lessons learned

hubby makes fun of me all the time for being so smart and at the same time so dumb.  i agree that my methods may seem a bit strange, but i don't know if i would go so far as to say that i am dumb as much as i might agree that i occasionally have been known to do quite dumb things.  i am a very hands on sort of person, i get things done, i'm a dooer.  most times i think about what i am doing or what i should do, but sometimes i get caught up in the moment and just act.  

like, i learned that it is possible to stop a dryer from squeaking by putting  a little bit of oil into the area in the back that rotates the internal basket, but, and remember this, it has to be done before the dryer is turned on, or the aerosol (or whatever it is that they use in those cans now) will combust and cause a slight fire, and i also learned that day that it is possible for a dryer to be on fire internally, which makes it a bit more complicated to extinguish.  

it is through this type of learning, i feel i have learned some of the most valuable and enduring lessons of my life.  and it's just a matter of fact that learning through failure often times means learning through danger and pain.  

i think i get it from my dad, but i can't be sure.  my theory is that if you don't know for a fact something is going to hurt you unless you touch it, then you have no choice but to touch it. right?   otherwise you will never know and will possibly never learn how to solve the problem at hand or similar problems that might arise in the future.  take for instance last night.  i learned a very valuable lesson that every man, woman, and child that ever tries to fix a malfunctioning commercial dishwashers should know about what chemical cleaners one should and should not consider syphoning with their mouth.  

i was under the impression that commercial dish washers used concentrated palmolive.  i needed to find out if the tube was clogged, and my reasoning for syphoning it out was was that i would be able to see if the liquid came all the way through the tube and worst case scenario I would get a little soap in my mouth, and lets face it, if anyone has ever seen me watching a jets game, they know that a little soap in the mouth might just do me a little good.  

well, as it turns out it isn't you standard dish soap in that five gallon bucket, it's not concentrated lemony antibacterial dawn, it's more like acid.  well, not more like acid, it is acid, and not the sort of hippie fun riding around in a vw bus acid, either, more the hydrochloric acid that burns away the food particles on plates kind of acid.  

this discovery explained a lot to me about why all our tupperware at the bar is always hazy, and why we have to pre-rinse dishes for home use dishwashers, and why special companies are licensed to sell these detergent, and why it isn't easy or normal to get one of those dishwashers installed in your home.  

this discovery also concerns me quite a bit when it comes to my newly bloomed green streak, and yeah, i'm swept up like everyone else, it makes me feel good to at least try.  like what happens to all this acid once it's in the water?  does it dissolve?  is it so diluted that it isn't noticeable?  is it filtered out, or is it always in our drinking water like the trace amounts of pharmaceutical anti psychotics that we sip everyday?  

so long story short, there are some sentences that you never imagine yourself saying, like when i told hubby what i had done, and my only consolation to him was, "well thank goodness all the hydrochloric acid went into my mouth, and didn't splash me in the face or eyes," even though i can't imagine that it could hurt much more, it would be really unattractive.  i'm sure that there were several patrons at the bar wondering what the wacky woman washing her mouth out with actual dawn dish detergent was doing, because i'm sure i looked like a nut, a very surprised and excited and in pain nut who's lips were all but melting off.  

well, lesson learned, i guess, and lucky for me mouths and tongues seem to heal rather quickly.

and p.s. i did, in the end, fix the dishwasher

and p.s.s. my mom used that dryer totally squeak free for another four years before it finally died.