FLOW: a plumber's weblog

More from Zimbabwe

In December of '04 I wrote that Air Zimbabwe was going out of business because the Zimbabweans were now so thin, they could be faxed to their destinations. Well, things are no better today. One might have guessed it, of course, since it is still a Marxist nation. The NY times reported today:

"How bad is inflation in Zimbabwe? Well, consider this: at a supermarket near the center of this tatterdemalion capital, toilet paper costs $417. No, not per roll. Four hundred seventeen Zimbabwean dollars is the value of a single two-ply sheet. A roll costs $145,750 -- in American currency, about 69 cents. The price of toilet paper, like everything else here, soars almost daily, spawning jokes about an impending better use for Zimbabwe's $500 bill, now the smallest in circulation. But what is happening is no laughing matter. For untold numbers of Zimbabweans, toilet paper -- and bread, margarine, meat, even the once ubiquitous morning cup of tea -- have become unimaginable luxuries. All are casualties of the hyperinflation that is roaring toward 1,000 percent a year."

Under "white minority rule" Rhodesia was the breadbasket of sub-Saharan Africa. Now they are starving.

Perhaps they will ask for handouts from non-Marxist, non-Black nations to keep from dying of starvation? But that would demonstrate who is superior to them. No, they couldn't do that.

Could they?

Posted by Kevan on 05/02/06 at 10:53 PM

Crooks in the Plumbing Business

The plumber-customer relationship includes a certain trust common to all professionals: the plumber is responsible to advise the customer honestly. When he does otherwise, he is dishonest. Such a principle precludes overselling.

I recently got a call from a man who said he needed his sewer replaced and asked if I did such work. After assuring him that I did, my first question was "How do you know that it needs to be replaced?" He answered that Leech Plumbing had told him so. (That's not their real name, but it should be.)

To really shorten the story, I fixed his problem for $76, compared to the $4,000 that Leech quoted him. As I sat at his table, preparing to rake in my loot, I saw Leech's invoice. They took $730 off this fellow a few nights earlier. Eliminating the useless work and charging my prices for the necessary work, I could have provided the same services for $140. More specifically, they charged him $300 for some extra work I would have thrown in for $40.

I went behind this same company a week earlier as well. They quoted a man $3,200 to replace his sewer. I quoted $1,500, and I would have made plenty of money at that price. Come to find out, it didn't need replacing at all; Leech had misdiagnosed it.

On my company web site (see link on sidebar to the left) I have a page labeled "company philosophy" and it tells a story about Vampire Plumbing, another nest of bloodsuckers posing as professionals. I'm happy to report that Vampire closed its doors here in Memphis a few weeks ago.

Posted by Kevan on 04/28/06 at 07:57 PM

How We Know Society Is Doomed

I realized a decade-long ambition today: I bought a Sears water hose.

As a plumber for large shops, I used to visit about a thousand homes a year. Now, on my own, I make about 1/3 as many calls. Even still, for over sixteen years, I've been to a lot of homes and I've used a lot of water hoses. Never have I seen a hose that compares with the ones sold by Sears. They're just good.

Can't say as much for their legal, department, though. On the cardboard that came wrapped around my new hose, I found this on the inside:

"WARNING: Do not spray water into an electrical outlet. Severe electrical shock could result."

By rights, other such warnings should be equally necessary. "Do not use this hose for colonic irrigation." "Do not drive with this hose coiled around your head and eyes. You could have a wreck." "Do not swing the end of this hose around when others are present. It could hit someone in the eye." "Do not spray water on passing strangers. They could charge you with assault."

We're doomed, I tell ya.

Posted by Kevan on 03/16/06 at 08:10 PM

Why Is This Man Laughing?

According to the Washington Post, "Former D.C. mayor Marion Barry pleaded guilty yesterday to two misdemeanor tax charges, admitting in federal court that he failed to pay most of his income taxes for five years after departing from the District government in 1999."

He faced a possible 18 months in jail and $30,000 in fines. He got probation, and he's supposed to pay the taxes. That's why he's laughing.

