Life Styles of the Rich and Famous.

Ok, maybe not famous, but certainly rich.

My sister and I went down to St. George for the extended weekend. They have the Parade of Homes down there about this time. I think they have it at this time to coordinate with the Presidents' Day holiday. I wouldn't have gone down just for that, but because we were having an unofficial mini family reunion, I thought it would be a good opportunity to see the family. My dad and his two brothers are really into looking at homes and learning what new architectural wonders and designs they have come up with. So, my dad drove up from Arizona, and my uncle, cousin, sister, and I came down from the north. My other uncle and aunt live in Hurricane, just 15 or so miles away, so it was a good meeting point. We had a good time visiting with each other.

As for the homes, some were small and simple, but there were those that were just over the top: bowling lanes and arcades games in a basement, lovers' hideaway, glass walls/windows, etc. Some of these things you would just have to see to believe. Unfortunately, I did not document them photographically as well as I wish I would have. Here are some pictures though.










This was the second Parade of Homes showcases that I have been to. The first one was in Park City over a year ago. I noticed certain trends as time has gone by. The first time I went, I was amazed that almost every house had a movie theater room. Now, it is so common that every house had one and I was not surprised by them. What I picked up most on this year, was all the seating. I'm not talking about seating in the theater room either. Almost every bedroom had a sitting area. Anywhere there was a little open space in the house, there were chairs. My question is, who has time to just sit around?!? Almost all the houses were designed for idleness, sitting and relaxing. I am hardly home enough to enjoy that luxury. Either these people must be well enough off to have retired early and just enjoy doing nothing, or it's all for looks. I would think that to be able to afford these homes, the owners must be working like crazy. Or maybe, I just don't understand the life styles of the rich.

Another Commercial Holiday

Not that I want to complain and wine
But I’m not a fan of Saint Valentine.
I ‘m not sure who he was or how the tradition began,
So I make it through the best that I can.
It’s fine for couples or those who admire,
But for me, I feel like an ox in the mire.

If I decide to go out with no man in tow
I feel like people question why I’ve no beau.
I recognize my faults and don’t want to pass blame,
But maybe Cupid just has really poor aim.
Even the one time I did have a date,
It wasn’t much fun and now this day more I hate.

Still for those who have someone else
It’s not always easy to have whistles and bells.
It‘s a sensitive day when expectations aren’t met
Or when waiting for plans that will never be set.
Sometimes things are just awkward at best
And you end up disliking this day like the rest.

But companies love it because of the hype.
They make so much profit, money pours down their pipe.
The stores are stalked with chocolates galore
Even with no Valentine, I get fat all the more.
Restaurants benefit from the couples that dine.
Don’t forget chalk-textured hearts with “Be Mine.”

I never know what to do on this day
I’d really like to just go out and play.
But being surrounded by all the romantic cliché
And red and pink decorations of paper-maché,
Makes me want fight with my might
Against the lovebird conformists’ delight.

Maybe that’s what I don’t like about this day:
Commercialism has limited it to a certain way.
A lot could be done on this day of love.
People could live beyond and above.
But people ought to show love no matter the day
Not just when there’s pressure to act a certain way.

I look forward to the day when these feelings may change,
And a pleasant evening I could arrange.
Yet I wonder, even though a man come my way
If my non-conformism would still bear sway.
So instead of worrying about it one way or another,
I’ll just live the day better than any other.

Flowers for Valentine's Day.

I live in the greatest ward. Every year since I have lived in my house, which has been three Februarys now, my dear bishop and his wife have brought me flowers for Valentine's Day. They give flowers to all the single sisters in the neighborhood who may not have a memorable day otherwise. It is such a thoughtful gesture. Men, take note.

Jack of All Trades, Master of None.

There are a lot of things that I can do. But I really don't do anything extremely well. I can sew, cook, garden, play the piano, sing, design, paint. It's enough to get by, but nothing to show off or be proud of. But, in honor of my recent accomplishment, I thought I would share some other repairs that I was able to do without professional help.

