested that we buddy up the scrap on the bottom and top to give it some support. I wasn’t sure if this would fix it but it was a hell of a lot better than adding a shit load of cross sections.

We used the scrap that was left over and centered the extra support pieces. It fixed the bow and we were off again and on track. We have 2 more left to build and my in-laws sun room will no longer be freezing cold.

In embracing using a different approach last night the ghetto neighbors across the street had a little party. I don’t care if people throw parties, it’s Friday night, it was around 10:00 p.m., have a party. I do have major issues when the bass is turned up so loud that it is vibrating my basement door of our home. Our whole entire house felt like one huge vibrator – it was humming.

So I put on my coat, my boots and I walk across the street because I really don’t feel like calling the cops – I just want them to turn the bass down. A simple request, No?

There are two people on the sidewalk and I really don’t care who they are. I ask very nicely, “can you please turn down the bass”? I explain the whole vibrating thing.

The guy starts to give me a little attitude at first, the girl interjects and tells me no problem and told the guy no she right and the girl says to me “I’ll turn it down, mommie”.

“Mommie”, this is an interesting word in the urban world, it means many different things. It has not been the first time I have been called this. I had to pull up the urban dictionary on the PC to make sure that she didn’t just disrespect me.

This word means respect, the person who is saying it is being submissive. That part bothers me, “submissive”.

The booming bass stopped, they actually turned it off. The party’s noise level came way down and by 11:00 p.m. it was silent.

A different approach indeed!