Barry is a habitual offender: philandering, drugs, perjury, publicly exposing himself, nonpayment of debts. They arrest him, they convict him, they issue judgments against him--he doesn't care or comply. He just gets a criminal underclass to vote him back into office for business as usual and dares anyone to enforce the law against him. That's why he's laughing.

He's 70 and in poor health. If he can finish his current term, he can retire at taxpayer expense. Is this a great country, or what? If he dies, he gets by with a lifetime of living off the labor of others. (Of course, he then faces a holy God, but that's another topic.)

Memphis can be proud when it looks at Barry--proud that it got rid of him fifty years ago.

Posted by Kevan on 03/10/06 at 10:07 PM

Sawing Concrete

One doesn't automatically think of concrete as something that can be sawed, but we do it all the time in the plumbing trade. In this photo you see me sawing a path through a driveway. We removed a 24" swath, excavated beneath it, and laid a 3" drain pipe.

This isn't easy work. It takes a few hours to cut that much concrete, get it out, and haul it away. The circle saw blade you see in use here costs $350. We used up about 1/4 of its cutting edge on this job, including some cuts to the brick and sidewalk behind the house.

Posted by Kevan on 03/06/06 at 07:59 AM

Altogether Too Cold

In Memphis, it is altogether too cold.

It's so cold, the weather people can't even tell how cold it is. When I checked the 'net this morning, no two sources agreed, but they reported us being between ten and seventeen degrees. Southerners have way too much common sense to live in a place like that, but this weekend we've had no choice.

I had jobs yesterday, which is not always the case on Saturday. These jobs, as luck would have it, were outside. And they were hard. I was digging in the precipitation and the mud for six hours. Pity me, oh pity me, my readers.

See what it did to my truck? I wash that thing faithfully at least once every three months, and I happened to have washed it just this week. Now look! -->

Most of the churches in Memphis are closed this morning. I'm not sure why. At any rate, I'm home and blogging, furnace and fireplace operating at full tilt.

Alas! Relief is on the way. We just finished the warmest January in recorded history, and the high tomorrow is predicted to be 40. I suppose I can't complain. But I will anyway: it is altogether too cold.

Posted by Kevan on 02/19/06 at 11:02 AM

Cheney is Guilty

I must disagree with my fellow conservatives on this one. Dick Cheney was dead wrong, and this event bears all the marks of a coverup.

First: that line initially offered by Gertie Armstrong about Harry Whittington "not announcing himself" as he rejoined the group after retrieving his downed quail is hogwash. From all evidence I've been able to research (and the info is hardly available), Cheney was inexcusable to have followed that bird and swung around to where he could hit a fellow hunter. I've hunted quail myself, and that's something you just don't do. The initial story was "damage control."

Next, there are conflicting reports about alcohol consumption. At first, there was no alcohol that day, only Dr. Pepper. Then the story changed to one beer at lunch. To cover the inconsistency, the hostess then said there might have been some beer, as if she didn't know. And there may have been other versions of this story in addition to these.

Then there is the unwillingness of the sherriff's department to report what they knew and when they knew it. They claimed that they were turned away by the Secret Service when they arrived to question Cheney. But the SS claims differently. Now the sherriff's office won't talk.

What are the real facts? That's the problem: we can't learn them because the administration is stonewalling and feeding us one line of inconsistent bull after another. I dare speculate that Cheney's blood alcohol level was such that he didn't want to interact with anyone for a few hours. He didn't go to the hospital with his victim and apparently he was unavailable to the police until the next morning.

Posted by Kevan on 02/17/06 at 11:01 PM

Oh, brother...

Here we go again. The weathermen predicted some snow tonight with little to no accumulation. The result? It's showering down by the bucketfulls out there with no end in sight. Since I shot this photo, the ground is now covered. Winter wonderland my foot! And it's only 3:00 PM. Rush hour is yet to come.

