Disaster Averted

Colleen woke me up yesterday and told me she thought there might be something wrong with the water heater.

"Cool," I thought. "I can put some of my newly learned electrical skills to work and troubleshoot the problem." Thinking it probably wasn't an emergency, I took my time getting up, took time to eat a bowl of cereal and eventually made my way outside. I grabbed my tools and went to the backyard where the access to the crawl space is located. I opened the door to the crawl space and immediately noticed that the backside of the door was wet... not a good sign. Next, I crouched down to go through the doorway and heard the sound of water flowing and thought, "Crap... probably not electrical." I crawled up to the water heater and saw that water was spewing from the drain at the bottom of the tank. I tried to tighten the valve, and was successful in slowing the flow, but water continued to come out.

"Am I going to have to buy a new water heater?" "How much is a new water heater?" There's more about water heaters that I don't know than I know. But I know an electrician who knows a lot about water heaters. His name is Steve and he's not only my electrical instructor but he's also my friend and mentor. I called him up and he came right over and figured out what it would take to fix the leak. So we went to the plumbing supply store bought a new drain valve and replaced the broken one. Easy peasy and for about 5% of the cost of a new water heater.

Disaster averted. And a big THANK YOU to Steve for his help. I'm so glad he was available.

CTRL + ALT + DEL

It's time to restart this blog. I just spent the last hour or so rereading all my old posts and reliving the past couple of years. Lots happened. Had many giggles.

I think one of the funniest things I came across was from a meme my sister sent me almost two years ago:

11] How old do you think you will be when you finally have kids? That's a toughy. 37?

I turned 37 nearly a month ago and no hint of having a kid in sight, but to be fair I did answer the question with a question. I also came across another meme that said I would name my kids Spot, Rusty, Fluffy and Nana, which should go to show how seriously I desire to procreate. ;)

I don't really feel any pressure to have children. Sometimes I would like to have a little curly headed boy or girl, but sometimes I feel very selfish and don't want to be bothered. I'm not sure how much pressure Colleen feels about having kids. Some days she says she wants one and some days she says she doesn't. Her sister doesn't have any children either and I know her mum wants grandkids, but I don't see any on the horizon.

I've heard that as a woman gets older it gets more risky for her to have a child, but I don't know. I've also heard of women having children in their 40s. Who knows? Maybe one of these days we'll have one. Maybe not.

I also read in the past hour about all the layoffs at my former employer including mine less than a year ago. I've since enrolled in the Electrical Technology program at Haywood Community College and I'm loving it. I've learned a lot and on Friday was able to solve an electrical problem for a friend's mother whose electric range was not working. The problem turned out to be furry and four-legged and not much of a challenge to solve, but it was a learning experience anyway and it felt good having been able to help them out.

I've been a little ambivalent about being on the computer lately hence my absence from the blogosphere, but I'm hoping to start posting thoughts and happenings again.

R.I.F.

Reduction In Force.

I guess in the corporate world it's a lot more palatable to say you've had a RIF than to say you've laid people off.

It's too similar to R.I.P.

I think it's a horrible term, particularly since I got RIFd yesterday... by phone... while on vacation.

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand I was already making plans for the future that didn't include my now former employer. On the other hand, nobody wants to lose their job. I shouldn't say that. I imagine there are some people who'd like to lose their job for whatever reason.

It's not the end of the world. I have some opportunities available and I had already made plans to enroll in community college this fall to study electrical technology with my eye on eventually becoming an electrical contractor.

I feel for everyone who was let go yesterday, especially my co-worker Julie Ball who had been with the company much longer than I had. I'm still trying to find out how long. I hear she's not taking this well, which is understandable.

A local blogger who used to work for my former company and who keeps up with local media has written a post on the layoffs.

Anyway, as I mentioned on my Facebook page, I'm still smiling. Moving on.

Benadryl Makes Me Sleepy

I took some Benadryl earlier this morning and now I can hardly stay awake, which is bad because I've got a lot of work to do before leaving for vacation tomorrw.

I woke up Monday morning with a rash on my neck and I couldn't figure out what caused. I tried to think if it was related to a new soap or something like that, but nothing sprang to mind.

I then remembered that I had moved a box full of weeds I'd removed from the garden earlier in the week and there must have been some poison ivy or something similar in it. I was wearing gloves while weeding and didn't get anything on me. Apparently just touching something while moving the box seemed to be enough to do it.

I woke up early this morning because the itching was almost unbearable. When I saw my swollen face and puffy eyes in the mirror I was shocked. I'm supposed to get on a plane tomorrow and there's no way I want to look like that when I go.

So I went to the doctor this morning and he gave me a shot of steroids (in the bum) and a prescription to knock out the swelling. He also told me to take some Benadryl to subdue the itching. I took two without thinking about it and now I'm paying for it.

On the bright side, my itching seems to be subsiding and the swelling seems to be going away.

Texas, here I come!

B Photo Posted at A to Z

Don't forget to visit A to Z Photo Blog today to see my latest post and to post links to your photos. Can't wait to see them.

Home Alone

This week I officially join the ranks of the work from home crowd.

When I got to work this past Tuesday I learned that my company wanted to close the office I worked in by the end of the week. I knew we were closing by the end of the month, but they decided to move up the closing so they could save money by cutting off the phones and other utilities.

Don't worry. I still have my job, but now I have no office to go to. Fortunately I have a home office and my company set me up to be able to work from there, but it sure would be nice to have an office to go to.

Since I can work remotely from anywhere I can get a cell phone signal, I've been (and will continue to be) experimenting with different places from which to work. There are several coffee shops to work from, and with a fully charged laptop battery I can work from somewhere outdoors, like down by creek where I went to work a few weeks ago.

It's going to take some getting used to, but I'll make it work. It's better than the alternative of having to commute to Asheville again.

A to Z Ready to Go

It's almost time for A to Z Photo Blog's first post, and I've got to say... I'm a little disappointed in myself.

Well, maybe disappointed isn't the right word, but my photos show that I'm a little out of practice. I feel like I've lost some of my creativity. But I guess that's the point. I needed to start somewhere.

Hopefully as the weeks go by I'll feel more creative and have more variety in my photos. I have to say that the first photo I'll post tomorrow is a sign that I'm doing something right by starting this photo challenge.

Anyway, I look forward most to seeing what others have shot this week. Remember to post a link in the comments section of my A photo when you get a chance.