feeling young

A friend posted about how people say that they feel young, but that we should feel proud of our age, because of all the wisdom we've gained. We have selective memory, sometimes, remembering all the good times from the good old days, while forgetting to observe how far we've come.

Just to point out...
userpic from Pondhopper

But I think a big factor is what we perceive as "old." We tend to forget how old we actually are. We don't realize that we're the same age as those whom we thought were old when we were young. When I was a kid, my grandparents were obviously old. But at the time they were, what, sixty? Part of the problem is time dilation, like where we tend to think of the 1970's as thirty years ago, and not the 90's. We forget how much time has gone by, and this time itself qualifies us as being a certain age. I see people whom I think are older than me, and then realize that they are not!

I feel young! we say, while noticing our grey hair, and complaining about our health ailments, and complaining that we're having more trouble handling technology. When we stop to think about it, we realize the reason we don't feel old is because we don't act old - we don't act like the old people did, back in the day. But here's the thing - they weren't acting old, they were acting the way that people of their generations acted! And now we're acting the way people of our generation act. And the younger ones are seeing us as old.

sump pump

The pump in our main sump fails about every three to five years. We have a secondary sump, and the pump in it hasn't failed yet. But a month or so ago, it started not to work reliably. It was the kind that had a float with a switch inside, and something went wrong with that float. When it rises, it changes its angle due to the way it is attached to the pump. When it gets high enough, the pump turns on to empty the sump. (A sump is kind of a pit below the house that collects ground water, to keep it from coming up into the basement.) But this float went bad so that it wouldn't turn the pump on unless I pushed it back down under the water. So I had to check it every day. I finally replaced it.



When I took the new one out of the box, I noticed the cord seemed a bit short. Sure enough, this was as far as it would reach...


I was a bit annoyed at having to use an extension cord, and have it hanging there for all time. But then I realized I could boost the pump up so it would be closer to the outlet, so I stuck a 2x4 under it, and everything is fine.

I posted this picture on Facebook, saying "I replaced a sump pump. This is how far the cord reached." I got the expected number of likes, laughs and wows, but the comments were... amusing. Two reasons. Most of the solutions came in after I had commented on how I fixed it. And you know how women tend to offer sympathy, and men solutions?

Women's responses:
"So not fair…"
"Frustration City."
🤬
"Oh my God, how irritating! I would probably stand there and scream. You probably stayed calm, which I admire."
"Nooooo…"
D'oh gif

Men's responses:
"You could stack another ring on it if the wires are allowing"
"Use some paper clips"
"Bye a adapter for three way plug,"
"Go get a 3 prong to 2 prong adapter at the hardware store, it'd be just enough length to fix this."
"The safest option is to lengthen the cord. Any kind of adapter would be unsafe, IMO. That sump pump draws a lot of amps."
"Give the pump a set of boots."
"Get a grounding plug adapter. That should get you the extra inch."

To be fair, men also offered sympathy:
"Yup. Always something. 💁"
Whut the fuh!!"
😤😤
"It seems that life, has it’s up’s and downers. That’s a downer."

The best answer, of course, was the suggestion of paper clips!