jimscott
Tropical Fish Enthusiast
Sunday was a day devoted to assembly projects. I absolutely hate these projects. Why? I struggle with the instructions. Mostly, I take issue with phraseology and vernacular, being unfamiliar with parts and their respective names. Consequently, I read... and re-read.... and attempt to put together... and then end up having Lynn (wife) tell me that I did it wrong and then redo whatever.
For example:
1) We had this clothes dryer that has an option to to switch sides as how it would open - right or left. So there came with it a set of instructions as to how and what order one should remove screws and switch one side of the door and hinges and.... So I followed instructions and naturally got it wrong. And naturally, Lynn informed me of my faux pas. Then she began putting it together "right" and got it partially redone. I followed her pattern and lo and behold.... it was wrong. So after staring at the dryer and the instructions for another half hour and logically put together a mental image of what would seem to work - I put it all together and ya know... it worked.
2) Lynn had me put together a bathroom rack thingy that fits behind and above the toilet. So I began putting it together and Lynn said, "oh noooooo....". Guess who put the back panels in backwards!? I also confused what the instructions said was facing the back, overthinking the instruction writer.
3) Then she had me replace an aesthetically unacceptable towel bar and add another a couple feet higher. I had to remove some screws in the old bar first, before emplacing the new one. So I'm unscrewing the screws, which are in drywall, and what they were in was now stripped and they would only come out so far. Something was keeping these screws in place... but what? So I showed Lynn for a second opinion and she began yanking the part out the wall. I expressed that it's probably not a good idea to pull it out of the wall and the we ought to live with the existing towel bar. She really wanted the new one in there. I ended up yanking it out, discovering the reason why it wouldn't come out of the wall easily was that it had a set of uni-directional anchors in it, that flared open when in place. So I took a piece of the wall out. That made putting a new one a bit more difficult, because there wasn't anything solid in that location to anchor anything into. Nevertheless, I followed through and the one side was loose. Lynn said that we needed to be careful and not use that bar to hold onto while getting up from the toilet. And then... later on in the day.... she said that she forgot about not bracing herself onto it and it came apart. She then used a glue gun to hold it togther.
I measured the length and width of the second bar and awled the locations for the screws, based upon a template that came with the box. But I was a 1/2" short in my horizontal measurement and created a bigger hole to compensate. Still, we managed to the thing in place.
4) A hand towel bar was also put into the wall, but being only a microcosm of the towel bars, that went in without a hitch.
5) Lynn is being gracious with my CP hobby and decided to purchase and put together an aesthetically pleasing rack, to be put in fron of the south-facing sliding door window, in the living room. But the top rack only allowed for 6" worth of space from top to bottom. She really had no conception of the need for the sun to actually shine in on the plants. And of course the rack had to moved a half foot away from the window, so as to allow for he vertical blinds to close, thus reducing the efficasy of the sunlight. I and the plants have to live with it. Beggars can't be choosers!
How 'bout you?
For example:
1) We had this clothes dryer that has an option to to switch sides as how it would open - right or left. So there came with it a set of instructions as to how and what order one should remove screws and switch one side of the door and hinges and.... So I followed instructions and naturally got it wrong. And naturally, Lynn informed me of my faux pas. Then she began putting it together "right" and got it partially redone. I followed her pattern and lo and behold.... it was wrong. So after staring at the dryer and the instructions for another half hour and logically put together a mental image of what would seem to work - I put it all together and ya know... it worked.
2) Lynn had me put together a bathroom rack thingy that fits behind and above the toilet. So I began putting it together and Lynn said, "oh noooooo....". Guess who put the back panels in backwards!? I also confused what the instructions said was facing the back, overthinking the instruction writer.
3) Then she had me replace an aesthetically unacceptable towel bar and add another a couple feet higher. I had to remove some screws in the old bar first, before emplacing the new one. So I'm unscrewing the screws, which are in drywall, and what they were in was now stripped and they would only come out so far. Something was keeping these screws in place... but what? So I showed Lynn for a second opinion and she began yanking the part out the wall. I expressed that it's probably not a good idea to pull it out of the wall and the we ought to live with the existing towel bar. She really wanted the new one in there. I ended up yanking it out, discovering the reason why it wouldn't come out of the wall easily was that it had a set of uni-directional anchors in it, that flared open when in place. So I took a piece of the wall out. That made putting a new one a bit more difficult, because there wasn't anything solid in that location to anchor anything into. Nevertheless, I followed through and the one side was loose. Lynn said that we needed to be careful and not use that bar to hold onto while getting up from the toilet. And then... later on in the day.... she said that she forgot about not bracing herself onto it and it came apart. She then used a glue gun to hold it togther.
I measured the length and width of the second bar and awled the locations for the screws, based upon a template that came with the box. But I was a 1/2" short in my horizontal measurement and created a bigger hole to compensate. Still, we managed to the thing in place.
4) A hand towel bar was also put into the wall, but being only a microcosm of the towel bars, that went in without a hitch.
5) Lynn is being gracious with my CP hobby and decided to purchase and put together an aesthetically pleasing rack, to be put in fron of the south-facing sliding door window, in the living room. But the top rack only allowed for 6" worth of space from top to bottom. She really had no conception of the need for the sun to actually shine in on the plants. And of course the rack had to moved a half foot away from the window, so as to allow for he vertical blinds to close, thus reducing the efficasy of the sunlight. I and the plants have to live with it. Beggars can't be choosers!
How 'bout you?