Adrian: Amateur Handyman: The Pet Peeve Silverware Drawer

Every damned day it's the same thing.  The knives get shoved in the back of the silverware drawer, and get bent.  This is due to the drawer being 22 years old and warped.  Over time the knives have been shoved to the back, and opened up the back of the drawer.  Let me show you the pictures.

So you see the problem I'm having.  The knives get pushed to the back, through the slit, and then bent.  Seeing as how it's Sunday morning, Adrian the Amateur Handyman comes to the repair!

First, I take the blasted thing out.  Then I look for a flat table in my workshop.  There is none.  There's too much stuff everywhere.  So I take everything outside. 

Cue the Titebond 2, small nails, and a hammer.

This is what happened.

1.  Glued it.
2.  Realized the drawer had warped after 22 years. 
3.  Realized I really should have seen that coming.
4.  Broke out the clamp.
5.  Spent 10 minutes looking for the correct kind of nails.
6.  Found nails.
7.  Bang, bang, bang.

So I cleaned up the drawer, and it looked like this.

Not bad, right?

So I go to fit it in the slot, and it won't fit.  It was a bit warped, and when I tried to straighten it, it didn't want to line up correctly.  So, a little bending was in order.  In the end, it made it into the slot.  However, I have now traded one problem for another.  The sliding action is a wee bit tight.  But we'll see what happens after it gets moved back and forth a little bit. 

So I can't really claim victory on this one, but I can't call it a defeat either.  I guess I'll call it a draw (er?)

Not So Special

I grew up in the 1980's, and I love 80's music.  As such, I also love listening to Sirius XM's 80's on 8 channel.  It takes me back to not only what we think of 80's music (the MTV pop years,) but the deep tracks as well.

I was listening to the 80's on 8 when I heard it.  One of the few songs I really hated from the 80's.  It's called, "Second Chance."  It has to be one of the whiniest, suckiest songs I've ever heard.  The worst part was that it was so overplayed back then.  They must have played it twice an hour every hour for months.  It was just awful.

But the one thing I never knew, or cared to find out, was who actually sang it.  The good thing about Sirius XM is that, it tells you the song, artist and sometimes the year.  I look over to the dashboard and see, "Second Chance..... .38 Special???" 

I think, "That can't be right?  .38 Special would never sing that song in a million years."  These are the, "Hang on loosely" guys.  Also known as the "Caught up in you" guys.  This is a band with Donnie Van Zant (brother of Ronnie Van Zant.)  These guys are Southern Rock.  What are they doing singing this song?

So I had to search the internet.  I didn't like what I found.  Namely, I found this:

I also found out that this was their biggest hit.  "Hold on loosely" peaked at #27 on the Billboard 200.  "Caught up in you" peaked at #10.  But "Second Chance" peaked at #6 on the Top 200.  It was actually #1 on the Adult Contemporary, and #2 on the Rock charts. 

I have to say, all this info really blew my mind.  But then, my mind was going to be blown up even more.  Let me take you all the way back to 1986-1987.  You see, back then when you had HBO, and or Showtime, you only had one channel.  You didn't have 14 different HBO's or 14 Showtimes.  You didn't have "On Demand."  You had one channel.

We had Showtime, and during the day they would show the cheapest, newest movies they could.  They played the movie "Revenge of the Nerds 2: Back to Paradise" every day, two or three times a day for about a year.  I am ashamed to admit just how many times I have seen that movie.  So what does this have to do with .38 Special?  Well, the theme to "Revenge of the Nerds 2: Back to Paradise" was a song called, "Back to Paradise."  Guess who I found out sang that?

That's right.  .38 Special. 

If you think I'm making any of this up, please feel free to view the following resources.

Wikipedia:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/38_Special_(band)

Music VF:  http://www.musicvf.com/38+Special.art

I hate to sound like a hipster, but stick to their early work. 

Hats Off!

A week ago I posted something on a Facebook timeline of a friend (who will be called "G".)  It was a funny meme about 21 Pilots, a band that a common friend of ours (who will be called "C") likes.  Anyway, G shared the post with C, and his response was, "What the fuck?"

Here's the meme:

So here's the thing, I was making fun of C's taste in music.  However, he happens to wear a hat that looks a bit like the one above.  After seeing that meme he didn't wear his usual hat the rest of the week.

I feel terrible.  I mean, all the guys there at Erwin really bust each other's balls pretty hard.  But, I think I really hurt C's feelings on that one.  I apologized to him today.  He told me he thought it was kind of the usual stuff we say to each other.  But that doesn't change the fact he didn't wear his usual hat for a week. 

I'll be honest, I really don't know where to draw the line when busting chops.  It's kind of like the time I made a "camel" joke to a fellow student who is from the Middle East.  I wrote about it here:

http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2016/11/one-hump-or-two.html

I was told I went too far with that joke by some people.  However, some said it was "the usual kind" of stuff we say to each other.  I know my interpersonal skills aren't the best, and this has always been an area of concern for me.  Where is the line?  I'll just have to keep working on it.  You know, take it day by day.

Goddess

There seems to be a Facebook phenomenon I've noticed going around.  I've always known that creepy guys are going to be creepy, but it seems to have hit a level of weirdness.  I'll explain, but so as not to embarrass anyone, I won't use actual names. 

Here's how it starts.  A female friend of mine will post a picture of herself.  It's usually one of the following: 

1.  Eating food.
2.  Hanging out with friends.
3.  Showing a picture of them with new clothes or hairstyle.

The replies then go something like this.

(Best female friend.)  OMG LOL.

(2nd friend.)  That looks (like one of the following):  1.  Like fun.  2.  Great.  3.  Good on you.

(Me.)  Awesome!

(4th friend.)  We had so much fun!

(Random creepy guy.)  Goddess.


That's when I'm like, "What?"  I'm also thinking:

Other noted replies from random creepy guy are one of the following.

1.  Goddess.  (As noted earlier.)
2.  GODDESS  (All caps with no punctuation.)
3.  Your a goddess  (It's never "You're."  It's always misspelled.)
4.  Yer a goddess  (Again, spelled wrong with no period at the end.) 

What I just don't understand is that it's usually an average, everyday picture.  I'm not talking about photos of women in swimsuits or club wear.  It's always a picture of an average day.  Everyone is being polite with their comments, and then, "BOOM!"  Out of nowhere comes creepy guy with the "Goddess" comment. 

I've always known there have been creepy guys.  Yes, they existed way before Facebook.  It just seems that hiding behind the computer has brought out a new kind of creepy guy.  As I've gotten older I've really noticed how men treat women, and I don't really like it.  I'm not talking about being old-fashioned.  I'm talking about just treating someone decently. 

Every time I see the "Goddess" comment the hair on my arms stand up.  It just seems very sinister.  Like a very twisted and demented person is trying to cover up their own sickness by posting an over the top compliment. 

I do hope that a few female friends of mine read this.  That way, they know to be a bit on cautious side the next time someone posts the "Goddess" comment on one of their photos.  They will know not to "LOL" or "OMG" or even give any response to that kind of comment.  They can reevaluate why that person is on their friends list.