You read correctly, I fixed my fridge tonight!!  Just one more trip to Home Depot with Jim combined with a little brain power and I finally got it hooked up and leak free!  It felt so so sooo amazing when I turned that water valve on and water didn’t instantly spritz everywhere.  That’s all for now.  A silly burden has been lifted and I will sleep well tonight.  Praise the Lord!!

Grand Theft Auto IV was released to the public yesterday.  As the impending street date approached, I was thinking more and more about it.  I had never played any of the past GTA games except for the occasional granny that I beat down with a bat over at Ian’s house.  I could never get into the “open world” gameplay that people so love about GTA.  I guess I’m just old fashioned and like my stories linear.

Nonetheless, I had seen so many ads and previews and videos that I couldn’t help but be interested.  The fighting, cussing, shooting, what self respecting man could resist?!  I was hesitant though, the thought of a $65 investment for a one night stand was frightening.  The hype machine had won over my subconscious though, my deepest being knew I was in, it was just a matter of time.

Enter from stage left the being known only as Fred G. Meyer.  Your one stop shopping extraveganza!  It’s strange how GTA manipulated me yesterday.  It told me that I needed to go to Fred Meyer to buy light bulbs and toilet paper and pipe joint compound (for my now neverending fridge project) and a pizza.  And maybe, just maybe I’ll poke my head into that electronics section to see if they have the Precious.  So there I was in line with my odds n’ ends, looking through the haze to the back wall of the electronics gauntlet.  It was calling me, it seemed my destiny.  I was in the express checkout lane, naturally, and moved through quickly.  I was sure to be extra nice to the checker girl as my brother-in-law had been through that part of the world only hours earlier and heard the girls complaining about everyone being ‘mean today.’  (Is that a run-on sentence?)  Alas I was free and carrying my 24 rolls of TP and 16″ supreme pizza.  I entered the forbidden jungle.  Rather than ask the guy if they had it, I went immediately to the glass case.  I scanned for a good 45 seconds and found nothing, were my eyes deceiving me?

It was somewhat of a relief.  I thought, oh well, it wasn’t meant to be.  I turned and headed toward the exit.  But as I approached the end of my journey something magical happened.  I made the last minute decision to give a look at the lonely man at the front counter.  He looked straight into my eyes as if he knew why I was in there.  Before I knew what was happening the words began to flow from my mouth, “Did you guys get Grand Theft Auto?”  I have been saying the ‘did you guys get’ phrase since I was a child and damn if it didn’t feel extra good to say this time.  The fractions of seconds it takes for the worker to respond seem like eternities.  I love that anticipation.  Am I going home happy and satisfied or sad and defeated?  This time I would go home satisfied.  He quickly answered with a, ” We sure did, what system?”  I quickly responded “Playstation 3″ and he had a copy in my face in literally seconds.  I didn’t hesitate, I blurted out ‘I’ll take it’ so fast I surprised even myself.  He rang me up equally as fast and before I knew what had even happened I was in my car driving home. 

I had done it, I had given in to the hype.  Now, I know you’re all wondering, did I play it last night?  Well, of course I did, and it was fun!  I’m not going to say anymore than that because I only played for a couple hours, but at this point I think I made the right decision.  So here’s to happy gaming for me and all the gamers of the world!  Cheers!!

This is pretty random, but I find myself getting depressed in the shower quite often.  Not always, but sometimes.  It comes over me like a wave and I start to think about life and everthing seems bleek and hopeless.  Once I get out of the shower everything returns to normal and I feel fine.  But the time that I’m in there can get bad sometimes.  I don’t know if its because the shower is so closed and confined that I just start freaking out a little bit or if its just because showers are so incredibly boring.  Sometimes I worry that it won’t go away when I get out of shower, but it always does.  Anyone else experience this?  Wait a second.. anyone even reading this blog??

