things break

filed under:life

I usually don't think that things are out to get me, but I have the feeling that my possessions are in league to drain my bank account. Now before you think that I have finally gone over, I have what seems to be no proof what so ever to back up my claims. Wait... that doesn't help.

It kind of started on the 3rd of July when the sewer main for my house decided that 4 weeks before our big vacation would be a good time to become clogged. This came out of the blue with no hint of slow drains or anything, just "Hey, enjoy the fecal water in the shower!" I have my f.i.l.'s snake so after work I hopped on the roof to see if I could stack out the problem. The boy was kind enough to help which made the whole mess easier. The snake cable is to small for our 4" stack so it was just getting kinked up in the pipe instead of tearing the clog up.

Not wanting to call the plumber for a very expensive 4th of July visit we tried to schedule a visit for the 5th. On the night of the 5th our plumber called to let us know that none of their crews were going to make it that night. Yay, another day of schedules flushes and 2 minute showers!

During the whole deal I had visions of vacation fund going toward replacing the sewer main, easily $2,000 US, the death of a 50 year old tree and the repair our sprinkler system would need after having a ditch witch trench our yard. Friday morning came and went with the plumbers fixing the problem in 30 minutes and for only $200.

One problem down.

On July 4th we had a very severe thunderstorm that caused our power to go out and before we could turn off the lines to anything expensive the power came back on and blew out our router. YAY!!! No big deal, just went and bought a new one. I only paid $45 and got wireless B/G too to retire my Airport Base Station.

Second problem down.

Also on July 3rd my '87 Landcruiser wouldn't start after work. I push started it and got it home then waited until last Wednesday to even start because of the whole fecal water thing I was working on. After a few trips to the parts store to have the starter, alternator and battery tested it turned out to be an $8 starter cable. Vroom.

Third problem down.

Tonight the switch on our 50 year old oven stopped working. I'm gonna try using some electronics cleaner on it tomorrow. I would've got some tonight but by the time I found the right breaker to kill the AC to the oven and the get the electronics out it was too late to get get to the store. I'd replace it but my chances of finding a NOS switch are pretty small.

YAY!

So yeah, my stuff is trying drain my moneys away!!!