Over the summer, the end of June to be exact, my air conditioner broke. I had gone on a week long river trip, and when I came back the house was suffocatingly hot. It was so late and I was so tired that I didn't even think about trying to figure out what was wrong. I just went to bed. The next day I considered some things and experimented a bit and found that if I manually started the fan moving then it would kick on and it would be fine, until the temperature gauge told it to turn off. Then I would have to go out and start it up again. Fortunately, we all worked during the day and could get by in the evenings. But it was still uncomfortably hot.
      I don't know why I was at my uncle's house one day, but I explained the problem and he and my cousin said that it sounded like it was the capacitor. So, I did some research online to know what a capacitor even looked like. After some tinkering, I found the capacitor, and it seemed plenty easy to replace. I called a close heating repair store and asked for a capacitor. They said they had one and I got it. But, it wasn't the right one, and I couldn't return it, and they charged a ton for it! I guess that is part of the educational experience cost. (I have learned from this and the PRV that you really do have to take the old part in so that they know what you are talking about.) Well, with the help of my friend's dad's connection, I got another one for really cheap. I replaced it and it worked like a charm....And then I had to touch it. Take note: Capacitors carry a lot of electricity and really shock you when touched. My uncle warned me about touching it. I had mental lapse and obviously wasn't thinking when I grabbed it. Fortunately, I didn't die, which could have very easily been the case.
      Well, because I touched it, the air conditioner stopped working again. I thought that maybe I ruined the new capacitor. I talked to my friend, and he talked to his dad, and his dad said that it was probably just the fuse. With a little aluminum foil to bypass it, we found that it was just the fuse which could easily be replaced. The next day I went to Home Depot, got the new fuse, and everything was back to normal again. Yay for easy fixes and good friends.

About the same time (I can't remember which came first actually) my bathroom faucet started leaking. I noticed it was wet underneath when I had to get something. It had been leaking for quite a while, I would assume, because the ceiling below was swollen with water. I ought to start paying more attention to things. It was a good faucet. It was the pull out kind. They are quite common in kitchens, but I had never seen a bathroom with one. At first I thought it was just one of the hoses because the cold side didn't leak, but after trying a few things I realized that it was the actual faucet. I tried to unscrew the hoses, but they didn't budge. I felt pretty stupid when I found out later that they were soldered on there. Without being able to get the hoses off, I tried to take the whole faucet off. I couldn't get the bolt undone. It wasn't that I wasn't strong enough; I just couldn't get the wrench around it at a good enough angle to be effective. (Because it was such an unusual bathroom faucet, they crammed all three connections into the center hole.) For that, I was grateful for help. My boyfriend at the time (just friend now, the same one mentioned in the previous account) took it off for me.
      With that taken care of, putting the new one on was a sinch. It was the easiest thing in the world. You just place it in there, tighten the bolts, and screw on the hoses. I'm glad I didn't have to pay anyone to do that. Considering the plumber's rate, it would have been outrageous. Also, it seems to be good a good skill to have. I would imagine that people replace faucets a lot more than they do pressure reducing valves.

Another thing that I have accomplished was fixing a leaking toilet. Now this I made a lot more difficult than it needed to be. All I ended up doing to fix it was replace the flapper. My brother messed me up when he told me that I needed to replace the gasket. Looking back, it was just as well that I replaced that too because it was kind of deteriorated. This fix is not something to brag about considering the simplicity of it. What I am proud of, though, is that I was able to take that whole toilet apart and put it back together and still have it work.
      The drama in this story (because there always has to be something to make it more problematic than it ought to be) is that I went through three different flappers until I found one that actually fit. I can thank Lowe's for that. Actually Lowe's is the store that came through for me in all my repairs. They had the the PRV, a cheaper faucet, and the right toilet flapper. What a good store. I've heard that they cater more to women. I don't know if that is true, but I sure appreciate that they carry what I need.

Plumbers' Salary Equivalent to Surgeons'.

Plumbers must be some of the most overpaid professionals. Doctors are so expensive because of the cost of education and the fact that your life is in their hands. When I got to work Monday, I called some plumbers. After explaining the problem, they all gave me estimates of $300! I found two different companies that offered free estimates. (All the others charge $50 just to tell me what I already knew.) I made appointments with these two companies, just to know if $300 was really the going rate. I was afraid that maybe I didn't explain the problem well enough and they thought it was a much bigger job than it really was. So, they both came. (And because of delayed schedules and traffic, they came at the same time. Ha, that was awkward.)

