Ivan Sagalaev @isagalaev@mastodon.social

19. A new faucet came sooner. And I put it up, only having spent two hours on figuring out why the drain was leaking despite tons of sealant. (Pro tip: trust your brain more than a manual.)

Daughter said she didn't like them. So there...

#parenting

18. Wife looked at the problem outside the box and didn't believe it was the last faucet in the universe, so we looked in other places.

19. Lowe's doesn't carry them, but Amazon does!

20. Ordered one (hopefully identical) faucet from Amazon, delivery expected on Monday. Waiting…

(CLIFFHANGER!)

15. Oh, but they do sell them, but only as a two-pack. The obvious solution: dismantle the one I already installed, return it to the store, get a two-pack instead. (Yay, Ivan gets to remove *and* install the faucet one extra time!)

16. Only… The two-pack is out of stock too (I'm still on the phone with the support human.) I bought *the last normal faucet* in the entire Home Depot retail network.

17. Still, I can return it and find a different one.

(cont…)

(One day before.)

11.1. Spent an evening installing the new faucet. Compared to my plumbing memories from Soviet Union this stuff is EASY!

11.2. Except for the drain part. Too many moving parts and a lot of messing with sealant. Fun fact, I used the sealant I brought with from Moscow 10 years ago 🙂

(Back to present.)

14. The support human offered to re-order it for me only to find out they don't sell these faucets anymore.

(Ominous awkward pause.)

(cont…)

10. They only had one faucet left, even though their System said there should be three.

11. Bought the one they had and ordered a second one to be delivered, possibly from another store (I didn't care from where).

11. After the order didn't arrive in two days, called customer support.

12. The robot informed me my order "has been canceled, what else can we do for you?"

13. Pushed through to talk to a human, who didn't know the reason for cancellation.

(cont…)

7. Called a handyman who looked outside the box and told me to not bang my head against the screw and just replace the whole faucet. It's 10+ years old.

8. I need to identical faucets for two sinks.

9. Went to Home Depot and out of dozens of faucets found *one* model that a) would fit and b) is not stupidly short.

(By the way, what is it with this modern trend of short faucets where you need to push you hands into the sink's back side to catch some water?)

(cont…)

3. WD-40 didn't help, decided to try brute force, ripped off the hexagonal head of the screw.

4. Went to Home Depot for a screw extractor and also picked up some anti corrosion solution.

5. Soaked overnight, tried to extract the screw — it didn't budge.

6. More drilling and more brute force with the screw extractor — ripped off the thread on the extractor, but the remains of the screw still hold the casing in place, and it's impossible to extract it.

(cont…)

Epic Story time.

I have two sinks in the bathroom side by side, with identical two-handle faucets. One of them developed a leak, so I set out to fix it, using materials left from fixing of its brother some months ago.

1. It all starts with a small hidden Allen screw which is usually stuck with scale deposit and requires soaking in vinegar.

2. Vinegar didn't help, went to Home Depot for WD-40 (probably wrong choice, but decided to try).

(cont…)

What is it with "modern web apps" that even a menu of links can be broken and not work!!!???

And don't even start asking me what browser am I using. It's an effing LINK! You don't need a tiered browser support policy for a @^#% LINK to work on a #&%^ WEB!

</rant>

Now this dig at wokeness is a little bit brilliant, I think :-)

https://sinfest.xyz/view.php?date=2021-07-09

Just saw the new Volkswagen ID.4 on the road for the first time. Teslas and Bolts are already old thing here, but VWs, Mustangs Mach-E and others are starting to show up too.

(P.S. Yes, I know all about virtues of bikes and public transport, spare me the preaching. I just like cars.)

Good story on the history of Haiti showing how poverty of Black countries around the world has nothing to do with the myth of their citizens' "innate laziness". https://getpocket.com/explore/item/when-france-extorted-haiti-the-greatest-heist-in-history

Apparently I'm back to binge-watching the second campaign of Critical Role. I've been missing it! On episode 44 so far.

As a guy whose dress style is best described as "unassuming" I pretty vu never get complimented about my looks by strangers. Except when I wear my Black Lives Matter t-shirt. Just got yet another "nice t-shirt" from another woman. (Men are expectedly more reserved.)