Fixing the problem is always preferred

There are things I can count on my brain for. Thinking of inappropriate things to say is one of those things. Doing the thing I already figured out is not the next step in a sequence of tasks … I do that too. Skipping steps, well, that’s just another way of saying the same thing, isn’t it. But it looks different sometimes, so I’m leaving it in.

I was doing some wiring in a friend’s kitchen yesterday and I started thinking about hardwired activities. Yes, I did pull a box apart without throwing the breaker, no I didn’t get a shock, nor did I put anyone else at risk.

And yes, I did go to the panel and throw the breaker before I tore the actual circuit apart.

Safety first – or shortly there after …

In short, there was never any danger, but I did give myself a good stern talking to. Ahhh, who am I kidding, I laughed at myself, and resolved to pay more attention to the order of tasks I needed to perform.

My job was a pretty simple one

My task was to split a receptacle and put a switch with a pilot light on one half of it. The purpose was to be able to leave a grill plugged in and set at a certain temperature. Before the grill was left set to that temperature but it was turned on and off by plugging it in and then unplugging it.

How often do I do an end run around the obvious solution? How often do I just unplug something instead of hard-wiring a switch in place? Too often.

A state of confusion

I unplug, when I should step into the solution and finish the job.

I start something, reach an impasse, and set everything aside, vowing to return to the task as soon as possible. I unplug, when I should step into the solution and finish the job. But the static that comes with being interrupted makes me unproductive.

The great thing about working on other people’s jobs is that I don’t get that same static. I never could explain why, it just didn’t seem to happen.

But, while working on my friend’s kitchen fix, I figured it out. I discovered I was short two conduit connectors. In my kitchen that would have been cause for a complete interruption. I would have set everything aside and gone on to something completely different. It’s the fact that I have no other tasks waiting for me when I’m on a job site. At my place there is a multitude of stuff that needs attention, plenty of things that need doing.

So I’m thinking that I should only work in other people’s homes. I should hire others to work in my home. Could that work?

It probably won’t happen, the available finances for hiring someone are shockingly sparse. Who would work in my house for as little as I can afford to pay?

But the thought is kind of – electrifying, isn’t it?

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    Last reviewed: 8 Feb 2012