The Internet Does Have Its Plusses

You hear a lot about the negatives about the onternet. I will be the first to admit these definitely exist. However, it can both also be very useful. As first time homeowner, I have really appreciated the wealth of information available for a variety of home maintenance and repair. Here is a list of a few things I have used the online resources to learn to do:

1. Paint multiple rooms in my house. I had never painted anything before. I am very pleased with the results.

2. Repair a tub that would not hold water. This Old House has an excellent video that was extremely helpful. 

3. Fix a stopper that had come detached from the lift rod.

4. Replace that same faucet later when the spout broke at the base.

5. Diagnose and repair water dripping from the freezer compartment of my refrigerator.

6. Replace a faulty toilet flapper that was leaking into bowl.

7. Diagnose and repair a leak from the bottom of the tank on another toilet. This video was my go to. 

It is very confidence building to be able do to these tasks on my own. A piece of advice: always watch more than one person's video on doing a task. That will help you make sure the advice is correct, and you may learn different tricks and tips from each person. 

Another Instance of "The Right Tool Makes All the Difference"

 Last week I had another instance of the right tool making all the difference. I am having some people over in couple weeks, and my windows were looking pretty gross. When the sun would shine in, you would see how dirty there were. Some lovely birds had also decided they needed to use a couple of them as a bathroom. I had mentioned this upcoming task to my mom, and when she was at my house recently she said "Your windows really do need cleaned." Thanks Mom.

Once I decided to undertake this task, I knew I wanted a tool to assist. I bought this squeegee from Walmart, and Sunday before last I got to work. Wow, did it make life much easier and faster. I have a one story house, and I was able to clean all the windows without using a ladder. In addition, since I have casement style windows, I could do the insides and outsides with the windows in the open position. It is amazing how much of a difference it makes. I sometimes just gaze out the windows and admire how nice they look. I would highly advise procuring a similar tool for the next time you clean your windows. 

The evidence does not support your assertion

 Last week we did two days of interviews for some positions we are trying to fill. Each day we encountered someone who told us something about them that was supposedly one of their virtues while we possessed facts that showed otherwise.

Day one, we were waiting for the candidate to arrive. Her time came and went, after 5 minutes I told the hiring team I could either try to contact her or we could wait a few more minutes and call her a no call no show. They asked me to call her. When I started with my speech of "Hi this is Blogger with XYZ. You had an interview scheduled at XX:YY, and we were calling to see if you were going to attend", she said "I'm at the guardhouse." What I wanted to tell her was "you should be in your interview right now", but I restrained. Once she finally arrived into the facility, I was expecting her to apologize for being late (just like the interview team should apologize to you if they are running late) and offer some kind of reason why. She did not. What took the cake was when we asked her in the interview why we should hire her, one of the reasons she gave is "I'm on time." I wanted to ask "For what, because you weren't for this interview?" After the candidate left, the interview team talked about how completely unaware she was. I also told my recruitment teammates this story as I knew they would appreciate it.

The next day, we were again waiting for a candidate whose interview time had come and passed. Someone who works at the facility but wasn't in the interview helped us out by contacting security to see if he had arrived. The answer was "he just got here." A couple minutes later we see him literally running through the parking lot towards us. Did he mention anything about being late? Of course, he did not. In his interview, he mentioned he lives "just around the corner," "I get to work 20 minutes early and wait in the parking lot", and as the candidate the day before, stated one of the reasons we should hire him is because he's on time. This story provided further entertainment value to both the interview team and the recruitment team.

Life lesson: when you're giving reasons someone should hire you, don't use reasons that they have evidence to know are not true.