One gave me an estimate of $382 and the other was $350. Absurd! I told one of them that I could not possibly justify paying that much for something so easily fixed. I could have taken a plumber, with the part, no more than 5 minutes. Literally. One plumber was very helpful and told me that I could easily do it myself and actually encouraged me to do so. I told him that I was afraid that if I tried any harder to get the nut off that I might bend or break the pipes. He assured me that I could yank pull as much as I wanted and I would hurt the pipes, and if I did, then I wouldn't really be any worse off than I already was. So, I thanked him and he left. Then I called some plumber supply stores and they all closed or would have been closed by the time I got there. So, I kind of gave up for the night since I couldn't get another part until the morning anyway.

Shortly after, my roommate got home, and I told her the events of the day. She encouraged me to try now to get the part off, just to see if I could and so it would be that much easier in the morning. I took her advice. I twisted that thing as hard as I could. And the valve moved!...But not the nut, which is what I was going for. So, to get the valve lined back up again, I twisted in the opposite direction, and surprise, surprise, I got the nut loose. I had been twisting it in the wrong direction the whole time! You always hear, "Righty tighty, lefty loosey," but when you are screwing it upside down, it would in fact be the opposite. (Now, to credit my roommate, she mentioned that she heard This Old House that sometime it is backward. I did listen to her and tried in both directions, but that was back when I was afraid I'd break the pipes.) So, I got it off...pretty easily too! But I still didn't have the replacement, so I decided I'd go to FHE, and get the new part first thing in the morning.

At FHE, I happened to mention my plumbing chronicle to a guy. After telling him that Home Depot did not carry the part, he asked if I had tried Lowe's. I hadn't. Right away I made a phone call to the local Lowe's. And they had it. Why hadn't I thought of Lowe's before?! It's not like it was located very far away. So, I went right over. By this time it was 8:30 and they closed at 9:00. They had two different ones. The employee suggested one, and I went with it. I didn't even think to check the pressure range. So, by the time I got home, I realized that it was the wrong one. And it was too late to go back. Could this have been drawn out any longer?

Again, stuck without immediate recourse, I decided to wake up extra early and get it done before work. I slept in an hour (6:45), immediately called Lowe's to make sure the other one had the right range, and left. I set to work as soon as I got home. My roommate asked if I could have it done in 15 minutes so she could shower. I told her that I sure hoped so. I didn't time myself, but I would say that it probably took even less than 15 minutes. And most of that time was waiting for the water to drain. I turned the main back on and it worked! I'll admit, it was a lot of effort for a little fix, but it saved me so much money and I got experience in the process.

So, the actual time it took (once I all the parts and such) was 10 minutes. Screw off, screw on. That easy. So, if you calculate that, taking off the price of the part ($100, which, he told me, they mark up 20% (yeah, right, more like 50%), those plumbers make $1,500 an hour!
           $250/10 minutes x 6 = $1,500/hour
That is ludicrous! Or to use my friends word, asinine!

What would have cost me $350 (without education or sense of accomplishment), actually cost me
   $10 for the wrench (which I actually bought before but thought I would
         never use, so I returned it)
   $39 for the new pressure reducing valve
   $.97 for Teflon tape
   ^_____
   $54.19 including tax.

So, all in all, I save $300 and got plumbing experience and a feeling of fulfillment.

And to illustrate the simplicity of this whole process, here are pictured step by step instructions:

The Joys of Home Ownership.

Whenever you hear this phrase, you can be assured that it is said sarcastically. The only time that owning a house is a joy is when you sell it and make a nice profit. Things go wrong all the time. I have found that if nothing has gone wrong or broken in a few months, something will shortly. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I weren't so cheap. I would just pay someone to come fix it right away. But no, I have to do research to save myself anything I can. It seems like I can't even get a hold of neighbors when I need help. Show me a man who takes on responsibility and he will own a house. Boo to anyone who lives at home until he gets married so that daddy and mommy can take care of everything for him. I dated a guy in his late twenties who was still living at home. He didn't even do his own car insurance. He's not going to know what hits him when all of a sudden he has to take of things by himself. Oh wait, he'll probably just call his dad and ask him to come over. I can't imagine him living outside of the same city.

Having a house, far away from any family, has certainly taught me some valuable lessons in independence and responsibility. Having roommates doesn't help either. You can't expect them to live as uncivilized as you would be willing to.

The recent saga that initiated this subject began when my roommate called me at work Friday morning to ask if I noticed anything wrong with the water pressure. Apparently it was non-existent. I had showered at the gym so I didn't know there was anything wrong. Then I remembered that the toilet did take an extra long time to fill up. My research began. First I called the city public works just to make sure that it wasn't a city wide thing. They didn't know of anything. I explained my problem to the receptionist and she said that it could be one of at least two things. One, the freeze plate could have broken, which is something the city would have come to take care of, which I was desperately hope was the case. Or, two, it was the pressure reducing valve. The receptionist said that she would send someone out to check the freeze plate. Well, we had had so much snow the day before that all the city workers were assigned to snow plows.

