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And Now, Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer," Done in Vintage '50s Rhythm & Blues Style

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A Cranky One3/25/2017 5:26:44 pm PDT

Reposting from a dead thread:

Interesting day today. I have a co-worker who’s an immigrant from Ethiopia. Went over to his house a few weeks ago to deal with some home issues he’s been struggling with. Ended up doing a fair amount of work while teaching him some basics about home repair. Replaced a garbage disposal that was corroded and leaking badly, fixed the kitchen faucet, re-glued some countertop laminate that was peeling, replaced a faulty sump pump and battery backup sump pump because his basement had recently flooded after both pumps failed, re-lit the pilot on his water heater that went out when the basement flooded and put in a new doorbell chime, transformer and the outside bell button as well as a few other miscellaneous repairs.

I do this type of stuff for folks all the time and am constantly annoyed and angry when I see what some “professionals” charge for poor quality, often improperly done work. Take the sump pumps for example. Neither the standard pump or the battery backup pump had check valves; a obvious code violation. What got me over to the house in the first place was being told that the idiots who did the original installation wanted $1400 to replace the equipment they installed improperly in the first place. So they not only did shoddy work but vastly overcharged for doing it. Grrrr….

I’m frankly astounded at some of the things I find. Went over to help my daughter-in-law’s dad with his house, which had no electricity in half the house. Her mom was trying to get home from a major illness and being in rehab, but the rehab folks refused to let her go home until the power issue was resolved (no power in the bedrooms or back bathrooms). Understandable, because she could be hurt trying to negotiate her way in the dark. I discovered the problem: the house had aluminum wiring and the idiots who did the wiring attached the wire to terminals clearly marked “CU ONLY”. Removed an outlet that was actually sparking and smoking and if it hadn’t been replaced would have started a fire. Quick trip to the store for aluminum rated outlets and $40 later, the house was safe and functional. How any real electrician could do this or worse, how any inspector would ignore it is perplexing.

Anyway, went over today and was treated to an authentic Ethiopian meal. Spicy and quite good. And then the traditional coffee, which involved actually cooking the coffee beans in a pan prior to brewing a thick, espresso like brew. Yum. They brought out the pan with the coffee beans during the heating, explaining that part of the ritual is to enjoy the fragrance during that part of the preparation.

We did end up discussing the current political situation a bit over coffee. No surprise that they have apprehension about the situation and some fear. I think it meant a lot to them to be treated with respect and welcome and care. And it let them know that not all old cranky white guys are bigots.

Although I’m an extreme introvert, it was a lovely afternoon with a beautiful family. Both the boys (9 and 11) gave me big hugs as I was leaving, as did the wife. Makes me incredibly sad that so many people would see them as enemies and want them gone