I've never understood romantics who "just luvvv snow." Don't these people ever work for a living? Bing Crosby is fine for an evening in front of the tube; but when the alarm clock rings in the morning, somebody's got to get out of bed and provide the goods and services that make the world go 'round. At that point, it's goodbye White Christmas and hello John Henry.

(In case you don't understand that allusion, John Henry was a steel drivin' man who died with his hammer in his hand, Lawd Lawd, died with his hammer in his hand.)

I presently hear a load of kids who just got off the school bus in front of my house. As I look out my window, listening to their cries of glee, I see them frantically scooping up gobs of snow and flinging it at the bus, one another, and the world in general. Of course they love it. They're just kids. They don't have to make the world go 'round tomorrow morning. Daddy will shovel the car out of the snow, Mr. Baker will get the food to the stores, Mrs. Mommy will make sure that there's food from the store, into the oven, and on the table. Mr. Sparks will make sure that electricity flows into the house and powers all the gizmos they play with when they're tired of the cold. So kids love snow.

But why do grownups?

Posted by Kevan on 02/10/06 at 03:11 PM

Hilarious Video

There's just no limit to human stupidity. Libertarian or Communist, Christian or infidel, Black or White, we're surrounded by idiots on every side. Which is why I formulated Barley's Third Law of Plumbing, which states "Everybody's an idiot, just at different times."

Some convulsive-fits-foaming-at-the-mouth left wing extremists have created a little video showing what America is about to be like since Samuel Alito is heading toward confirmation today. Check it out.

Posted by Kevan on 01/31/06 at 07:33 AM

Ostrich Joke

A man walks up to the bar with an ostrich behind him. As he sits down, the bartender comes over and asks for their order. The man says, "I'll have a beer." The tender turns to the ostrich and asks, "What's yours?" "I'll have a beer, too," says the ostrich. �The bartender pours the beer and says, "That will be $3.40 please."

The man reaches into his pocket and pulls out the exact change for payment.

The next day, the man and the ostrich come in again, and the man says, "I'll have a beer," and the ostrich says, "I'll have the same." Once again the man reaches into his pocket and pays with the exact change.

This becomes a routine until, late one evening, the two enter again.

"The usual?" asks the bartender.

"Well, it's close to last call, so I'll have a large scotch," says the man.

"Same for me," says the ostrich.

"That will be $7.20," says the bartender. Once again, the man pulls exact change out of his pocket and places it on the bar.

The bartender can't hold back his curiosity any longer. "Excuse me sir. How do you manage to always come up with the exact change out of your pocket every time?" the bartender asks.

"Well," says the man. "Several years ago I was cleaning the attic and found an old lamp. When I rubbed it a Genie appeared and offered me two wishes. My first wish was that if I ever had to pay for anything, I could just put my hand in my pocket, and the right amount of money would always be there."

"That's brilliant!" says the bartender, "Most people would wish for a million dollars or something, but you'll always be as rich as you want for as long as you live!"

"That's right! Whether it's a gallon of milk or a Rolls Royce, the exact money is always there," says the man.

The bartender asks, "One other thing, sir, what's with the ostrich?"

The man replies, "My second wish was for a chick with long legs."

Posted by Kevan on 01/30/06 at 12:55 AM

An Organized Truck

I'm happy to report that I've discovered the secret to a clean and organized plumbing truck. For sixteen years I've struggled with my truck being a mess. Now I think I've finally hit on the secret. As you can see, my truck is now the epitome of clean and organized.

And what is the secret to such a clean truck? You just have to dump two-thirds of your junk onto the carport!

Posted by Kevan on 01/24/06 at 12:35 AM

John Shelton, R.I.P.

People call me nearly every day with a stopped up drain problem, but they almost have to know someone in order to get my phone number. It's on my web site, but I never advertise in the ordinary sense of the term and, therefore, practically all new customers begin by saying "I got your name from ...."

One day the caller said "I got your name from John Shelton." I'd never heard of John Shelton, but I didn't mention that to the customer. I was just glad to get the call and the chance to earn some money. Then such calls continued to trickle in. Finally I asked a caller who "John Shelton" was and found out that he had an appliance repair business in Memphis.