Finally after not hearing from anyone in six hours, I called her back. Another receptionist answered and took my number and said that she pass on the my information. A few minutes later a guy from the city called to get some more information about the problem. I explained the problem, and he said that it was the pressure reducing valve and that I would need to get a plumber. The first receptionist that I talked to said that she had to have her PRV replaced and that her husband did it himself without any problems. That gave me hope that it really wasn't that hard to fix. I had planned to go to Provo to visit my sister and brother and friends, but with the news, I decided I had just better go home.

When I got home, I realized that there was still significant water. I tried faucets everywhere and still got water. The biggest difference was in her bathroom. I knew that it needed to be fixed, but with as much running water as there was, I didn't worry as much as I had earlier in the day. I called Home Depot. They say, "You can do it, we can help," so I talked to a plumber there. I explained the problem and the part I needed and he said that if I brought the old one in that they could match it. Well, I didn't want to take the old one off without having a replacement, just in case I couldn't get it back on or something. So, I went in to look at what they had. The parts looked similar enough. While I was there, I bought a pipe wrench because the one I had wasn't big enough and had hoped to be able to take it in in the morning. (They were almost closed) By that time, there was nothing more I could do, so I decided I would just put it out of my mind by watching a movie.

My ward was doing a 40 day fast for missionary work, and I had signed up for that Saturday (trying to be smart and kill two birds with one stone by carrying it over to Sunday). I wanted to get it done as soon as possible before I started the fast because I wasn't thrilled about taking care of everything on an empty stomach. So, I went to Home Depot, again, first thing in the morning with more information. I still hadn't taken the old one off but not due to my reasoning above. I couldn't get the dang thing off! Evan (code name), my roommate's boyfriend even helped. Together we couldn't even get it off. But I did take a picture of it. (Aren't digital cameras so handy!) I found one employee who got another, and the three of us discussed the problem. And lo and behold, they didn't carry the part. Dang. Being Saturday, plumbers weren't working (or if they came they would charge extra). I couldn't do anything else, and I wasn't going to pay extra for a plumber. I figured that there was enough water, so I just left it. I thought Monday I could call plumbers and get an idea of what it would cost. And there I left it.

The Virtual Paper Doll.

Instead of dressing barbie dolls, the new trend is to dress and accessorize avatars, very similar to paper dolls, but on the computer. Design-her Gals (designhergals.com) has created a market where you (women only at this point, sorry guys) can pick features and outfits to create a virtual doll to look like you. Then you can print stationery and cards with your avatar on it. (To create an account and make an avatar is free, but the products aren't.) It's a great idea. However, there are some major flaws. They have four doll options: a girl aged somewhere between 9-14, an anorexic toothpick-thin woman, an hourglass-but-still-very-thin shaped woman, and an underweight pregnant woman. It seems to me that they are missing quite a few different mainstream figures (not to mention the other gender).

I remember in high school, my friends and I would classify body shape by fractions. There are typical fractions (e.g., 1/2, 3/4), whole numbers (or in fraction form 1/1, 3/3, etc.), and improper fractions (e.g., 2/1, 3/2). Someone who doesn't have much on top but is fuller on the bottom would be a regular fraction, someone who is relatively balanced would be a whole number, and someone who is well endowed on top and has no hip would be an improper fraction. Of course there could be as many varieties under those three categories as there are possible fractions. There is also the fruit method, in which there are pears, bananas, apples, mangos, etc.

It is a shame that there aren't more avatar template to represent those types. They are going right along with society expecting all the women to starve themselves in order to fit the ideal image. Did they think how it might make larger women feel not to have an avatar to represent them?

Well, the company I work for is considering a partnership with Design-her Gals. My boss encouraged all of us to check out the site and create our own just to get an idea of what they are all about. There are plenty of accessories so that you can change your style, activity, mood, etc. But this is what I thought best represented me on a typical day. (You will have to use your creativity to imagine the extra 15 pounds.)

All in all, I think it is quite a clever business. And to their credit, they work to help women (and I guess men too) with stage four breast cancer. But they could use a little more variety.