Daily - 2025-12-13

Previously…

Yesterday recap

I was ready for this day to be slow and uneventful. It was not.

After breakfast I got busy cleaning out my truck. In the time my biz partner used it (about 2 months) it looked like a bomb full of sand exploded in the cab and then was lightly sprayed with a water bottle and smeared around the surfaces. I wiped everything down, scrubbed the dash, and then used an air compressor to get all the big bits out. Then used the shop vac to get the last of it removed. The outside still needs to be washed, but the weather isn’t good enough for that yet.

I then got busy on the other chores around the house. When I finally finished and started thinking about lunch I got a message from my biz partner that a mainline repair I did a few weeks ago called and said they think it is leaking again. Normally we would advise the customer to turn off the sprinkler system and then we would get them on the schedule. But, this leak is different because it is on the main water line going to the house. I remember the location and it will flood the sidewalk in the front of their house and cause them to have a massive water bill if we have them wait.

So, I got dressed and rushed out of the house. At this point it is about 2:15PM and I know I’m quickly running out of daylight. It gets dark here about 4:15PM and if this is a break where I think it is I am going to have to sprint to get it done.

I pull up to the residence and I can already see the water leak. I start digging it up and see that the existing fitting that I attached to for my previous repair is now broken and spewing a lot of water. I realized this was probably my doing. Since it was an old fitting and the previous install had bottomed out the threads, any new fitting threaded in would also bottom out since it is now worn. By bottoming out a threaded fitting, which its threads are tapered, can cause the receiving fitting to split due to the tension. I should have realized this when I did the previous repair and replaced the entire install. This is why there was a delay in the break. Over the last two weeks everything has been fine, until it wasn’t.

I called my biz partner to rush me parts since I know I only have about an hour of daylight left. We got it done and had to backfill the hole with flashlights to finish up. Our fix looks good and now everything is brand new.

This is the first time in 4 years I’ve had a call back. I’m a measure 6 times cut once type of person, so I never get call backs. We pride ourselves on being the best of the best, so we almost never have to deal with this. I’m stressing. I hate it because I let this customer down. We made it right in the end and I learned a lesson, so all is good. But, now I’m gonna stress for weeks about this repair because I don’t want it to happen again.

We follow behind so many contractors that do a real piss poor job. I don’t know who these folks sleep at night. I don’t know how you can leave a site knowing you did a half-assed job and likely something will fail. If I don’t give 100% effort and focus on every job I feel like I’m ripping them off.

Since I was home late I got Smackdown started for the fam and then went and cleaned up.

Dinner, gorls bed time, and then we had a movie night with the boy to watch A Muppet Christmas Carol. We have had aA family tradition is to watch The Muppet Christmas Carol since he was about 4 and it was very nice to keep that tradition going even now when he is an adult. It is also one of my wife’s favorite movies, so I know this night was important to her.

Right before the movie started the smoke alarm in the garage went off. After checking everything out I couldn’t find a reason. I posted on Mastodon:

We have whole home smoke detectors, but I added one to a large closet upstairs and in the garage. They are just the battery types, no hardwired. The one in the garage was going off. Deep inspection and can’t find a reason. Checked everything, including heat from outlets and peeked in the attic. Changed the battery, tested, and reinstalled. I hate when this shit happens.

How are you feeling today?

Anxious.

Gratitude

• No damage was caused by the faulty repair.
• Thankful for a family movie night again.

Todo

Chores

Nothing extra today.

Fun

• Go to Build-a-Bear. This is the last of the birthday stuff for the Rainbow Baby. We couldn’t make this happen last weekend on her actual birthday, so had to postpone until today. We have to go all the way to Tacoma, so this is going to take up a significant portion of the day.
• Saturday Night’s Main Event. This is going to be both fun and sad because it is John Cena’s offical retirement match. Although my wife loves Cena, its the boy who is going to have the hardest time. As little as 5 he was wearing John Cena costumes and pretending to be him winning matches. He loves Cena and this is going to be so, so hard for him to watch.

Projects

Too busy today.

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