Naturally, I got a call one day from a customer who asked me if I knew someone who repaired appliances. I said I'd check around and I found John in the phone book. I found out from him that we had had a customer in common who told him about me. John's reaction was "That's the plumber I've been looking for! I often have to refer my customers to a plumber and every time, the plumber ends up doing them wrong."

We met in person eventually, saw one another occasionally on job sites or at supply houses, worked together on my furnace one evening, but never became actual friends. We were about the same age, but of different lifestyles. We shared a common business philosophy, though, and it caused us to cling together in an informal way and to refer customers to each other constantly. It is very hard to find a trustworthy tradesman, and we who are trustworthy form an alliance nearly as strong as a blood oath. John expected me to treat his customers just as he treated them, and I knew that those customers thought that he was the appliance man from Heaven.

I left a message on his phone a few days ago. This morning the executor of his estate called to inform me that he had died by his own hand on Dec. 18th. Checking back in the Memphis newspaper (which I seldom read), I see that he first shot his estranged wife in a restaurant where she sat with a male friend, then he turned the gun on himself.

Memphis had found something it really needed when it found John. John needed something too, but I guess he never really found it.

Posted by Kevan on 01/05/06 at 10:04 AM

How to Raise a Fallen Tombstone

So many readers have written in to ask me this question, I decided to just make a blog entry so that I can refer them here.

Recently I and several relatives visited the graveyard where our people are buried. Vandals had gone through the property and kicked over several grave markers, one of which belonged to my aunt's mother. It pained my aunt to see the monument in this condition, awaiting action by the cemetary's board. My brother-in-law and I are both pretty strong, but we couldn't even budge that huge granite slab. It had sat on another granite base and, when toppled, still had its bottom on the base. Its head, however, was now lower than its bottom and the massive weight combined with its position was just beyond the abilities of two men to handle.

We returned later with an eight-foot landscape timber and a number of wooden blocks. We dug out a small hole and poked the end of the timber under the top of the fallen slab. Using a block for a fulcrum, we raised it a few inches and put some blocks in place to keep it up. Then we used a car ramp for a fulcrum and raised it much higher, which made it easier for two of us to grab it by hand and set it completely upright. Once up, it was easy to rock back a little so we could place construction adhesive under it in hopes of discouraging future vandals.

Posted by Kevan on 01/02/06 at 06:36 AM

The "Intelligent Design" Controversy

Many have written about this issue recently, therefore I will be brief.

Science, by definition, tends to be atheistic; that is, it denies the existence of any god who matters. To an atheistic scientist, one may posit the existence of a god or gods so long as that god does nothing related to the behavior of the material world. If your child is dying of an inexplicable malady, you don't want some pious doctor to tell you that God is working a miracle and defying the laws of medicine. No, you would take your child to the atheist doctor down the hall whose attitude is "There must be some natural cause for this problem and I intend to figure it out and save your child's life." That would be the scientific approach.

But what if God did work a miracle? If he did, then science would be unable to respond to it correctly. For instance, if God were to create a man today, science would look at that man and see evidence of him being, say, thirty years old. But in fact the man isn't thirty years old; he's only one day old. The scientific method assumes that no god has messed with the material world and confused us.

"Intelligent design," put simply, says that the universe bears undeniable evidence against the theory that it came into being through random processes. Evolutionism says that no god intervened to make the world the way it is. Why do evolutionists say that? Because "science" requires it to be so. To say that God did it would be to depart from the scientific method.

Therefore, even if God did do it, science requires the scientist to deny that God did it.

"Intelligent design" is as obvious as an eastern sunrise. Spiders did not learn to build webs through random processes, trial and error, and natural selection. Heck, I have an I.Q. above 120 and I can't even keep track of my plumbing tools as well as a squirrel keeps track of the nuts she buried a year ago.

Most pundits do not understand the issues at stake here at all, and they don't want to.

Posted by Kevan on 12/31/05 at 08:17 AM