One of my life’s themes entails meshing old stuff with new stuff. I appreciate new things, and value upgraded convenience. However, I have come to loath trying to retrofit things.
Case in point, last week the old dishwasher died. No problem, I have the cash to just go buy a new one. Removing the old one entailed about 6 screws, a water line and two wire nuts. Easy.
The new dishwasher is quite similar to the old. I didn’t even upgrade to the stainless front, because it’s a 100 dollar splash of make-up. I learned from my reading that even a stainless tub is largely cosmetic as plastic tubs fails years after the motors quit working. I was told dishwashers had a life span of 7-10 years regardless of price. I digress.
The new stuff causing me problems was a braided stainless, bendy, fill hose I picked up to replace the old “flexible” copper fill line. The old fill line was hard to work with, as it didn’t seem to want to bend where required.
After picking up the new hose, I needed to return to the hardware store for a new elbow to go from the dishwasher to the hose, trip two. Then I needed an adapter to go from the hose to the feed valve, trip three. Damn! I Picked up pipe thread instead of compression thread, trip three. Returned to get proper thread, trip four. Still didn’t fit cursed a lot. I learned there is not a fitting that goes from my old shut off valve to the right size. I purchased a new valve, trip five. Once the valve was installed the new hose was easy as promised. But, what did it take to benefit from the new hose’s flexibility.
Hardware upgrades at home become metaphor for epistemological, behavioral, relational and ideological change. I value the improvement, but sometimes procrastinate because change is a pain in the ass.
1 comment:
Well said. I think two hardware store trips is the bare minimum requirement to call it "a project".
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