On an unrelated note, my fridge water is still not hooked back up.  I’m going back by Home Depot again today to see if they have the part I need.  I’m surprised I haven’t had one of those depot dogs yet considering how many times I’ve been there recently…

So here’s the rest of the story…. (I’m gonna make this short because I’m bored of this story before I even tell it!)  I ended up going to Home Depot and buying a new hookup kit with copper tubing and a real pipe cutter.  Got home, started hooking the thing up and instantly mess up the compression nut that connects the copper pipe to the wall.  I was pissed.  So I went back to Home Depot and bought a couple more of these connecting compression nut fitting things.  I tried again and this time it seemed like I did it right at first but then the damn thing started leaking.  I was perplexed and angry at the same time.  I now moved on to the 2nd one I bought (this scenerio was exactly why I bought 2).  Again,  thought it was fine, hooked up the water filter andturned the water on.  It worked for about 30 seconds then I started seeing water bead up around the fitting.  I cranked on it with my wrench till I ruined it.  By this time I was approaching a boiling point and grabbed the copper tubing andstarted ripping it around until it finally broke.  I was extremely angry that I couldn’t get this to work.  I decided I was done and that having a water filter on my fridge wasn’t meant to be.  I calmly disconnected the filter (my outburst was over) and placed it in my garbage can.  I took the new copper pipe I bought, along with all the supplies it came with and the pipe cutter and put them back into the packaging.  I pushed my fridge back into place and accepted defeat.  There is kindof a satisfying feeling about dealing with something like that and then just realizing that its not going to happen and moving on from it.  When I put the filter in my garbage and packaged everything back up, the burden was lifted and I felt free.  I’m starting to learn that life has a similar quality to it.  I think I’ve understood the value of fighting through something and pushing against opposition to reach a goal.  I think that’s how I thought everything would be or would have to be (I think this mentality has mostly stemmed from my cancer experience).  I’m now realizing that sometimes that’s necessary but sometimes its also necessary to not fight and to change paths.  Sometimes the opposition in a path isn’t telling me to fight it but simply to avoid it.  This realization has been freeing for me and has re-opened my eyes to the fact that God is guiding my life and its his spirit that will move me from one path to another.  That there is a reason when something I think I want to do isn’t working.  That I need to be open to new opportunities and new paths in my life.  I need to trust and to have faith and to hope.  I don’t need to worry.  I guess this makes me one of those learning computers I heard about in T2

So I’m planning on returning the stuff back to Home Depot and trying to get my money back.  I feel a little bad because some of it is kinda used.  Do they care about that?  I also need to try to figure out how to hook the old copper pipe coming from the fridge back up to the wall.  I can’t handle anymore leaks though. 

My path to filtered water has changed but my water is still filtered.  I pulled out my old britta pitcher that I never really used and have been using it.  The whole process of having to refill it constantly is annoying and I don’t really like it, but the water is better and maybe I’ll learn a little patience along the way

Yah, so I’ve decided to start a silly blog.  I don’t even really know why… maybe I’ll become a famous blogger!  Actually, nobody will probably ever read this.. oh well.  So I want to take a minute to write about a mini nightmare I’m currently dealing with.  I have a fridge with one of those water dispensers on the front.  I’ve been drinking water out of it for years and I decided last week that there’s got to be a way I can get a filter on that mother.  I looked online and quickly found an in-line filter that goes on the supply hose that comes from the wall (that stupid copper thing).  I bought the filter for about $15 including shipping.  It said it was good for 6 months and installation instructions were included.  Seemed like a pretty good deal to me.  So I got the filter on Friday in the mail.  After being out Friday night I decided to tackle this filter installation when I got home.  It was maybe 11 or something.  I pulled my fridge out, exposing the coiled copper devil and began the installation.  It seemed simple… cut the copper tubing and then shove each end into the opposite ends of the filter.  I turned the water off of course.  I got out my wire cutters and began working on the copper tubing.  That was my first mistake.  I got through the copper tubing eventually, but not before destroying what was left of the two ends.  Right away I got that sinking feeling I get when I attempt to tackle a project that I know isn’t going to go my way (nightmare city some call it).  I was able to kind of fix the ends and get them into the filter.  I thought, this might actually work!  That thought was short lived.  I turned the water on and immediately there was a leak coming from one of the filter connections.  I worked at twisting it and pushing it deeper into the filter.  The leak seemed to stop.  Then, I noticed it was leaking down by where the copper tube connects to the wall.  It was very strange because I hadn’t even touched that part!  I got out my wrench and began to tighten the nut that attaches the tube to the little spicket.  Long story short, the copper tubing actually broke at the spicket and I was left with a dangling water filter nightmare!  I disconnected the filter and pushed my fridge back into place with disgust… I would tackle this again anther day.  To be continued…