Friday, August 22, 2003

Saving the Day

I am a guy. I am not a messy guy nor am I overly obsessed about the cleanliness of my apartment. Yesterday, as I was cooking some tasty chicken tacos, I noticed that the dishes in my sink were reaching the brim and it was time to wash them. So, while I was grilling the chicken for my tasty chicken tacos, I decided to wash the dishes in my sink. My apartment’s kitchen lacks two basic luxuries that have become necessities in US kitchens over the past decade, a garbage disposal and a dish washer. It really isn’t that big of a deal for me, I rarely have that many dishes to wash. So I began washing my dishes by hand when I noticed the water level in the sink had slowly begun to rise. I shut off the water but the small, stagnant pool refused to drain down the…well, for lack of a better word, drain. I am a guy. I don’t like to cook but I like to eat. My tasty chicken tacos were nearly done, so I poured some “Clobber” drain cleaner into my sink and escaped to the comfort of flour tortillas, spicy grilled chicken, sautéed peppers and onions, tangy salsa, and a cold Dos Equis Amber. I know my priorities. After I finished my meal, I took my dirty dishes into the kitchen. “Clobber”, the drain cleaner, failed miserably in its task. My sink was filled with the same stagnant pool that resided there an hour before, and now I had even more dishes to wash. I knew immediately that this was a job for HC, and I was bound to succeed where my trusty sidekick, “Clobber” the drain cleaner failed. I am a guy. I am not a trained plumber but I do own a monkey wrench. I cleaned out the cabinet under my sink, and put some buckets down. Harnessing the power of the monkey wrench, I managed to disconnect the p-trap (the curved piece of plumbing under the sink) with out breaking anything. Unfortunately, my calculations on where to place the buckets were off by a fraction. The sink immediately drained onto my floor, but I was not to be defeated so easily. After mopping up my kitchen I took the p-trap (hehe, p-trap, what a funny name) outside and cleaned out the oozing sludge, which probably resided their since the dawn of time (or at least since the previous owner inhabited my sparse sanctuary), with a garden hose. I managed to reattach all of the plumbing with minimal injury, and wallah! The day was saved and my sink was operating once again. I am a guy. Although I do not possess super human powers, I am a hero in my own eyes. I conquered the vile drain clog with style, and still managed to eat some tasty chicken tacos. What more could a guy ask for?

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