I Suck At Home Improvement

Yesterday continued my home improvement project of frustration. Yes, I suck at home improvement. On Saturday, my propane torch ran out of propane. Thinking nothing of it, I went to the local Home Depot and bought another propane tank.

So early in the morning, I figured I would start soldering the copper pipes necessary to supply water to the first floor bathroom. For anyone curious, I don't like plumbing. Plumbing at my house generally involves my spending time in the crawlspace... and I am not a big fan of the crawlspace. Plus, I find plumbing very dirty... especially when it comes to soldering pipes. The flux paste itself feels like waxy goo... and that's after I clean the pipes with water.

Anyway, I have a lot of joints to solder for this first floor bathroom project. I figured I'd spend Sunday sweating joints like crazy. As it turns out, I didn't solder a single joint in a time span of about six hours.

Like I am apt to do, I generally think problems, when they happen, are a result of something I did or did not do. Perhaps it's what I have been trained to think. After all, in my profession where I develop software and write lines of code, more often than naught a problem arises because the code is not completely correct or the code did not take into account certain business logic, etc. (It should be noted that the problem is not always the developer. There are external issues that can also be the problem... but I generally tend to start reviewing the codebase whenever a problem arises to make sure it is sound.)

Similarly, when I work on home improvement projects, I tend to do the same thing. In this case, the scenario involved soldering a single joint. I started soldering a joint with the new propane tank. For some reason, the solder was not working. So, I disassembled the joint, cleaned the pipe, reapplied the flux, and tried again. When it did not work, I repeated the same steps again... and again... and again. After a while, I started to think... did I forget a step? So, I would add new steps to my process: I would clean the pipe with sandpaper again; I would clean the inside of the joint again; I would perhaps use a different flux; And still... the joint would not solder.

Needless to say, it drove me crazy not being able to solder a single joint in that time span. In retrospect, I probably should have stopped after my third attempt. I decided to give it a break and re-diagnose the problem... on Karen's advice of course. After giving it more thought, I diagnosed the problem as the propane torch... not the propane itself... but the torch part. It only made sense because the pipes were not getting hot enough to melt the solder.

It was very frustrating because I had just purchased a new propane tank the previous day. Oh well. Apparently something must have happened to the torch in addition to the propane tank running out of propane. Regardless, I made another trip to the local Home Depot for a new propane torch. (I have yet to test the diagnosis that the original problem is a result of the torch. When I ignited the new torch, however, the flame did appear different.)

Anyway, following the whole wasted effort on the home improvement project, Karen and I decided to just spend the rest of the day watching movies in her Netflix queue. The movies we watched were "Funny People" and "The Invention of Lying".

(The video below is a trailer for "Funny People".)


(The video below is a trailer for "The Invention of Lying".)


The movies were okay. For anyone curious, "Funny People"... not so funny. In my opinion, the best bit was probably the cameo appearance by Eminem and Ray Romano. The plot is about a comedian (played by Adam Sandler) who has a disease. He hires another comedian (Seth Rogen) to write jokes for him. The movie definitely went longer than it should have. (The movie is about 2 and half hours long.)

In my opinion, "The Invention of Lying" was actually a better movie. Of course, I tend to like Jennifer Garner movies even though she is not blond. Alias... good show. And sure, Daredevil/Elektra were terrible... but Juno and 13 Going on 30... not so bad. The plot of the movie is about a "loser" (Ricky Gervais) who for some reason can tell lies in a world that can only tell truths. There is even a nice jab at religion in the movie.

Watching the two movies back to back actually made it a Jonah Hill double feature. Jonah Hill (the fat guy of Superbad fame) appears as a comedian in "Funny People" and as Ricky Gervais's neighbor in "The Invention of Lying".

Anyway, the movies were a good way to end the otherwise frustrating time spent on renovating the first floor bathroom. Hopefully, the problem is the propane torch and I can start soldering pipes again.